Helen Scott Taylor | Mystical Countryside

Many paranormal stories are set in urban settings. The genre of Urban Fantasy even indicates in its name that stories falling into this genre should have a cityscape setting. Much as I enjoy paranormals that are set in cities, especially cities rich in history, what I really enjoy is a country setting.

Many rural areas are imbued with a mysticism that an urban setting can never hope to match. Imagine a tiny Scottish hamlet, the home to generations of families living in stone-built cottages, where the history of magical belief and violence from the past breathes with the wind whistling along the valleys between the mountains, or an ancient manor house sitting like a huge slumbering beast among the desolate windswept hills of Dartmoor. Or my favorite, a verdant Cornish valley full of wild flowers where a tiny stream trickles between the abandoned tin mines from its rocky spring on Bodmin Moor down to the Atlantic.

When a setting such as one of these is the backdrop for a paranormal story, it becomes more than setting. The mystical atmosphere of such places is almost another character in the story. How easy it is to imagine a tall dark man slip into the form of a black panther as twilight falls over the rolling peaks of Dartmoor, or beautiful fairies dancing among the flowers in a Cornish valley.

That’s why I chose to set my debut paranormal romance The Magic Knot (Dorchester Jan 27) in two mystical places, both with a rich history of myth and legend to draw on. Rosenwyn Tremain the heroine thinks she is human, what she soon discovers is her mother was a Cornish pisky princess. Rose has the fun and challenge of discovering who she is and dealing with her inherited responsibilities. Niall O’Connor and his identical twin brother Michael are from the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland. They are half noble Tuatha dé Danaan and half leprechaun.

My inspiration for the setting of the Cornish pub where Niall O’Connor, the hero of The Magic Knot, lives is a little Cornish village called Lerryn. My husband and I had a wonderful weekend trip exploring the tiny villages of Cornwall and the beautiful village on the River Lerryn is so magical, I quite believe fairies live there.

My inspiration for the Irish fairy queen’s mansion that features in the story is a beautiful Palladian mansion called Powerscourt. The house stands in 47 acres of gardens within the Wicklow Mountains near Enniskerry, a few miles from Dublin. A castle has stood on the site since 1300. The current structure was refurbished in 1974 in preparation for opening to the public. Tragically, on completion of the work, the house was gutted by fire before it could open. The pictures of the beautiful house engulfed in fire brought tears to my eyes. Due to the cost, only the exterior was restored again. The interior now houses craft shops. Despite this, the house and gardens are magical.

I’d love to know if you share my love of mystical rural settings, or do you prefer the menacing dark maze of an urban setting so well used in many urban fantasies?

To read a two-chapter excerpt of The Magic Knot visit www.HelenScottTaylor.com and follow the link.