Both! These novels each feature May 1st in the plot. The Fairy Lights is set at Friar’s Bush graveyard in Stranmillis, Belfast, where there is a Hawthorne tree known as a ‘Maybush’ and according to local folklore, if you sit under this on May 1st, you will find yourself transported to the fairy realms. Gods of Avalon Road takes place during the six days of Beltane/Beltaine, after a pagan ritual on Mayday, which resurrects ancient Celtic gods into modern day London.
Tonight is also a full moon, making the Mayday a double celebration. The moon is reaching its furthest point away from the earth (its apogee), hence the ‘micro’ aspect of the name. As for the ‘flower’ meaning? April flowers bring May flowers, of course!
Leilanie Stewart is an award-winning author and poet from Belfast, Northern Ireland. She writes ghost and psychological horror, as well as experimental poetry. Her writing confronts the nature of self; her novels feature main characters on a dark psychological journey who have a crisis and create a new sense of identity. She began writing for publication while working as an English teacher in Japan, a career pathway that has influenced themes in her writing. Her former career as an Archaeologist has also inspired her writing and she has incorporated elements of archaeology and mythology into both her fiction and poetry.
In addition to promoting her own work, Leilanie runs Bindweed Anthologies, a creative writing publication with her writer husband, Joseph Robert. Aside from publishing pursuits, Leilanie enjoys spending time with her husband and their lively literary lad, a voracious reader of sea monster books.
Leilanie Stewart 