Where the Story Begins
Every story has an origin, a moment when a world cracks open and demands to be written. For me, Solasta: The Highlander Fae began with a feeling more than a plot: the particular kind of silence you find in the Scottish Highlands, where the mist rolls in low over the heather and you half-expect something ancient to step out from between the stones.
I've been drawn to Celtic mythology and Fae lore for as long as I can remember. There's something about the way those stories live in the land itself, in the lochs, the cairns, the standing stones, that feels more real than fiction. When I started building the world of Solasta, I wanted that same rootedness. I wanted readers to feel the cold, smell the peat smoke, and believe, just for a moment, that the Fae might be watching from the tree line.
Building the World of Solasta
World-building for a fantasy series set in a real landscape is a delicate balance. The Scottish Highlands are breathtaking and historically rich, and I didn't want to flatten that into a backdrop. So I spent a lot of time researching: the clan histories, the Gaelic language, the folklore passed down through generations. The Fae of Solasta aren't the delicate, winged creatures of Victorian imagination. They're older, stranger, and far more dangerous, closer to the Aos Sí of Irish and Scottish tradition.
The name Solasta itself comes from Scottish Gaelic, meaning luminous or radiant. It felt right for a world where light and shadow are never quite what they seem.
The Characters Who Surprised Me
Solasta began as a love letter. My husband loved me enough to elope to Scotland, and we were married in a castle, Comlongon, in Dumfries and Galloway. That place, that moment, that man, they are woven into every page of this book. The story grew out of that love.
My main character, Lady Brianna Ailey, started out as the heart of a standalone novel. She's written in the spirit of The Princess Bride, layered with hidden fairy tales, and my husband describes the whole thing as Maleficent meets King Arthur. I'll take it.
Brianna is innocent at the start, genuinely so. But she refused to stay small. As her character evolved, she asked for more story, more world, more truth. What began as one book is now a series, and I'm deep in the middle of writing Book 2. Her arc is going to be an emotional one. The light she carries may be shattered into the depths of darkness. Powers are evolving. Decisions need to be made. Lady Brianna Ailey has a story to tell, and she's waiting for you to read it.
My tagline says it best: Before Merlin's Legend. There was Her Story.
Why This Story, Why Now
We're living in a time when people are hungry for stories that feel rooted, in place, in community, in something older than the noise of the present moment. Fantasy, at its best, does that. It takes you somewhere else so you can come back to yourself.
Solasta: The Highlander Fae is a love letter to the landscapes and legends that have always felt like home to me, even from across an ocean. I hope it feels like that to you too.
If you're curious about the series, signed and collector's editions are available in the shop. And if you want to go deeper into the world of Solasta, the lore, the craft, the community, stay tuned. There's more coming.
Nita Lipan, Fenix Rising Press