Dark Serpent (43 page)

(Note: there are probably many more references that I dipped into but didn’t note on my bibliography list. When I’m being a knowledge sponge, I think about how the references will aid
my
story and completely forget that I’ll have to list them later.)

Anwyl, Edward,
Celtic Religion in Pre-Christian Times
, Archibald Constable & Co Ltd, London (1906).

Bonwick, James,
The Pagan Gods of Ireland
, Samhain Song Press (2011 digitisation of an 1894 original).

Bonwick, James,
The Druids of Ireland
, Samhain Song Press (2011 digitisation of a pre-1900 original).

Bonwick, James,
The Serpent Faith in Ancient Ireland
, Samhain Song Press (2011 digitisation of a pre-1900 original). The link between druids and serpents has existed for a very long time.

Curran, B,
Celtic Lore & Legend
, The Career Press (2004).

Davies, John,
The Celts
, Cassel, London (2002).

Edwards, Owen M (1902), editor,
The Mabinogion
, in three volumes, translated from the Red Book of Hergest and the White Book of Rhydderch by Lady Caroline Guest.

Edwards, Owen M,
A Short History of Wales
, Fisher Unwin Ltd (digitised from 1922 original).

James, Simon,
Exploring the World of the Celts
, Thames & Hudson, London (2005).

Laing, Lloyd Robert,
The Archaeology of Celtic Britain and Ireland
, Cambridge University Press (2006).

Leahy, A H,
Heroic Romances of Ireland
( 2008 digitisation of a pre-1923 text).

O’Grady, Standish,
The Coming of Cuculain
(digitisation of a pre-1923 original).

O’Grady, Standish,
Early Bardic Literature of Ireland
(digitisation of a pre-1928 original).

Rolleston, T W,
Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race
(digitisation of a 1911 original).

I would like to thank the people of Holyhead, who are a generous and friendly bunch. I’d particularly like to thank Nerys Beaman and Suzanne Roberts at the Holyhead Information Centre, who plied us with maps, tourist information and advice for our time spent there; June Davies and Neil Abernathy at the Dublin Ferry Guest House, who looked after us exceptionally well; and Ann and Steve Roberts, who run
www.Holyhead.com
and gave me tea and told me fascinating stories of the town’s history and one of the worst jokes I have heard in my entire life.

Kylie Chan

Brisbane 2012

In 1985 Kylie Chan married a Hong Kong national in a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony. She lived in the Chinese community in Australia for eight years and in Hong Kong for ten years and now lives in Brisbane. Kylie has studied Kung Fu (Wing Chun and Southern Chow Clan styles) as well as Tai Chi and is a senior belt in both forms. She has also made an intensive study of Buddhist and Taoist philosophy and has brought all of these together into her storytelling.

Voyager has published her Dark Heavens and Heaven to Wudang series.

D
ARK
H
EAVENS

White Tiger
(1)

Red Phoenix
(2)

Blue Dragon
(3)

J
OURNEY TO
W
UDANG

Earth to Hell
(1)

Hell to Heaven
(2)

Heaven to Wudang
(3)

C
ELESTIAL
B
ATTLE

Dark Serpent
(1)

HarperVoyager

An imprint of HarperCollins
Publishers

First published in Australia in 2013

This edition published in 2013

by HarperCollins
Publishers
Australia Pty Limited

ABN 36 009 913 517

harpercollins.com.au

Copyright © Kylie Chan 2013

The right of Kylie Chan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the
Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000
. This work is copyright.

Apart from any use as permitted under the
Copyright Act 1968
, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

HarperCollins
Publishers

Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia

31 View Road, Glenfield, Auckland 0627, New Zealand

A 53, Sector 57, Noida, UP, India

77–85 Fulham Palace Road, London, W6 8JB, United Kingdom

2 Bloor Street East, 20th floor, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8, Canada

10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022, USA

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Chan, Kylie, 1964-

Dark serpent / Kylie Chan.

ISBN: 978 0 7322 9440 3 (pbk.)

ISBN: 978 0 7304 9879 7 (epub)

Speculative fiction.

Demonology – Fiction.

A823.4

Cover design by Darren Holt, HarperCollins Design Studio

Cover images by shutterstock.com

Chinese characters supplied by author

Author photograph by Adam Hauldren