I set my time travel romance books at the renaissance faire because I’m a faire person, through and through.
My dad took me to my first faire when I was ten, and I was hooked! I loved playing pretend with ten thousand adults who all wore costumes. Like a giant Halloween party. The joust with the horses all in costume. The jugglers, fire eaters, and sword swallowers. Queen Elizabeth in her big poofy purple gown with her face powdered in white and a huge crown on her head, waving from the chair that twenty men carried her around in.
My love of the faire grew over the years.
In my teens, I loved pretending I was the heroine in one of the fantasy novels I loved to read and running around with friends pretending to be the Three Musketeers. All my geek and nerd friends were into the faire. It was something we bonded over and enjoyed together. All of our birthday parties were at faire or at restaurants that reminded us of the faire or themed with the faire at home or at places like Medieval Times.
In my twenties, I worked at the faire as an actor and spent the night there. That’s when I drank in the secret parties and night shows that Emily and Vange discover in my first book. I also learned there about the modern pagans / druids who provide the paranormal / magical / time travel aspect in my books.
Now in my fifties, I’m on Facebook with all my faire friends from thirty years ago.
It’s incredible how many celebrities we can name that participated in the faires with us! Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Sean Penn, Rob Lowe, Bob Dylan, Cher, Wil Wheaton…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk-u-Viexk8&app=desktopYeah, we complain that the renfaire of today has lost its focus on historical re-enactment and lets everyone be pirates or fairies. But that’s because someone needs to provide the background for all the fairies and pirates!
Check out our Facebook photo archive projects for Phyllis Patterson’s original Renaissance Pleasure Faires in Northern and Southern California and see for yourself how authentic we looked back in the 1970s and 1980s at Paramount Ranch and Black Point Forest.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/168740645761/https://www.facebook.com/groups/193688500551/
Renaissance Faire by Jane Stain
Amazon
When kilted highlander Dall invites Emily up on stage at the renaissance faire for some Scottish dancing, the butterflies in her stomach are not from stage fright. She's in graduate school to be a drama teacher.
But Dall doesn't have a cell phone. He doesn't seem to know what one is. And no one will let Emily ask him about that. It's like the whole faire is guarding some big secret that has to do with him never breaking character.
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