MacCorp News February 2025
The Jasper Brooch Update
Characters in THE JASPER BROOCH just met Sean MacKlenna in 1928, but which Sean is he? Sean I, Kit’s mother’s twin brother, hosted Kit and Cullen at the farm in The Ruby Brooch in 1852. Is this Sean II, III, or IV?
If I had known in 1997 that I’d still be writing this series 28 years later, I would have given the characters different names. It’s a lot to keep up with, but I have two fantastic assistants. Annette Gahn keeps OneNote updated with character ages and traits, locations, pets, and brooch history, among other important details. Plus, she creates notes for the audiobook narrators and edits the manuscripts. Erin Channell maintains the family trees, schedules and drafts the newsletter, and then sends me emails to do a book update and character profile or interview. I couldn’t do what I do without their help.
The characters in the above picture are how I see them. Top row: Marcelle LeBlanc, Bastien LeBlanc. Second row: Archibald MacIntyre, Clay MacIntyre, and Skye Marshall. Third row: Remy Benoit. Readers have posted photos in The Celtic Brooch Series Facebook Group. Stop by and check them out.
Character Profile: Skye Marshall
Skye is a jazz singer in 1928 Chicago. She and Marcelle meet on the street shortly after Marcelle arrives in the past.
Here’s an excerpt from their meeting:
The woman stuck out her hand. “Since we’re sharing such excellent whiskey, I should properly introduce myself. I’m Skye Marshall.”
Even in Marcelle’s altered state of mind, she found that funny and giggled as she shook hands. “I thought you were telling me you were a sky marshal.”
The woman cocked her head. “What’s that?”
Marcelle handed over the flask. “A lawman who rides in passenger planes. You have them, right?”
“Passenger planes? Yes, but I’ve never flown in one. I had a chance once, but it didn’t work out.”
“Well, Skye Marshall, I’m Marcelle LeBlache.”
“Is that French?”
“Cajun from South Louisiana.”
“New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz.”
“But jazz grew up in Chicago.”
“So did I, and I haven’t been anywhere else.” Skye took another gulp before handing back the flask. “You ready?”
Celtic Brooch Tartan
From Erin Channell, clan genealogist
In January, I received an email from a shop I follow in Scotland and a section was on designing your own tartan. I thought it was a unique and cool idea, so I presented to Katherine to have a tartan commissioned for either the MacKlenna clan or the Celtic Brooch series as a whole. After gathering some additional information, and confirming Katherine’s interest, we decided to proceed.
It’s quite the process, because in addition to commissioning a Scottish company to design the tartan, they will also register it with The Scottish Register of Tartans at the National Records of Scotland (Katherine will also receive a certificate of registration!). That’s something I don’t think Katherine ever expected when she first started writing the series!
I pulled together a brief summary of the series to provide context, shared some of the family names, and sent over the book covers so the designer would have inspiration to work from. We then had a design call to share ideas about the series and answer the shops questions based on the information previously sent.
Their job, to take all the information and create three unique designs of what a tartan might look like (image here is what they sent back as their inspiration images – The Ruby Brooch book cover and the Montgomery and Fraser clan tartans). It was decided to focus on a Celtic Brooch series tartan rather than trying to create a MacKlenna tartan, since they aren’t a real clan. And then we had to wait…
(Above image is what they sent back as their inspiration images – The Ruby Brooch book cover and the Montgomery and Fraser clan tartans).
We received three different tartan designs, and I have to say all three pulled in components of the series and could have worked. Without prompting, and based solely on the information provided and answers to their initial questions, they included many of the colors you suggested in last month’s giveaway. One particular design did catch both our eyes as a portrayal of the series and Katherine decided to move forward with registering it. Registration can take 2-4 weeks if no hiccups are encountered, so hopefully we’ll have more news for the next newsletter!
We are going to wait to share the tartan design until it has made it through the registration process. If during the registration process it’s found to too closely resemble another registered tartan, I’ll need to work with the company to make tweaks and try again. In the meantime, the colors currently included are: red, green, blue, turquoise, dark pink, and a light blue that is almost white.
A tidbit of information picked up about tartans from this process: (1) Tartan designs are typical between two and six colors and have a repetitive pattern to the colors and stripes. Any additional “colors” seen in a design are caused by the overlap of colors used, creating an optical illusion of sorts. (2) Important numbers can direct the number of colors and stripes incorporated and how the pattern repeats.
Would you be interested in purchasing a Celtic Brooch Tartan item? Click this link HERE to tell me!