Highland Avenger

**Mainer In Exile** · 3rd October 12, 04:28 PM

I was dragged kicking and screaming through the Romance section of the bookstore by the little woman as she made her regular selction of smut... er, make that "reading material".

Whilst flailing and crying in protest, I spotted this wondrous tome:

I confess that I picked it up and read enough to discover that the series portrays the (blessedly) fictitious "rogue" MacFingal clan. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts as to what the tartan is supposed to be.

Allen (with no Scots ancestry, but now thinking self-adoption into the MacFingal clan has potential)

**Cecil** · 3rd October 12, 05:02 PM

Is this something like the Irish FinnMakool I wonder?

**Mainer In Exile** · 3rd October 12, 05:25 PM

You're not far off the mark, Cecil. The c.18th Scottish author James Macpherson created (tho' claiming to have discovered and translated) the supposed epic cycle, "Fingal". Fingal was MacPherson's version of the name of the Irish hero Fionn mac Cumhaill; however, Macpherson places Fingal in Scotland, in Glencoe, whence the hero fends off a Viking attack--and I think that's all we really need to say about that. But it does make the romance author's choice of Fingal as the clan's originator deliciously ironic, although I suspect inintentionally so.

I'm thinking the clan needs a tartan registered; none currently is! The romance author describes the clan as composed of "lunatics, broken men, and castoffs... the banished and bedeviled." Fertile ground there for design. I'd still like to figure out if the cover is very close to a registered pattern.

Allen

**Tartan Tess** · 3rd October 12, 05:45 PM

I have to confess...if I read one of these books, the tartan isn't what I am imagining. But they can be alot of fun.

**MacGumerait** · 3rd October 12, 10:54 PM

I think the MacFingal Clan falls under the Sept of the MacRomance Clan .

However , just a wild guess at the tartan , it appears from a distance to be something from the MacEwan modern or some similiar tartan , Allen 1996 or perhaps neither , you never know on these romance novel book covers whether the tartan is real or just fictional , most of the time just MacBelieve .

**figheadair** · 4th October 12, 03:46 AM

Originally Posted by MacGumerait

I think the MacFingal Clan falls under the Sept of the MacRomance Clan .

However , just a wild guess at the tartan , it appears from a distance to be something from the MacEwan modern or some similiar tartan , Allen 1996 or perhaps neither , you never know on these romance novel book covers whether the tartan is real or just fictional , most of the time just MacBelieve .

What is known in Scotland as a Bumbee tartan!

**Mainer In Exile** · 4th October 12, 08:28 PM

Casting about for suggestions for Tartan Tess, I thought this author's "Temptation in a Kilt" seemed promising--but then I spotted what she has due out in February of '13:

[URL deleted by poster; it was to a commercial site, and thus inappropriate for the forum]

Suffice it to say that in addition to the title above, another is on the way entitled "X Marks the Scot". You'll have to search for them yourselves; sorrry!

I'm not sure whether to expect cheers from this community, or rather torches and pitchforks. At least the cover art of both seems to capture the MacGregor reasonably well...

Allen