Synopsis:

Allegrina (Al) Parcival, clairvoyant Wiccan priestess, accidentally learns from Chessman, her spirit guide, that the famous Romantic poet Lord Byron was - contrary to his carefully cultivated media image - a shy geeky virgin who used a body-double to invent one of the most iconic characters in history! On the verge of publishing her findings in her popular blog, Al finds herself in major trouble when Lord Byron's furious spirit comes calling with an eye to destroy her street cred as a witch with a little bewitchin'-action all his own.

Excerpt:

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies. . .

Lord Byron


Chapter 1

“Damn, Allegrina, do you realize what a conflagration you'd ignite?” said Dana, uncorking the bottle of cheap merlot. “There’s still time to change your mind before you end up on Dr Phil - but not in a good way.”
I threw another log on the fire, watching a blizzard of firefly sparks circle up the flue. Outside, the bamboo grove thrashed the windowpane. A nasty storm was blowing in from Puget Sound. May was going out like a lion, as had March and April. Would spring ever get here?
“Do you realize that if what your so-called guide says is true you'll be pulling the plug on a major archetype - an icon? Jeeze, girl. The tweedies in the English Department would crucify you. You'd be lucky if all they do is throw you out of the masters program. They could have you committed as a danger to yourself.” A worried frown played over my friend’s otherwise model-perfect face.
“Look, sweetie,” I said. “I didn't come up with this out of thin air - well maybe I did, but I'm willing to entertain the idea that it was dropped in my lap for a reason. Chessman appeared in a bright green flame on Beltane and practically threw it in my face. How can you second-guess a manifestation that powerful? I'm thinking of going through with this."
"And that's another thing," said Dana. "What kind of a spirit guide has a name like Chessman? Sounds like the name of a butler in an Agatha Christie novel. How can you trust this guy? Or whatever it is."
"You're thinking of Jeeves - and that wasn't Christie, it was P. G. Wodehouse. And the entity is feminine, not masculine - at least as far as an incorporeal being can be said to have gender. You aren't far wrong about the butler thing though. According to her, she was a housekeeper for the rich and famous in many of her past lives."
"Terrific. An ectoplasmic housekeeper tells you she has proof Lord Byron was a complete fraud and you hop on like a tick on a wolfhound."
"I haven't committed myself to this yet but I think this could be just what I've needed, Dana. The blog is going nowhere and I have yet to come up with a masters thesis. Something like this is exactly what I've needed to generate more traffic to the blog and set me apart from the rest of the English Department. It could make my career."
"Or send you straight into living out of a shopping cart under a freeway overpass."
"You're exaggerating."
"You want to bet?"