I might have mentioned I’m beginning a Masters in Celtic Studies at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David. I’m very excited; nervous too given the strange state of my brain and mental health since whenever. It’ll be a challenge, quite different to what it might...

What is Folklore?

This is a question I've seen discussed on social media many times. Efforts tend to try to distinguish why it's different (if at all) from myth, legend and/or history. Sometimes it can get quite heated, dull-eyed trolls and silver-wrought warriors do ba...

Why Folklore?

And why is it important to me?

Sounded simple enough questions, only once you start to strip away the obvious you quite quickly get down to things not so simple, or indeed nice to face. This is the first time I've written about this, and it all starts off i...

Over the last few years, whilst struggling with mental health, I've come to realise how important the folklore, history and landscape of Britain are to me. I've learnt how the magick of the Fae and Celts, nature and an ancient past still exist in this green land. It's...

'Neverwhere' by Neil Gaiman; where to start?

Over there, perhaps.

I really enjoyed this book for lots of reasons.

Firstly I loved the ambition of creating a tale using the Tube stations of the London Underground and the cracks in our own society as a source of inspiration...

Well this was a strange one for me. At times it dropped to a 2 star, then rose up to a 4 star and then ended overall as a 3 star for me.

How to explain?
 

At the beginning there was a bit too much 'tell' and not enough 'show'. This made the book difficult to read for m...

This year I released my first novel, ‘Nightjar’. It’s a fantasy, with more than a hint of dystopia, set in a feudal future and centred upon a Fae’s need to keep alive an immortal love. I was inspired to write the piece by the Iron Age landscape that surrounds where I l...

I enjoyed this.

I love mythology, especially Celtic folklore, and although well aware of Norse mythology - mainly through popular culture and the like - I wasn't so knowledgeable about the detail. For instance I wasn't aware of the detail around Ragnarok, Loki's childre...

The next few weeks my blog will be about the books I've read. Recently, of course. It follows on from my thoughts on reading Jean Teule's 'The Poisoning Angel' last week, and will include the likes of 'Norse Mythology' by Neil Gaiman, 'Folk' by Zoe Gilbert, and some sh...