#ALAN LAWHEAD

[camlannpod]

Just wanted to say, I absolutely adored the podcast and am currently on my first relisten of it now that it's all complete! <3 Loved the music, the characters, the voice acting; everything was fantastic from start to finish!!

I have to ask.. any recommendations for books inspired by Welsh mythology? Alternatively, are there any books you might recommend that would fill the Camlann-sized hole in my heart? 👀

Hello hello! Thank you so much for the kind words, I'm so glad you enjoyed the series!

Specifically books inspired by, rather than books that are - so I'm going to recommend you some fiction:

Spear by Nicola Griffiths, which specifically explores queer themes in urban fantasy Arthuriana, and uses a lot of Welsh inspiration

Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy (it's great and iconic, though mostly uses Norman sources)

The Pendragon Cycle by Stephen R Lawhead, which is a great classic high fantasy series, though has a slightly abrupt ending due to publishing drama.

The Owl Service by Alan Garner - this is a YA novel but does use the Mabinogi as a direct source!

Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve. It's a YA novel but one of my absolute favourites, and very much displays Arthur as deeply flawed, as well as including some subtle queer themes.

The Magician Trilogy by Jenny Nimmo, these are childrens books but also the most heavily inspired by Welsh mythology I know.

I hope this helps! And thank you so much again for listening to the show!

[emrys-girlwithasaber]

The 20 questions tag

Thanks for the tag @lilyevansreyjakuu I’ll do my best. <3 

Rules: answer the 20 questions below and tag 20 bloggers that you want to get to know better.

I tag anyone who wants to do this. If you are reading this and want to share, tag....you’re it. ;) Just tag me because I would like to read it. :) 

Nickname: Smoke, Anne with an E (from Anne of Green Gables), really too many to mention. LOL

Zodiac: I have no idea. LOL

Height: 5 ‘8"

Time: 4:35 p.m.

Nationality: American 

Language: English (can read and speak Middle English), some Spanish

Favorite band/artist: pretty much every 70s classic rock band, 80′s pop, U2, John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Thomas Newman, Alan Silvestri, Hans Zimmer, Coldplay, Norah Jones, Joshua Bell, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Merry Ellen Kirk, Chris Pile,  Josh Groban, Coldplay, Emmy Rossum (Sentimental Journey album), Hayley Westenra, David Mead, Johnny Cash, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Nathan Gunn, Loreena McKennitt, Byrne and Kelly, Adele, Coldplay, Meav

Books: Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Pendragon Cycle by Stephen R. Lawhead, The Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia (especially The Silver Chair), Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis, Shadow Children Sequence by Haddix, The Chosen by Chaim Potok, My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok, Davita’s Harp by  Chaim Potok, Confessions of An Ugly Stepsister by G Maguire, Sacred Romance by Elridge

Movies/ shows / novelas/ YouTuber: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Master and Commander, Endeavour, Sherlock, Poldark, Doctor Who, Little Dorrit, Pride and Prejudice (1995), Sense and Sensibility, Wives and Daughters, Horatio Hornblower, The Avengers, Captain America (all three), Thor (all three), Gilmore Girls, Anne of Green Gables, Road to Avonlea, Meet Me in St. Louis, Gigi, Sleeping Beauty, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing and basically anything by Pixar.  Safiya Nygaard, The Den of Nerds, My Nerd World hosted by Jon Justice, Lindsey Ellis,  Zabrena, HGTV Homemade, 

Fruit: Watermelon, Apples, Oranges

Color: RED! (my favorite: always has been, always will be) Black, white, dark tones of green and blue.

What I’m wearing: leggings and purple tank top

Favorite thing to do: draw, write, edit, have deep meaningful discussions, watch movies, going to theater productions, concerts, and art shows

Description: shy , funny (sometimes), idealistic, passionate, healer, 

Random things I do: everything about me is random...LOL

Pretty much that is all everyone .

Tags : 

Source: the-moonlily

[rapha-reads]

Tag Game

Tagged by @wolfsnape ! Thanks, dear.

Colour(s) I’m currently wearing : blue and grey. (colours of mysoul and my mind ...)

Last band t-shirt I bought : Don’t have any !

Last band I saw live : Boulevard des Airs, so looooong ago ... I don’t do concerts.

Last song I listened to : Alan Walker Ft Sia, Diamond Heart.

Lipstick or chapstick : Chapstick (when I remember to put it on)

Last movie I watched : BLACK PANTHER ! WAKANDA FOREVER.

Last 3 TV shows I watched: One Day At A Time, Sense8, Legends of Tomorrow.

Last 3 characters I identified with : Hermione Granger, always, Susan Pevensie, Eowyn.

Book I’m currently reading : Oooooh, boy. Do you have time ? I’m only going to give you some names, because in the past three years I have started a lot (A LOT) of books that I have yet to finish. - Le Retour de Gustav Flötberg, Catherine Vigourt. - La Passe-Miroir t1, Les Fiancés de l’Hiver, Christelle Dabos. - Vernon Subutex t1, Virginie Despentes. - L’Enchanteur, René Barjavel. - Pendragon Cycle, book 3, Arthur, Stephen Lawhead. - Rebecca, Daphné du Maurier. - The Ocean At The End of The Lane, Neil Gaiman. - et pour conclure cette liste déjà trop longue : The Invisible Orientation : An introduction to Asexuality, Julie Sondra Decker. One day, one day, I’ll get to the bottom of my mountain of books. (Note that this is only a very small part of all the books I have started over the last few years and left on the side of the road due to real life interferences).

Tagging : @tinyrubywolf, @tasha-lemon, @deanismysavior, @the-alexandrian-alchemist, @nooowestayandgetcaught and @a-collection-of-nonsense.

[shadowlineswriting]

Lawhead, the first

I have six stories by Stephen R. Lawhead. In this post, we will discuss the first three: King Raven (Hood, Scarlet, Tuck), The Iron Lance (The Celtic Crusades), and The Song of Albion (The Paradise War, The Silver Hand, The Endless Knot).

First things first. Lawhead is a fantastic writer and he’s a pretty big deal in Celtic/Gaelic circles. He’s sort of a Christian Philippa Gregory type of writer, taking history and bringing it to life. He’s won a ton of awards for the fact that his books are historically accurate. Whenever I see a book of his, I buy it.

The thing about Lawhead, though, is that he can be kind of hard to get into. There’s a lot of information in his books due to the detail of the story and the facts surrounding the historical aspects of them, so it takes a while for the stories themselves to get underway. I bear this in mind whenever I read his stuff because usually, the plot is well worth waiting for.

However, of the three stories we’re going to discuss today, I’m only keeping one of them.

First up we’ll evaluate The Iron Lance, which is the first in a trilogy Lawhead calls The Celtic Crusades. It’s about a family from the Orkney islands who decide to go on a Crusade. The book is almost 650 pages long but it reads quickly because there’s a lot happening. However, I have a major problem with the Crusades (actually, I have quite a few), so for that reason I was a tad reluctant to embrace the story. Further still, this story follows a similar plotline to a different series of Lawhead’s. So I liked the book just fine, and I’d even go so far as to recommend it to anyone interested in history, but I’m not going to keep it. I don’t own the second two books in the trilogy but I don’t feel I’m missing out, really. At best, I feel lukewarm about it. So it’s out!

The Song of Albion trilogy is generally considered Lawhead’s most popular work. People even have Albion symbols tattooed on themselves. Naturally, I was psyched to read it because of all the hype. Alas, I was let down. The book had the potential to be interesting, for sure, but I just couldn’t get into it. The story was painfully slow and when the big punch line finally came, I thought it was quite anticlimactic. I read the first book all the way through because I figured Lawhead was just taking his time getting into the story...but, no. I ended the book bored and disappointed. Therefore, I am not going to read the second two books.

That being said...

King Raven is my favorite Lawhead work to date. It’s a very clever retelling of Robin Hood (in case you missed the fact that the books are called Hood, Scarlet, and Tuck). This series is set during the reign of William the Red, son of William the Conqueror, instead of Richard the Lionheart, and it’s placed in Wales instead of England. At first I wasn’t sure what the purpose was of these changes but as the story progressed I saw the brilliance of it. I can’t tell you what it is because I don’t want to ruin anything for you, but you’ll have to trust me--it’s good!

One thing I will tell you is that it has to do with the names. Our main character’s name is Bran, a normal Welsh name, which means “raven.” Bran just so happens to be a prince in this story, and the Welsh identify their leaders with the title of Rhi. So he’s commonly known as Rhi Bran--King Raven. Then, when he becomes an outlaw, his band of outlaws are called the hudolion, which is an old Welsh word, and since Bran is the leader, he’s given the surname Hud (which means Leader of the Hudolion). Ergo, his name is Rhi Bran Hud--Robin Hood.

GENIUS.

Will Scarlet is probably my favorite character in this particular version (though we’ll get to the original story when we hit the Rs and in that version, Alan a’Dale is my favorite!). I also love Friar Tuck in King Raven--he is absolutely the comic relief. Overall, Lawhead did such a good job that I know I’m holding this trilogy to an unfair standard that all his other works may inevitably fail to meet. I know. But, I can’t help it. It’s just that good!

1/3 for Lawhead so far...going to take a break from history and turn to poetry now, then some fantasy. Stay tuned!

[theblotmag]

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