Round the Herne

I'll be telling Greek myths at Waterstone's in Ipswich on Saturday 25th May from 11am if anyone fancies dropping by. They have other child-oriented themed events on during the day.

Moon Books have given me a contract for my next book, 'A Dangerous Place', which will be my first foray into fiction (well, of the paying sort). It is an anthology of murder mysteries all set in Ipswich but spread over several thousand years, each one looking at a different era of local history. Each of the stories has a strong occult/mystical theme underpinning the crime that has taken place. More details of the release date and the cover art (I love it when the designs arrives from the publishers) will be posted here as soon as I hear.

My second book, Bard Song, is a bit of an unusual line to take in that I wanted to combine samples of my own poetry with both instructions to the readers on how to use those metrical styles themselves and also some general philosophising on the use and nature of poetry in early Insular Celtic realms. The majority of the book is given over to Welsh and Irish metres from the medieval and earlier periods, organised by seasonal themes. There are also some chapters on comedic poetry and Scandinavian and Classical poetic metres. part of the hope behind this book was to encourage people to write their own poetry for ritual (or pleasure) in the old metrical styles. With all the interest these days in "brain training" you will certainly get a good workout having a crack at a rannaigheacht ghairid metre! A fair number of the poems included here have been performed at various events in Suffolk and beyond. As with the other books you can order this via pretty much any local bookshop

It was a massive thrill for me to get my first book published. OGND is based around a series of introductory lessons used in the druid group which I helped found some 20 years ago. There are quite a few druidry books around, I wanted to create one that emphasised the polytheist approach. It's not completely reconstructionist, because we can no longer recreate something that has been so heavily eroded. We can, however, reconnect to the Gods and spirits and start building something for our current century that draws on the same spiritual roots. The chapters aim to stimulate thought and give some practical exercises that people can engage in to help deepen their connection to the land and Gods. I might try a follow-up book at some stage, taking the lessons in this first one to a deeper level. Depending on the level of interest exhibited in the first book. If anyone wants to get a copy, pretty much any local bookshop will be able to order one in ~ the publisher is O-Books and the I

One of the first books I contributed towards (in this case a poem) was Galina Krasskova's 'Full Fathom Five' which was a collection of poetry and stunning photography - worth buying just to look at the pictures really - created in honour of the Norse deities of the sea. My addition to the collection was a poem about Njord. If anyone wants to track down a copy (there are some excellent poems in it) then it was published by Asphodel Press, 2007, ISBN - 978-0615190754.

Welcome to my open blog (yes, there's a closed one for psychotic ranting and occasionally maudlin moments), which I shall be adding to sporadically to publicise my books, those anthologies I have contributed towards, storytelling and other public events I will be participating in. This blog has been created partly in response to suggestions made by my publishers who encourage authors to advance their own works, and partly in response to some of my readers who have asked, "when's the next one out?" and variant questions.