Round the Herne

As many readers will already know, a short while ago the 6ft statue of the sea god Manannan mac Lir was stolen by religious extremists from its site on Binevenagh mountain where it was part of a tourist trail. The gang of clearly very organised thieves left a cross citing the Biblical Commandment to "have no other god before me" (whilst judiciously ignoring the one about not stealing). Thankfully the statue has just been spotted by ramblers and retrieved by local soldiers. It has been damaged - perhaps in the process of being thrown way - though hopefully it is not beyond repair and can soon be returned to the plinth. To celebrate the rediscovery, I've recorded the myth of how Manannan was instrumental in introducing horses to Ireland.

I have entered this short story competition in which the task is to write a contemporary fairytale set in London, the city I was born in. Win or lose, I'll post the story here after the closure date. I like magical realism as a genre, and intend to write more in that style in the future. I am particularly struck by the idea of modern mythology, working the realm of the mystical and magical into current times rather than it always being seen as part of some far-off time period that makes spiritual figures seem like museum pieces. Doing so consciously - such as through meditating and allowing the spiritual realms to tell their own stories before putting them to paper.

A short story for readers, inspired by a Taoist myth (though told from a different angle to the usual). I have also written a poem inspired by the same story, which appears both on this blog and in the anthology 'Moon Poets', published by Moon Books. I'm not sure if Red Rabbit is a ghost story, a mythological tale, or something else entirely. I don't speak any Chinese and was concerned that the names might be inappropriate (not understanding the cultural context within which names are used). However, I ran this past a Malaysian friend who said the names were fine. I'm thinking of putting together a collection of spectral short stories with a magical/pagan theme at some point. I love reading the short stories of Christopher Fowler, Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes, Neil Gaiman etc., thought my stories are not in their league as yet. I'm not sure if there's a market for such a collection as yet, but hopefully so. The first version of this story was originally perf...