Round the Herne

 This is a recording made today or a story that I told along with other members of Clan Ogma (druid group that also does annual storytelling) at the Leaping Hare pagan convention in Colchester. Hard to credit, I know, but the accents were even less convincing at the live performance than they are in this recording. Judging from the feedback for the convention, everyone seems to have had a good day and are all looking forward to next year's event.

 Chapter the fourth in my serialised meander into the world of YA fantasy. I'm amusing myself if nobody else, so will write a little more before the q=burdens of the quotidian world get in the way, CHAPTER 4    “The Fourth House?” Dylan mouthed the words as if he were saying something obscene that he did not want overheard. “Who on earth told you about that?” Catriona recounted the scene she had witnessed in the bookshop. Her books were currently teetering on the dresser. She had opted to skip the hurley shop and acquired a sackful of herbs and a pocket-sized sickle at Demulcent’s Herbarium. The herbs were filling her room with a heady aroma. At Morwenna’s insistence she had gone into Stang and Treen’s stavewright shop to acquire a staff. A polished length of oak has caught her eye, engraved with a stag design. She felt rather silly carrying it home (catching herself already thinking of her dormitory room as home), but as all the others had staffs of their own she d...

 This is my recording if a 1918 short story, "Courage", by the talented but now rather neglected Irish author Forrest Reid. It is the tale of a lonely boy's sojourn in the Irish countryside and what happens when he explores an abandoned house. I find Reid's style very engaging and may well record other stories by him in the future, try and boost his profile to current audiences a little bit. Much of his work deals with supernatural and mythical themes.

Continuing the whimsy to a third chapter of this serialised (and outrageously derivative) YA fantasy, I am quite enjoying this even if nobody else is, so might go to at least a fourth chapter if I can settle on a name for the villain of the piece. CHAPTER 1 is here CHAPTER 2 is here  (if you haven't already read them) CHAPTER 3   Catriona sat at the long wooden table in the Refectory staring at the empty plate and wishing that her head would stop spinning. She didn’t think that she’d ever has to get used to so many shocks in a single day. She had screamed hysterically at the sight of Kai transforming into a dog, only stopping when he sauntered across and licked her face. After that the screaming had turned into equally hysterical giggling. Eventually Dylan explained that everyone is Kai’s family was capable of transforming into dogs. Whilst not common, he outlined how a fair number of people who lived within the Veil were able to shapeshift. The stories of selkies, werew...

 A reflection for the Suffolk Jungian Circle on the topic of Jung & Modernity (being discussed via Teams on the evening of March 26th - if you want the link to join in, please leave a message). Some of this also touches on postmodernity and the ideas of Elisabeth Eisenstein on types of culture and communication technology, though maybe each of those could be a separate discussion in their own right.

 Continuing the whimsy to a second chapter of this serialised (and shamelessly derivative) YA fantasy, I might go a third chapter, not sure whether to continue it beyond that. It gives me something more creative to do of an evening than just watch drivel on TV. CHAPTER 2   The bell started to toll as they exited the lift, Catriona still wondering what the Veil was and if she would look foolish by asking. By the third and final stroke Morwenna had shepherded them across to a stairway that wound down into the cellars beneath the Tower. Catriona’s momentary panic about her luggage was assuaged with the promise that the Porter would ferry everything off to the Halls of Residence. The others seemed quite blasé about not having seen the Halls and were confident that everything would be in place for them. Catriona’s past experience of educational administration had not left her as trusting, but she kept her fingers crossed and was swept along on the flight down to the Great Hall....

This is just a bit of whimsy to give my three remaining brain cells a bit of exercise (been under the weather lately and lacking creativity). I like the idea of a serialised story, so here is the first entry in a highly derivative YA fantasy, praise be to St Plagiarus. Not sure how much further, or how regularly, I will continue this but at least it has kickstarted the grey matter once again. CHAPTER 1    Catriona stood before the stone doorway, her fingers traced the triquetra carved into the ancient wooden door. It looked early medieval, ancient in a city where every other building seemed steeped in centuries. The carved symbol matched that on the letterhead that she had received back in March inviting her to study Celtic History at Gorsedd College, Cambridge. Catriona had applied to study in Cambridge, but at Peterhouse not at this college. She hadn’t even heard of Gorsedd College much less applied to it, but the offer was excellent and especially sweet with the bursary...

 This is my reading of the 1921 short horror story "The Picture in the House" by H P Lovecraft. It is another of the stories from the book gifted me at Yule by a good friend - I have already recorded a few of the shorter samples. The recording is a bit odd due to my recovering from a throat infection. Apologies to any American listeners for the dreadful attempt at a backwoods accent - I've never been tot he States so have no real idea (outside of the movies) what the regional accents are like. Lovecraft writes heavily accented dialogue, which is quite fun to read aloud.

 This month (on Feb 26th at 7.30pm) the Suffolk Jungian Circle will have an online debate around the celebrity death match of Freud vs Jung - where are their ideas similar and where do they differ? To help get the discussion rolling, I've recorded a few initial thoughts in the video below. If anyone would like to be sent the Teams link to take part, drop me a line or leave a message on this blog.

 I gave this talk at a college event in December 2024, recording it now on the off-chance that it might eb of interest to some followers on YouTube or this Blog. The talk interprets some of the ghost stories written by E F Benson, Saki, M R James, and Forrest Reid in the light of sexuality and social isolation. If nothing else, I rather hope that this talk will inspire listeners to want to read the works of the respective authors.

 My reading of the eighth and final chapter of M R James' (1922) children's story 'The Five Jars'. An odd conclusion because the secrets of the villains are (spoilers) not resolved - maybe James was intending to write a sequel but never got round to it?

 My reading of the seventh chapter of M R James' 92922) children's fantasy story "The Five Jars". The narrator is beset by the forces of evil, using their wiles to get hold of the magical jars. Quite what they would do with them is not yet clear!

 My reading of the sixth chapter of M R James' (1922) children's fantasy "The Five Jars". The narrator learns more about the Right People and their strange world.

 This is my reading of the fifth chapter of M R James' (1922) children's fantasy The Five Jars. The narrator continues to experiment with the jars of ointment and comes under attack from sinister forces.

 My reading of the fourth chapter of M R James' (1922) children's fantasy story "The Five Jars". The narrator makes contact with yet more strange beings and learns about what else exists in the world.

 My reading of chapters two and three of M R James' (1922) children's fantasy book "The Five Jars". The narrator discovers the power of the magical potions for the ears and eyes. New worlds open up before him!

 My reading of the first chapter of M R James' (1922) children's book "The Five Jars", in which the unnamed narrator encounters a magical stream and a mysterious plant. Trying a variant format for the recording using the Loom platform, to see which people prefer most.

  My reading (a first draft, I will re-record this as an audio when my throat has recovered) of Lovecraft's short story "He" (1925). The way he describes New York in this story, as a place made very alien to him, is largely how I feel when making very infrequent visits to London. The idea of a metropolis being built over formerly sacred (or unhallowed) sites is a familiar one and this keys in with ideas I have been exploring in Folklore Studies - the academic examination of folktales. One particular idea has been drawing my attention, that of ostension. Aside from its more regular meaning (of presenting something to the attention of others), in folklore terms ostension is how either reality imitates folklore (such as when people try and do something they have heard about in a folktale or urban myth - like going down the sewers to hunt alligators) or when they deliberately create a new tale such as starting rumours about some dilapidated house being haunted and then others...

  My reading of Lovecraft's short story "The Outsider" (1926), apologies for the throat - still not quite recovered from this virus. The twist in the tale is, perhaps, a little predictable but it's still a fun tale to read with its torrid turn of phrase. I can see the influences of this story on one of my favourite authors, Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes, who often wrote about the underworld of strange beings. Once my throat is back to normal I might record some of these stories as straight audios without the video element.

 Happy 2025 to my followers (both of you). This is m y reading (apologies for the rasping throat, recovering from a mild infection) of H P Lovecraft's florid tale of "The Hound" (1924). The book was a Yuletide gift from a close friend who knows my literary tastes. The two central characters of this tale (St John and the unnamed narrator) put me in mind of the wealthy adolescent murderers Loeb and Leopold who abducted and killed a child to prove their own intellectual superiority in 1924. That said, this story was written a couple of years before the crime took place, so they were clearly not the inspiration for Lovecraft - though maybe he had met people very much like them within his social circles. When my throats recovers, I might record a few more of the shorter stories.