Round the Herne

 This short story by E F Benson first appeared in 1922 and details a man's childhood recollections and more recent experiences in an isolated Cornish village, where something horrible lurks in the darkness. Apparently this tale was well regarded by the American horror writer H P Lovecraft - for obvious reasons, given the echoes this tale has with that of the New England cosmic horrors. The photograph is a Fendahleen, a creature that appeared in an episode of Dr Who from the 1970s (and scared the life out of me back then). I have no idea if the special effects people responsible for designing the monster costume had read Benson's short story, but the look of the alien horror that Tom Baker did battle with does seem to fit very well with the "pestilence that walketh in the darkness". In other news, thanks all the Gods that the barber shops have reopened!

Below is a poem written in the Welsh cywydd llosgyrnog metre as an honouring of Gwynn app Nudd, the medieval name for the King of the Fairies in Welsh folklore. For some of us at least Gwynn is a later understanding of an Ancient British deity whose name has survived on some altar stones from the Romano-British period, Vindos or Vindonnus (possibly two separate beings, but my intuition is that they are different titles for the same entity). I'm not sure who the artist of the inset picture is - cannot find a name as yet! As per the explanation given in my reading of it in a YouTube recording linked at the bottom of this page (and yes, I know I misread one of the words but I don't have the time at the moment to re-record it properly), the story contained in the poem has its roots in the hagiography of a 7th century monk - the manuscript of which dates to the 1500s. The monk, Collen, sets up his hermitage on an island in the flood plains of Glastonbury that is already owned by Gwy...

The Royal Shakespeare Company have started a Share Your Shakespeare project to encourage people during the lock-down to read a speech from a poem, act out a speech from one of the plays etc. So this is my brief contribution to that - three of the Bard's sonnets. Sonnet 29 I have chosen because I first heard it read aloud several decades ago by the American actor Ron Perlman, who has a fantastically gravelly voice well suited to poetry. I can fully sympathise with the poet's words, having had many occasions in life when I have wished I were much more like some very impressive person or another rather than just being a ginger hobbit (mind you, Old Will was a ginger too - look at that beard!). Not quite so many experiences of the Thy Sweet Love, but that's what happens when you're a hobbit. Sonnet 81 is here because, in these dark times, there will be many people looking at family, friends, lovers etc. and wondering if all too soon one will be attending the funeral of...

With Halloween just around the corner I have recorded threee short reviews of classic Doctor Who adventures with an occult flavour to them. The Daemons is a Third Doctor adventure set in the fictional village of Devil's End where a satanic cult led by the Master tries to conjure up an ancient entity that may look like something from Hell but is actually an alien scientist that has been experimenting on humanity. The Image of the Fendahl is a Fourth Doctor story line featuring another dodgy cult, this time devoted to the worship of an alien entity, the last of its species, which consumes all life. Once again a benevolent old witch comes to the Doctor's aid in fighting both cultists and monsters alike before a sinister skull evolves into a more deadly form. Finally the Fourth Doctor, this time accompanied by Sarah Jane Smith, encounters another deranged cult, the Brethren of Demnos, in an adventure called The Masque of Mandragora. Shenanigans unfurl in 15th century It...

Not that I think anyone else gives a toss about my views of Doctor Who episodes, but I'm enjoying the self-indulgence of wittering about classic adventures that I enjoy. So here are three more reviews. First up, back in 1964 the First Doctor (William Hartnell) encounters a race of telepathic geriatrics on the strangely named Sense Sphere who live in fear of humanity (can't think why)... Then there is this review of a Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) story from 1968 which is bereft of peculiar-looking aliens but instead deals with the deadly monster that is politics as a sinister politician destroys no end of people in his quest for power and wealth, with slight shades of how the Eloi and Molochs from H G Wells' Time Machine started off. Finally (until the reviewing bug bites again) Tom Baker strides forth in a battle against the evil of Sutekh in the 1975 adventure Pyramids of Mars where Egyptian mythology, Gothic romance, and alien menace combine to great effe...

When not writing books or advising students I've been enjoying listening to assorted people on YouTube reviewing Doctor Who, discussing plot lines and the like (Geek Pride, I'll happily wear that badge). So I've joined the throng and reviewed a few classic episodes myself, which is likely to be of minimal interest to the handful of people who follow this blog - but for the one or two who enjoy British science fiction here are my thoughts on serials that I have enjoyed (the aim is to talk mostly about the things I like and hope to see more of in future, rather than being overly critical of what I dislike). I will sporadically add more reviews in future...or do I mean past... it's all so timey-wimey I get confused. This is more self-indulgence than any realistic sense that anyone gives a damn what I think about a TV show, but if anyone has adventures they like that they want to suggest for review do say. It's nice to share a geeky enthusiasm every once in a while. ...

Some while ago a friend, Mike the Mead-maker, suggested I record a favourite tale of Saki's, Sredni Vashtar, which raises the question of Divine Functionality (is the simple definition of a deity simply that at least one other person treats it as divine, regardless of whether it does anything remotely divine or not?) as well as being an entertaining warning to overbearing adults. I wonder if Steven Moffat was inspired by the name when dreaming up the alien menace of the Vashta Nerada that hunted through the Library in Doctor Who? Though aside from the name, they have nothing else in common.

A few days ago I wanted to upload something about International Men's Day, but I was too pressured with work and too tired to find the energy or mental capacity to string three words together. Today is both Wolfenoot , a spontaneously created new festival dreamed up by a child and dedicated to the celebration of lupines and canines (being a lupophile, I am always willing to add a celebration to my calendar). Plus today is also the anniversary of the very first episode of Doctor Who being aired in 1963. Not having the wherewithal to churn out three separate contributions, the following meander is a mash-up of all three events. The theme set for this year's International Men's Day by whoever dreams these things up is role models and, conveniently enough, this is where the Venn diagram overlaps because, as a child, the Doctor was one of my central male role models. That my main model should be a fictional entity may say something about the quality of the flesh-and-blood me...

A shortish waffle about the way some modern pagans tend to view a romanticised past and our relationship with history. The past may be another country, but it can also be a blueprint for the future we are trying to create.

Today Whoids the world over celebrate the ancient festivity of the First Materialisation when our Time Lord and Frequent Saviour first manifested on the screen. I wanted to say something profound and insightful, but I left my brain at the office. So instead, a brief aside into John Locke's philosophy of identity. Back in 1689 Locke wrote  An Essay Concerning Human Understanding  which, in part, explored the notion as to what identity means when human nature is so changeable. the cells of our bodies regenerate over time, such that the body I have today is not cell-for-cell the same as the body I inhabited twenty years ago (for one thing, there's rather more of it). Not only is my flesh different, but my mind has changed. I have filled my head with a thousand books and hundreds of stories and have been emotionally changed by the people I've met in those two decades - some for the better, and some much for the worse. Whilst some things have remained constant, such as devo...

The announcement of Jodie Whittaker as the new Doctor Who has flooded social media with rivers of bile, both from those who loathe the idea with every ounce of their being and equally those who love it but despise those who are even slightly equivocal on the subject. As so often, some people make a great show of tolerating everyone - except those who hold a different opinion. I have seen a lot of rather sneering claims that large swathes of science fiction fans are lost in a world of fantasy and emotionally inadequate because of it (or vice versa, depending on whether a given pontificator thinks the chicken came first or the egg). Observing these shenanigans, I have been reminded that many readers openly wept when they read the death of Little Nell when Dickens' serial hit the stands in 1841. When one business tycoon read A Christmas Carol two years later, he was so stung by his own similarity to Scrooge that he immediately gave his wage slaves the rest of the day off. People famo...

A lifelong Doctor Who fan, I was saddened by the death of actress Elisabeth Sladen in 2011. For those not in the know, she was one of the most popular female companions to have appeared on the show, accompanying Jon Pertwee and later Tom Baker ~ she even had her own short lived spin off show back in the day. When the series was revived, she returned to make a guest appearance alongside David Tennant before being given a successful spin-off on children’s TV. She led a gang of teenagers who defended the Earth from alien threats. The teenagers were an ethnically diverse bunch but, in reading about the actress the other day, I was surprised to find that they would have become even more divers, had not Ms Sladen’s untimely death lead to the cancellation of the show. The teenager who played her adopted son, Luke, was scheduled to come out as gay in a future episode. It was surprising to read that this would have made Luke the one of the first gay central characters in any BBC children’s sho...

I've learnt quite a few new Greek myths this year (for storytelling events), one of which I'd like to muse on for a while as it is particularly relevant to me at the moment. Narcissus, in a nutshell, was a self-obsessed prat who rejected all those who loved him as being unworthy ~ causing the nymph Echo to fade into nothingness and driving Aminius to kill himself in despair. Wrathful Nemesis punished him by causing him to see, for the first time ever, his own reflection - which he promptly fell in love with and either drowned whilst attempting to snog the face in the pool or (according to a variation) topped himself after realising that he could never find anyone as perfect as himself! The myth is a very clear warning about the dangers of intense self-adulation. Whilst there are comparatively few outright autolatrists in the world, there are many people who are so self-obsessed that other people are merely a means to an end, stepping stones to be trampled on or made use of a...

Trying my best not to give any spoilers, but The Day of the Doctor was utterly wonderful and, for me, very emotional ~ almost all my positive memories of childhood are directly connected to that show. I have heard a fair few complaints from people about the 50th reversing the history laid down in the revived version of the show. Which it does, but personally I don't see this as a bad thing, given the way that they did it. The Doctor's character had become increasingly bleak and tormented, with many episodes dwelling on the idea that he is (to his enemies at least) a monster. Writers inspired, I dare say, by Nietzsche's view that, " He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you ." Whilst such sentiments are certainly true, I do feel the point had become somewhat over-laboured and the show was in danger of turning their hero into a self-tormenting neuroti...

Utterly thrilled by the revelation that Peter Capaldi will be bringing his very considerable acting prowess to the role of the next Doctor. I'm also rather glad that they have cast an older actor in the role, a touch of nostalgia for those of us who can remember when the Time Lord was an avuncular character. On a self-reflective note (well, what is blogging if not glorified solipsism?), avuncularity is something I am finally coming to terms with. When I started university at age 19 I was very rapidly given the nickname of Uncle Robin by friends, possibly because I was rather too often the sensible one. Or maybe I just looked haggard ~ at age 17 I was once mistaken for my own mother's brother. She was flattered to be considered young looking... I can't honestly say I felt at all complimented by it! Now I actually am middle aged, and in the knowledge that I will never have children of my own, I actually quite enjoy acquiring surrogate nephews, nieces and godchildren to indu...

Today's educational event went pretty well, with glorious weather and a steady footfall of people coming along to say hello and make contact ~ some new pagans, some just curious. We also had our first negative snit (not bad for all the years we've been running) with some old trout with disastrous dental work wanting to know why we had a banner outside bearing the logo 'Ipswich Pagan Council'... erm, because this is a meeting of the Ipswich Pagan Council I tentatively responded (whilst wondering what other possible reason she thought we might have such a banner up for). To which she said, "So you're not Christian then?" This astounding insight confirmed, she said, "well you wont get to Heaven then", and spun on her heel and left... presumably with an air of smug satisfaction at her own dazzling riposte. That mini blip aside, everyone else was thoroughly nice and we had some good stories (the Greek tale of Priapos, and the Heathen story of the Gif...

Some years ago I had a series of what I call narrative dreams ~ stories that unfold in my head, sometimes whilst I'm asleep but also often repeated during day dreaming moments. My narrative dreams combine elements of watching something, as if on a TV screen, with elements of hearing a story being told by some unseen presence. Some of these narratives are somewhat obscure and a bit boring (there's one frequently repeated one about a teenage lad in America from a zealously fundamentalist family who converts to paganism, to much consternation, and I usually return to consciousness round about the point when his parents have burnt all his "unholy" books and redecorated his room in a manner they deem wholesome) and some have more potential, such as the plot for my sixth book which I'm not repeating here yet! I think it may be an endemic thing to storytellers, that we keep drifting in to other peoples lives... or maybe it's just that my life is a bit boring so I ke...

Just finished reading my first romance novel, recommended by a friend. Before anyone thinks I've gone totally soft in the head and started reading Mills & Boon, rest assured that this was somewhat different from the usual tepid bodice-ripper. The Lost Boy is a gay romance that combines elements of Doctor Who with Tales of the City. The city in question is London and, much like Maupin's rolling saga, this endeavours to incorporate a fair swathe of gay history since the War ~ from furtive repression to drug-fuelled clubbing to the inevitable spectre of AIDS. Like so much gay fiction, tragedy looms large and very few of the characters actually have happy lives. The Who element comes in part from time travel, as one half of the romance gets thrown forwards and backwards in time, and partly from the fact that said character is a stunningly handsome RAF officer (Captain Jack, where art thou?). Romance develops between two contrasting characters, one a stiff-upper lipped, virgi...

A life long devotee of Doctor Who, I have watched the final episode ('The Name of the Doctor') twice now and have all sorts of ideas whizzing round the Space-Time Continuum that passes for my mind. I am making concerted efforts not to give away any spoilers lest my reader not have seen it yet, however I was quite struck by a throwaway line towards the end of the episode in which the Doctor states that a name is a promise, a commitment (talking about choosing to call himself Doctor, rather than whatever name he was born with). Whilst there was quite a lot of Christian imagery in the show during Russell T Davies' reign (rather odd, considering he is an atheist), there has been and remains a certain amount of pagan imagery in the show ~ the living sun in '42' for example, and if 'Love and Monsters' wasn't based on a pagan moot then I don't know what it was based on. In many ancient cultures it was common for people to be given (or sometimes chose fo...