With the third novel in my Dragon-Myth Cycle trilogy nearly complete, I’ll soon be turning toward finishing the prequel series that began with The Fae Dealings. The two upcoming novellas may be the closest I come to writing in the realm of Arthurian fiction, so I’ve been reading different takes on the legendary characters who…
When Amazon chose The Lost Queen by Signe Pike as its Editor’s Choice for Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, I knew I needed to read it. What I discovered was a book with few fantasy elements but compelling characters in an infrequently explored period that made for a satisfying historical fiction read. Amazon ranks the…
Work has left little time to write this week, so I’m re-running a post that relates in a way to my recent posts about Ragnar Lothbrok. Leading up to my next installment in my series on Medieval Fiction, I thought I’d pose some questions about one of the late Fifth Century’s most legendary figures: Who…
I’ve been looking forward to The Hallowed by author L. Marrick for a long time. It’s considered Arthurian fiction, but takes place during the early years of the Fifth Century near the end of the Roman Empire. This had me intrigued. After all, the legends of Arthur place him at the end of the Fifth…
Reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Arthur reminded me of another work of Arthurian fiction that’s related to Tolkien and has been stuck in my the back of my bookshelf for years. That work is Tolkien’s translation of a fourteenth century poem titled Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The famous poem is the work…
While I was writing a series of posts of the Magic of Medieval Fiction and the Late Fifth Century and the Age of Arthur, this little gem fell out of the sky: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Arthur. Needless to say, I dove right in, and my review follows after this image of the book’s…
After a brief hiatus, I’m returning to my series on the Magic of Medieval Fiction, where we have been lingering in the late Fifth Century and the Age of King Arthur. One of the stories from that time period that I neglected to mention previously was the tale of Tristan and Iseult. This story has…
In my reviews of Bernard Cornwell’s The Winter King and Enemy of God, I noted how the character of Merlin is obsessed with recovering the Thirteen Treasures of Britain, which he believes can restore the power of the old Celtic gods. These treasures, which are sometimes called the Thirteen Hallows, feature prominently throughout Cornwell’s The…
In the midst of my series on the Magic of Medieval Fiction, which is currently focusing on the Arthurian age of the late Fifth Century, a treasure falls into my lap – The Fall of Arthur by J.R.R. Tolkien is being released tomorrow! I purchased an advanced copy on Amazon last night. Here’s an excerpt from…
Enemy of God is the second in Bernard Cornwell’s series The Warlord Chronicles. Its protagonist is still Derfel Cadarn, who is now near thirty years old and one of Arthur’s lords. The book begins immediately where The Winter King ended, after the battle among the British kings at Lugg Vale. Arthur is trying to keep…
The Winter King is the first book in Bernard Cornwell’s masterful retelling of Arthurian legend. From the very first chapter, it is evident that Cornwell’s version would be different from many tales of Arthur. The narrator, for example, is the little-known Derfel Cadarn, writing his story as a monk in a small monastery to Igraine,…