Want to find out what an ancient Halloween / Samhain festival might have looked like? I wrote about it in MERLIN’S SHADOW! Here an excerpt, edited to remove some small spoilers: “Tonight, when the moon is dark, the Picts will celebrate their pagan harvest feast of Samhain. Have you not known why they work us[…]
Yes, with a lot of help, and God’s protection, I finally did it! I have successfully bronze-cast the hilt and pommel for my Excalibur, and here are the pictures. Zondervan is going to photograph this blade for the cover of my novel, MERLIN’S BLADE, which will come out February of 2013. I will begin with[…]
First of all, I announce to you that THE SONG OF ALBION will be re-released by Thomas Nelson in hardcover on August 31st! This is fantastic news for what I consider one of Lawhead’s greatest fantasy series, and one of the best I have ever read. It has been available in softcover, but now you[…]
I had to write a ballad in Pictish for my current work in progress, Merlin’s Shadow. The problem is that we don’t know what language, exactly, the Picts spoke. Many scholars think it was related to Gaelic, while my daughter, Adele, is of the persuasion they spoke a Germanic language older than English, and this[…]
Just where was Camelot, anyway? Scholars and romantics have been asking this question for ages. Well, I ran across an online video that covers some interesting theories about King Arthur’s possible presence in Wales. In particular, they argue that Camelot was ancient Caerleon, a Roman fortress with an amphitheater. This is where Geoffrey of Monmouth[…]
The other day I had the pleasure of pulling from my “drawer” an old scrap of writing and inserted it into Merlin’s Shadow. It was a dear scrap, this one, and contained an interaction with three fisherman named Ynktor, Henkter, and Crothak. They had originally appeared in my prologue of Merlin’s Blade, but the cutting[…]
When King Arthur gave the people of Britain the gift of life and liberty, he did so at the expense of the invading Saxons. But where did he fight them? This is a very interesting question, and little is known for sure. Nennius wrote in the Historia Brittonum that there were twelve battles fought by[…]
I ran across a fun news article about Cornwall’s mid-summer Golowan Festival, which has its strongest representation in Penzance. (If you want to get a taste of the culture of Cornwall, make sure you watch the video as well.) So what was the theme of this year’s Golowan Festival in Penzance? Well… it was the[…]
So we begin at last our review of TUCK by Stephen Lawhead. This is part of the latest Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour, which has now grown to 48 active members this round! Way to go everyone, let’s keep spreading the word and promoting speculative fiction written by Christians! Well, without further delay,[…]
I found a very fascinating newspaper article today regarding the Welsh connections of King Arthur. The article was published at the News & Star, a Welsh newspaper. Now this is not like most news articles that are full of fluff and no substance. This one contains a lot of literary and historical information about Arthur’s[…]
This post is Part 2 of a series. Click here to read “Who Was Merlin? — Part 1“. So the question remains: Was Merlin a Druid? That is an open question. Certainly he was a bard, and therefore the question can be worded like this: How connected were the Bards to the Order Of Druids?[…]
I was going to post “Who Was Merlin — Part 2″ today, but found an EXCELLENT blog post over at Heavenfield about Merlin and how he “got his start” when Vortigern attempted to sacrifice him in order to get his fortress built. Lets just say ole Vorty was having a bit of trouble. So go[…]
This is a question that has fascinated people throughout the ages. I recently read an article on the BBC News website, titled “Merlin myths and links with Wales“. This article was prompted by the introduction of a new television series “Merlin – The Legend” (produced by the BBC, of course) about a young Merlin aiding[…]
This is an update on my previous post “King Arthur and Guinevere’s Wedding Site“. Well, it turns out that this historical hill has been purchased by four local villagers during an auction. They plan on setting up a land trust and opening up the land as a nature reserve for both local use, as well[…]
For those fascinated by old legends, I ran across one I hadn’t heard of before, in a blog post about a 13th century legend of the founding of the English town of Grimsby. It is the story of Grim, from Denmark, who saved the life of the heir to the Danish throne and brought him[…]
I found some of the text about King Arthur fighting werewolves in his tenth battle. Here it is, from the Welsh peom Pa Gur?: Though Arthur laughed he caused her blood to flow in Afarnach’s hall, fighting with a witch. He pierced Cudgel’s Head in the dwellings of Disethach. On the mountain of Edinburgh he[…]
Yes, it appears that King Arthur fought werewolves in a little-known legend. Although not exactly werewolves, but rather “dog-heads“, which are human type creatures with the heads of dogs, or wolves. This is highly interesting to me, because I have my third book planned out in great detail, and in it, King Arthur fights a[…]
If you happen to have a bit of spare cash during this crazy economy, you might want to consider purchasing a bit of Welsh history. One of the legendary sites where King Arthur and Guinevere were married is up for auction later this month. Not only does this hill have Arthurian connections, but it is[…]
I found some very interesting articles today regarding the Holy Grail and its possible location. Of course, no one knows for sure, but it is quite the question to ask, and academics are not without opinions, as we shall see. For my own fictional series based on the legends of King Arthur, I have decided[…]
If you want to study King Arthur for yourself or your children, you can download a FREE e-book written by Brandenburg Studies. This is an Internet based study in PDF format that teaches all about King Arthur and asks these questions: Who was this legendary figure in history? Was he mythical? Was he real? You[…]