Authors Electric

Karla Brading One of the best things about writing books for young readers is when a fan of your work starts writing books as well. From her very first letter to me, after she'd enjoyed my fantasy novel Spellfall , I knew Karla Brading was a born writer, possibly even a fellow fantasy author. Many letter exchanges later (and I mean real letters, written by hand on paper and posted into one of those shiny red letterboxes you see dotted around the place), and it became obvious she was highly creative too. Then one day a package dropped through my letterbox containing Karla's first novel. A vampire book, as I remember - it still sits proudly on my shelf among my signed copies. A few more years passed, and Karla now has a book deal with the highly-respected Welsh press Gomer for her latest novel  The Inn of Waking Shadows, which I had the privilege of reading at proof stage on my Kindle. This one is a ghost story for teens set in a haunted pub in Wales, and it'll send...

Of Chairs and Books.. When I worked as a supply teacher, it was always a matter of concern as to where I should sit in the staffroom.  I knew that permanent staff usually had their own chairs, their places of safety where they could relax for a few minutes with some easy conversation, until the bell went and called them back to duty. How many times have I stood uncertainly hovering, until I was sure of a spare chair? It wasn’t deference or a sense of unworthiness that made me hesitate. Somehow I knew how important those chairs were to their occupants, a small home-from-home in the challenging world of school.   At home, I have my own precious armchair , my own ‘girl cave’ actually, because it’s much more than a chair. I think I could live there, you know, with only occasional sorties to the kitchen or the ‘facilities’ and the odd visit from friends. Maybe I will when I’m really old and doddery (even more doddery that is). I think some very old people do ‘live ‘ in...

Enigma - Sarah Brightman - Kings of Leon - Clannad - Enya - Morrissey - Craig Armstrong Music and books; possibly the best combination for legitimate daydreaming. Loosely speaking I’m in the ‘romantic genre’. I always balk at this description, it is so restricting and has been my downfall in the past when submitting to agents and so on. ‘It’s… not quite romance is it? And why are you writing it from the male point of view half the time?’ Well, like my musical muse, I like to mix it up a little. From the emotional scenes, from the windswept Celtic landscapes (Enigma, Clannad, Craig Armstrong, Brightman); to the drama of arson, relationship conflict and fast cars, (Morrissey, Kings of Leon).    I think I began using headphones as a buffer to block out those bloodcurdling screams of children playing nicely, or of husband making a noisy clatter in the kitchen (all devised to make me feel guilty for sitting at the typewriter). Of course, as this process developed,...

This is a place called Capel Curig, in Wales. What's that got to do with 'Hiraeth' I hear you ask, and what does the word mean, anyway? Well, I'll get to that in a moment.  An on-line friend and I were talking about one day returning to the land where our roots are - hers in Virginia,  mine in rural Wales. It made me think of the old song I remember from my childhood: 'We'll keep a welcome in the hillside, we'll keep a welcome in the vales, we'll kiss away each hour of 'hiraeth' when you come home again to Wales.' We were both feeling a bit 'homesick'.  That's what Hiraeth is - it's Welsh for being homesick for Wales - but more than that - it's a deep longing, really homesickness doesn't come close to the intensity of feeling that 'hiraeth' invokes. For various reasons, shortage of affordable housing in the area where I grew up, and marriage, being two,  I now  live in a beautiful part of England, cl...

'Writers Block' strikes us all at times.  As a fantasy and Science Fiction writer, I often find reading old myths and legends will get the creative juices flowing again, and wake up the muse.  Reworking old legends to a modern setting is a good way to start, and I usually find a story will evolve in my mind which is completely different to the original idea that sparked it  and, while going off in a totally different direction, provides the 'starting point' and sometimes even a character, to build on. My native Wales is a land full of myths and legends, with  its fair share of ghosts, and is a rich source of ideas.  Usually, it is the beautiful landscape itself, and the many pools, waterfalls and mountains that provide the settings for these stories, rather than old houses or castles. Here are just a few tales of hauntings from various parts of the Principality. (Apologies in advance for some of the 'hard to pronounce Welsh names!) the Short Bridge, Lla...

 Autumn - time of mellow fruitfulness etc. Well, it was officially the end of British summertime at the weekend. What summertime? I hear you ask.  Good question, it was a bit damp and miserable for the most part wasn't it?  And the promised 'Indian Summer'failed to materialise.  However, in a couple of days it will be Halloween, so I thought I'd share some ghost stories. Nanteos Mansion One of my favourite places in all the world is Nanteos Mansion, near where I used to live, in Wales. I used to keep my horses at the stables and spent many a happy hour soaking up the atmosphere of this historic house, built in 1738. The Mansion has its share of ghosts and an interesting history. Late at night the stables would ring with unearthly screeches, like souls in torment. Actually it was nothing more sinister than a colony of screech owls nesting nearby. (Or so I was told.) The owner of the stables, which, when I was there, had been sold as a separate entity from...

Triskelion I was wondering what to do for my post this month and happened to glance at a silver ring given to me by my dear friend Mary, when I visited her in the States, recently. It's designed like  a  Celtic knot, combined with triskelions, and for me, represents the 'power of three' symbolising the friendship between her, our late much missed friend, the talented American author Sharon Donovan, and myself. This made me think of the research I did when writing 'Dancing with Fate', set in 5th Century Wales.  I enjoy finding pictures for my posts, and among some of the pictures I found in my file for the story, along with Greek gods and goddesses and war chariots,  were Triskelkions and Celtic knots. Lovespoon These designs are much used in Celtic jewellery and, of course, the traditional  Welsh carved wooden LoveSpoon. A triskelion or triskele is a motif consisting of three interlocked spirals, or three bent human legs, or any simil...