Tag Archives: After the Ruin
Banish misfortune (traditional music in fantasy)
Yesterday was the solstice, midwinter’s day here in the northern hemisphere. Dull it was too, a few cold spots of rain, and too overcast to see the Great Conjunction*, but this year is coming to its end and the dark … Continue reading
Imacah’s song
There are several songs in After the Ruin. Like the map, they’re there to give the impression of a world that is rather larger than the story between the covers of the book. The book was inspired by ballads so it felt … Continue reading
An end, maybe a beginning?
I’d like to say everything has sorted itself out, writing-wise, since my last post but I can’t, because it hasn’t. I’m in no part closer to finding the spark missing from my manuscript. Something has changed, however, as a result of a couple … Continue reading
Songs behind stories
This started out as a blog about folk songs. It’s evolved since then into a more general blog about books and writing, but the songs are still there in the background to my work. The inspiration they provide is nothing … Continue reading
The Crooked Path, winding its way into the world
The Crooked Path is published today! Stories link together. What is done in one time and place spreads out across the world to shape the future: there is never a single beginning, never a simple end. But, since this tale … Continue reading
Connections
If you’ve been following this blog you’ll know I’ve a new book coming out in September, The Crooked Path. The back cover calls it a prequel to After the Ruin, which is close enough. The more accurate wording is ‘A … Continue reading
A moment of balance
It’s the equinox today. I find it a curiously satisfying phenomenon – far more than either solstice, if truth be told – that entirely predictable balance of day and night, and no doubt it’s for this reason that it features so … Continue reading
‘Folk song’ in fantasy (Another post on world-building)
It’s no secret that After the Ruin was largely inspired by folk songs and that the book is a conscious response to many of the themes and motifs found in the Child Ballads. I’ve written about such things here so I won’t … Continue reading
A portrait and a poem
I’ve written previously on how folksongs inspired After the Ruin. There are a couple of other things as well. Firstly, a portrait of an unknown young man by Titian. It hangs now in the National Gallery in London, and I … Continue reading
The Borderlands
Another post on world-building in After the Ruin. This time, I’ll tell you a bit about the borderlands, the liùthion* and their king, and the firstborn tree. The borderlands The borderlands lie at the edges of the waking world. You … Continue reading
Folksong and Fantasy 