There is something magical about the narrow plain that rests between Snowdonia’s soaring peaks and the freezing waters of the Irish Sea. Morfa Bychan has a beach known as Black Rock Sands, which stretches for two miles from the eastern end of the Ynys Cyngar on the River Glaslyn estuary along Tremadog Bay to Criccieth beach. Its a place where dragons could sleep, longships could beach and warriors stalk over the undulating dunes.
In reality, this bay has also seen much war – Harlech Castle stands dominant across the bay, a reminder of English subjugation of the Welsh. To the West, a defiant riposte in the shape of the castle ruins at Criccieth is a reminder of welsh defiance. To this place I have returned for the last four years, and again this summer I came away with my mind brimming with possibilities, a dozen scenarios imagined for my forthcoming volumes of Song of the Elves.
I also had time to pen a couple of chapters of my side project – To the Ends of the Earth – a fantasy adventure inspired by the John Ford/John Wayne western, The Searchers. I will reveal more of the plot in coming weeks.
Until next time, up the elves!
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on Tuesday, August 27th, 2013 at 3:23 pm and is filed under Song of the Elves.
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About The Author
Writing has been my main form of escape since a child. Before teaching, I earned a living on a little known national newspaper, before discovering I also had a calling for the classroom.
The first embryonic scribbles for Song of the Elves emerged in 2000. I began writing the first trilogy as one continuous manuscript entitled The Summerlands, which I finally completed in the Winter of 2007. In the intervening years, I've been transforming this first draft into three distinct instalments of the saga. "A Shadow Falls" and "The King's Blades" have already seen the light of day. "Sins of the Father" will follow shortly. There will be a second trilogy to complete the saga, which I intend to commence work on in 2012. Book four is entitled "The Lost, The Lonely and the Damned".
I have also written a series of short tales entitled The Wolves of Winter, set in Rhoderica before the elves invaded the continent. This is now available through lulu.com as a paperback and via amazon kindle as an e-book.. My second, 'Tale of Rhoderica' will be a fantasy version of the great John Ford western - The Searchers. Entitled, To the Ends of the Earth', the novel will be out for Spring 2016. I am also half-way through a manuscript for a science fiction novel, entitled The Mirror of His Soul. Time and health permitting, these will all eventually see the light of day.
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