At this time of year, you can offer someone best wishes or a peaceful Lá Fhéile Bríde (St Brigid’s day) or Imbolg, depending on which way your belief system drifts. The former ( Lá Fhéile Bríde) is now an official holiday in Ireland (on Monday 6 Feb). I’m pretty agnostic about both, to be honest (although I’m totally… Read more »
Some readers might find this image a little familiar. That’s because it’s remarkably similar to the layout of the ‘Crannóg‘ used in the book ‘LIATH LUACHRA: The Metal Men‘. In fact, this is an early image of the ráth at the Irish National Heritage Park. It has a very similar layout to the fictional crannóg… Read more »
This is the Ballinderry Gaming Board held by the National Museum of Ireland which is often used to portray the ancient Irish game of ‘Fidchell’ – a game I occasionally make reference to in my own Fionn mac Cumhaill books. Like many non-native representations of Irish culture however, this one is also flawed in that… Read more »
Initial thoughts.Predominantly one character alone in the forest. No dialogue apart from limited self-dialogue. This book is quite an experimental work for me but one I’ve really felt compelled to write. I’m particularly enjoying the challenge of trying to make the story work effectively (in terms of mystery and action) within such a limited setting.… Read more »
Much of what people think of when they think of Irish Mythology is flawed, influenced by decades of commercial fantasy entertainment, or rendered generic to the point of irrelevance. This (and a number of other influences) has essentially meant Irish mythology is now a subject lacking a clear intellectual architecture or even a basic, a… Read more »
We’re shutting down for Christmas shortly so a huge thank you to everyone who’s supported us over 2022. I’ll leave you with my favourite image of 2022 – a still from Macnas ‘Gilgamesh’. Wishing you all a peaceful Christmas and a safe New year. Beannachtaí na Nollag oraibh go léir!
A segment from the second Beara book, Beara: Cry of the Banshee Although this sequel to Beara: Dark Legends is still very far from even a first draft, I was doing some work on it last weekend. This is a quiet scene between two of Mos’ co-characters: ‘kind-of’ partner, Ailbhe/Olva (Hungarian magician and acrobat) and… Read more »
An impressive stainless streel representation of Fionn (and doggies) in Kildare. I really like the style by Lynn Kirkmann (the creating artist) but I was surprised at the Kildare County Council website notice which provided the following text: —————————— The sculpture came about following a consultation with Kildare County Council who wished to commission a… Read more »
For all of the bad news over 2022 (the Ukraine War, Climate change disasters, attacks on democracy etc.), the year was a relatively calm time at Irish Imbas Books and we managed to release a trio of works that I’m quite proud of. In March, the fourth book in the Irish Woman Warrior Series –… Read more »
This is a representation from illustrator Arthur Rackam of Liath Luachra teaching Demne (the young Fionn) at a very early age. It’s actually a visual representation of a scene from Macgnímartha Finn where Liath Luachra and the young Fionn chase other around a tree with a switch. There are quite a few interesting and unknown… Read more »
Louth has been running a pretty fun community re-enactment of An Táin every summer since 2011 (sadly cancelled in 2020/2021 due to Covid) and it was back again in June this year. Designed as a community walking and cultural education festival, it usually begins in Rathcroghan (where Queen Maeve first assembled her army to obtain… Read more »
A quick shout out to the Irish Field Archery Monthly Magazine which is running a copy of my article on “Bows and Chariots in Ancient Ireland – The Facts and the Fantasies” in their latest edition. Kudos to the creators and their work- I know how difficult it is to produce a regular publication while… Read more »
The first reviews from the paperback are just starting to trickle in. Usually, by the time I release a book I’m far too close to tell if its any good or not. As a result, it’s always a bit of a relief to find the reviews are positive. The digital version gets released on on… Read more »
I’m currently in the process of outlining the next book in the Fionn mac Cumhaill Series, which will finish up the adventure commenced in ‘Fionn: Stranger at Mullan Ban‘ (but not the series). All going well, I’m aiming to have this out in Oct/Nov 2023. This current arc develops the ongoing direction of the series… Read more »
One of the early variations from artist Brian Mahy when developing the cover for Liath Luachra: The Seeking. This was at a point where we were still playing with the colour palette and we hadn’t reached the final ‘look’. I’d asked Bryan to get me a somewhat shocking/bracing cover that reflected the anger/frustration of the… Read more »
With ‘Fionn: Stranger at Mullan Ban’ now sorted and ready for release next month I’ve been focusing more on ‘Liath Luachra: The Great Wild’, which I’m hoping to release in the first half of 2023. Usually, when I’m starting a new book, I play around with the first chapter for a time as this cements… Read more »
There’s not a great amount of evidence about early Roman interaction with the island now known as Ireland but there are a few tantalising items. Unlike Great Britain and most of the European Continent, Ireland was never controlled by Roman interests, although the Roman Empire was almost certainly aware of its existence even at that… Read more »
Macnas have put together another impressive art creation for the Halloween celebrations in Galway (down at Fisheries Field, on the banks of the River Corrib) this year. It’s accessible on Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th October. [Images from Macnas] The blurb is as follows: Inventors and explorers from all over the world are baffled by… Read more »
