Dia Dhaoibh a Chairde/ Hallo Friends! Welcome to the launch post for Dark Dawn/An Camhaoir Fuilsmeartha. Through the image link below you’ll be transferred to an experimental format literary game relating to the ancient Irish Fianaigeacht – Fenian Cycle – tales (and to some of my own Fionn mac Cumhaill Series books). At heart, it’s… Read more »
An ingenious 2020 Irish production by Meangadh Fíbín (for TG4 – the Irish langauge content creator and broadcaster) just recently picked up the ‘Most Original and Innovative’ award at the Prix Circom Awards ceremony. ‘Samhlú’ (which means ‘fancy’ or ‘imagination’) was a cultural showcase celebrating artistic endeavour and creativity in Ireland thorugh that very challenging… Read more »
Introduction: It’s raining butcher knives and my chest aches but Fiacail has a plan. That’s the way of it! Little more than two days’ comfort here at Ráth Bládhma and already we’re caught up in its people’s problems. But … it’s a nice place, I’ll give them that. A secluded, V-shaped valley, deep in the… Read more »
AG TEACHT 11 BEALTAINE! Tá sé ag cur sceana gréasaí agus tá pian i mo chliabhrach, ach tá plean ag Fiacail. Sin an chaoi a bhfuil sé! Níl muid anseo i Ráth Bládhma ach dhá lá agus tá muid sáite i bhfadhbanna mhuintir na háite cheana féin. Ach… is áit dheas é. Gleann amuigh ar… Read more »
One of the aspects I delve into a little deeper with the book Liath Luachra: The Seeking (and the entire series, in fact) is around the workings of ‘tribes’, at least in terms of how they related to ancient Ireland. The concept of ‘tribe’ (‘tuath’ or ‘treibh’ in Irish) is one that most westerners are… Read more »
On 11 May, the story Dark Dawn/ Camhhaoir Fuilsmeartha will finally be released online. A creative project that’s been in development for almost two years, I’m feeling both relief and excitement at finally having it ready for launch. Set in 1st Century Ireland, it tells the tale of a dying warrior who’s been assigned to… Read more »
Apparently it’s been three years since I last released a Liath Luachra book through the usual ebook stores. I do recall that, on that last occasion, I mistakenly made the book exclusive to Amazon. As a result, it was another three months before anyone who didn’t buy it through Amazon could obtain a copy. I… Read more »
I came across an interesting graphic novel last week called Judge Dredd: Emerald Isle. Originally published back in 2002, it was written by Belfast comic writer Garth Ennis and drawn by Steve Dillon (as part of the famous ‘Judge Dredd’ series) and it plays with every possible cliché of Ireland and Irish people – to… Read more »
In a world dominated by ‘genre’ entertainment based on clichés and tropes, I’ve always been impressed by creatives that surprise me. That’s something I, personally, strive to do with my own work but, cynic that I am, it’s something I rarely experience myself. I was fortunate to have one of those rare events last night… Read more »
It’s interesting for me to look back on some of the older posts and articles in this site and see how my plans and intentions have changed over the years. I recently came an article from 4 years back where I’d outlined some of my book plans including Liath Luachra: Sons of the Land Bodhmhall:… Read more »
Producing and distributing a professional ‘product’ takes time and effort (or a lot of spare money!). One of the issues asociated with being a niche, part-time creator therefore, is that competing priorities generally constrict you from achieving the things you want to achieve (in the time you want to achieve them). Add in family, other… Read more »
Ireland: First/Second Century In the isolated valley of Gleann Ceoch, a dying warrior is assigned to defend the isolated settlement of Ráth Bládhma (future home of Fionn mac Cumhaill) from an incursion of enemy scouts. This experimental format story in Irish and English will be released in May 2021 – final date yet to be… Read more »
Galway’s Macnas are probably Ireland’s most innovative live ‘theatre’ group – they’re certainly one of the most visually spectacular. As an alternative to the plastic 2021 St Paddy’s experience (Covid-19 version) therefore, you might want to consider checking out their Galway 2020 commission – Gilgamesh. As mythological epics go, this one is an interesting narrative… Read more »
It’s always nice when a box of books arrives at the door, a delivery I tend to limit to once a year. Usually, this occurs only when I’m releasing one of my own books (Liath Luachra: The Seeking, in this case) or printing off a small number of books for presents/reviews, or treating myself to… Read more »
There’s a lot of rubbish online about Sheela Na Gigs. Carvings of female figures displaying an exaggerated vulva, there’s certainly a sexual reference in there somewhere, but the truth is that we still don’t really know what they were used for, or what they’re meant to represent. Although found across the European contient, the largest… Read more »
With the ‘soft’ release of Liath Luachra: The Seeking, I now have a slight breather where I can mull over future works in the pipeline and consider what’s coming up next. In terms of “Definitely Coming Soon”, I can confirm priority on the following projects: (1) Camhaoir Fuilsmeartha/ Dark DawnThis Irish/English language project will be… Read more »
I had a bit of fun with ‘Facebook Shops’ recently. A recent attempt by the social media company to break into the eCommerce market, I’d generally avoided Facebook Shops in the past as it was simply too difficult to load products onto it. Remarkably complicated and driven by a clunky algorithm, it always seemed to… Read more »
As promised, Liath Luachra: The Seeking is finally being released today. It’s something of a ‘soft’ launch however (in that you wont see much fanfare) as the book will only be available in digital form through the Irish Imbas Books website (and in paperback form through Amazon) for the next month or two. After that,… Read more »
