I’d just started the process of redesigning the Fionn mac Cumhaill Series book covers this week when these arrived in yesterday as part of a historical post. About eight years ago, I’d commissioned some covers and the artist came back with the attached images. At the time, although I was really impressed with her design… Read more »
Monoliths by Jonan Booth Remmers. Obviously, we have many variations of these back home, particularly around the Cork-Kerry area. People tend to forget however, that what we see today are little more than the ‘bones beneath the skin’. Most of these structures are the remnants of something that existed thousands of years ago. They don’t… Read more »
It’s almost four years ago now, since the pre-production work started on a television series based on ‘Liath Luachra: The Grey One‘. The series (to be produced by Graisland Entertainment) was renamed ‘Liath: Celtic Warrior’ and I confess I wasn’t particularly enamoured with the new name – it simply doesn’t make sense from an Irish… Read more »
After a hectic, but production poor 2023, I’m proactively returned to creative mode. At the moment, my key focus is on finishing ‘FIONN: The Betrayal’ – the fifth book in FIONN mac Cumhaill Series and, probably, the second last. This particular work has been a lot harder to write than most other books in the… Read more »
It’s hard to believe but it’s now coming up to ten years since I first started publishing books on Irish culture and Irish cultural belief systems. Back in 2013/14, I’d originally planned to write (and publish through a mainstream publisher) a non-fiction book related to Irish Fenian stories. What I ended up discovering through my… Read more »
A lot of people tend to forget that Fionn mac Cumhaill also held a reputation as a talented poet (which has a whole bunch of relevant associations) and the Fenian narratives are strongly linked with what’s generally referred to as ‘nature poetry’. A number of ‘nature poems’ are actually attributed to Fionn (and I’ve a… Read more »
‘Darthuala’ – a variant name for Deirdre (as in Deirdre of the Sorrows) – by British artist Henry Tidey. Tidey produced this sometime back in the 1980s. The painting was based on James Macpherson’s somewhat fraudulent representation of Gaelic works which, amusingly, makes this ‘a reinterpretation of a misrepresentation’. It’s quiet surprisingly how common this… Read more »
‘An Teachtaire‘ is an Irish-language book written by Colmán Ó Raghallaigh and published through the excellent Cló Mhaigh Eo. An Teachtaire can be translated as ‘The Messenger’ in English but of course there are a number of cultural connotations the English version misses out. In this book, the title refers specifically to Saint Patrick who… Read more »
I’m testing a new cover for ‘Liath Luachra: The Consent’ – a long-short story that follows on from the last Liath Luachra book (the Metal Men). I won’t be publishing a new Liath Luachra book until the end of 2024 at the earliest, so this was intended as an additional story for those who wanted… Read more »
I was trying to explain to someone yesterday about how I ended up having four different book series on the go at the same time. Beara: Dark Legends was my first book but it’s the type of book that takes ages to write (not linear and it’s actually two different – but interlinked – stories)… Read more »
What was prehistoric Ireland like 2,000 years ago? Before Christianity, when it was likely an Island with a population of 100,00 – 200,00 people? And how you get that across for a contemporary audience? I discuss this with the Irish Stew gang on the latest Irish Stew Podcast interview. You can find the link here:… Read more »
A fascinating Irish documentary was released yesterday on how Irish musicians are fusing rap music styles with native Irish poetry performance traditions and Sean-nós singing. As a general rule, its incredibly difficult to take two completely different art forms and merge them successfully (i.e. to make something worthwhile and which can stand on its own).… Read more »
