[Pic: Lagertha, from the television series: Vikings – often misrepresented as a ‘Celtic’ or ‘Oirish’ woman warrior online] There’s a lot of fantasy out there when it comes to women warriors, particularly where it relates back to those in the Irish or “Celtic” realm. To be fair, the subject of women warriors is hardly a new… Read more »
Shortlist for the 2017 Celtic Mythology Short Story Competition
In summary, forty submissions were received for the Irish Imbas: Celtic Mythology Short Story competition this year and the standard was far more diverse in terms of submission quality than for any of the previous competitions. As always, some submissions were of very high quality but quite a number this year really weren’t at a level… Read more »
Irish Mythology, Newly Discovered Werewolves and Other People’s Spin
Much of what people see as Irish folklore and Irish mythology today, is actually a confused muddle of snippets of fact, cultural misinterpretation, Chinese whispers, intentional and unintentional misinformation. Generally speaking, the latter tends to be disseminated by bloggers who aren’t Irish (but have an interest in what they call ‘Celtic’ mythology) however most people… Read more »
LIATH LUACHRA : THE PURSUIT being released tomorrow (or… today)
LIATH LUACHRA : THE PURSUIT Depending on which side of the planet you’re on, the short story LIATH LUACHRA : THE PURSUIT is due for release tomorrow. Or,… er, the day after. This follows the adventures of the character best described as “The thinking woman’s warrior!”
The Celtic Mythology Short Story Competition – Three Years on
When we set up the first Celtic Mythology Short Story Competition back in 2015, we were pretty clear with respect to our overall goal: improving the appreciation and comprehension of Gaelic/Celtic mythology. At the time, merging that goal with the ability to increase the visibility of new authors seemed like a win-win situation and, to… Read more »
A New Liath Luachra Story Coming Shortly
After two pretty shocking workload months, we’re finally at a point where we can actually release some new writing. This short story (The Pursuit) should be selectively available at the end of next week (before we close down for the month of August) and more widely in September. The story takes place sometime after the… Read more »
New FIONN: Defence of Ráth Bládhma Cover Launched (and associated sale)
Well, it’s taken a while but we’re finally launching the new ebook cover for FIONN: Defence of Ráth Bládhma (first book in the Fionn mac Cumhaill series and SPFBO 2016 finalist). To celebrate this …. er, momentous occasion we’re setting the price at 99c/99p FOR THE NEXT THREE DAYS (i.e. over the weekend). Thanks to… Read more »
Irish Imbas: Celtic Mythology Collection 2017 is Now Available (partially) Online
We initiated the release of the second Celtic Mythology Collection yesterday and it’s a pretty impressive collection. I guess as editor, I’d be expected to say that anyway but the truth is I’m genuinely impressed, probably because of the larger range and mythological depth of the stories in this edition. From our perspective, the primary… Read more »
The Completion of Two Irish Imbas Projects, the Start of Another
The first batch of hardcopies for Fionn: The Adversary arrived in this morning. Fifteen copies and they’re already gone, mostly committed to people who’ve helped with the production, editing, reviewing etc. I think I have a single copy left which is remaining here on the home shelf. Even after all these years, there’s still a… Read more »
Odd Dynamics of the Celtic Mythology Short Story Competition
ODD DYNAMICS IN THE CELTIC MYTHOLOGY SHORT STORY COMPETITION In 2015, when we ran the very first Celtic Mythology Short Story Competition, we received about 35 submissions. This year, we were expecting a slight increase but, in fact, that number more than doubled. This caught us by surprise and it involved a lot more work… Read more »
The Surprising Truth about Irish Women Warriors
There’s a lot of fantasy out there when it comes to women warriors, particularly where it relates to characters mentioned in Irish/Celtic mythology. To be fair, the subject’s hardly a new one. Writers and readers have been enamoured by tales of fighting women since people first started telling stories (particularly Herodotus with his notes on… Read more »
Update on the Celtic Mythology Short Story Competition
Less than four weeks now remain before submissions close for the Celtic Mythology Short Story Competition (closing date is 10 December 2016). Feedback on your submissions: After some discussion amongst ourselves, we’ve decided to offer the possibility of feedback (from the judges/editor) to those authors whose stories didn’t make the final Celtic Mythology Collection. Having… Read more »