Maps

 Writing about Gwernin Storyteller's travels requires detail. In the days before internet resources were available, I acquired topographic maps for approximately 80% of Britain, and still use them. Although I have visited most of the places I write about, some of those visits were over twenty years ago, and looking at the maps helps me remember them. Moreover, I have to image what those places would have been like in the 6th century! Nowadays, however, I do use Google maps to compute distances when figuring out how far Gwernin and his friends could ride (in a leisurely fashion) in a day.

Chapter titles

 My Storyteller books are in some ways travelogues, following Gwernin Storyteller on a season's wanderings. The chapter titles reflect this, although not always in the way one would expect. The first book, with its short chapters and two-part organization, is somewhat of an exception. The first half - "A Circuit Around Wales" - follows the usual spring-to-fall pattern and reflects a journey I had just made myself. In the second half of the book - "Winter in the Hills" - Gwernin has settled down for the winter with his teacher, and character development had to take the place of travel descriptions. I did not know, by the way, that I was writing a novel at that point, never mind the first of a series of novels - I thought I was writing a connected series of short pieces for a local newsletter. As things went on, however, I learned differently.

Still here...

 A year and a half since I posted here, and almost a year since I finished my following book, "The King's Druid". Both books are available on Amazon and from Lulu and other sites (hint: I get substantially more money from Lulu purchases). The ebooks for "The Fallen Stones" and "The King's Druid" are now available from Smashwords and other distribution sites, but probably won't be on Amazon. And I've started work again on the next Storyteller book, tentatively titled "The Old Gods Endure".

First chapter...

Sliabh na Caillighe

The boy sat leaning against one of the large gray stones, enjoying the warmth of the early sunlight after the chill of the night. He had a hunk of stale barley bread in his right hand, having saved it for his breakfast, but he was not eating it; instead he was thinking back to the ritual he had witnessed the night before. The sunlight shone on his shoulder-length black hair, and sparkled in his inwardly-gazing dark eyes. He was seven years old, and should not have spent the night alone on the hill, but he was as indifferent to the possible dangers from wolves or wild men as he was to the beating that he would probably get when he returned to his father’s ráth below. Fráechán always went his own way, whatever the cost...

April 2020...

Well, well. This blogsite is still here, and so am I. I think  I may have to start using it again.

Since last October, I finally completed my fourth Gwernin Storyteller book (after a ten year wait!). It is live on Lulu now (http://www.lulu.com/shop/g-r-grove/the-fallen-stones/paperback/product-24494258.html) and should be on Amazon in about a month. In the meantime, I've started a spin-off dealing with one of the people (I can't call them characters; they are too real to me) in "The Fallen Stones". I'm thinking sharing some bits on this site from time to time.

work has begun

so far I'm reading the manuscript and doing some background review...

It's a new year...

...and I'm doing a little preparatory research for the next Gwernin book...

How time passes...

Well, I'm still alive, and planning to finally get back to writing after new years... In the meantime, I'm hoping to post occasionally on this blog site...

OK, the beginning of the next Gwernin book...

"Taliesin sang it, so it must be true. In all the years I knew him, I never heard him lie—though there are ways and ways of dealing with the truth, and a bard must know them all. But he was using none of these on the night when he sang Talhaearn Tad Awen’s death song in Prince Cyndrwyn’s high-roofed wooden hall, with the cold wolf-wind of a bitter winter snuffling round the doors and windows, and frightening the flickering torch-flames which cast his long black shadow, now here, now there, across the smoke-stained walls: across the faces of all of us who listened, and across our lives as well."

Still here...

Yes, I'm still alive <grin> - I've just been preoccupied with other projects for the last year. I am planning to get back soon to my next Storyteller novel, which has been languishing for quite a while now. In the meantime, here's a picture of baby squirrels!

Still here...

I've been posting mostly on Facebook lately, but I suppose I should make an effort to keep up this blog as well. We'll see how well I succeed. In the meantime, here's a picture from my garden - tomatoes in the cold frame (and a few timy peppers midstage right)!