Happy Tolkien Reading Day!

Tolkien Reading Day takes place annually on March 25th, the anniversary of the destruction of the One Ring and the Fall of Sauron. In celebration of this momentous literary occasion, here’s an expanded update of my previous Tolkien music playlist “Hobbit Day 2021”. This takes us through the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and

Escape Routes (Novel Excerpt)

This is the fourth excerpt from my upcoming novel tentatively titled “Elder Rites” which was begun on November 1st, 2020 for National Novel Writing Month and is intended to be the first volume of an as yet unnamed dark fantasy series set in a world of myth and magic which now finds itself on the

Little Finger of Vecna: A Neutral Evil Rogue of Some Question

I can’t imagine that anyone is at all interested in my not-so-original D&D character creations, especially when they only exist in an ancient video game hardly anyone plays anymore, but I do enjoy writing about them, so there’s that. This time around my inspiration comes from Petyr Baelish, a character from HBO’s fantasy series Game

Happy Hobbit Day!

My sister and I put together a playlist of festive hobbity music for our celebrations that I just had to share with you because honestly I think it’s just perfect. Well, we worked long and hard on it so it better be! This year we wanted to combine the pagan celebration of the autumn equinox

Gift of the Unicorn: An Original Fairy Tale (Part IV)

Read Part I – Read Part II – Read Part III “No, I will not do this.” Prince Zakir was adamant. “I will not keep secrets from my wife. There has to be another way.” “There is none, my prince,” the unicorn replied sadly. “Then I must remain celibate, even if it be for the

Gift of the Unicorn: An Original Fairy Tale (Part III)

Read Part I – Read Part II So did the prince ride upon the unicorn’s back, far to the west, swifter than the wind, through many kingdoms and principalities, across deserts scarcely inhabited, over mountains and seas, until at last they arrived at the briar wall that enclosed the dwelling place of the legendary maiden.

Gift of the Unicorn: An Original Fairy Tale (Part II)

Read Part I Meanwhile the legend of Geva’s beauty continued to spread throughout the land, and even to lands beyond. And with the legend of her beauty went the legend of her imprisonment behind the briar wall. So of course it wasn’t long before all manner of would-be suitors started coming from all over to

Gift of the Unicorn: An Original Fairy Tale (Part I)

That he should come—and pass—and would not stay,The Silken-swift—the gloriously Fair!That he should come—and pass—and would not stay… ~Theodore Sturgeon There was once a farmer’s widow whose life was never ending toil. All she had ever wanted was a child of her own, but her husband had died before that dream could be realised, and

Witch’s Hill: An Original Fairy Tale

Red blood out and black blood inMy nanny says I’m a child of sin—How did I choose me my witchcraft kin?Know I as soon as dark’s dreams beginSnared is my heart in a nightmare’s gin… ~Walter de la Mare, “The Little Creature” As the young woman entered the lone cottage on the edge of the

Easter With Excalibur

This post includes spoilers for the 1981 film Excalibur. Watching John Boorman’s epic 1981 fantasy film Excalibur has become an Easter tradition in my family, not just because at one point a priest praying for deliverance from the film’s main villain, Morgana, intones the words: “and on this Easter day, when Christ rose from the