The Prophecies of Merlin, Mab Y Darogan and Welsh/Brythonic Vaticination.

Along with my fiction and gaming I will publish my serious and heavy academic work too!

I have decided to clean it up a little and publish it as a book, preferably through an academic publisher, my Master's dissertation 'Geoffrey Monmouth's Prophetiae Merlini and Welsh Prophetic Literature' very soon just to get started on releasing some academic works finally. I wrote and submitted this to Prifysgol Cymru Llanbedr in 2006!

Then I will eventually finish and publish my study on the Battle of Llongborth someday, it hinges and is dependent on the famous 'Arthurian' victory of the Battle of Badon Hill or Gwaith Caer Faddon. This is, as yet, incomplete and only notes and barely started.

My reasoning is, since I should be starting on my PhD in Celtic Studies soon, and wishing to jump back into Higher Education soon in the form of teaching, ideally, I want to throw in many serious academic works into my long lists of publications and bibliography too. It might be a little droll compared to my usual fare here, but it is still fun stuff!

UPDATE: I have already sent off a proposal to Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru (University of Wales Press) to see if this will be feasible. I believe it will be since I am a graduate of one of their universities and this is a dissertation they had to review and mark (pass). So now I wait....

The Sullen Queen is now published! Book One in the my 'Island of the Mighty' Series is Born!

Cast from the same fires that the ancient Brythonic sagas and tales that we only have the smallest remnants and hints from, as discovered in the Triads (Trioedd Ynys Prydain), the Book of Aneirin, the Stanza of the Graves and the many others sources of early Celtic mythology from Britain, my first story is now published! 'The Sullen Queen' is now in Kindle format and will be in print as well for all to read and review for themselves. Because my specialty is this subject I had hesitated writing tales in it, simply because I dreaded trying to figure out how to fit in EVERYTHING to do with the Post-Roman era and its peoples, so I wrote horror and Weird West instead. Doing so didn't get me anywhere as far as success but it did gain me experience in learning the craft of being an author, acquiring the technical side and humbling me soon enough to see that my skill wasn't as great as I imagined. 

I composed 'The Sullen Queen' in October of 2013 from a spontaneous will of wishing to reinvent my own writing career and taking my earlier Celtic novel project together and suddenly this happened in the result. Not only did I create something new, but related, but I also learned how to write better and proper in comparison to my earlier technique. My first draft was rough of course but by December it was done and then I was already into the sequel 'Within a Dark Mountain', a book that is now edited and ready to go (except for the cover). Where we lack the greater part of the saga of Prince Rhun from a mythical standpoint, I have created one on my own in these tales. 

Carefully I have taken the bits and pieces of the real Prince Rhun from history and myth and filled in the gaps using my three decades of study and research into his era, and plenty of imagination in between to flesh out his life starting from the age of fifteen on. Going from this age on the reader will learn about his past as one journeys into his future on his long and uncertain ride towards the tenuous chance of kingship of Gwynedd. Each book will flesh out his world, and those around it, below it and around it, more as he and his companions adventure onward. 

These novels tie in with my 'Codex Celtarum' and the adventure modules into one large 'set' together with each complimenting and adding to the other as a whole. One could gain the complete picture when all is said and done if you have them all and envision it all. Added to this, soon I will begin my PhD (hopefully) in Celtic Studies and it will be heavy research on the Celtic Otherworld. My Doctoral thesis will be exclusively about every scrap of what my work above is focused on, and so it will place it all into an academic perspective that will make complete sense to those readers that are very concerned and serious and want something MORE than just gaming and rolling dice. Trust me, this is and was a cultural matter long before it was ever placed into gaming context. 

This song is one that has been my motto during the creative process of writing these tales, 'Bring it back...' is exactly what I intend on doing through these tales. I wish to bring back glorious marvelous action packed stories filled with enchantment, monsters, gods and heroes. epic battles and more in the old style. I have put all of my effort forward in doing so. Part three, 'A Perilous Pursuit' is now midway from being written and it is already showing how such a saga is evolving and changing, much less maturing before my eyes. I cannot wait until that tale is published!  

The Codex Nordica Shall Be In Your Hands Come This Month (and Beyond)!

2014 - The Summer of Changes!

This summer brings new surprises to my career as an author and writer/designer. I have a newer image, both on the professional level and the personal one that I will project, along with my many publications, past and present. Also, I am pushing a different mode of work compared to my recent past wherein I primarily wrote and published only Steampunk Horror/Weird West genres, now I am focusing on what I know and do best - Celtic and fantasy fiction.

The last thirty years of my life were spent learning, studying and honing the craft of storytelling, and it for some of it, this was easy and natural, but putting it into written form however was not. Only recently has it been overcome, and now that it has, I can unleash the plethora of tales that fill my head into publishable stories. Once my 'Island of the Mighty' series is far enough along I will branch out into some other areas of fantasy, possibly even Sword & Sorcery (Hyborean even - think of 'Conan') style and see where that goes. It was my dream to write this going back to the early 80's when I first read Robert E. Howard. Only now am I acquiring a mote of his skill I believe. It just takes hard and constant work.

I DO have some Eldritch/Lovecraftian horror in mind around the corner however and it will fill the pages of my tales very soon. I won't ignore that part of my literary heritage or origins. First, I need to get those dragons, woad-painted Celtic armies, bands of wild faeries and Saxon hordes out of my system before I move onto non-Euclidean horrors. There will be time for that soon. My early experimental days of writing are over I believe, to learn and discover the mechanics and techniques of writing and what I am best at, that phase is done! Now it is the phase where I intend to shine as a true author in the finest sense of the word.

The Island of the Mighty Saga is About To Be Unleashed after 15 Centuries in Slumber!

In less than a month I will unveil and publish the long awaited 'The Sullen Queen'. I wrote this novel last year and Fall and it went through about three drafts and many, many edits and several Beta Readers before it finally reached the point it is at now. I believe fully in this novel and the series that will follow it. This will be a very ambitious project, one that dwarfs my others by far and the efforts behind it will show this as well. The true test will be once it is in the hands of the readers...and that time will come very soon, on the verge of May Day I believe! Nos Calan Mai in the Brythonic calender appropriately.

Book two, 'Within a Dark Mountain' will follow in its wake boldly and savagely as well as I introduce this series to all by this summer with two novels. You will be able to have the first two adventure tales of Prince Rhun ap Maelgwn in a short time to get you acclimated to heroic 6th century Prydain, and with this second book I introduce a new character to join him that I feel will be embraced and loved as much as the Prince. I just wanted to alert everyone that great and epic things are around the corner and they are fast arriving. 

I am already fast on the early and first draft of the third tale in the series 'A Perilous Pursuit' and it is rolling smoothly! The iron in the forge is smoldering and I must strike whilst it is hot. In these tales I plan to return to the old days of classic story-telling with fun, action packed stories, original and complex characters, dynamic plots and wonderful settings. The Beta Readers are eager for more and I am writing them as quick as I can! Book three, ideally, should be ready by late summer or early fall if everything goes to plan. I do not want to slow on my production and skill as an author.

Book four, 'Lord of Giants' will be next in line, and it is a doozy...

Codex Nordica, The Sullen Queen, Within a Dark Mountain and MORE!

I have been furiously writing as any writer/author should lately, even in the midst of my intense dental work schedule and other mundane world matters that intrude into my own plans. In the recent last few months I have written over 250,000+ words in content, all of which are being published in the next few months. I wrote so much that my laptop of barely two years suffered and perished in the process and had to be replaced, this is not an exaggeration or lie! Most are through Troll Lord Games and the rest in my new upcoming Celtic adventure novel series being introduced this summer. If you know anything about how my Codex Nordica Kickstarter went, it was a COMPLETE success bringing in at nearly 400% of what we needed and asked and this meant producing more content for the core Codex book, and write two adventure modules for it. I wrote 'Skallagrimr's Revenge' and 'Odin's Fury', the first two in the 13 part series planned that will be a linear campaign involving the Nine Worlds from Norse mythology. Using the Codex Nordica, the extra Kickstarter goodies it came with and the modules, the Castle Keeper can run an epic campaign unheard of in this genre. This is guaranteed!

In case you are wondering, the Codex Nordica has rolled off of the printers this week and will be going to the covers and binders and then be shipped out by early to mid-April! So be prepared for the Norse fun. I wrote this Codex in November of 2012 alongside its brother Codex, the Codex Germania, which is next in line later to be released. Also soon to be released is my next Celtic adventure module, the sequel to my award winning 'To King a King', the 'A Shattered Night'. It picks up right after the events in the last, even though it skips a beat to the Halloween module (Night of the Spirits) which will be released this October,and then resumes its place. 

In April, possibly late in the month I will publish and unveil my first Celtic adventure novel in my new series, the first book being called 'The Sullen Queen.' I wrote this in the Fall of 2013 and spent the last six months editing and revising it until it is now ready for release. It just lacks a cover, and that is being worked on now...in top secret! This series is labeled the 'Island of the Mighty Saga' and chronicles the early years of the mythical-historical Prince Rhun ap Maelgwn of Gwynedd on his rise to power in the 6th century. His many wild adventures in turbulent Britain during the Saxon invasions, Irish and Pictish raids and threats from the Otherworld, and the endless problems from his own peoples the Britons. To seal the deal, and because I believe in this project so much I am also releasing the second novel in the series barely a month afterwards! Part two, 'Within a Dark Mountain', continues his adventures and adds a new character to his story as well as prepares the saga for the epic events soon to come in the third installment 'A Perilous Pursuit'.  Of course I have spent most of my life researching this topic and have a Masters in Arthurian Studies, so I have a chance to dive in and go wild finally as an author in these tales. Before I never felt 'right' about doing it, as though my mountain of data was too much to reduce down to a novel, but I have found a way to translate it I believe.

My Beta Readers have said that it is better than Tolkien and hard to put down, so that is encouraging words to hear for sure! My style is somewhere between Tolkien and Lloyd Alexander for reference and at the same time something entirely different. The best way to know is to get a copy when the time comes and see for yourself! They will be available in print and in all eBook formats on amazon.com soon. Once they are I will post links, etc on here for all. 

My third Steampunk Horror novel, 'The Axis of Shadows' will FINALLY see publication from Damnation Books soon as well, possibly by May! I will have it proofed and sent to them very soon and then that will nearly conclude the series with one more story left in the works at 25% completed. Eventually I will complete this fourth novel and see it's end and then if the fan-base exists I will continue it, if not, I will move on gracefully and pursue my many other projects. It is the only way an artist can evolve is to adapt and not to linger and remain on old projects, or they will go stagnant. I DO have other terrifying horror projects, better ones, around the corner that will see the light someday...

The Codex Nordica is NOW alive on Kickstarter! Cast your oars and bids all...

Award winning, I have come from last year's Codex Celtarum to the next book in the series, the Codex Nordica, with vigor and the fury of the Northmen running in my veins. This book has perfected the design and layout and design I used in my first book and took it to a newer finer tuned level while revealing a new gamut of Nordic materials from history and mythology that would make any campaign explode with the unmistakable Scandinavian style and culture. 

On Kickstarter this book is now active with many stretch goals, each packed with really exciting goods and appropriate for the theme. Follow the link and take part and be there until the end in 32 days' time when it ends, we have grand surprises if all of the stretch goals are met by the end. If you have always wanted a Viking campaign that takes place in the Nine Worlds of myth and legend, and be able to play many unique character classes straight from Nordic culture and myth, this is your chance!