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Taken-aback by Aquaman
Aquaman - a lavish, entertaining romp that plays to mythological roots to bring out the best in its story.
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Twisted Myths in the house
It’s been a bit of an open secret that I’ve written a sequel of sorts to Twisted Fairy Tales, which is called Twisted Myths. It’s been up for pre-order on Amazon.com for a few months, and the eagle-eyed among you will have seen it mentioned at the end of my last interview with Dennis Abrams. Still, sometimes you’re not allowed to discuss these things until the publisher gives you the green light, or the advance copy of the book arrives in the door – which it did this morning. This collection contains twenty myths from around the world, along with an introduction by me. It features artwork by the fabulously-talented…
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day of the dead
It’s Día de los Muertos in parts of the world today. I like the holiday with its emphasis on visiting graves, and being cosy with the dead. The picture on the right is one I drew a few years ago in my moleskine notebook. I love the calavera tradition of decorated skulls. Venerating the skull, as the repository of the brain and human spirit, is a common element in many cultures, including our own. Head-hunting, and the display of the skulls of conquered enemies, was a practice in ancient Europe. And the lure of the skull is still strong today. I’m a regular reader of the Fortean Times, and look…
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two nobles
There are a lot of Holly trees my local woods. Not that you’d notice during the summer, when the other trees flounce about in their finery. Lately, I’ve noticed Holly’s re-emergence as one of the dominant personalities of the woodlands as we spin further into autumn. The above photograph is of a Holly tree growing under an Oak which I took yesterday. In Irish lore there were four classifications of trees, the highest being Airig Fedo, or Nobles of the Wood. There were seven trees in that caste, including Oak and Holly. As I considered the mythology of trees, as well as this image of the two nobles standing beside…
