Tag: celtic

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Foxmask – Juliet Marillier

A book reivew! It has been a while…

Foxmask by Juliet Marillier

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of her best, and I have read almost all of them now.

The islands are beautifully described and you have such a clear sense of place; I would now love to visit, as with the Orkneys, Scotland and Ireland. The main characters are real and vibrant, with quirks and flaws. The writing is lyrical, lovely, evocative and of a high standard; you will not be jolted by a clumsy phrase or plot hole (although I think twins became just one child without explanation!). There was plenty of myth, enchantment and wonder, which I love in her stories. It was balanced, and no she doesn’t rush, but there is a dreamlike quality to the work which just draws me in until I have read for much longer than intended. I don’t ever want to hurry, as I don’t want it to be over!

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In addition to the review, I will say that I have a Celtic fantasy on the boil. It is plotted, but not really started. Juliet Marillier and Marion Zimmer Bradley are my inspirations here. There is little or nothing written in this vein about Wales, though – and there should be. We have dragons, Myrddin Emrys (Merlin), Idris and his Cadair, ladies in lakes, giants and maidens. We have the Mabinogion! The Red Book! And much more.

While I am studying coding languages, other language learning such as Welsh and English (you never stop learning even with a PhD in it) will slow somewhat. I find Javascript as exciting as learning any language though, and you can really do some things with it!

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What rules?

“She was already learning that if you ignore the rules people will, half the time, quietly rewrite them so that they don’t apply to you.” (Terry Pratchett, Equal Rights)

If, that is, if you’re that good at whatever you’re trying to do, they want you regardless. (At least that’s how I’m interpreting it.)

And let’s hope so, because I am going to apply for a research fellowship. I have is a complex and interesting idea for a project, but will they think so? My application won’t follow a lot of the rules, because it’s quite a short-dated opportunity, but I might as well give it a go, right?

Every time I talk myself out of it with sensible advice, something like this pops up and whispers to me, “You want to write this, so why not just do it?”

Gewn ni weld.