Hail Éarendel!
In which I examine the connections of one of Tolkien's most famous characters to Shakespeare, Norse myth, and a local legend from...
Some Scottish Red Weddings
The theme of sacrosanct hospitality being murderously abused looms large in Scottish history and legend. Content note: murder; spousal...
Reviews: Lilith's Love and Arthur's Bosom, by Tyler R. Tichelaar
We left Tyler Tichelaar's Arthur's Children series on a cliffhanger in 1995, at the end of Ogier's Prayer. (Here I must apologise for...
Old Tales Retold: Here Be Dragons
The second volume of Old Tales Retold is out! As with Sprites and Goblins, I didn't feel the book itself was the place for notes on the...
Reviews: Melusine's Gift and Ogier's Prayer, by Tyler R. Tichelaar
In the second and third books of his Children of Arthur series (following on from Arthur's Legacy, reviewed here), Tyler Tichelaar turns...
Orcs before Tolkien
A look at the early literary history of orcs. Content note: racism. Image: engraving of Orcus from Orlando Furioso. The orc – generally a...