World-building: The Power of Symbols in Fiction
“[The universe] cannot be understood until we have learnt the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written. It is written in mathematical language, and its characters are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures.” – Galileio Galilei (1564 – 1642) Symbols are all around us. From the commercial and political to…Read More
Cathars: The Italian Connection
“Heresy signifies no more than private opinion.” — Thomas Hobbes In my novel, Graëlfire, the medieval subplot revolves around the persecution of the gnostic, Christian Cathar sect in Languedoc and a flight to sanctuary among their brethren in Northern Italy. I knew this storyline might raise questions in some readers’ minds: Cathars in Italy? I…Read More
Supernatural Stones and the Grail Quest
“Men have collected stones since the beginning of time and have apparently assumed that certain ones were the containers of the spirit of the life-force.” – Carl Jung Graëlfire is a contemporary reinterpretation of a timeless tale: the legend of the Grail and the quest to locate it. The story was inspired by the medieval…Read More
Real-World Inspiration for Fantasy Settings
“The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust Perhaps it’s my northern soul, but the connection between landscape and myth has always lured me – how prominent features in the countryside provided a prism through which our ancestors sought to understand the mysteries…Read More
