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AI in My Writing Process
I'm not going to dwell upon the debates and controversies of AI (Artifical Intelligence) here. What I am going to do it simply describe how and why I use AI during my writing process.AI ARTWhen I start a new book I often generate AI images for the ch...
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Humour in Novels
I've written three works of humour (that's 'humor' if you're in the United States!), all of which have been parodies. Parodies can be very silly. Mine are. There's something satisfying when you read a review, as I have with my own Pied & Prodigio...
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The Legend Behind The Old Woman of the Stones
My latest ebook novelette, a fantasy romance, is inspired by a semi-historical Scottish legend blended with some Scottish folklore. Here is that legend:The Tale of the Black Knight of Rhodes and his Return to Castle Kilchurn:Lady Margaret Campbell, S...
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Skyrim Orc Kharla Ironback
Ream/Royal Road Stories Launch
Today I have launched my very first serialized work of fiction, releasing at two episode per week (Monday and Fridays), on Ream Stories and Royal Road. It's called The Elderley Scrawls: Skewrim — The Unmodded Truth and is a parody of the main questli...
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The Inspiration behind The Serpent in the Glass
I started writing my first novel, The Serpent in the Glass, in 1997. Aimed at the Middle Grade audience, and the young at heart, it is a portal fantasy set in the borders of Scotland.Although the writing of the book was certainly later influenced by ...
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Worldviews in Fiction
"Before I buy a novel I like to know more than what can be gleaned from the cover and blurb. It might not be hard to work out the genre, even the subgenre and intended audience, but other properties of a work of fiction are not so easily discerned.On...
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lotr, the one ring, good vs evil, choice
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, and Free Will
Generations have been enthralled by Tolkien’s epic fantasy, “The Lord of The Rings”. Its pages have been studied alongside the works of C.S. Lewis in Christian-literature classes, a society exists dedicated to preserving it in the spirit of its autho...
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rusalki
Rusalki
One persistent group of enemies in Song Child is the rusalki. In Slavic folklore, a rusalka was a woman who had either died a violent death in water or committed suicide in water. These malevolent night-time creatures haunted rivers, lakes, pools of ...
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mester stoor worm from Visions of Alba by DM Andrews
Myth and Fantasy
“The peculiar quality of the ‘joy’ in successful Fantasy can thus be explained as a sudden glimpse of the underlying reality of truth.” Since my childhood, I've had an interest in myth, folklore, folk tales, and even legends — not in the mythos ...
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The inspiration behind Song Child
My interest in Slavic culture and myths began in earnest in 2020 after I started listening to folk (and other) songs from that part of the world. Having had an interest in folklore and myth, chiefly Irish and Norse, since childhood, it was perhaps in...
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