Recent Reads

Recent Reads

Strange the Dreamer

Strange the Dreamer is the first novel in the new series, of the same title by American author Laini Taylor. The previous bestselling trilogy Daughter of Smoke and Bone enchanted younger and older adult readers alike. ​Strange the Dreamer follows a new protagonist in a mythic world sharing some elements with the Daughter of Smoke and… Continue reading Strange the Dreamer

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Namarrgon: Lightning Spirit

Namarrgon is an indigenous Australian creation ancestor, a powerful spirit of the Arnhem Land plateau in the Kakadu region responsible for violent monsoon storms of Northern Australia. In the indigenous stories of Namarrgon, violent lightning and thunder storms each tropical summer are associated with the axes he throws, splitting the clouds to cause thunder and… Continue reading Namarrgon: Lightning Spirit

Recent Reads

Lord of the Darkwood

The Lord of the Darkwood is the final installment in the  Fantasy series The Tale of Shikanoko by Lian Hearn. The Tale of Shikanoko is inspired by medieval Japan and although the series takes place in a fictional setting, the beautiful descriptions of the Snow Country and the wilderness of Japan are clearly taken from the… Continue reading Lord of the Darkwood

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Bone Arrow Release

Excitement has been growing and finally, the announcement that debut Fantasy novel Bone Arrow is now available in eBook and paperback formats. I have enjoyed exploring Amerindian folktales and traditions which inspired me to re-imagine a Fantasy landscape where global fables and legends resonant in the constant shifting dominance of light and darkness.

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Spinning Silver

The best-selling US author Naomi Novik returns to her Polish heritage in a retelling of Slavic folktales. In Spinning Silver, Miryem is the granddaughter of a prominent Jewish moneylender in the city of Vysnia. In a small village outside Vysnia, Miryem's father is poorly suited to his position as a moneylender, with his own family… Continue reading Spinning Silver

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Legend of the Platypus

The platypus is an iconic Australian native semi-aquatic, burrowing, egg-laying mammal (monotreme) with an unusual soft-bill, webbed feet and a thick “beaver-like” tail covered in a soft fur pelt. An indigenous Australian legend details the origins of these eclectic physical features according to indigenous cultural heritage. The indigenous Australian legend retold in Aboriginal Stories by… Continue reading Legend of the Platypus

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Idunn: Guardian of Youth

Idunn is a Norse goddess, the guardian of a sacred fruit that provides immortality to the Aesir. There are several accounts of Idunn in the Prose Edda where she is often described as possessing child-like trust, giving her a sense of naivety. The first account of Idunn is in the Gylfaginning of the Prose Edda,… Continue reading Idunn: Guardian of Youth

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Yggdrasil & the Eddas

The texts in the Poetic Edda are considered older than those recorded in the Prose Edda. The Poetic Edda consists of ancient Norse poems, the mythologies and legends recounted in a specific style of stanzas found only in the Icelandic texts, a written version of ancient Nordic oral traditions. As such, the poems recorded in… Continue reading Yggdrasil & the Eddas

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Yggdrasil

Yggdrasil, also known as the World Tree or The Great Ash, upholds the Nine Realms and is a prominent part of Norse Cosmology. Yggdrasil has three main roots which each connect to one of the three planes that support the Nine Realms. One of Yggdrasil's roots is located in Nifelheim, the realm of the dead.… Continue reading Yggdrasil