Oh, I’ve been a bad blogger!

It’s been a manic year for me, to be honest. I graduated from my PhD (hooray), moved to another country (sort of, don’t @me friends who know where) and began an exciting new adventure.

[image error]In the midst of that another exciting thing happened which is my Igraine series came out! And like all of literature before, I have rudely and unfairly ignored her because of the mania going on in my personal life, so without further ado here she is!

You can already get all three parts, and watch this space because before too long the lovely Book Folks will be putting together the combined version with the paperback.

I[image error]n this series, I wanted to explore a darker and more troubled and troubling relationship still! Not just between Uther and Igraine, though here I had an opportunity to see how desire and violence intertwise, but also between ancient Britain and its Roman past. In a story that roots my original Arthurian series in it’s pre-Arthurian past, I’ve also thought about something that I wish I saw more in medieval texts – the shadow of the Roman past.

We know this is something people thought about in the Middle Ages, and I wanted to think about all the ways the past intertwines with the present and [image error]the way different pasts are negotiated in this series. I hope you enjoy it!

Find the trilogy here! 

I leave you with the Exeter Book ruin riddle:

Wrætlic is þes wealstan, wyrde gebræcon;

burgstede burston, brosnað enta geweorc.

Hrofas sind gehrorene, hreorge torras,

hrungeat berofen, hrim on lime,

scearde scurbeorge scorene, gedrorene,

ældo undereotone. Eorðgrap hafað

waldend wyrhtan forweorone, geleorene,

heardgripe hrusan, oþ hund cnea

werþeoda gewitan. Oft þæs wag gebad

ræghar ond readfah rice æfter oþrum,

ofstonden under stormum; steap geap gedreas.

Wunað giet se …num geheapen,

fel on

grimme gegrunden

scan heo…

…g orþonc ærsceaft

…g lamrindum beag

mod mo… …yne swiftne gebrægd

hwætred in hringas, hygerof gebond

weallwalan wirum wundrum togædre.

Beorht wæron burgræced, burnsele monige,

heah horngestreon, heresweg micel,

meodoheall monig mondreama full,

oþþæt þæt onwende wyrd seo swiþe.

Crungon walo wide, cwoman woldagas,

swylt eall fornom secgrofra wera;

wurdon hyra wigsteal westen staþolas,

brosnade burgsteall. Betend crungon

hergas to hrusan. Forþon þas hofu dreorgiað,

ond þæs teaforgeapa tigelum sceadeð

hrostbeages hrof. Hryre wong gecrong

gebrocen to beorgum, þær iu beorn monig

glædmod ond goldbeorht gleoma gefrætwed,

wlonc ond wingal wighyrstum scan;

seah on sinc, on sylfor, on searogimmas,

on ead, on æht, on eorcanstan,

on þas beorhtan burg bradan rices.

Stanhofu stodan, stream hate wearp

widan wylme; weal eall befeng

beorhtan bosme, þær þa baþu wæron,

hat on hreþre. þæt wæs hyðelic.

Leton þonne geotan

ofer harne stan hate streamas

un…

…þþæt hringmere hate

þær þa baþu wæron.

þonne is

…re; þæt is cynelic þing,

huse …… burg….
This masonry is wondrous; fates broke it

courtyard pavements were smashed; the work of giants is decaying.

Roofs are fallen, ruinous towers,

the frosty gate with frost on cement is ravaged,

chipped roofs are torn, fallen,

undermined by old age. The grasp of the earth possesses

the mighty builders, perished and fallen,

the hard grasp of earth, until a hundred generations

of people have departed. Often this wall,

lichen-grey and stained with red, experienced one reign after another,

remained standing under storms; the high wide gate has collapsed.

Still the masonry endures in winds cut down

persisted on__________________

fiercely sharpened________ _________

______________ she shone_________

_____________g skill ancient work_________

_____________g of crusts of mud turned away

spirit mo________yne put together keen-counselled

a quick design in rings, a most intelligent one bound

the wall with wire brace wondrously together.

Bright were the castle buildings, many the bathing-halls,

high the abundance of gables, great the noise of the multitude,

many a meadhall full of festivity,

until Fate the mighty changed that.

Far and wide the slain perished, days of pestilence came,

death took all the brave men away;

their places of war became deserted places,

the city decayed. The rebuilders perished,

the armies to earth. And so these buildings grow desolate,

and this red-curved roof parts from its tiles

of the ceiling-vault. The ruin has fallen to the ground

broken into mounds, where at one time many a warrior,

joyous and ornamented with gold-bright splendour,

proud and flushed with wine shone in war-trappings;

looked at treasure, at silver, at precious stones,

at wealth, at prosperity, at jewellery,

at this bright castle of a broad kingdom.

The stone buildings stood, a stream threw up heat

in wide surge; the wall enclosed all

in its bright bosom, where the baths were,

hot in the heart. That was convenient.

Then they let pour_______________

hot streams over grey stone.

un___________ _____________

until the ringed sea (circular pool?) hot

_____________where the baths were.

Then is_______________________

__________re, that is a noble thing,

to the house__________ castle_______