Within the Hollow Hills: An Anthology of New Celtic Writing

by John Matthews (Editor)

The ancient skills of story-telling live on in the work of modern writers such as Rosemary Sutcliff, James Branch Cabell, Margaret Elphinstone, and Caitlin Matthews. The writings of these visionaries show a remarkable continuity with their bardic predecessors and will appeal to all those who are fascinated by the colourful and mysterious world of the Celts.

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

John Matthews is an historian, folklorist and author. He has been a full time writer since 1980 and has produced over ninety books on the Arthurian Legends and Grail Studies, as well as short stories and a volume of poetry. He has devoted much of the past thirty years to the study of Arthurian Traditions and myth in general. His best known and most widely read works are ‘Pirates’ (Carlton/Atheneum), No 1 children’s book on the New York Times Review best-seller list for 22 weeks in 2006, ‘The Grail, Quest for Eternal Life’ (Thames & Hudson, 1981) ‘The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Wisdom’ (Element, 1994) and ‘The Winter Solstice’ (Quest Books, 1999) which won the Benjamin Franklin Award for that year. His book ‘Celtic Warrior Chiefs’ was a New York Public Library recommended title for young people.

Reviews

[Morning Glory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hit and miss, but I loved finvarra and An Adventure of the grail. Interestingly a lot of the stories were Arthurian. The Grail one was SO GOOD - i wrote things like this- I just love stories of workaday people in tremendous times, the humility!! Of King Arthur, and having the table be a mirror of the downfall of Camelot was wonderful. ❤️🩸

“Enough to hold the shining, fragile happiness in her cupped hands…” 46 Sutcliff has such a thing for tragedy.

“If it had not been for you, the Realm would have collapsed long ago. You kept…the fellowship alive long after they might otherwise have died. You bought us time, time for the dream to sink deep into the minds of people. Now this place may die, but the real Camelot will live forever in the spirit of humanity.” 222

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most short-story collections/anthologies, the stories in here were pretty hit-or-miss for me. There were a number that left me wondering “wtf did I even just read?” but unfortunately even among the ones I enjoyed, none stood out to me as particularly memorable.