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Where Did the Names Come From?
Creating names for the characters and places was one of the more demanding (and enjoyable) challenges I faced in writing The Ravenstones series. In comparison, working through the plot was simple. Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration – both were demanding, and both required a great deal of thought. In all, 132 characters and 21 places… Read more
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Of Skazki and Bilibine
I own several books of fairy tales, most of which I purchased primarily for the superb illustrations – notably, by Arthur Rackham, William Heath Robinson, Kay Nielsen and Edmund Dulac. (See my April 24, 2021 post on Hans Christian Anderson.) Less well known to the western world are the works of Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibine (sometimes… Read more
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The Hero Has a Thousand Faces? Maybe Not.
Certainly, every successful novelist has heard of Joseph Campbell. And I’ll bet everyone who has taken a university course on creative writing has encountered his most famous work, The Hero With a Thousand Faces (Pantheon Press, 1949). After all, is it not required reading? Yes, without a doubt. Did not Time magazine place the book… Read more
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Even For Dreams
In the late spring of 1982 I read W.P. Kinsella’s book, Shoeless Joe. Those unfamiliar with the book, which was about the MLB player, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and the Chicago Black Sox baseball scandal of 1919, might be more acquainted with the 1989 movie based upon it, Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner, James Earl… Read more
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Seven Things I Didn’t Know About Canadian Wildlife
Some years back, as I was in the middle of writing The Ravenstones series, I discovered the Canadian Wildlife Federation and their monthly journal, Canadian Wildlife. One particular issue I recall provided a great deal of information on the wolverine, detail that had been challenging to obtain elsewhere. Realizing the value in ensuring accurate information… Read more
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Hans Christian Andersen
I’ve long been a fan of Hans Christian Andersen, the creator of some of the world’s most famous and enduring of fairy tales – The Tinder Box, The Princess and the Pea, Thumbelina, The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, The Nightingale, The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen, The Red Shoes and The Shepherdess and… Read more
