Sarah Ash's Blog, page 6
August 3, 2019
A New Webmaster!
Darren Turpin has been my webmaster for the last few years – and although it’s sad to say goodbye and thank you to Darren for all his help, I wish him every success as he pursues his horticultural interests as gardener at Ordsall Hall.
In Darren’s place as webmaster, I warmly welcome Jeremiah Tolbert of Clockpunk Studios
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July 12, 2019
Scent of Lilies will be back – very soon!
Manifold Press has just let me know that Scent of Lilies will be temporarily unavailable via Amazon and elsewhere today (12th July) and for the next few days. Watch this space to find out when it will reappear!
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May 13, 2019
Guest Interview for Elin Gregory
– https://elingregory.wordpress.com/2019/05/13/author-interview-sarah-ash/
Find out more about Elin Gregory and her entertaining and readable novels here, soon, on the Guest Blog as she’s very kindly agreed to write a post.
(The image is of Atik Mustafa Pasha mosque, once Saint Thekla’s, in Istanbul)
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April 17, 2019
Talking about Anime at Ytterbium
I’m really looking forward to talking about anime and manga on two panels at Ytterbium (Eastercon 2019) this weekend! The panel topics are really intriguing and I can’t wait to hear what titles other panellists are going to suggest and discuss:
Fantasy and Folklore in Anime (Friday April 19th) 04:30 PM to 05:30 PM (1 hour)
Anime creators mine Japanese culture for source material, re-imagining the myths and legends for entertainment.
‘Takahashi Rumiko’s Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale ran as both manga and anime, focusing on the title character Inuyasha, a half dog demon, and Kagome the reincarnation of shrine maiden, Kikyo. Together they search for the fragments of the shattered Shikon Jewel, attempting to destroying it for good. Animal characters from folklore are regular features of anime: In the series Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto uses the kitsune (fox spirit) and a jinchuriki, a human that has had a tailed beast sealed inside them. Yu Yu Hakusho created by Yoshihiro Togashi, was inspired by Buddhist mythology, the character Death from Soul Eater by Atsushi Okubo uses the shinigami. Shinigami are the death gods in Japanese mythology. They are described as being demons, fallen angels or even death itself. In Buddhism, a shinigami is a demon that possessed humans, causing humans to want to commit suicide.
‘It is all too easy for western audiences to miss the resonances of these tales and the deep story (shared bible) that a local audience would bring to their readings. There is also the problem that learning the stories is not the same as understanding the structures and literary aesthetics that this use of folklore brings to the genre.’
Beyond Studio Ghibli (Sunday April 21st) 10:15 AM to 11:15 AM (1 hour)
“Recommended If You Like…” style panel, providing recommendations to help you explore anime beyond Studio Ghibli. Our panel will also discuss different types of anime and how to find things to watch.
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April 15, 2019
Scent of Lilies is now available from Manifold Press!
I’m delighted to confirm that Scent of Lilies (published by Manifold Press) is now available as an ebook from all the usual sources!
Gabriel wants to be an artist. His father wants grandsons. His teacher wants refuge. And the ghost of a young woman who drowned for love of one of his ancestors wants revenge. When events spiral out of control, Gabriel heads to Constantinople but his past is not far behind.
Damian isn’t sure what he wants. He doesn’t want his father’s business, whatever his stepbrother thinks. He doesn’t want his betrothed even though she may still want him. But he does want beauty, and he may find that in the yet to be consecrated church of Saint Thekla, a personal project of the Emperor’s. But is it in the painting he will find beauty, or the painter?
But why did I decide to set this story in Byzantium in the eleventh century? Read more in this short article.
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April 4, 2019
A New Novel… Scent of Lilies due out on April 14th from Manifold Press!
And now – the cover reveal and more details! I’m so excited that Manifold Press will be releasing this novel which is set in 11th century Byzantium in the ember years of the empire. Scent of Lilies was partly inspired by my love of East European folk music, the writings of Anna Komnena, and seeing the wonderful Byzantine frescoes in the Chapelle des Moines in Berzé-la-Ville, Burgundy.
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February 25, 2019
Local Research and the Fantasy Novel – Jessica Rydill shares some thoughts with the Guest Blog
Beckford’s Tower in the Mist
It’s unusual for me to be able to research a fantasy novel in the city where I live. Bath is famously the place where some of Jane Austen’s novels were set, and appears in many other novels, literary and genre.
In Winterbloom, the fourth book in my Shaman series, due to be published by Kristell Ink on 28th February, people from the Shaman-world, Mir, visit Earth – and Bath, specifically. Without giving too much away, we learn that Earth and Mir are two of three worlds that together form the Triquetra. Mir has the most magic and Earth has the least.
What links these worlds is the Greenwood, a cosmic forest that exists outside of time and space. I had become intrigued by the idea that contemporary Britain retained the names of forests that no longer exist. When I read about the remnants of primeval forest at Bialowieza in Eastern Poland, the idea took shape. (I was also influenced by Swamp Thing, the DC Comic book series, since the eponymous character has the power to enter any place where there is plant material.)
The Greenwood brings my characters to Bath in the year 1920. And there’s a nod to the myth of Persephone, whose exile in the underworld for six months was believed to cause the onset of winter. The Goddess of Spring (or her avatar) has been carried off to wintry Bath and imprisoned in one of the houses in the Circus.
When I research my novels, it’s rare that I get to visit the cities or countries where they are set. Though some sites in the Shaman world have real world equivalents, it isn’t easy to travel there to check the precise details.
With Winterbloom, I found myself researching somewhere I knew, and finding it less simple than expected. A number of famous and less well-known Bath locations appear in the book, from the Botanical Gardens to the Circus itself, and even an underground tunnel in the cellars near the Roman Baths!
Bath has changed enormously since 1920, so I had to rely on old photographs from web-sites like Bath in Time; but I was able to visit some of the locations in the book. It is difficult to access many houses in the Circus, since most of them are private residences. But the house I chose, Number 13, happened to be a dentist’s surgery, so I was able to get permission to see inside and check what I had written. I had got things wrong!
Number 13, The Circus
As well as studying maps, I also found myself reading about the building of Bath and the symbols that appear on houses in the Circus. John Wood the Elder, who designed the Circus, was an early fan of the Druids, like William Stukeley, and he not only surveyed Stonehenge but included references to it in his architecture. The parapets at the Circus are crowned with acorns (the Druids were priests of the oak), the Metopes on the frieze at ground level are symbolic, and the dimensions of the Circus itself are supposed to echo those of Stonehenge.
John Wood seems to have been an intriguing character, and the historic theories about the use of Stonehenge, from John Aubrey onwards, are interesting in themselves, and not just to antiquarians.
The other thing I found was that trying to digest all this research and fit it into an imaginary context was not easy. I did much more research than I used, and I hope there aren’t too many digressions and info dumps!
Frieze showing Metopes
The other feature of the story was my use of historical and local figures. John Wood appears, together with the ghost of William Beckford. Visiting Beckford’s Tower on Lansdown and learning about its history was fascinating; I went on a guided tour led by the curator of the Building of Bath Museum, Amy Frost, who was knowledgeable and extremely helpful. The only thing that I couldn’t do was climb up to the “Belvidere” at the top of the tower, but I took many photos from outside.
Winterbloom is ultimately a fantasy novel, and the visitors from Mir only in Bath stay briefly. They don’t mix much with the inhabitants, and a handful of local people become involved in the story, including a young policeman and a schoolgirl. Though Bath in the story is not a magical place, but it does play host to magical characters, who cause consternation when they are noticed.
The old rubric says “write what you know” which can be difficult for a fantasy writer. But having to research a real place, and one you know well, creates real challenges; you learn that you knew less about the place than you realised, and also that somewhere like Bath, which is a popular tourist destination, still retains hidden corners for a writer to explore.
Jessica Rydill writes fantasy and collects Asian Ball Jointed Dolls, or BJD. Many are based on characters from her books. In her spare time she haunts National Trust properties and visits English parish churches in search of Green Men, Shelagh na Gigs and Misericords, and any traces of mediaeval art or sculpture.
Jessica’s novels inhabit a parallel world known as Mir, where shamans have considerable powers, and magic is a part of everyday life. Steam trains and Norman knights live in the same country, and Goddesses appear in person.
Kristell Ink Publishing, part of BFS Award-winning Grimbold Books, have reissued Jessica’s first two books, Children of the Shaman and The Glass Mountain. Malarat is in preparation and the fourth, never-before-published Winterbloom debuts on February 28th. All four books have cover art by artist Daniele Serra.
Visit Jessica’s web-site at http://www.shamansland.com to learn more about Mir, the shamanworld.
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February 23, 2019
Jessica Rydill Returns to the Guest Blog
If you’ve enjoyed Jessica Rydill’s fantasy novels in the Shamansworld series, then look out for her return visit to the Guest Blog on 25th February when she tells us more about her new novel Winterbloom (launching on 28th February)!
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February 22, 2019
Jan Edwards talks about doing research for her Bunch Courtney Investigation series
Did you miss Jan Edwards’s fascinating post on the Guest Blog in which she discusses the pains – and pleasures – of research when writing fiction? Catch it here – and learn more about Jan’s latest Bunch Courtney Investigation novel which will be published in April!
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