Michelle Franklin's Blog, page 37

Beryn's Mandolin by Studio Tolhurst

Every character in the series has their signature prop. Alasdair has his ring, Mureadh has his prayer beads, Adian and Adaoire have their pipes, but there is no prop so distinct as Beryn's mandolin. Made by his father and given to him when he was five years old, Beryn has kept his mandolin with him throughout his travels across Frewyn. Longtime friend and gifted engineer Noah Tolhurst, owner of Studio Tolhurst and maker of the famous King Thrushbeard Cigar Box Guitars, recreated the mandolin...

Story for the Day: Reading Damson's Distress -- Part 3

Damson turned to see whether anyone else were within hearing. He could not believe what he being imparted and could not help but feel that the king was telling him in such a turnabout style as to either gain his approval for the scheme without directly asking for it or to have him disapprove it for the sake of having him out of the way. He was the guard who sat at the king’s door every evening, and if there were to be some misconduct on his wedding night, he might be trying to frightening him...

Story for the Day: Reading Damson's Distress -- Part 2

Ciran and Paudrig continue their reading of the Marridon classic: Damson's Distress


He should gain little in the alliance beyond what affection from his subjects that their thinking him a romantic might convey, and as he wanted affection from neither subject nor wife, all the pride in the marriage should be on her side. She would gain everything, crown and kingdom, by the union, would receive all the proper education, of course, being indelicate and inferior, would have ladies to attend her an...

Story for the Day: Reading Damson's Distress -- Part 1

The various countries of Two Continents have their own classic novels, which everyone is either taught in school or left to discover on their own. One of these great works is Damson's Distress, an adventure novel from Marridon, which details the rebellion at Marridon's centennial. While the work is categorized in the annals of literacy as historical, in the ranks of the clericy it is hailed as a farce, a pastiche and delightful retelling of Marridon's most trying time. Here is Brother Ciran r...

RIP Seamus Heaney - Soilse na gréine linn inniu

Another legend passes through the furoles of history into the abyss of immortality. 

Seamus Heaney's Death of a Naturalist was one of the first books of modern poetry I ever studied, and the works therein have since stayed with me. Heaney was a genius of realism, of taking the landscapes of rural Ireland and glorifying them, making the Irish farm reach an apotheosis that no one else could offer. He was a great analysis of the difficult times his country faced...

Story for the Day: The lads they went a-huntin’

Frewyn, like all the nations of the Two Continents, has its own traditional songs. There are church hymns, hunting songs, reels and jigs, but there are no songs are more sacred to Frewyn than those written by their most famous beloved poet: Tirlough the Brave. Hunter, General, Laird over Westren proper, Tirlough composed lyrics and melodies during the seasonal hunts, to be sung in the evenings round the campfire. Little did he know how famous his poems and tunes would one day be. Some of his...

Story for the Day: The Two Giants -- Part 2

Continuing with Frewyn's fable of the two legendary giants Cathal and Cine, as sold by Sister Mithe at the church of TussNaTuillin: Cine, however, would remain under his master’s harsh command. He would learn to follow in his brother’s submission, he would govern his indignation, enjoy his dejection, or he would die under his reprimand.  Frannach deemed Cathal ready to realize the whole of his transgression and accept his remorse, and he lead him to the Karnwyl churchyard and permitted hi...

Story for the Day: The Two Giants -- Part 1

Frewyn has many myths and legends, one of the most famous is about Cathal and Cine, two giants from Frewyn's frigid desert of the south, who decided that they were going to drive away the children of the Gods from their home and ended up receiving a standing lesson in tolerance and benevolence. 
The giants of old, who, according to Frewyn’s history, lived along the southern borders of Karnwyl, and though there was land enough to share the space with those amongst the fre-mhin, t...

Story for the Day -- Paudrig's Hunt - Part 3

Paudrig, racing in from the common room in full gradulation, afforded him no opportunity of rest, however, for the moment the child came titupping over the threshold, his exhilaration overpowered every other feeling at the table. Children were crying out for toast and yeast paste, Mithe was assuring Deas that digging in his nose regardless of how industriously would not produce nothing than a gleimous nug, Dimeadh was making his blesiloquent mafflings and trying to cry over Fionntra’s latest...

Story for the Day: Paudrig's Hunt --Part 2

Standing on its hind legs, glaring down at the boy who entered his den, the bear let out a horrible roar. The ground shook under the strength of the sound, the dripstones broke and shattered as they fell, the humid stench of festering fish filled the air, the breath billowing out from between the bear’s  jaws, and in a fulmination of teeth and claws, the bear leapt out of the darkness and toward the child.The immense grizzled beast emerged, and Paudrig’s vision grew measured. A surge of...