http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr Fri, 01 May 2026 19:43:06 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/3174/the-moss-gatherers-tia-jones-deceit-loss-and-gathering-moss http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/3174 For more information, please visit www.gomer.co.uk ]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:26:21 +0000 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1101/the-black-cauldron-by-lloyd-alexander http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1101 Review by Bill Tillman


]]> Thu, 20 May 2010 23:06:39 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1099/the-mabinogion-tetralogy-by-evangeline-walton http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1099 Fantastic telling of the four branches of the Mabinogion. One truly needs to read several versions before being comfortable with the four branches. This is my ultimate favorite among all books Mabinogi.

In the forward Betty Ballantine tells the story of Evangeline Walton born in 1907 in Indianapolis Indiana as a blue baby and never enjoying good health. All her life she had to cope with silver nitrate treatments which left her with a blue complexion. She was thus home educated and was very much a recluse.

In this atmosphere, she began a life long love affair with books, her early favorite authors being Rider Haggard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, L. Frank Baum, and Lord Dunsany. The worlds of fantasy, love and adventure were also her world. A love of ancient and medieval history as well as the high poets formed her. Along with these factors, writing became a lifelong habit and passion.

Her direction was toward magic and fantasy and when mixed with her burgeoning imagination this led her to the Mabinogion with its heroic myths of ancient Welsh lore. Therefore, her ambition focused on this rich body of literature. The myths, with a matter-of-fact acceptance of magic in the everyday lives of humankind, together with the fierce, tempestuous stories of the early Cymru, the titanic imagery, the blending of gods and men - proved the lure of a lifetime.

In 1936, Walton published the Forth Branch of the Mabinogion with a title of 'The Virgin and the Swine.' This in the Depression went largely unnoticed. In the early 1970's Ballantine Books found a copy of 'The Virgin and the Swine. .Having started a new line of adult fantasy books, they were more than eager to republish this book. The Library of Congress did not have an address for the author, the publisher was long defunct. Ballantine posted ads for any information about the author in hundreds of publications.

Calling the republished book The Island of the Mighty it was already in its print run when the Library of Congress informed them that the copyright had been renewed but they still had no address. A publisher's nightmare! Then another author found a twenty-year-old address for Walton.

She was living in Tucson Arizona, and was pleased to see her book back in print. She asked if Ballantine would like the manuscripts for the other three branches. Checking and revising her early work, Prince of Annwn, The Children of Llyr, and the Song of Rhiannon The Mabinogion Tetralogy was published to the delight of dedicated fans of the Ballantine adult fantasy series.

Recognition of her immense writing talents followed rapidly in the mainstream media. The Saturday Review of Literature wrote of Walton: Evangeline Walton stands with T. H. White and C. S. Lewis as not only the best fantasies of the twentieth century. . . they are great works of fiction. Walton succeeds in creating an imaginary world that we believe actually existed [their italics] in this worlds history.

So this is the one work you cannot live without if you love the tales of the Mabinogi.

Paperback: 720 pages

Publisher: Overlook TP (December 31, 2003)

Rating: 5 Stars

Review by Bill Tillman


]]> Thu, 20 May 2010 22:39:21 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1098/the-book-of-three-by-lloyd-alexander http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1098
What brings the tale of Taran to life is Alexander's skillful use of humor, and the way he personalizes the mythology he has so clearly studied. Taran isn't a stick figure; in fact, the author makes a point of mocking him just at the moments when he's acting the most highhanded and heroic. When he and the young girl Eilonwy flee the castle of the wicked queen Achren, Taran emotes, "'Spiral Castle has brought me only grief; I have no wish to see it again.' 'What has it brought the rest of us?' Eilonway asked. 'You make it sound as though we were just sitting around having a splendid time while you moan and take on.'" By the end, Alexander has spun a rousing hero's tale and created a compelling coming-of-age story. Readers will sigh with relief when they realize The Book of Three is only the first of the chronicles of Prydain.

Paperback: 190 pages

Rating: 5 Stars

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. BYR Paperbacks (May 16, 2006)

Review by Bill Tillman

]]> Thu, 20 May 2010 22:14:01 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1091/the-mabinogion-by-gwyn-jones http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1091
Celtic mythology, Arthurian romance, and an intriguing interpretation of British history--these are just some of the themes embraced by the anonymous authors of the eleven tales that make up the Welsh medieval masterpiece known as the Mabinogion . Set in dual realms of the forests and valleys of Wales and the shadowy otherworld, the tales are filled by a dreamlike atmosphere. They tell of Gwydion the shape-shifter, who can create a woman out of flowers; of Math the magician whose feet must lie in the lap of a virgin; of hanging a pregnant mouse and hunting a magical boar. Dragons, witches, and giants live alongside kings and heroes, and quests of honor, revenge, and love are set against the backdrop of a country struggling to retain its independence. King Arthur's court provides the backdrop to tales such as "How Culhwch Won Olwen", in which a young man must complete many tasks before he can marry a giant's daughter. The work is divided into 11 disparate tales. Only the four of the first sections are explicitly "Branches of the Mabinogi," or stories of a youth. The youth is, according to a tradition followed by Gwyn Jones in her introduction, is Pryderi, the son of a Welsh King, Pwyll.


Paperback: 272 pages

Rating: 3 & a half Stars.

Review by Bill Tillman

]]> Tue, 18 May 2010 00:17:55 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1090/the-mabinogi-by-patrick-k-ford http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1090
First, "The Four Branches of the Mabinogi," from which the collective title was derived, consisting of "Pwyll, Prince of Dyved," Branwen Daughter of Llyr," "Manawydan Son of Llyr," and "Math Son of Mathonwy." These begin with a story about the conception and birth of Pwyll's son, Pryderi, whose death is one of the early events in the "Fourth Branch," and concern a variety of heroes, and what are clearly rationalized gods. (Evangeline Walton turned each of the "Four Branches" into a novel; and other writers have done versions of one or another of them.)

Second, there are two "native tales," "The Dream of Maxen Wledig" and "The Story of Lludd and Lleuelys," about Roman ("historical") and pre-Roman ("mythical") Britain as imagined by the medieval Welsh. The 'Lludd" text, as we have it, actually belongs to the "Chronicle" tradition launched by Geoffrey of Monmouth's supposed translation from an "ancient British book." (Which, if any part of it ever had any existence, was NOT the "Mabinogion.") The name of Lludd seems to be Welsh variant of a Celtic divine name, "Nuada" in Irish, "Nodens" in old British inscriptions, and "Nudd" in other Welsh sources; the variation seems to be due to assimilation to his epithet, Llaw Eraint, "Silver Hand," which is explained in the Irish tale of how the physician of the Gods made new hand for Nuada Argatlam." (H.P. Lovecraft picked up "Nodens" for the Cthulhu Mythos, a use which is unrelated; but Tolkien, whose hero Beren also lost a hand, actually wrote an early article on the Nodens inscriptions, and the apparent offerings of metal hands.) He may be behind King Lud, the supposed eponym of London. As Ford points out, Lleuellys, usually given as Llevellys, and also modernized as Llefellys, clearly should be read as Lleu-ellys, and recognized as a version of the god Lugh: the name Lleu is also used for a character in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi.

"Maxen," in which a Roman Emperor seeks as his wife a princess seen in a dream, seems to reflect an even more garbled version of a story known to Geoffrey, compounding several real people, including Helen, the mother of the Emperor Constantine. She was, in a medieval confusion compounding an honest mistake with local patriotism, believed to be British, and identified with "Elen of the Hosts." Ford drops this, as it seems to contain a rather high proportion of medieval hagiography and romance, and a very low proportion of archaic Welsh tradition.

Third are two Arthurian stories in native Welsh mode. "Culhwch and Olwen," is an elaborate quest, dragging in, at least by name, most of the gods and heroes traceable in Welsh material, and some of their Irish cousins into the bargain, mostly as part of Arthur's court.

"The Dream of Rhonabwy" is a visionary encounter with Arthur and his warriors (and anything else I could say would probably be controversial); a fascinating text, which, after a very grittily realistic opening, almost boasts of its authentically dreamlike obscurity. It breaks off in a manner most modern readers will find unsatisfactory -- and its arbitrary nature may have been part of the point. Ford does not include it; a pity, but it is probably the least readable part of the collection.

Fourthly however Ford does not translate the three "Romances," "Owain" (otherwise known as "The Lady of the Fountain"), "Peredur son of Evrawc," and "Gereint the Son of Erbin," the first and last of which are clearly versions of Chretien de Troyes' Old French Arthurian Romances, "Yvain" and "Erec," while the second is related in a more complex manner to his unfinished and problematic "Perceval le Gallois." These seem to illustrate Celtic materials going out into wider European society, and then flowing back into Wales to enrich (and confuse) the native heroic and mythic tradition with ideas of chivalry.

The version of "Taliesin," based, as noted earlier, on the text Ford had re-edited from manuscripts, is restored to its two-story version, as "The Tale of Gwion Bach" and "The Tale of Taliesin," and includes reliable versions of the poems attributed to the variously-reborn hero. Again, there was a real Taliesin, a dark-age Bard, according to Welsh tradition; but these poems, like the stories, are pretty much independent of anything he may have actually composed. But they *may* reflect some very archaic ideas about the magical nature of poetry, which were old when the real Taliesin was alive.

Ford included as an appendix a translation of the notoriously difficult "Cad Goddeu," or "Battle of the Trees." Ford doesn't claim to understand its "real meaning," if any, only what it actually says, and it is very nice to have it.



Paperback: 205 pages

Rating: 4 Stars
Review by Bill Tillman ]]> Mon, 17 May 2010 02:19:52 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1085/tales-from-the-mabinogion-gwyn-thomas-kevin-crossley-holland http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1085 Review by Bill Tillman ]]> Thu, 13 May 2010 23:05:48 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1080/park-life-the-best-bits-2010 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1080 Park Life The Best Bits is a collection of the funniest articles from the RTB Ebbw Vale FC match programme edited by Jones, and despite the club being so far down the football pyramid they were almost on the Sphinx! Park Life proved an award winning match programme completing a hat-trick of Gwent County Programme of the year wins and was also voted best in its category (level 3 and below) 3 years running in the Welsh Football Magazines Programme of the year wards. Three times in its 6 year history the programme was named in the top 5 in Wales finishing 3rd Twice this in the overhaul category, beating programmes printed professionally by clubs playing at the highest levels of Welsh football.
Park Life ran from 2003-2009 though Jones continues to write humorous articles in the Welsh Football Magazine on a monthly basis. Ebbw Vale, made famous by politician Aneurin Bevan can also boast Oasis manager Marcus Russell as famous sons, as well as former world number one snooker player Mark Williams and rugby internationals such as Clive Burgess and Ian Watkins. Jones used his match programme to share numerous stories of his struggles with football teams at the lower end of the football pyramid though also used an array of fictional characters to air their views on professional football at a world level, so there is something of interest for any football fan amongst the pages of his book. Contact details Email address: Jeff1961@btinternet.com Book ISBN number: 9781449073886
Check out the web site at www.jeffjonesbooks.co.uk Park Life The Best Bits Includes

Humpty Dumpty Did he Dive or was he pushed? Never one to sit on the fence we at Park Life asked some well respected footballing figures to help sort out this mystery from yesteryear and having received no replies from anyone made the following ones up! Ron Atkinson Spotters badge Clive! For me it was handbags, the big fella should not have been anywhere near the wall, he should have been hanging around the back stick. Ill tell you another thing for me Clive. The big fella went down far too
easily!
Kevin Keegan I tell Ya...I, I When you say that about professional soldiers not being able to put him back together again. Were bigger than that I..I..Ive kept quiet for too long, but I tell Ya hes gone down in my estimation!
World Exclusive Interview Shep the Blue Peter Dog
I immediately became friends with Stan Bowles he passed me a ball and said hello show us your pedigree chum! With you in the side we can Winalot! Stan would bet on anything and one day he was playing keepy uppies and said there's nothing I cant do with a ball! I replied I bet you a tenner Ive a trick you cant do Youre on mate he cried. So I sat down and licked mine and said you cant do this! In off the post! Letters Page * With all this talk about a credit crunch why dont we all move to that place called jeopardy, because apparently there are
thousands of jobs in jeopardy! Yours Bryn Picca * A man in the pub told me that Englands Theo Walcott is so young that he was not only awarded with a cap but also a satchel
after the recent Croatia game! Yours Barry Island Touch! Ed Film Night Wales Stuck for a DVD to buy for Christmas? Check out these Welsh titles Trefforest Gump The Lost Boyos An American Werewolf in Llandudno Huw DaresWyns Dai Hard Evans Almighty Meet Dai Idris Jones and the temple of Dyfed The Wizard of Oswestry Treasure Barry Island The Eagle has Llangynidr The Golden Cwm by pass The Good the Balla and the Ugly Doctor Dai Little The Magnificent River Seven Haverfordwest Was Won Saving Private Ieaun Independence Dai The Welsh Connection The Bridge on the River Wye Lawrence of Snowdonia The Welsh Patient Ian Rush Hour The King and Ira Look Back in Bangor Dial M for Merthyr Dai another Day A Rhondda world in 80 Dais Caerphillydelphia Merthyr on the Orient Express Ponty Pythons Life of Bryn A Fishguard called Wanda Daddy Dai Camp Where Eagles Aberdare From Rassau with Love ]]> Mon, 10 May 2010 22:54:33 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1079/the-ninth-wave-by-russell-celyn-jones-a-review http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1079
The Ninth Wave is a retelling of Pwyll, Lord of Dyfed from the First Branch of the Mabinogion. Jones paints a world in the future where planet earth is out of oil. The horse is the preferred mode of transportation, sailing ships rule the seas and centralized governments have failed. Cars, trucks & vans are all roadside relics many of which are now inhabited. Wales is ruled by cantrefs (like our counties), which are inherited or won by conquest. While this Mad Max setting is intriguing, it seems slightly unpolished or needing more thought and attention to detail to make it work. However, there is enough here to make an interesting tale as long suspend your disbelief and ignore the awkward parts of it. When Pwyll drives, his mint condition saved and stored Bentley convertible on a tour of sacrifice while using its last tank of gas. The climax being to drive into a lake on another Lords property as a peace offering, yes that is what I said! (Here my lip trembles) I got out my hanky, well I will spare the details just saying it ended up wet and snotty. I have sat on this review for some time now, hoping to gain a more unbiased view of the work. In rereading the original tale of Pwyll, you find a young Lord who meets the Lord of the Otherworld. He swaps places with him for a year and a day including total shape shift of bodies. Slays (only a human can kill a god) the only competing Lord of that realm. Kills the suitor of the woman he wants to marry, has a son, son is kidnapped, wife is blamed and punished. Son is restored as a teenager and Pwyll rules happily ever after. Briefly an awkward paced fast then slow tale, deserving more space for a retelling. Jones by the nature of the assignment follows the same path but does not take enough space to fully develop the tale, as should be. The old tales involved a Geis a magical binding or prohibition laid upon central character of the tale. Geis are behind the mythological tales in folklore, but now writers do not use Geis. A Geis would place a hero into legend, but now we must build a mighty saga to do the same. Considering that, Seren wants only novella length tales this is still a fine story. By explaining the limitations set for the task and then having my wife read the book her experience was thus. Struggled through the first half of the book not being a fantasy or science fiction reader, and then enjoyed the slower paced second half. There are pleasant surprises such as the return of the surfing son with a talent for leadership. The landscape of desolation will give you the shivers. You cannot be a true Mabinogi fan without reading this book. Buy the book HERE Review by Bill Tillman ]]> Mon, 10 May 2010 20:31:10 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1078/drunkenness-and-celebrity-obsession-1860s-style-in-new-teen-novel http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1078
In 1864, an arrogant and ambitious sixteen-year-old steals his widowed mothers life-savings and sails from Cardiff to Australia to find gold. William Jenkins journeys into the bush only to encounter drunkards, crocodiles, outlaws and aboriginals with a reputation for cannibalism. When he stumbles into a strange community of ex-convicts, their leader tells him, Youre the one sent to us by God. William is then astonished to be offered half the profits in a gold mine. But before before returning to Wales, he discovers that there are more important things in life than riches.
Though a work of historical fiction, several themes are explored which should strike a chord with modern teenagers. The binge-drinkers who crowd into city centres at night have much in common with the colonial drunkards of 1864. The story also delves into the complexities of mother-son relationships which are as fraught in the story as they often are today. William disobeys, curses and then steals from his widowed mother. Through his experiences in the bush, he comes to realise that, as Tom Davies puts it, "I do know that above all things in this world you should love your mam".
The author comments, On one level, Gold Hunter is a simple adventure story about a young Welsh migrant to Australia in the 1860s, which is why I chose the Aussie-Western scene with the bound and gagged bushranger for the cover. Like many teenagers, I like an action-packed narrative and I deliberately write in a fast-paced style. But there is a deeper meaning to the story. William Jenkins discovers that the fame and fortune which he craves at the outset do not make him happy. In a world obsessed with celebrity, regardless of any talent being involved, this strikes me as a point worth making.
William Vaughan was born and educated in Cardiff. He taught History and English in Leicestershire and at the Cathedral School, Llandaff, before becoming a writer of fiction for children and young adults. He is a member of Academi.
William Vaughans third novel follows his success with The Black Legion, also published by Y Lolfa .

]]> Mon, 10 May 2010 19:51:58 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1074/first-original-welsh-world-cup-guidebook http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1074 Tue, 04 May 2010 22:28:50 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1063/white-ravens-by-owen-sheers-a-review http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/adolygwr/blog/1063



First impression, a Wizard of Wales, a storyteller with a subtle pen for a wand, 'White Ravens' is a must read. Owen Sheers has a rare talent. Like the Florida gator, he is both ancient and today. The Second Branch of the Mabinogion contains the story of Brnwen, Daughter of Llyr. Sheers requested this tale because of its impact upon his own life. If you have not read The Mabinogion, I urge you to read this novella first. It will deepen your appreciation and widen your view of the art and skill of the Bards of old, as well as Owen Sheers. The author begins by drawing the reader into a modern day Welsh tale of tragedy and high adventure involving a family who raise sheep. Rhian is watching the sunrise as it turns the Thames gold. On a bench by the Tower of London, she recalls her life, at age six her father abandons the family. Ten years later her mother dies leaving her to run the household with Dewi and Sion her brothers to do the sheep farming. The third tragedy comes about six years later. Due to a Foot and Mouth breakout, the sheep are shot. Dewi and Sion get involved in sheep napping (pun intended), steeling a hundred head at a time and butchering them while on the way to London to sell on the black market. All goes well until the driver comes down sick. This book should become a N.Y. Times bestseller, Seren publishing house of Wales and author Owen Sheers gets a big thumbs up. Seren publishers commissioned ten Welsh writers to do some retelling of the national treasure 'The Mabinogion'. Theme: keep these old tales at the heart of a new story. The tale of Rhian and her brothers is complex and compelling. However, when she meets an old man with a cane on the park bench he tells her another tale. This is a tale about a WWII Irish soldier named Matthew OConnell. Wounded in Italy Matthew is given an assignment to go to a remote farm in Wales to pick up six raven chicks. The mission is Top Secret as ordered by Prime Minister Churchill. While waiting for the chicks to mature for traveling Matthew falls in love with Brnwen, sister of the farmer Ben. A whirlwind affair ending with a wedding two weeks later, a returning brother Evan from the war casts a black cloud on the couple that night. After returning the chicks to London Matthew and his bride leave for Ireland and his farm home on the coast below Dublin. Farm life is terrible for both as Matthews family hate the British and his Welsh wife. Matthew turns sullen and Brnwen sends a message to Ben about how terrible life is. Ben and Evan show up one night to rescue Brnwen. Evan shoots Matthew and knocks their two year old son into the fire. Later Matthew recovers from the shot, saved by his pocket watch. By the time he contacts Ben in Wales Brnwen has died of a broken heart. But with a stroke of genius, Sheers redeems both the young woman and the old man in a surprise ending. In addition to these tales, Seren includes a synopsis of the original tale from The Mabinogion. Also an afterword by the author at the back of the book is inspiring.



Branwen, Daughter of Llyr
English text here

More information about the Tower of London
ravens here .
Buy 'White Ravens'
here .



Review by Bill Tillman
]]> Mon, 26 Apr 2010 03:31:46 +0100