http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis Sat, 04 Apr 2026 07:23:17 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2661/what-im-reading-the-eyre-affair http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2661
Book one is called "The Eyre Affair" and revolves around attempts, by arch-villain Acheron Hades, to destroy Jane Eyre from the inside as it were as he enters the book to change its plot. Thursday is the SpecOps detective who goes into the book to save it. Thursday's ability to jump into books is coveted by the Goliath Corporation (who owns anything worth owning in the world), and their agent Jack Schitt. Rampant wordplay, and genre-play are displayed as a hire-wire act, with multiple plots and long-running literary jokes cast throughout the series.

Book two is called Lost In A Good Book, and book three is named The Well of Lost Plots. These find Thursday beginning to work for the Bookworld's policing agency Jurisfiction, much as she works for Literary Spec-ops in our world. Jurisfiction maintains the boundaries between genres, prevents "book-jumping" (characters jumping out their own books into others) and monitors the trade in plots and characters.

But I wonder about one thing. The author is England-born, lives and works in Wales, and has a lot of fun with the idea that that the Wales in his books is a Socialist Republic with a closed, militant border with England, and rampant cheese smuggling, a bit gloomy and iron-curtainish. Lenin is referred to as Y Brawd Ulyanov, and the republic was founded by John Frost out of the Chartist Rebellions. Everybody drives Griffin autos. I sometimes find this funny and sometimes find it annoying. I guess Fforde is not a a fan of socialism?

Given the spelling of his name i wouldn't expect him to be English, but the Author writes, "Fforde failed his Welsh Nationality Test by erroneously identifying Gavin Henson as a TV chef, but continues to live and work in his adopted nation despite this setback. He has a Welsh wife, two welsh daughters and a welsh dog, who is mad (but not because he's Welsh). He has a passion for movies, photographs, and aviation."

His website is large, fun, full of in-jokes and expansions on the conceits that drive the books. Find it at www.jasperfforde.com If you like humor in your detective stories, definitely try Jasper Fforde. ]]> Mon, 09 Jul 2012 22:11:36 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2630/landscape-painting http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2630
I shut down my woodshop and sculpture studio a few years ago, preserving my shekels for the rent. Since then I have dreamed of regaining a real studio. A proper place to work is a necessity, not a luxury. A dedicated space, a "room of one's own" encourages the dual alternating needs of daydreaming and discipline that any creative endeavor requires. Perhaps a few years will see a new shed in the backyard, big enough to paint, print, draw etc. and daydream of course. At present I'm painting in a corner of the basement, dark, cold and cement, but it's something. Here are some small paintings.

]]> Mon, 25 Jun 2012 16:42:42 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2556/devils-bridge http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2556
A view, with artistic license, of Devil's Bridge in Ceredigion in central Wales. From Wikipedia: "The bridge spans the Mynach a tributaryof the Rheidol. The bridge is unusual in that three separate bridges are coexistent, each one built upon the previous bridge. The most recently built is an iron bridge (1901), which was built over a stone bridge(1753), which was built when the original bridge was thought to be unstable. The builders of the 1753 bridge used the original bridge (built 10751200) to support scaffolding during construction."


]]> Tue, 08 May 2012 16:31:35 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2555/pentre-ifan-megalith http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2555
Another day, another megalith. This one is Pentre Ifan in Pembrokeshire.

]]> Tue, 08 May 2012 16:24:02 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2506/what-im-reading-the-earth-hums-in-b-flat http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2506 Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:47:57 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2505/carreg-samson-abercastell http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2505
Another linocut, this one of Carreg Samson and a night sky. An east view of the stones with a west view of the landscape (I think). I've got a license and I'm gonna use it!

]]> Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:20:47 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2490/pont-y-pair-bridge-betws-y-coed http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2490 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:32:36 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2456/the-green-bridge-pembrokeshire http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2456
Here's is the latest, the Green Bridge in Pembrokeshire. To anyone who knows the coast the mistake here is probably obvious. This is the view looking south, but the water is on the wrong side, on the left rather than the right. The reason? I forgot to flip the picture before i started drawing and cutting it. I'd like to have a walk up that coastline, though I understand there's a firing range nearby.

]]> Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:12:56 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2449/what-im-reading-the-cowardstale http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2449
In an unnamed Welsh town (modeled on Twynyrodyn, Methyr Tydfil) close by the Kindly Light coal mine, a host of town characters has each their stories and their secrets. The life of the town is ever influenced by the tragedy at the Kindly Light 3 generations ago when an explosion cost the lives of many miners. That explosion sets the stage for the experiences of 3 generations of town folk. Amnong them is the beggar Ianto Jenkins, called Passchendaele, a joke to mark him as a coward (he wouldn't have lasted 5 minuets at Passhendaele). The stories of the town are told through the voice of the Ianto, as requested by the folk who line up at the cinema near to the steps of the abandoned chapel where Ianto lives on the bench and steps. The novel is full of warmth and sympathy for characters who live with the sins of their fathers and grandfathers, the loss of grandfathers in the Kindly Light, the traits passed down through generations. The Kindly Light is closed, the colliers all adrift now. Ianto survived that deadly mine explosion and sees himself as a coward for it. But he understands the life of the town better than any for knowing himself.

There is Baker Bowen, a chiropodist whose grandfather was once a baker. Philip "Factual" Philips, the librarian; the undertaker Simon "Tutt" Bevans who only walks in straight lines; Nathan Barthlomew the piano tuner whose grandmother went mad with grief; James Little the gas meter reader whose father was a thief; Thaddeus "Icarus" Evans, the woodworking teacher who has spent a life trying to carve a perfect feather out of wood; land many others whose intertwined tales are told by the beggar Ianto. All of them stilled touched by the Kindly Light tragedy.

The Cowards Tale invites comparison to other story cycles about small towns. There is Thorton Wilder's Our Town, Dylan Thomas's Under Milkwood, Sherwood Andersons Winesburg Ohio. Each in a way emphasizes the little stories of individuals as the strands of a town's story. The Cowards Tale stands out for the warmth that is shown to each character, and the careful delineation of the core traits and character. All invite our sympathy and care. In the townsfolk of today there is a modernity, as they each go about their lives in the present. But through the eyes and mind of Ianto Jenkins those who listen to his stories can come to see how the past has never left them. They little know how generations past have made them what they are.

As a moving evocation of a present-day Welsh town tied, somewhat unknowingly, to its past, this first novel by Vanessa Gibbie, is well worth a reading. Each character is worth caring about, each description both direct and poetic. Written in a straightforward yet lyrical fashion, Gibbie has devised a novel that stands comparision to some of our classics.
]]> Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:42:06 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2444/aberdaron-woodcut http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2444
A new picture of the bridges at Aberdaron, this view taken from an antique postcard.

]]> Sat, 07 Apr 2012 16:28:29 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2438/yr-wyddf-wood-block http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2438
II've finally begun some new wood block prints. It's been a good 20 years since I last did any block cutting, though I've been etching more recently. I have mountains and waterfalls planned. Here first is a view of Yr Wyddfa (Snowden) looking cross Crib Goch with Llyn Lladaw below. The tough part is finding texture in the somewhat even-featured sides of the mountain. Next up will be a waterfall from my home in Connecticut. Perhaps some bridges. They have a definite structure which is easier to describe with black and white lines. Stay tuned.

]]> Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:15:34 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2114/welsh-jewelry-box http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2114 Sat, 05 Nov 2011 17:53:12 +0000 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2113/welsh-rugby-jewelry-box http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2113 Sat, 05 Nov 2011 17:27:49 +0000 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2093/archdruid-blackberry-case http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/2093 Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:22:04 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1882/learn-welsh-yes-you-there-ddysgwch-cymraeg http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1882 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 00:17:40 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1857/who-is-phil-evans http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1857 Phil Evans 2007Who can tell me which Phil Evans this quote is from? The comedian, the politician, the milkman? It is a great quote and is of course why so many of us in America like to remember Wales even after our families have long since left. I for one would like to think this of myself, though I may be less a warrior and more a diplomat, at least until I hit 60, then watch out!]]> Sun, 26 Jun 2011 20:18:03 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1855/gorsedd-prayer http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1855 Sat, 25 Jun 2011 18:17:18 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1844/tacitus-on-war http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1844 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:42:20 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1841/bendigeidfran-approaches-ireland http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1841 Sun, 19 Jun 2011 04:22:10 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1829/wales-ireland-store-finally-off-the-ground http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1829 Tue, 14 Jun 2011 02:41:56 +0100 http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1265/king-henry-and-owen-glyndwr http://americymrunet.jamroomhosting.com/peter-lewis/blog/1265
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