[Radio Dé Danann] Where In the Celtic World?

Take a trip around the Celtic world on Radio Dé Danwith this week's play list containing songs about places like Dublin, Cardiff, Cape Breton, London, Edinburgh, Toronto.. not to mention Australia, Ballyhooley, Liverpool and Americay.  See if you can keep up with all the towns, geographic features and political entities.

Kings and Queens of England

Three songs about the Kings and Queens of England!



Kings and Queens of England

By Beethoven's Wig

First came William, then a second William
Henry, Stephen then a second Hank
Next was Richard called the Lion Hearted
Evil John, then one more Henry rose to the rank
Three more Ed’s then Richard came to power

Then three Hanks then one went to London Tower
Two more Edwards, Richard
And another couple Henry’s
Altogether Kings and Queens of England
Next came Edward, Jane and Bloody Mary

Then Elizabethan was the style
Next King James, two Chucks and one more Jimmy
Then together Will and Mary ruled for awhile
Then reigned Anne, four Georges and a Willy
Queen Victoria lived near Picadilly

Then two Eds, three Georges
And Elizabeth the second
All together Kings and Queens of England
All together Kings and Queens of England

And there is a third one from an irish point of vier recorded by Sandy Brecken and Ewan Williamson.. just gotta find the lyrics.

Latest from Oxford University Press

Highlights

The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer David Wright and Christopher Cannon A group of pilgrims entertain each other with stories on their way to Canterbury in a poem whose characters, from the Knight to the Wife of Bath, are as vivid as their tales. This new edition of David Wright's acclaimed translation includes a new critical introduction and invaluable notes by a leading Chaucer scholar. Paperback | 560 pages £7.99 | 11 August 2011 | 978-0-19-959902-8 Series: Oxford World's Classics

More titles publishing this month

English Episcopal Acta 38, London 1229-1280 Edited by Philippa Hoskin Hardback | 276 pages £60.00 | 11 August 2011 | 978-0-19-726485-0

English Episcopal Acta 39, London 1280-1303 Edited by Philippa Hoskin Hardback | 314 pages £60.00 | 11 August 2011 | 978-0-19-726486-7

John Mirk's Festial Edited from British Library MS Cotton Claudius A. II, Volume 2 Edited by Susan Powell Hardback | 600 pages £70.00 | 18 August 2011 | 978-0-19-959037-7

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Beloved Pilgrim IAQ (Implicitly Asked Questions)

Mrtel's Agincourt Barbie

Don't you just love when readers make comments about your book that you oh so want to answer.. and you can't?  I decided that these comments should be regarded as "implicitly asked questions" (IAQs) and that I should answer them here.  You are welcome to use this idea.. you know you want to.

Implied question from a Facebook member: You aren't going to have a woman wielding a sword, are you?  Swords were huge and women's wrists are too weak.
Nan's response:  As Brandy Purdy quipped, "Joan of Arc didn't go into battle carrying an embroidery needle..."  Neither did Boudica, not Grace O'Malley.  There are all kinds of women, a l builds, and if a woman can grow up training to use a sword, she can.  It's the author's job to provide credible background, and I took care to do so.

Implied question from goodreads reader: Why doesn't it say the book is about same sex relationships on the cover?
Nan's response:  The cover shows two women in an affectionate pose, but truthfully I have never seen a heterosexuality warning on a book, so it didn't occur to me I needed to warn anyone.

Implied question from the same goodreads reader: Why did the story not follow the history accurately?
Nan's response:  Um, it did.. almost to the letter.  That was one thing I liked about writing it.. the history was perfect for a novel.  The only place where I diverged is where nothing is known of the event.

Implied question from a goodreads reader: Do you really believe Elisabeth and Maliha knew each other long enough to fall in love?
Nan's response:  Yes, since that's about how long it took for me and my husband of 30 years.

An implied question from reader who wrote to me :  Why did n 't you say what happened to Sigismund?
 Nan's response:  Two reasons: no one knew, and what do you think sequels are for?

Implied question from another reader: There was such a prohibition against homosexuality in the Middle Ages, how can these characters be realistic?
Nan's response: Because, first of all, it's not that simple, as class and other factors play a part.  Second of all, the fact there is a law against something doesn't mean it doesn't happen.  Third, we are talking about Constantinople here.  Fourth, did you skip the part where they are hightailing it out of Germany to protect Albrecht?  Finally, experts contend that about 5% of humans are and always have been homosexual.  Love is not easily denied.

Impllied question from more people than I want to divulge: Why are so many typos in your blog p9osts?
Nan's response:  It's kind of a  hobby of mine.  I'm getting really adept at it.

Any other questions, overt or implicit?

Jigs and Reels and Hornpipes, Oh My!

Highland fling

Starting two weeks of Celtic and related dances!

Definitions for some of the aong and dance types common to Celtic musical traditions.

jig
Any of various lively dances in triple time. The music for such a dance. Also called gigue.
Example: Morrison's Jig, The Irish Experience

reel
Any of various lively Scottish dances, such as the eightsome reel and foursome reel for a fixed number of couples who combine in square and circular formations. Music, other) a piece of music having eight quavers to the bar composed for or in the rhythm of this dance.
Example: Yester's Reel, Old Grey Goose

hornpipe
An old British solo dance to a hornpipe accompaniment, traditionally performed by sailors. A piece of music for such a dance
Example: Irish Hornpipe, Thomas Fraser

fling
A lively Scottish dance.
Example: Flings in a Row, Trianam

air
A simple tune for either vocal or instrumental performance.
Example: Hindeg (Welsh Air), Idlewild

waltz
A ballroom dance in triple time with a strong accent on the first beat. A piece of music for this dance. An instrumental or vocal composition in triple time.
Example: Genevieve's Waltz, Mithril

ballad
A narrative poem, often of folk origin and intended to be sung, consisting of simple stanzas and usually having a refrain. The music for such a poem.
Example: McLeod's Lament (I will go) , Paul Murray & David McKeown

march
A piece of music, usually in four beats to the bar, having a strongly accented rhythm
Example: Brian Boru's March, James Galway and Marisa Robles

round
A part song in which the voices follow each other at equal intervals at the same pitch.
Example: Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Kidztown Kids

fancy
Also called fantasy fantasia Music a composition for solo lute, keyboard, etc., current during the 16th and 17th centuries
Example: Rovers Fancy, The Irish Rovers

step dance
A dance in which emphasis is placed on certain steps, such as clogging or tapping, rather than body position or gesture.
Example:

When Characters Know They Are Fictional

A reprint of a post from November 2010.

Is there a Dimension where characters wait for authors to find them? 

I and all of my original characters say yes!  Just ask Elerde , the "darkly sensual mercenary"of my novel's back cover blurb.  He and the others from An Involuntary King have been my constant companions since a friend and I drew them out of their waiting place over forty years ago.  It has only been since I started to talk with other authors, such as Helen Hollick, that I started to have my suspicion that they existed somehow before I came along confirmed.  Now as I read Ursula K. Leguin's Lavinia, I discover a self-aware fictional character where the title character meets her creator Virgil and comes to understand that she and the events of Th Aeneid are fictional.

OK, I know there really aren't characters who sit around some sort of mystical place waiting to be introduced to our world where they remain long after their authors are gone... but I love the idea, so relax and bear with me.

Here is the concept: there is a dimension, fourth, sevemth, sixteenth, who knows? where fictional characters live until someone, a novelist, a poet, a playwright, reaches in and draws one or more out to put them in a work of literature.  Once they are in our world they persist without end, no matter what happens with the author, the book, the society.  Why do I say this?  Because to an author, or so I am told by so many of them, the characters are not under our control.  They are so real to us that we speak of characters refusing to go along with a plot twist or simply taking over and telling their stories themselves.  I go so far as to believe on some level my main characters actually live with me.  The king once had his own room.  And yes, my husband thought that was a fine thing.

Now for a long time I thought I was the only author to believe this nonsense, but then Helen Hollick and I talked about how her pirate, Jesamiah Acorne, came to be.  This hero of the Sea Witch Chronicles literally appeared before her on a British beach as she sat pondering the direction of her next artistic efforts.  She had been challenged to write something new, something with some magic of the paranormal  variety, and was walking alone thinking what to do.  She told me she started to get an impressions of a piratical rogue from the 18th century, and lo and behold, as she looked to the edge of the surf, there he was, his back to her, looking out to sea.  He had a blue ribbon tying up his hair, and as he turned she saw an earring with a tiny gold acorn and then a brilliant, saucy smile.  It was Capt. Jesamiah Acorne, real, perfectly aware he was fictional, but happy to have become part of our world.  And he is such a vivid and enjoyable character, so are we who have read his adventures.

Another author whose work I love, Ruth Sims, told me that when over a twenty year period she wrote The Phoenix her characters defied her absolutely, taking shape in spite of what she had originally planned for them.  The original Nick was an American Civil War era physician, courting a woman whose name Sims does not even remember,  who has a friend, an actor, named Kit.  By the end of the twenty years a time shift made it Victorian England and Nick and Kit were now the romantic couple.  Sims says she has no idea of how this came about, that she had little or no exposure to gay people nor had set out to write a gay love story, but Kit and Nick were not to be shoehorned into what they were not.  This mirrors exactly the conversation I had with my as yet unpublished book's heroine, Elisabeth von Winterkirche, who is a lesbian and be damned!

So it was particularly gratifying to me to listen to the conversation between the LeGuin novel's heroine and "The Poet", where the princess of Latia realizes that whether or not she ever truly existed, her effectual reality is as a minor character in a great poetic epic, The Aeneid.  The Poet is amazed to meet her and discover just what a well-rounded character she is, despite his short shrift in depicting her.  From this Lavinia concludes that not only is she fictional but the other characters, the settings and the events, are all "made up", like the woman warrior he tells her about.  This influences her awareness of all that happens about her, but she accepts the plot, which others call "fate", as "how it should be."

One reason I so enjoy the collaborative writing groups, ghostletters and ghostletters-tng, is that I have been able to take characters from my first novel and let them interact knowingly as fictional characters.  In one situation my Irish bard, O'Neill, explains to someone else's character in that brief story line, what it is like to experience an edit.  "'Tis a momentary sensation of shift, a shimmering where what you thought you knew and did changes, then shortly after you don't remember what had happened in the first place."  His companion asks if the experience is not more than a little disorienting.  He admits, "Aye, a wee bit of vertigo, but ye get used to it, so ye do."

And of course he knows and I know who is doing that editing, and it ain't me.