I love the strange and imaginary places our ancestors dreamed up centuries ago before the known world was mapped. Ultima Thule is one such imaginary landscape, a strange ‘terra incognita’ beyond the borders of the known world. The Land of Thule was first recorded by the ancient Greeks around 300 B.C. as a distant continent […]
I was Darkly Dreaming
The Magic Ring of Andvaranaut
All of the great Modern stories of magic rings come from a single ancient Indo-European tale about a magic ring called Andvaranaut. Both J. R. R. Tolkien and Richard Wagner built their stories of magic rings from this same source. In the original Volsunga Saga, the dwarf Andvari creates the magic ring Andvaranaut, whose sole […]
The Black Rose
In my fantasy novel, the Phantammeron, I have used many types of symbols to connect the story with what I call the “secret meaning” hidden inside my books. The use of the Black Rose is just one of many. Often my use of roses and other symbols in my books is intentional, designed to mirror […]
