Close-up of the cover:

Lovely on a very wet morning to receive copies of the paperback of my book about the Narnia stories - 'From Spare Oom to War Drobe' published by Herne Books and available from UK bookstores and Amazon. As you can see, I'm very happy.

I have some good news; there's an essay of mine (called 'The Door in the Mound' in this book: 'Writing the Magic: Essays on Crafting Fantasy Fiction' published 18th of this month by Dead Ink. Contributors include Juliet E McKenna, Francesco Dimitri, Hannah Kaner & many others. I love the cover!

The Silver Apples of the Moon, The Golden Apples of the Sun

Why are apples so evocative? Why was the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil assumed to be an apple? Why did golden apples of immortality grow in the Garden of the Hesperides...?

steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-...

On springtime, The WInter's Tale, and Shakespeare's flowers steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-...

A post about the May morning celebrations in Oxford, ten years ago now!

steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/05/may-...

"There is a line of Homer, which I forget, which tells of mules going up a mountain pass: and you can hear the clatter of their hooves..." Lord Dunsany on poetry - part 2: steelthistles.blogspot.com/2022/08/lord...

A post for Mothers Day, remembering mine. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-...

First of three posts about witches; this one's about "Goddesses, Queens and Witch-Queens".
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2020/09/godd...

Happy New Year to you all and thanks for following me. Here is a ballad: 'The Song of the Winter King'. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-...

For anyone who loves fairy tales, a version of the Russian tale 'Father Frost': steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/12/fath...

Did a Scots legend about a fairy flag and a otherworldly army influence Tolkien's 'Paths of the Dead'? steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-...

Forests can be spooky places even at midday, and here's a post about a phenomenon that turns up in similar folk beliefs from the NE woodlands of Canada, to the islands of Polynesia, to Japan. I'd love to hear of any European versions! steelthistles.blogspot.com/2022/11/fall...

On portals in Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials'. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/01/port...

How do portals to other worlds really work? steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/02/how-...

A fine song of love. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/06/a-fi...

A post about voyages, the perils of making them, and their sometimes even riskier destinations: steelthistles.blogspot.com/2024/01/peri...