Saturday, July 1, 2017

A Small Gang of Authors: We Did It! #OurAuthorGang

A Small Gang of Authors: We Did It! #OurAuthorGang: Our Author Gang is featured in the Golden Box Books Publishing July Magazine issue. The Semifinalists of the Golden Quill Award Conte...

We Did It! #OurAuthorGang

Our Author Gang is featured in the
Golden Box Books Publishing July Magazine issue.

The Semifinalists of the Golden Quill Award Contests are also announced in this issue 

We Dit It!
The books of FOUR of Our Author Gang members were chosen by the judges.



Click on this link

https://joom.ag/p9cW 

Flip through the pages and give our authors a virtual hug.



https://joom.ag/p9cW 



COMMENTS

Erika M Szabo

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Congrats to the Semifinalists in our gang: Joe Bonadonna, Mary Anne Yarde, Mackenzie Flohr, and I just gave myself a pat on the shoulder too :)
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Congratulations, Erika!

Erika M Szabo via Google+

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
We Did It!
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Erika M Szabo via Google+

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
We Did It! #OurAuthorGang
Our Author Gang is featured in the Golden Box Books Publishing July Magazine issue. The Semifinalists of the Golden Quill Award Contests are also announced in this issue  We Dit It! The books of FOUR of Our Author Gang members were chosen by the judges. Fli...
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Mary Anne Yarde

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Congratulations everyone!!
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Congrats to you too :)

Cristina Grau

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Congratulation to the finalists. The magazine looks great.
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Thank you Cristina!
 
Thank you, Cristina.

Mackenzie Flohr

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Congratulations, everyone! Erika, the magazine is awesome!
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Congrats to you too :)

Mackenzie Flohr shared this via Google+

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Joe Bonadonna via Google+

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
A Small Gang of Authors sends out a hearty congratulations to Erika M. Szabo , Mary Anne Yarde , Mackenzie Flohr - Writer , and (T C) Ted Rypel . They are among the Semi-Finalists in the Golden Quill Award Contest. I am proud and honored to announce that my novel, "Mad Shadows II: Dorgo the Dowser and the Order of the Serpent" is also one of the Semi-Finalists. Congratulations to one and all!
https://asmallgangofauthors.blogspot.com/2017/07/we-did-it-ourauthorgang.html
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Joe Bonadonna

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Awesome! Congratulations, indeed, to my fellow Gang members, Erika M Szabo, Mary Anne Yarde, and Mackenzie Flohr -- , and congratulations, too, to my friend and "sensei," Ted (T C) Rypel --- all Semi-Finalists in the Golden Quill Award Contest. Special thanks and extra kudos to Erika for assembling another lovely edition of the Golden Box Publishing Service's flipbook. Oh, yes, I gave myself a pat on the back, too!
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Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Looking for King Arthur — finding Merlin! #HistFic #Arthurian #OurAuthorGang


I have a secret. No, actually I don't because everyone who knows me, knows I have a little bit of an obsession with all things Arthurian. It started when I was a child growing up near Glastonbury — The fabled Isle of Avalon — and it has not diminished with the passing of years.

Now, Arthur, the man, is as elusive as a shadow — impossible to catch and always one foot in front or behind me. Arthur's real realm is in folklore, and that is where he is most prevalent.



I could easily run with a theory as to who Arthur was, but I am not going to do that. I want to stick with the legend because that is what fascinates me. I love folklore. I also love how there always seems to be a ring of truth in it, as I am going to demonstrate today!

Geoffrey of Monmouth and King Arthur

It cannot be disputed that Geoffrey of Monmouth gave us the Arthur we know and love. It is easy to mock his work, but for hundreds of years, Monmouth's Arthur was considered to be factually correct. So for the sake of this post, I am going to pretend that what Monmouth said is historically true — you will see where I am going with this in a minute!

Let's begin...

Merlin

The story of King Arthur does not start, surprisingly, with Arthur. The story begins with Merlin.

Merlin prophesies for Vortigern
 — from a manuscript of Geoffrey of Monmouth's
 "History of the Kings of Britain." 


It was Merlin that prophesied the coming of Arthur, and it was Merlin and his magic that made sure the rightful king of Britain pulled the sword from the stone. If it had not been for Merlin, there would be no Arthur.

Merlin, it is said, first came to the attention of Vortigern — King of the Britons — when he was a child. Vortigern, in his wisdom, had invited some Saxon mercenaries to Briton to fight with him against the troublesome Picts and Scots. But the problem with Saxon mercenaries is that they couldn't be trusted. Vortigern soon found himself running for his life from the very men he had paid to defend it.

To cut a long story short, Vortigern ended up in Gwynedd, North Wales. More precisely, he ended up on a hill, in which he decided to build a fortress on. Unfortunately, what ever he built, collapsed. Vortigern's magicians told him that he needed to spill the blood of a child without a father, onto the stones. Once he did this, then the fortress would stand.


Dinas Emrys with the River Glaslyn in the foreground.

There was a child, Myrddin Emrys, who seemed a likely candidate. But Emrys was no ordinary child, and he was quite attached to his life and didn't want to die. Nevertheless, he was brought to the usurped King...


"Why have my mother and I been brought into your presence?"

"My magicians have advised me," answered Vortigern, "That I shall look for a fatherless man, so that my building can be sprinkled with blood and thus stand firm."

"Tell your magicians to appear in front of me," answered Merlin, "and I will prove that they have lied."

The History Of The Kings Of Briton.


Emrys challenged the King's magicians and instead gave a plausible reason why the fortress would not stand. He said that two dragons were imprisoned at the bottom of an underground lake beneath the hill. If they set the dragons free, then the foundations of the fort would stand. All they had to do was release the dragons, which they did.

Vortigern built his fort and out of respect, he named the fort after Emrys. He called it Dinas Emrys


But here is where it gets interesting. In 1945 the hill was excavated by archaeologists, and they found an unground lake. So maybe there is a little bit of truth in Monmouth's story after all.



Dians Emrys is now under the care of The National Trust, and they welcome visitors. But walkers are warned to tread softly on the hill, for a dragon sleeps beneath it.

If you fancy finding out what happened after the death of King Arthur then why not check out my historical fantasy series — The Du Lac Chronicles...





Read for Free with 


References 
History of the Kings of Britain ~ Geoffrey of Monmouth
Picture of Knight ~ Pixabay
Merlin prophesies for Vortigern ~ Wikipedia
Dinas Emrys with the River Glaslyn in the foreground ~ Wikipedia
Picture of Dragon ~ Pixabay

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