Bright blessings to all my readers at Samhain!
It’s that time of year again for toasted buttered crumpets (I’ve just
eaten two) and cosy slippers. I’m sorry to report that my conker
campaign wasn’t entirely successful as we’ve had a few monster
spiders. Luckily (for me) they invaded my eldest son’s room and not
mine, but his squawks made me jump out of my skin!
We had a wonderful time at the Charmouth Literary Festival earlier
this month. Wendy Knee, one of the organisers, accommodated us at
her beautiful clifftop B&B, and the weather was glorious. I was the
opening speaker and it was strange being in the Village Hall. The last
time I was there was in the late 70s when my little sister and I won a
local version of the Generation Game! If I’d only known then that
one day I’d be returning as an author to entertain a whole crowd of
people ... The festival was really successful, with interesting talks and
workshops and a fantastic fossil hunt by local expert Colin Dawes.
Mr B found several lovely fossils on the beach.
It was especially good to see Stonewylde readers who’d come to meet
me, and several members of the Writing Group from Littlemoor, near
Weymouth. Many thanks to Peter Ruffell of the group who’d also
written a piece about me in the local paper - I used to teach his
daughter many years ago! Thanks to the organisers for such a great
event, which was community entertainment at its best.
I’m speaking this weekend, Sat 30th, at the Poole Lit Fest, along with
many exalted names such as Carol Ann Duffy and Michael Morpurgo -
full details below in the events section.
Mr B and I had a fabulous evening at the Gollancz Hallowe’en
Party in London last week. We met many other authors and all of
the publishing team - very exciting. It was a great event and as a
new author, I was made to feel very welcome. Gollancz will be
publishing a new, freshly-edited edition of Magus of Stonewylde with
a different cover in February. All existing copies of the series will be
withdrawn at the end of this year. Don’t say you haven’t been
warned!
I’m currently working all hours of the day and night writing the fourth
book, Shadows at Stonewylde. My deadline is the end of this year
and I’m working very hard to make it as perfect as I can. With such a
brilliant fan-base now, I feel a lot of pressure not to disappoint anyone.
I hope you’ll all love it - it has all the special Stonewylde ingredients
with some new ones thrown in. I think you’ll like some of the new
characters too. Magpie is one of my favourites.
I hope everyone enjoys Samhain, a very special time of the year. It
was at sunrise of Samhain seven years ago that I walked the
woodland labyrinth at the Schumacher College near Totnes, and
had my epiphany. From that moment on I knew I was destined to
be a writer. It’s been a magical journey for me and I’m glad I
listened to what my heart was telling me.
Have fun at this ancient festival, and take time to remember your
departed loved ones, as this has long been a time to honour the
dead and your ancestors. It’s also a time to look forward to
new beginnings, and I’m doing just that.
Bright blessings to everyone!
Breaking Stonewylde news
I’m having a meeting very soon with my editor,
Gillian, of Gollancz. Among other things, she’ll
be showing me the proposed new covers for
the first three books. I’m really excited about
seeing these. The books will carry our new
Stonewylde logo which is so distinctive and
eye-catching.
Book Four, Shadows at Stonewylde, is coming
on very well and is on track for the deadline.
In case anyone has missed the dates for publication, here they are again: Magus of Stonewylde - February 2011,
Moondance of Stonewylde - April 2011, Solstice at Stonewyde - June 2011.
Shadows at Stonewylde - August 2011. I believe the fifth and final title will be published in 2012.
All will be available as e-books too. If you want audio versions please pester Gollancz and Orion with requests.
They need to know that there’s a market waiting out there!
Our lovely T-shirts and strappy tops featuring
the official Stonewylde logo have sold so well
we’ve had another load printed! They sell at
£9.99 and are available in a natural cream
colour in comfort fit (sizes small up to XX large)
and white in ladyfit (sizes 8 - 16). These cotton
T-shirts wash well and hold their shape. We still
have some Silver Labyrinth T-shirts left, for
those of you who must wear black!
The new Stonewylde eco-bags are also proving very
popular with everyone - you can never have enough
ecobags. Ours sell at £1.99 and are brilliant - strong
and roomy, but will pack up small.
All these items make great presents for the
Stonewylde reader who’s waiting for August 2011.
Our beautiful Stonewylde greetings cards have been on sale now for nearly
three years and we’ve had so many re-prints done. My sister at Helixtree
painted the original for the stunning Stonewylde Wheel of the Year, and we
have sold thousands of these cards. They’re printed on good quality card,
and come with envelopes either individually (£1.20) or in cellophane-wrapped
pack of five cards (£3.50), ten cards (£5.50) or twenty cards (£10.00).
These packs make lovely gifts, but the cards are also great to send at Yule
(I like to add a bit of glitter to mine!) or for any time of the year. This
reproduction really doesn’t do the cards justice - they are gorgeous.
We’re still running our special offer in
the Stonewylde Store. You can buy
the trilogy of Stonewylde books,
personally dedicated and signed by
me, and also a beautiful Stonewylde
Wheel of the Year greetings card
(blank for you to write in) for only
£19.99 with FREE P&P. What a
great Christmas present! Details
here.
There’s only a limited number of the
three books left in the warehouse.
No more will ever be printed with
these covers and any remaining books will be pulped at the end of this year prior to the launch of the new
editions. So if you want a set of the original editions with these covers, please don’t leave it too late.
LAST ORDERS FOR BOOKS, T-SHIRTS, BAGS & CARDS WILL BE DECEMBER 21st
Stonewylde Newsletter 32
October 31st 2010
Bright blessings at
to all Stonewylders
What’s been going on ...
Samhain (pronounced
Sowain) is one of the Celtic
Cross Quarter festivals and is
the last day of the year in the
pagan calendar. Traditionally it
was the time for remembering
and honouring the dead - a custom
found in many other ancient
cultures.
When Christianity superceded the old religion, it
became All Hallows' Eve, the day before All Hallows
when the saints were honoured. But the idea of a
festival for the dead remained, although this has
become completely transformed by Hallowe'en with its
skeletons and ghouls, and the spiritual side forgotten
by many. Samhain is the time when the veil between
the realms of the living and the dead is at its thinnest.
Departed souls may find a way to contact the living.
It’s a time for
remembrance of
our ancestors, and
those we've loved
who have passed
on to the
Otherworld (or
whatever name you
give to the afterlife).
It’s a time of letting
go of the old and getting ready to embrace the new,
with the start of the pagan new year the next day.
At Stonewylde all fires are extinguished at dawn and
people fast until sunset. A great labyrinth is built on the
Village Green, with white pebbles from the beach
Dates for your diary ...
SATURDAY OCTOBER 30th - Poole Literary Festival, Poole, Dorset
I’ll be giving a talk and signing books at this brilliant new literary festival, along with other
fab names such as Michael Morpurgo, Carol Ann Duffy, Minette Walters and Gervase
Phinn - what a great honour! I shall be part of the “Dorset Delights” theme on the
Saturday only, which runs from 10am till 2pm. My talk is at 10am in Function Room 1
and Mr B and I will be around until 2pm. Stonewylde books will be on sale at the
Waterstones stand, and Mr B will be manning a stall selling Stonewylde T-shirts, bags,
NOVEMBER 5th - Spirit of the Hare
Many of you will know of my love for hares. I have hare
pictures and sculptures all over my house. I'm delighted
therefore to be able to tell you of a truly magical book about
to be published by Hedingham Fair.
Written and illustrated by the lovely Karen Cater, it's called
'Spirit of the Hare' and is out on November 5th, price £15.99.
It combines Karen's exquisite full-colour art work with her
own observations on hare mythology, legends and folklore,
superstitions and spirituality around the hare, and
contributions from other hare-lovers.
I was honoured to contribute to this book, and Karen has
given me a lovely double paged spread. Thoroughly
recommended - details here.
Please note: I have no further engagements booked for this year as I’m now concentrating on finishing
Shadows at Stonewylde! Next year I will be attending some events and signings and will keep you posted on
these via my newsletters and on the Events page of the website.
Stonewylde Community news ...
It’s been a great few weeks in the community, with more recipes posted in ‘Maizie’s Kitchen’ including a scrummy
looking one for spicy pumpkin soup, information about the Druid Network being recognised as a religion (and the
scurrilous backlash this provoked in the tabloid press), campaigns to save our ancient forests, using urine as
fertiliser, and general chit chat about everything under the sun. Lots of new photos and videos have also been
posted, and we currently have over 700 members!
I read an article recently about how online communities often fail. It told of how people don’t see their online
friends as real friends, and how the majority only use Facebook nowadays. This made me realise how special our
Stonewylde online community really is. Members share all sorts of information about common interests,
recommend books to each other, and also meet up whenever they can. Some of them also keep in touch on
Facebook, but for many of them, Stonewylde was their original meeting ground and provides a richer and more
personal place to converse. We’re very lucky to have built up such a terrific group of people.
This weekend, the Northern Tarts (a special wing of the community so named because their first
get-together was in Bakewell, home of the famous tart) descend on Glastonbury for the Avalon
Faerie Ball. That should be a sight for sore eyes, especially if Darcy wears his highwayman
leathers! A few honorary Northern Tarts will be joining them too, and they’ll be entertained by the
exciting music of The Dolmen (our favourite band from Dorset) and Wendy Rule from Australia.
Linda Ravenscroft and Josephine Wall, famous faerie artists whom we met twice at the Elf
Fantasy Fair in the Netherlands, will also be there, amongst others.
In November, several Stonewylde members have arranged to meet up at Witchfest in Croydon,
including our friend Sorcha who’s coming all the way from the Netherlands. They’ll be meeting
Prof. Ronald Hutton (you may remember he wrote some lovely reviews of Stonewylde) who’s
giving a talk, and dancing to Damh the Bard - one of my favourite performers and a very
huggable Druid - and The Dolmen again.
Anyone receiving this newsletter is very welcome to join a group of us meeting up in Glastonbury for some Yule
shopping on Saturday Dec 11th. We’ve hired The Gallery for the day as a meeting point for our get-together and
plan to shop, maybe visit Chalice Well Gardens and the Tor, shop some more, and enjoy the Frost Fayre that
takes place on that day. More details on the Stonewylde Community events page. It would be lovely to meet
more Stonewylde readers if you can make it - everyone welcome.
Do join us and become part of our amazing Stonewylde Community.
.
depicting the cursal path. In the centre is a wicker dome
where the only fire at Stonewylde burns, and crows'
feathers and bones hang inside from the roof. Every
member of the community, Hallfolk and Villager, walk this
Green Labyrinth dressed in a black cloak. Once inside
the dome they drink a heady brew of elderberry wine and
meditate – some may say hallucinate.
The elder and the yew
are the trees sacred to
this festival, the elder as
it's the tree of the crone,
and the yew because of
its association with
death and rebirth. The
crow is the symbol of
Samhain, and is painted
as the main symbol in
the Stone Circle. Carved
Jack o' Lanterns and
papier mache skulls
decorate the Great Barn.
At sunset an enormous
bonfire is lit in the
Playing Fields adjoining
the barn, its flame
sparked by the one fire burning in the Labyrinth.
Everyone dances in great circles around the fire,
symbolising the never-ending turning of the wheel of the
year. Then the feasting and dancing begin! In the Stone
Circle the Stone Labyrinth is built, along with a huge
funeral pyre. The third book, Solstice at Stonewylde,
explains all about the strange rituals that take place here,
when the Dark Angel is summoned. This is the stuff of
nightmares.
Take time at Samhain to remember those who've died.
This is the day of remembrance. Also take time to reflect
on the year that’s passed, and learn from it. Look ahead
to the coming winter and new opportunities, and think of
what you hope to achieve.
©Steve Perry
