Published on 12, July, 2020
What books have subtley influence you, ones that you read as a child? For me it was Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, as well as being a good adventure story, it introduced me to a whole world of folklore and what I call mystic Britain. You have the history of Britain and then you have the mystic history, the Britain of the things seen from the corner of the eye, the things that you know are there, that you can sense and feel, but can rarely see and other people think you're being daft for caring about. As well as all the strange rituals and folk customs around the country, the fertility dances of Morris Men, to the Hobby Horses and corn dollies. The pull of ancient sacred places, stone circles, holy wells, some very ancient churches, a whole sacred landscape that we're only just rediscovering through the use of such technology as LIDAR. Some customs that cross continenets and generations, throwing coins in a wishing well, these places have often been in use for thousands of years.
That one book set me on a journey thats still ongoing.
Two books had a big impact on me. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson, was the first book to really captivate me, and turned me into an avid reader, and pirate fanatic. I converted one of my mum's largest knitting needles into a cutlass and had her tack up the brim of my cowboy hat to make it into a tricorne. Elidor, Alan Garner, opened fantasy, folklore, legend and the numinous to me, and scared me not a little as it was partly set in my hometown.
Did you read the Defoe book on Pyrates? I love that book. It's got some of my ancestors in it!