Alex Epstein's new novel
about Morgan le Fay...
... magic, legends,
history, myth,
and more.
The Circle Cast website
Email Alex
Wiccan Links
Starhawk
Eclectic wicca at its most inventive.
Gerald Gardner
Q. How many Gardnerian witches does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A. That's a secret.
Margot Adler
Author of the influential survey of contemporary Wicca Drawing Down the Moon.
Historical Links
Butser Ancient Farm
Peter Reynolds runs a recreated Celtic farm, with ancient styles of sheep. The Irish in The Circle Cast would have lived more or less like this..
Ireland in 400 AD
About the time of The Circle Cast.
South Cadbury Castle
A Dark Ages hillfort believed to be the original Camelot.
Camlann
The final battle. A short story.
Camlann Eve
I perpetrated a one-night
live-action
role-playing game set in King Arthur's tent on the eve of the battle of Camlann. It was fun. It was a bit geeky. Who will win the battle?
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This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Forever Young Adult is a really awesomely witty and fun blog (see her posts on YA Book Covers and YA Deal Breakers), so I was thrilled to read her review of THE CIRCLE CAST. There isn't a single quote that catches the magic of her image-packed style, but:Morgan le Fay, King Arthur’s half sister, is exiled when her mother sleeps with Uter Pendragon and Uter kills Morgan’s father, Gorlois. If her exile is mentioned at all, it’s usually that she’s sent to a convent, or as Marion Zimmer Bradley would have you believe she hones her craft on the lost isle of Avalon, but sa-noooooooooze. Epstein has a way more awesome version of Morgan’s lost years — she heads off to Ireland where she goes from being a guest of a kinswoman to a slave to a totally badass warrior queen and sorceress, all bent on hellfire vengeance against Uter.She totally gets what I was going for:This is one of my favorite writing styles — concise. Clean. Evocative. Decidedly not poetic or flowery. Epstein also tackles the druidism and magic and religion head on without getting all woo-woo about it. In the same way great myths work, his matter-of-fact tone makes the early Christians and the power-hungry druids and Morgan’s exploration of the elemental forces of the natural world makes the book ring true, rather than seem like it comes out of The Girl’s Tarot and Spirit Guide to the Wonderful World of Like, Magicks and Wicca and Stuff.And this:I have learned a big part of Arthurian legend is how the High King brought Christianity to Britain, and Morgan the sorceress represents the old ways of nature gods and goddesses, blah blah blah. Epstein could have easily lampooned the early Christians, but he chooses instead to give them the power of their faith, even if Morgan rejects the reality of their one god. It’s a fine line to walk, and the respect the book gives to both Christianity and Wicca (for lack of a better word) saves it from hokes-ville and makes it pretty cool.Oh, just read the review for the Goddess' sake.Labels: reviews
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