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.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Sasha Watson, writing in the East Hampton Star, just gave TCC a spectacular review:Mr. Epstein’s originality is in how deeply he goes into Morgan’s mind and how vividly he renders her voice...Wow. Thanks, Sasha Watson!
... Mr. Epstein writes deftly and movingly of the young girl and her perspective on her parents and the events that will change the direction of her life. ...
Mr. Epstein’s tale ... provides a canny view of the lore as a whole, and in elegant and poetic writing he makes the thoroughly researched settings as real as can be. As with all the best adapters of myth, he makes Morgan’s story relevant to our times as well, skillfully joining contemporary language to the ancient settings and tales...
The magic is another innovation of Mr. Epstein’s. He has undertaken not only a rigorous research of ancient Celtic paganism, but he has also, with great success, crafted the magic out of contemporary Wiccan practices ...
This blend of the ancient and the modern works seamlessly, all of it linked by the deep connection we feel to Morgan, who, bridging the pagan and the Christian worlds, ultimately falls on the side of the old, choosing the vengeance and honor upheld by her father over forgiveness. Whether or not we can entirely agree with Morgan’s choices, Mr. Epstein makes sure that we sympathize with and understand them. And it is this addition to the lore, the creation of a conflicted and determined young woman in the space that was left by Morgan and the “lost years” between her departure from England and her furious return, that Mr. Epstein offers.
Those with a longstanding love of Arthuriana are sure to take pleasure in this new vision of Morgan, and those who are new to it will no doubt be drawn into the pleasures of this multivoiced literature after reading “The Circle Cast.”Labels: reviews
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