"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."
Rebecca Ferrier's The Salt Bind is a historical fantasy novel, set on the storm-lashed Cornish coast and steeped in folklore, sea magic, and women’s lives on the edge of the sea. It follows Kensa -- daughter of a smuggler and with a regularly-complicated relationship with...
Well, this was odd. I started reading this book because it's a childhood favourite of many UK people I know, and the charm hits you right from the beginning: this is an adventure like Bedknobs and Broomsticks, like The Goonies and Candleshoe, with witches and...
During this summer break, I started reading a charming little book I bought in Venice at the remarkable venue Libreria Acqua Alta (High Waters Bookshop): it's a small volume whose title roughly translates to Mysteries of the Lagoon and Tales of Witches, by one Alberto...
The Sjöfru is a kind of Rå, a keeper of a particular kind of land in Swedish folklore, and she presides over waterbodies, usually lakes or small scraps of the sea. Her name is usually translated as "Mistress of the Lake", "Sea Woman" or "Lake...
Tylwyth Teg (Middle Welsh for Fair Family) is the collective noun for mythological creatures known as the aes sídhe in Irish folklore. In other words: fairies. We are we featuring faerie folk in a regular contribution on creatures from the underground? Well, because the Tylwyth...
Atargatis, also known as Ataratheh and redubbed Derceto by Pliny the Elder, was a chief goddess in northern Syria, with evidence of her cult being discovered at Palmyria. She was a fertility goddess but also presided over her city at Aleppo, called Hierapolis by the...
A Cantabric legend tells the story of a local girl and her dangerous liaison with the rocky cliffs around Castro Urdiales. Hers is a tale of freedom lost and regained, and her fate is said to be connected to a cursed (or blessed) mother-of-pearl mirror....
A thermal lake with waters that are rendered warm after staying entrapped for 25 years in crystal, a young Count suffering from chronic pain, a fateful encounter on Saint John's Eve. Join me on my Patreon for some Italian merfolk this Monday. ...
The Gwragedd Annwn, Wives of the Lower Lands, are Welsh water creatures connected with the myth of how the black cow came to be. They're today's feature on my Patreon. ...
On day 2 of Giambattista Basile's 1634 Tale of Tales, also known as The Pentameron, the sixth tale features a story that's close to "Allerleirauh" by the Grimm Brothers and features some typical tropes in folklore, including shapeshifting through a magical object. Henriette-Julie de Murat, a...
