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About the 'Blue Men, Green Women' series
All the way back in 2005, I began to develop an interest in various different spirit creatures found in the folklore of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and parts of England. I noticed that there were Blue Men (Fear Gorm), Red Men (Fear Dearg) and Grey Men (Fear Liath) mentioned in accounts of the fairy races, as well as the ubiquitous 'Green Man' of English lore. I wanted to write a series of 'colour-coded' short stories focusing on each one of these. Thus, the idea for the Blue Men, Green Women series was born. My initial idea was to have the stories be quite simple, but the project has now grown into a collection of medium-length (3000-5000 word) stories on Celtic folklore for readers of all ages.
By 'Celtic folklore', I mean two things. Firstly, I mean genuine folk-tales, which are a recognisable type of pre-modern narrative designed for spoken delivery. Secondly, I mean what are called 'memorates' - that is, accounts of the beliefs of country people, often Gaelic speakers, that were recorded by folklorists and antiquarians in the Victorian era and beyond, even into the days of the early 20th Century when fairy belief was still very much present in the British Isles. From these two sources, I have drawn inspiration for a series of short stories, folk-tales perhaps, but with a modern emphasis on character, dialogue and narrative tension.
To a large degree, I have not drawn from the great mythological epics of Ireland and Wales, such as the the accounts of King Arthur in the Mabinogion, and the legends of Cuchulain and Finn MacCool, although these sorts of characters may echo down the centuries to appear in my tales in some shadowy form. My stories are not of kings and princesses and bards and druids. They typically tell of ordinary people and their encounters with the fairy creatures that inhabited their landscape – in an era when the word 'fairy' meant something very mysterious and terrible.
I think it important to give these fairies and monsters – and Celtic folklore in general – some literary treatment, because they are in danger of being creatures that only inhabit the pages of lists and encyclopedias and never properly live in the imagination. Their treatment as ‘static’ creatures is a trend that has been going on throughout the last century, gaining particular momentum through works such as Katharine Briggs’ An Encyclopedia of Fairies. The advent of the internet has increased the speed with which such information can be replicated on many dozens of websites on Celtic myth, but it hasn’t added much in the way of new or original narrative treatment. What we are left with is a body of material that is infinitely useful in categorising the creatures of Celtic myth but quite unhelpful in giving them any character or narrative place.
A particularly good example of this is the Fachan, a one-legged one-eyed giant that was thought to inhabit the area around Glen Etive (and the subject of my story, 'Fresh Blood and Feathers'). If you search for information on this creature on the internet or in a library, you will find a great number of references to the creature in dictionaries and encyclopedias, all ultimately leading back to Briggs’ initial article. What you will not find is any mention of the creature in literature. The actual folklore around the creature is vanishing, its place in narrative forgotten.
I am not a folklorist, so I cannot claim an ability to be able to resurrect the original place of the 'Fachan' and the other bizarre and wonderful imaginings of the pre-modern Gaelic mind. Nor am I a crypto-zoologist, and do not think that such beasts were ever real (although interesting information can be found on paranormal databases across the web, and crypto-zoologists are often interesting folks!).
What I am is a writer, interested in Celtic folklore, who has decided to breathe some new life back into old things. That’s what the series of stories is all about….
(To find out more, go to the Blue Men entries in the Journal.)
Volume 1 (2020) The Blue Men of the Minch (and other Water Monsters from the Celtic Imagination)
The Blue Men of the Minch
The Kelpie Bridge
The Smith and the Water-Horse
The Monster of Swordland
The Arrow and the Ikey-Man
Nuckelavee
Volume 2 (2022) - The Green Woman of Kittlerumpit (and other hags and witches from the Celtic Imagination)
The Green Woman of Kittlerumpit
The Cat-Witch of Laggan
The Gruagach and the Milk-Stone
The Witch and the Whirlpool
The False Banshee
The Cripple and the Brollachan
Volume 3 (slated for 2025)
The Black Dog of Hellfire Hill (animals and demon spirits in the Celtic Imagination)
Fresh Blood and Feathers
The Ghillie Dubh
The Black Dog of Hellfire Hill
The Wolf-Clan of Langavat
Eric and the Sea-Monkey
1 other story in preparation
Volume 4: Tricksters
The Red-Cap of Nine-Stane Rigg
Naganeen's Birthday
Shellycoat
The Soul Cages
Teague of the Lee
Pat Diver and the Talking Corpse
Volume 5: Seers
Volume 6: Ghosts
By 'Celtic folklore', I mean two things. Firstly, I mean genuine folk-tales, which are a recognisable type of pre-modern narrative designed for spoken delivery. Secondly, I mean what are called 'memorates' - that is, accounts of the beliefs of country people, often Gaelic speakers, that were recorded by folklorists and antiquarians in the Victorian era and beyond, even into the days of the early 20th Century when fairy belief was still very much present in the British Isles. From these two sources, I have drawn inspiration for a series of short stories, folk-tales perhaps, but with a modern emphasis on character, dialogue and narrative tension.
To a large degree, I have not drawn from the great mythological epics of Ireland and Wales, such as the the accounts of King Arthur in the Mabinogion, and the legends of Cuchulain and Finn MacCool, although these sorts of characters may echo down the centuries to appear in my tales in some shadowy form. My stories are not of kings and princesses and bards and druids. They typically tell of ordinary people and their encounters with the fairy creatures that inhabited their landscape – in an era when the word 'fairy' meant something very mysterious and terrible.
I think it important to give these fairies and monsters – and Celtic folklore in general – some literary treatment, because they are in danger of being creatures that only inhabit the pages of lists and encyclopedias and never properly live in the imagination. Their treatment as ‘static’ creatures is a trend that has been going on throughout the last century, gaining particular momentum through works such as Katharine Briggs’ An Encyclopedia of Fairies. The advent of the internet has increased the speed with which such information can be replicated on many dozens of websites on Celtic myth, but it hasn’t added much in the way of new or original narrative treatment. What we are left with is a body of material that is infinitely useful in categorising the creatures of Celtic myth but quite unhelpful in giving them any character or narrative place.
A particularly good example of this is the Fachan, a one-legged one-eyed giant that was thought to inhabit the area around Glen Etive (and the subject of my story, 'Fresh Blood and Feathers'). If you search for information on this creature on the internet or in a library, you will find a great number of references to the creature in dictionaries and encyclopedias, all ultimately leading back to Briggs’ initial article. What you will not find is any mention of the creature in literature. The actual folklore around the creature is vanishing, its place in narrative forgotten.
I am not a folklorist, so I cannot claim an ability to be able to resurrect the original place of the 'Fachan' and the other bizarre and wonderful imaginings of the pre-modern Gaelic mind. Nor am I a crypto-zoologist, and do not think that such beasts were ever real (although interesting information can be found on paranormal databases across the web, and crypto-zoologists are often interesting folks!).
What I am is a writer, interested in Celtic folklore, who has decided to breathe some new life back into old things. That’s what the series of stories is all about….
(To find out more, go to the Blue Men entries in the Journal.)
Volume 1 (2020) The Blue Men of the Minch (and other Water Monsters from the Celtic Imagination)
The Blue Men of the Minch
The Kelpie Bridge
The Smith and the Water-Horse
The Monster of Swordland
The Arrow and the Ikey-Man
Nuckelavee
Volume 2 (2022) - The Green Woman of Kittlerumpit (and other hags and witches from the Celtic Imagination)
The Green Woman of Kittlerumpit
The Cat-Witch of Laggan
The Gruagach and the Milk-Stone
The Witch and the Whirlpool
The False Banshee
The Cripple and the Brollachan
Volume 3 (slated for 2025)
The Black Dog of Hellfire Hill (animals and demon spirits in the Celtic Imagination)
Fresh Blood and Feathers
The Ghillie Dubh
The Black Dog of Hellfire Hill
The Wolf-Clan of Langavat
Eric and the Sea-Monkey
1 other story in preparation
Volume 4: Tricksters
The Red-Cap of Nine-Stane Rigg
Naganeen's Birthday
Shellycoat
The Soul Cages
Teague of the Lee
Pat Diver and the Talking Corpse
Volume 5: Seers
Volume 6: Ghosts
