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Lucy Hounsom: Author

Also writing as Lucy Holland

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Author, SFF podcaster, book merchant Read More…

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silvanhistorian

𝓑𝓮𝓻𝓻𝔂 𝓟𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓻𝓸𝔂

𝓑𝓮𝓻𝓻𝔂 𝓟𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓻𝓸𝔂

The Berry Pomeroy family had held land here since the 11th century before building this impressive Tudor manor on medieval fortifications. We visited late on a rainy day in July where mist clung to parts of the valley and the trees dripped and whispered.

Like all good castles, Berry Pomeroy is said to be haunted and has actually garnered itself the title "most haunted castle in Britain".

What's the most haunted place you've ever visited?

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#berrypomeroy #totnes #castle #castles #devon #britishcastles #englishhistory #tudor #medieval #ruins #atmospheric #brooding #greyskies #tudorarchitecture #southwestengland #historicalbuilding #haunted #mosthaunted #ghosts

When you can almost see the other wind... ➳ #u

When you can almost see the other wind...

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#ursulakleguin #summer #blueskybluesea #coast #wideopenspaces #nature #sea #devon #england #sidmouth #beautifulbooks

Another name for Japan is Akitsushima, dragonfly i

Another name for Japan is Akitsushima, dragonfly island, and there is a famous children's song called Akatombo, "red dragonfly" about transience, beauty and joy that passes, by poet Rofū Miki.

Meanwhile in North America, folklore calls a dragonfly "the devil's darning needle" which can sew shut the mouths and sometimes even the eyes of naughty children.

In related news... I found a dragonfly!

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#dragonfly #folklore #japan #myth #nature #insects #closeup #summer #naturephotography #FolkloreThursday

Love a mossy ruin. This one is the medieval guard

Love a mossy ruin. This one is the medieval guard tower of Berry Pomeroy in Devon.

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#ruin #mossyruin #moss #naturereclaims #oldbuildings #medievalhistory #medieval #oldarchitecture #castle #castlewalls #berrypomeroy #devon #history #england

𝑹 𝒂 𝒈 𝒍 𝒂 𝒏 𝑳 𝒊 𝒃 𝒓

𝑹 𝒂 𝒈 𝒍 𝒂 𝒏 𝑳 𝒊 𝒃 𝒓 𝒂 𝒓 𝒚

This sculpture commemorates the library at Raglan Castle which purportedly once held the most extensive collection of ancient Welsh texts anywhere, including those by Dafydd ap Gwilym and Taliesin.

Was naturally destroyed and looted by Oliver the bastard Cromwell in 1646 😢

Seriously all the places I've visited recently feature "slighted by Parliamentarian forces" or "demolished on Cromwell's orders" – all you can say is he did create some sad and beautiful ruins.

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#raglanlibrary #raglancastle #library #oldlibrary #castlelibrary #olivercromwell #englishcivilwar #wales #welshliterature #romanticruins #ruins #castle #welshcastles

We went to Wales... and it didn't rain! This is th

We went to Wales... and it didn't rain! This is the view from Castell y Bere. Must have sat up here for an hour, but could have stayed all afternoon, the view was so glorious. Verdant hills and in every direction wilderness.

@drvictoriajames read me some Susan Cooper.

On the day of the dead, when the year too dies,
Must the youngest open the oldest hills
Through the door of the birds, where the breeze breaks.

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#susancooper #bookstagram #bookquote #thegreyking #thedarkisrising #favbooks #wales #hills #castellybere #ruins #welshcastles #wilderness #scenicbritain #viewpoint #summer #beautifulviews #storytime

At the foot of Cader Idris, home of the Grey King!

At the foot of Cader Idris, home of the Grey King!

Legend goes that if you sleep alone on the summit of the mountain, you either come down mad or a poet. We only climbed as far as the waterfall in the afternoon so cannot attest to the truth of this...

🗻

#caderidris #cadairidris #mountain #gwynedd #wales #river #woodland #mossy #fairycore #susancooper #thegreyking #thedarkisrising #bookstagram #fantasy #favbooks #igreads #booklove #instareads

Caught in the act! Ok yes I took my US Sistersong

Caught in the act!

Ok yes I took my US Sistersong ARC on holiday to make beautiful videos for instagram, please forgive this guilty millennial. I would like to stress that @drvictoriajames also whipped her phone out multiple times while muttering, "we are unbelievably sad, just look at us" to snap a photo of her holiday lunch. NOT ALONE.

#contentcreator #holiday #millenial #feedingthemonster #sistersong #bookstagram #igreads #instareads #historicalfantasy #arc #orbitbooks #2021reads

Sidmouth Literary Festival starts today and this y

Sidmouth Literary Festival starts today and this year you don't have to be in Sidmouth to come along! Most of the events are free to attend too, including mine 👍

This Friday 2nd at 7.30pm BST I'll be talking about Sistersong and its links to local history and the landscape of Devon. Might even delve into the work in progress too if we have time!

You can sign up to any of the events on the Sidmouth Lit Fest website. If you're local, there will be signed copies of Sistersong in the festival bookshop @winstonessidmouth later this week.

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#sidmouthlitfest #sidmouth #devon #literaryfestival #events #authorevents #litevents #sistersong #bookstagram #igreads #instareads #historicalfantasy #localhistory #2021books #alwaysreading

Susan Cooper pilgrimage! This is Bird Rock - Craig

Susan Cooper pilgrimage! This is Bird Rock - Craig y Aderyn - where Will must win the harp of gold (played to wake the Sleepers, oldest of the old). We had to take care, for we were deep in the realm of the Grey King, and without the power to open the rock.

The Dark is Rising Sequence is an absolute masterwork of fantasy and if you haven't read it, I envy you your first experience ❤

Fun Bird Rock fact: it is the furthest inland roost of cormorants in the UK!

#susancooper #thegreyking #thedarkisrising #fantasy #wales #hill #birdrock #craigyaderyn #favouritebooks #favbooks #bookstagram #igreads #booklove #instareads #thesleepers

I don't know which photos from my Welsh trip to sh

I don't know which photos from my Welsh trip to share first – I have so many already! So here is a lovely shot of last night's sun coming through the BBQ smoke, no filter needed 😍

Today: the coast!

#bbq #eveninglight #eveningsun #smoky #sunlight #nofilterneeded #summer #greenery #greenandgold #wales #holiday

Begun in 1435 by William ap Thomas, Raglan looks m

Begun in 1435 by William ap Thomas, Raglan looks more like a citadel of some ancient ruined people than a castle. So quiet today – just us, the swifts and the dramatic Welsh clouds rolling in.

As with Corfe, Oliver Cromwell did for Raglan too, besieging it for 13 weeks until its defenders finally surrendered. The castle was slighted so as to render it useless for military purposes and left to fall to ruin. Parts were finally restored and opened as an attraction in the 18th and 19th centuries.

For my bookstagram folk, there was an incredible library here once with hundreds of books!

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#RaglanCastle #wales #castle #castles #castlesofwales #ruins #tudor #dramaticsky #ancientbuilding #visitwales
#swifts #olivercromwell #bookstagram #castlelibrary
#englishhistory #history

This was partly a research / ideas read for me, as

This was partly a research / ideas read for me, as the Aos Sí or People of the Mounds feature in the new book and I didn't want to paint them as gorgeous fairy princes.

Irish myth tells us that when the Tuatha Dé Danann, ancient deities of Ireland, were defeated by the Milesians, the Milesian poet Amergin allotted them the underground while his people who would become the modern day inhabitants of Ireland dwelt above ground.

Peadar Ó Guilín draws on this ancient story to create the central concept of The Call. Instead of the fields of otherworldly flowers that are spoken of in the Voyage of Bran, Ó Guilín gives us the Grey Land, a horrible succession of hellish landscapes which the Sidhe have been forced to call home.

Now they want their revenge on the descendants of those who exiled them and oh my god are they good at getting it. This is a scary book which portrays the Folk as merciless supernatural beings whose hatred of humans is bottomless. Needless to say I loved it and the way absolutely no character is safe – from beginning to end.

What are your favourite depictions of the Folk?

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#thecall #peadaroguilin
#irishmythology #ireland #sidhe #fairies #faerie #thefae #tuathadedanann #bookstagram #fantasy #mythic #igreads #instareads #booklove #bookrecommendations

Love the bleak beautiful wilderness of Bodmin Moor

Love the bleak beautiful wilderness of Bodmin Moor. Perfect setting for an immortal Iceni chieftain and the Wild Hunt that rides in her shadow.

🐎

#WiP #workinprogress #aesthetic #bodminmoor #moorland #cornwall #kernow #wilderness #wild #historicalfantasy #thewildhunt #bookstagram #writing #nature #landscapephotography

Dug out these photos of my Alan Garner pilgrimage

Dug out these photos of my Alan Garner pilgrimage to Alderley Edge yesterday for Folklore Thursday and thought I'd share them here too.

Brisingamen and Gomrath were formative books for me and will always have pride of place on my shelf. Imagine my delight to see the words from the book carved in the rock above the real life wizard's well!

𝘋𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴
𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭
𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴
𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘻𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭.

The Edge is a spectacular place and it was wonderful to wander the paths that I first followed Colin and Susan down so many years before.

✥

#alderleyedge #alangarner #theweirdstoneofbrisingamen #themoonofgomrath #cheshire #wizardswell #bookstagram #booklove #inspirations #myth #fundindelve #booksofinstagram #fantasy #fantasybooks #woodland #enchanted #FolkloreThursday

Last week I shared some of @rebecca.j.stockburn's

Last week I shared some of @rebecca.j.stockburn's incredible art. Today here is a repost of some of my favourite pieces from @alexboonart 😊

Alex is a friend who lives locally to me and takes inspiration from the natural Devon landscape - I love seeing places I know appear in his journal. The rabbits in the first two pictures are from his Lapine Botanica series, inspired by – you guessed it –Watership Down. (Otherwise known as the film that most terrified child Lucy. Let us not mention the general).

It has been such a pleasure to watch Alex's art taking off on here and all the people discovering it. Go check out his page for more, plus tutorials and lots of interesting live videos. Oh and if you like colouring, he offers the rabbits of Lapine Botanica as colouring sheets over at his Etsy store (plus lots more) 👏

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#lapinebotanica #alexboonart #art #artistsofinstagram #natureart #naturalworld #naturejournal #naturejournaling #devon #eastdevon #watershipdown #richardadams

Reading these two in tandem for obvious bee relate

Reading these two in tandem for obvious bee related reasons. *And* because I'm helping host their launch event this Thursday 10th June!

Very excited to be chatting to Joanne M. Harris and Ed Cox (both of whom are lovely people as well as exceptional authors) about fairytales, magic, myth and folklore and how these intersect in their new books, Honeycomb and The Wood Bee Queen. And yes I will be congratulating Ed on that title as I love a good word play👏

You can find tickets on @cymerafestival website. Thank you to @gollancz for these arcs. See you there?

🐝

#bookstagram #bookevent #booksofinstagram #booklaunch #honeycomb #joanneharris #thewoodbeequeen #edwardcox #gollancz #fantasy #folklore #thefolk #theotherworld #myth #bees #newbooks #igreads #booklove #alwaysreading #booksbooksbooks

Mevagissey harbour, scene of the great seagull tug

Mevagissey harbour, scene of the great seagull tug of war

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#cornwall #visitcornwall #mevagissey #sea #onthecoast #historic #mevagisseyharbour #fishingboats #fishingvillage #port #boats #dramaticsky #seagulls

Maybe my favourite view from the walls of Tintagel

Maybe my favourite view from the walls of Tintagel. It really is the kind of landscape to inspire legends.

I wonder how different this coastline would have looked to the folk who lived here sixteen centuries back.

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#tintagel #kernow #cornwall #visitcornwall #westcountry #southwestengland #ruins #coastline #seascape #landseasky #blueskies #ancientbritain #ocean #spring #nature #myth #legend

Cornwall doing its Mediterranean thing again. Port

Cornwall doing its Mediterranean thing again. Port Isaac is a little town on the north coast near Tintagel and it is as lovely as it looks.

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#portisaac #cornwall #visitcornwall #northcornwall #turquoisesea #blueskies #coastline #spring #seaside #sea #england #nature #southwestengland #westcountry

What a wonderful art community instagram has! Foll

What a wonderful art community instagram has! Following my friend @alexboonart's journey to building a presence here and 'meeting' @rebecca.j.stockburn have been some of my best social media experiences (it is not all doom scrolling)! So I thought I would showcase some of their work and hope that you go check out their pages too.

First up, here is Rebecca's incredible watercolour of the goddess Brigid (and her three aspects of smith, healer and poet). This picture is *so* Sistersong! I adore the detail – look at that chainmail – and the way the image is just brimful of story. This level of imagination characterises all Rebecca's work. Another favourite of mine is her Lady of Shalott which is scarily good and not an easy subject to interpret.

You can buy some of Rebecca's prints as greeting cards on Etsy like the one pictured here. I am saving these for very special people / occasions 😊 And meanwhile please go follow her beautiful page. I will post more of her greeting cards in my stories!

#watercolour #brigid #triplegoddess #goddess #artistsofinstagram #artofinstagram
#art #artwork #beautifulart #celtic #pagan #myth #instafriends #stories #bookstagram

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In a magical ancient Britain, bards sing a story of treachery, love and death. This is that story.

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