jmellby%ti-eg.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa (06/21/85)
From: John_Mellby <jmellby%ti-eg.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa> While in vacation in England I came across an Arthurian trilogy which deserves mention. After some of the "problems with SF" essays, I am almost afraid to mention yet another Arthurian book, but these quite moved me. The books are by Gillian Bradshaw, Methuen Paperbacks, 11 New Fetter Lane, London, EC4P, 4EE The Hawks of May Kingdom of Summer In Winter's Shadow I have finished the first and part of the second. Despite the surfeit of Arthurian books this is very good. The covers first drew me, but the stories are good. They take liberties with the mythos by creating Gwalchmai, the brother of Agravain, son of Lot, who becomes Arthur's best knight. The interaction with Queen Morgawse and Arthur is well done and quite frightening. Also the emotions of Gwalchmai, as he tried to become a member of Arthur's court were good enough to move me to tears. (Of course, I cry every time I see the end of Casablanca) If you can find these books, these are the best Arthurian spinoffs in quite a while. -------------------- "There *are* standards. If you can't see one, you *make* one and stick to it come Hell or high water -- until you see a BETTER one." -John Gaunt John Mellby P.O.Box 801, Mail Station 8007 Texas Instruments McKinney Texas 75069 JMELLBY%TI-EG@CSNET-RELAY
barryg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Lee Gold) (06/22/85)
Gwalchmai was the Welsh name for the character who appears in later British/French romances as Gawain. Speaking of Welsh names, the characters who appear in Malory and other Arthurian retellings as Lot and Aaron appear in the Welsh triads as Lleu and Araun. (They're the two brothers of Urien, for those who haven't read the Matter of Britain lately.) --Lee Gold
ramsay@kcl-cs.UUCP (ZNAC440) (06/25/85)
<Munchkin, munchkin> In article <2341@topaz.ARPA> jmellby%ti-eg.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa writes: >They take liberties with the mythos by creating >Gwalchmai, the brother of Agravain, son of Lot, who becomes Arthur's best >knight. Wait a minute! This Gwalchmai (The Eagle) also is the hero of H. Warner Munn's books, "Merlin's Godson" and "Merlin's Ring", except that in these, he's not only Merlin's Godson, he's the son of a Roman centurion who sailed west with Merlin, and wasn't even born when Arthur was doing his bit! You must agree that the name is a bit unusual, so where are these authors doing their research?? I'd like to know where they got the name from, to produce two so completely different people from the same name in the same set of mythos. R. Ramsay <Augh!>