Full Moon at the Spring Equinox

Friday was the Spring Equinox - the time of year when night and day are of equal length (equinox literally means "equal night"). It's a time of equilibrium and balance, and a good opportunity to focus on how your life is balanced. Light and dark, both in harmony and counteracting each other. We need light and dark in our lives. Without the darkness, the light would be nothing but glare.

This particular equinox on Friday was very special because it was also the full moon. On the Stonewylde forum there have been many very excited posts from members waiting with anticipation for a sight of the full moon, and worried that the bad weather would prevent this. Several members have also posted about how the full moon affects them - makes them more energetic, active, even wild. Of course in the Stonewylde books, we see the extreme of this in Sylvie's moongaziness. She's really affected by the full moon, becoming restless, twitchy and eventually frantic as the rising of the full moon approaches. At Hare Stone she's able to channel this strange moon magic, dancing on the hill top surrounded by moongazy hares until the energy is spent.

When I was teaching, we always knew the full moon would bring more behavioural issues with the pupils. And several people have said the same on the forum. I know a nightclub bouncer who always said there were more incidences when it was a full moon. The word "lunacy" and "lunatic", now taken as meaning a generally insane person, originally derived from "luna", meaning moon. It was always taken that disturbed or unbalanced people would react badly at the time of the full moon. And as for werewolves ... !

There was great excitement on the forum amongst those who did see Friday's full moon, even if only through a break in the clouds. One member, Corn Mother who hails from Cornwall, sent the beautiful photo above, taken in very windy conditions. It is because of the full moon falling on the Spring Equinox that the Christian festival of Easter is so very early this year. This major festival is determined by both the equinox and the full moon, and is fixed on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. So because the full moon was on the Equinox itself, this Sunday is the day to celebrate Easter.

Mr B heard on the radio that this last happened in 1913. I'd be really interested to know more about this, and why it is that such an important Christian event is fixed in this strange way. Please post your comments!

PS - and another forum member noted a strange green halo around the moon tonight (the night after the full moon). I know that the halo effect is caused by reflected light from the moon refracting through the ice crystals in the atmosphere. This phenomenom is known as a moonbow - what a beautiful name! But why would it be green tonight? Can anyone enlighten us please?

Stonewylde goes to Amsterdam

We've just returned from a very exciting long weekend in Amsterdam. What a beautiful city! And one of the best things was the lack of traffic - hundreds and hundreds of bikes, but very few cars. Such a difference to the congested, polluted streets of London. We visited for a birthday celebration, but one of my forum members from the Netherlands had recommended a few potential outlets for the Stonewylde books. Never being ones to ignore an opportunity, Mr B and I took some books and promotional cards with us and on our last day there, located the shops.

First we visited the Waterstones branch - a lovely shop which felt exactly like the British ones, with black and gold decor. We were delighted to find that Magus of Stonewylde was already here (albeit in the Teenage section as usual - sigh!). The assistant was really pleased to see us and immediately asked me to sign the books. She was interested in the other two books in the series, not having noticed Stonewylde before as she was new to that department. She faced the books outward and promised to order copies of Moondance and Solstice. And also read them herself!

We then went along to the American Book Centre just round the corner, an absolutely wonderful bookshop. It was laid out on several floors, with great curving bookshelves and a massive tree trunk rising up through the open plan floors. It has a huge fantasy section which is renowned amongst not only the American and British living in Amsterdam, but also amongst the Dutch themselves, who of course as a rule speak practically fluent English. Ebany my forum member had told us about this fantasy section, and it was truly amazing. Although we usually resist labelling Stonewylde as fantasy (because it isn't!) we felt in this instance the placement would be justified.

The buyer was extremely helpful and very interested in stocking the Stonewylde books. She took copies for review, and assured us that she'd be ordering stock from one of our distributors in the next few days. She also talked about arranging a possible future event, which is a very exciting prospect. Mr B and I can't wait to return to Amsterdam - what a great way to mix business with pleasure! We're so grateful to Ebany for alerting us to this opportunity to get the books on sale on the Continent, which is a big step forward for Stonewylde.

Successful day at Reading University

The talk I gave last Saturday at Reading University for the Conference of Women Writers was great fun. It's an annual event, and I was very honoured when Penny Hunter, who organises the day, invited me to be one of the speakers.

I was a little nervous, as the other speakers seemed to be very erudite and were talking about proper writers and poets like A.S. Byatt and Sylvia Plath. The Stonewylde Series may be a jolly good read and loved by many, but it doesn't even try to pretend it's literary in any way. However Penny assured me that the people coming would love it, and those attending my workshop would really enjoy hearing me speak. So I went ahead, albeit feeling slightly fraudulent!

And actually it was great! The group who'd chosen to come to my workshop had all read at least Magus of Stonewylde, and some had read more of the series. In my attempts to intellectualise the workshop and at least give it some literary plausability, I'd prepared an interesting talk based on the works of Joseph Campbell and Christopher Vogler, showing how the Stonewylde Series followed the pattern of "The Hero's Journey". I'd intended to talk about archetypes, and how the main characters in Stonewylde really fitted into these models (not something I'd realised when I'd written the books).

However, after a fun activity where we all drew maps of places familiar to us (to demonstrate how important location, place and setting is in a novel, and how we all have a well of anecdotes from which we can draw when necessary), I had to abandon my prepared talk. One member of the group diffidently asked if we could forget all that stuff and just talk about Stonewylde. Music to my ears!

We then spent the next three quarters of an hour just discussing the books, the characters, the setting and the difficulties of distribution. One of the gripes from the group was how hard it is to actually find copies of Stonewylde in bookshops, and particularly Waterstones. NB - if any Waterstones people are reading this please take note!! I then signed everyone's copies of their books, and left in a flurry of good wishes.

It really was a very enjoyable occasion, and has set me up well for next week when I embark on the first of my talks to the WI! I hope the ladies there are as receptive as the Reading University crowd, who really made my day with their enthusiasm and enjoyment of Stonewylde.

Workshop at Reading University Sat 8th March

A very belated reminder to anyone interested - I'm one of the speakers at an exciting event to be held this Saturday, March 8th at Reading University. The event is the Celebration of Women Writers, running from 10am till approximately 4pm. I shall be reading excerpts from my novels during the introduction, and then will run a workshop from 11am till 12.30 for those who've signed up for my talk. I'm focussing firstly on the use of place and setting in creating Stonewylde, and how this can work for those wanting to write their own fiction. Then I shall discuss the role of the archetype in Stonewylde, drawing on the works of Joseph Campbell and referencing his work "The hero with a thousand faces". I discovered this book long after writing Stonewylde, and was amazed to find how much I'd drawn on archetypes and symbols from myth and folklore. I shall also be answering any questions thrown at me by the group!

It's probably too late for most, but if you'd like to book a place at Saturday's event, the details are: F18 A Celebration of Women Writers; to book - ring 0118 378 8347. The organiser is Penny Hunter (a great Stonewylde fan herself!). I'm really looking forward to it and hope people enjoy my workshop.