A Half-Tamed Land
A pixie door in woods near Chagford (photo: Lunar Hine)
Welcome! Please join us round the fire for story and song, or find yourself a quiet nook to read, as you wish. I'm Lunar Hine, Terri Windling's editorial assistant/studio elf, bringing you writing and art by Terri, Bumblehill Studio updates, and exceptional work by other artists and writers in the field.
Bumblehill News:
Now I lay me down to sleep - the latest addition to Terri's collection of work in her RedBubble shop. I'm imagining this in a bedroom or nursery, or on the journal which lives by your bed. I have had requests for wall art, which will become available as soon as I can make it so.
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Recommendations:
Ethan Pennell of crowmancrowcreations has made the most marvellous Dartmoor Folklore map. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to share it with all of you. These links go to his Etsy shop so you can get your very own to pore over. Printed with eco inks on FSC paper, this shows love for Dartmoor in many ways. 13yo and I enjoyed finding the things we knew about and many we didn't.
Ethan has a Dartmoor Folklore exhibition in the Arts University Plymouth's library until the end of July.
Having had a lovely time adding your books to the Myth & Moor Community bookshelf, it occurred to me that those of you who are authors/ book artists, or who aspire to be, may be interested in the Society of Authors' Tree to Me campaign to make publishing more sustainable. It is expressly not an adversarial compaign. The main focus is a list of ten questions for authors to ask their publishers. These are designed to start a conversation about how everyone can work together to reduce the environmental impact of publishing your book. You don't need to be a member of the SofA to access all the information through the link.
The Scorhill stone circle on Dartmoor, photographed by Simon Blackbourn.
Myth & Moor posts on Dartmoor:
August 14th 2015 "Into the Woods" series, 51: Tales of a Half-Tamed Land The piskies of Dartmoor, with art by Brian Froud and Alan Lee.
October 29th 2015 "Into the Woods" series, 53: The Wild Hunt Wist hounds and the Unseelie Court
April 28th 2016 "Into the Woods" series, 55: Troll Maidens and the magic of bridges If you've ever wondered why Dartmoor has so many clapper bridges...
May 4th 2016 A Dartmoor Beltane A nostalgic one for me (Lunar) - not only a rare photo of my family when 13yo was small and 7yo was just legs dangling from a papoose, but also our friend Rowan who we lost a couple of years ago. And the wheel turns...
July 4th 2016 Tunes for a Monday Morning Some gems from Show Of Hands, from rural Devon agri-politics to a song based on local river folklore
June 21st 2019 The tang of fox Martin Shaw tells the tale of The Lonely Hunter, and Simon Blackbourn's photography accompanies.
June 27th 2019 An apprenticeship to story Martin Shaw's beginnings as a storyteller, and Simon Blackbourn's Dartmoor photography.
Dartmoor faeries by Alan Lee
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Patron's Corner, your chance to be inspired by - and to support - the mythic arts community:
Cathy Johnson
I've been an artist and an avid reader as long as I can remember; I grew up spending as much time outdoors as possible, exploring, sketching, learning. I've written and illustrated 37 books, several on natural history and history, and the rest art-related. I've taught art and journaling online for 20 years or so.
I discovered Terri's editing work through my fondness for Charles de Lint's books and urban fantasy--and I was delighted when I discovered The Wood Wife! I believe I've read it at least 4 times...I love the desert (though live in the Midwest), and the relationships between people and the land in that book are fascinating. I'm very much looking forward to the new book! I follow Terri's insightful, beautiful, and peaceful blog, and of course like the rest of the world, I loved Tilly. After we lost our own big black Lady, it was like visiting her spirit, and I think we all mourn her passing.
I'm inspired by other artists and visionaries, and enjoy my own explorations into fae art, on paper and as sculptures.
Cathy's website is here, full of her books, art, and wisdom, plus lots of affordable online art classes. Her Etsy shop is full of paintings from nature and Cathy's art books. Please go have a look.
Image above: a portrait of Cathy Johnson and her husband.
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That's all for now.
May all your wishes be wise,
Lunar
To become more involved in the mythic arts community, you can join in the conversation below each post on Myth & Moor, Terri's blog about folklore and mythology, the magical landscape of Dartmoor, England and life in the studio. (Please note that the blog has been on hiatus longer than expected due to health issues, but new posts will be available again as soon as she is fully back on her feet. In the meantime, there are years of archives to peruse.)
Terri's Patreon page is an opportunity to support her work from $1 per month and gain access to patron-only videos, Q&As and behind-the-scenes news, plus extra rewards for those able to contribute a little more.
Terri's art is available, on prints and dozens of gifty and practical things, in the MythandMoor Redbubble shop.
Terri's latest ebook is The Color of Angels is out now on Amazon. The UK link is here and the US link is here. This is a 1300 word story about myth, magic, disability and creativity. Largely set on Dartmoor, it loosely connected to The Wood Wife (but also easily read on its own). Meanwhile, The Wood Wife is available in new edition in the Tor Essentials series from Tor Books, with a lovely introduction by Delia Sherman.
UK book lovers: For shelves of books to peruse, go to the Myth & Moor bookshop page on uk.Bookshop.org - an organisation that supports independent bookshops. Everything you see is a Myth & Moor recommendation. We’re limited to books available on the site, but they are adding more all the time and so are we. You can also search for any book at all from the Myth & Moor page, and both Myth & Moor Press and our local independent bookshop get a few pennies each time you buy something. Browsers welcome.
You can find Terri on Bluesky, Twitter, and Facebook. (Terri has hit the maximum number of Facebook friends, but you can still follow her.) There are also Myth & Moor pages on Instagram and Pinterest curated by me.