Tag Archives: dragons

The Lair of the Dragon!

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In my Dragon Trilogy of books, the ancient fortress of Dinas Emrys is a major location, if not a character itself. I did a lot of research online when I wrote the books and decided not to go and visit the place in person. I worried that I might get too obsessed with fitting the story into the reality of the place rather than the magic and fantasy of my imagination.

I tried to go there a few weeks ago (see this video) but it was pouring with rain. So I returned last weekend, on the the Eve of may Day, the day that myth tells us the Red and White Dragons would fight each other across the skies of Ancient Britain. Eventually they were captured and incarcerated beneath Dynas Emrys.

The white dragon represents the invading Saxons and the red dragon eventually became the the symbol of Wales, the land that the Ancient Britons retained after the Saxon invasion.

In this video, I take you up to the top of Dinas Emrys, near Beddgellert in Snowdonia, not far from Mt Snowdon itself, where I read the story of the capture and incarceration of the Red and White dragon, as told in the book, by Mr Davis, teacher of Harri, hero of the stories.

You can get the books at Amazon here in the UK  Or you can get signed copies – with a free poster from me here 

See this druidic video!    Learn more at wikipedia.   And here is some tourist information too The

Here’s the map:

Dragon Gold – my longest book

DragonGoldFrontcoverI have been so busy this year, I seem to have quite forgotten to add a blog post about my latest book, Dragon Gold.

At 153 pages, this is the longest book I’ve ever written and one of the very first published by Wales’ very first children’s book publisher – Firefly Press.

Harri would like to know what it feels like to win, just once. Ryan always wins everything. Harri has no chance because Ryan’s Dad does everything for him! He has no chance, that is, until someone walks into his mum’s shop. Someone almost invisible!

So what would you do if your school had a competition to make a dragon – and you had a dragon? A real, fire-breathing very unpredictable dragon? But you can’t tell anyone…Harri-Square

This story began forming in my mind as I went round schools and would notice the children’s entries for making competitions. Some were amazingly brilliant – especially for five year olds. It’s so obvious when parents do the work for their children.

Then I remembered helping my son on a couple of making projects and how I would anxiously wait to hear “how I had done”! I thought about how easy it would be to get a little over involved in one’s children’s school work and so, Ryan’s Dad appeared on the page.

Mr Davies, Harri’s teacher, was great fun to write. I knew that he sounded just like Rob Brydon, the comedian. All I had to do was think, “How would Rob Brydon say this?” and the writing flowed. I was in the green room at the Hay Literature Festival recently, when Rob Brydon himself walked into the room. Without thinking, I pressed a copy into his hands – I hope he enjoys it!

I set out to write a single story but, I suppose after 27 years of writing series books, I know there is a lot more to come. I’m writing my synopses for the next two books. I think it’s a trilogy, but knowing me I’ll leave it open to go on afterwards.