My FICTION

Solitude - a place where stories are linked by recurring themes of urban and future decay – splintered glass, dust motes and cracked plaster; the loss of loved ones, of the ability to remember; black and white movies of the mind; shafts of golden light shattered by war; haunted memories and the night darks.

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There is a poetic lilt to the narrative, that delights in the minutiae of observation, bringing the mundane into the spotlight, giving it a meaning and beauty that is mostly lost on us busy ones; there is the terror of the ordinary, the shadow in the midday sun; and then there is the humour: sharp, cynical, painfully astute. 

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"...stories reverberate in the mind, long after they've been read. They connect us in their telling, because we relate to these deep, dark moments of human emotion that make us who we are." (Lorna Howarth, The Write Factor, 2016)

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My first novel, Songs of Bliss, appeared in 2011, with subsequent volumes of short stories appearing in print between then and 2017.

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My stories and poetry have appeared regularly in anthologies in the UK, and my work has been shortlisted in competition by the likes of Ragged Raven, bluechrome, and Leaf Books.

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My latest novel, A Solitude of Stars, was published in 2018.

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You can download all of these titles by following the book cover links below:

tales from the world's firesideS

Part 1 - Europe

Tales From The World's Firesides is a grand project. I've collected ‘000’s of traditional texts as part of other projects. Many of the original texts are available through channels like Project Gutenberg, but some of the narratives can be hard to read by modern readers, & so the Fireside project was born.

Put simply, I collect, collate & adapt traditional tales from around the world & publish them as a modern archive.

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Part 1 - Europe, consists of 19 titles covering a host of nations & regions. I'm not laying any claim to insight or specialist knowledge, but these collections are born out of my love of storytelling & I hope that you'll share my affection for traditional tales, myths & legends.

These collections of stories bring together magical tales told by firelight since the very first people tried to make sense of the world around them. These tales are universal. These tales have instructed us, have cautioned us, & entertained us for millennia. Read a few of these stories in soft light with a glass of something warming by your side. Read them aloud to friends & family. These stories are magical.

Wales

Scotland

Ireland

England

Scandinavia

Viking

Finland

Norse

Spain

Italy

Greece

Balkans

Germany

Hungary

France

Romania

tales from the world's firesideS

Part 2 - North america

Part 2 - North America, is my current focus and will consist of a number of volumes covering First Nation story-telling, plus some traditional American and Canadian tales. These collections are born out of my love of story-telling & I hope that you'll share my affection for traditional tales, myths & legends.

Although most Native American myths are profound and serious, some use light-hearted humour, often in the form of the hapless trickster, Iktomi, to entertain, as they subtly convey important spiritual and moral messages.

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There is a deep sense of nature, of the seasons, weather, plants, animals, earth, water, fire, sky and the heavenly bodies, together with common elements such as all-embracing, universal and omniscient Great Spirit.

It's been a delight to get to know these tales just a little, and I still have a long way to walk amongst the stories of so many more tribes and peoples across North America.

First Nations

Great Plains

First Nations America's S.W.

First Nations Great Lakes

First Nations Alaska & the Arctic

First Nations America's Eastern shore

BRIEF BIO

I was born in 1962 into a predominantly sporting household – Dad being a good footballer, playing senior amateur and lower league professional football in England, as well as running a series of private businesses in partnership with mum, herself an accomplished and medal winning dancer.

I obtained a degree in History from Leeds University before wandering rather haphazardly into the emerging world of business computing in the late nineteen-eighties.

A little like my sporting father, I followed a succession of amateur writing paths alongside my career in technology, including working as a freelance journalist and book reviewer, my one claim to fame being a by-line in a national newspaper in the UK, The Sunday People.

I also spent 10 years treading the boards, appearing all over the south of the UK in pantos and plays, in village halls and occasionally on the stage of a professional theatre or two.

Following the sporting theme, and a while after I hung up my own boots, I worked on live TV broadcasts for the BBC, ITV, TVNZ, EuroSport and others as a rugby "Stato", covering Heineken Cups, Six Nations, IRB World Sevens and IRB World Cups in the late '90's and early '00's.

I try to combine my love of storytelling with a passion for information technology, and currently work as a senior leader & advisor with a number of businesses broadly in the consumer & fintech workspaces.

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You can find out more about me at:

 www.clivegilson.com.