Botulf's Stone Blog

 This year (2022) I'll be starting a new series of annual posts here listing books I finished over the year and whether or not I recommend them. For books (other than poetry) to qualify for this list, they must contain at least 10,000 words of content or, if word count is uncertain, be at least 30 pages if primarily text or 100 pages if containing heavy art content. Rereads shall be listed apart from new reads.  Children's picture books will not be counted in my total due to their short length. I shall, however, list recommended picture books I read. I will not be assigning number ratings, as I have not constructed a system for weighing and evaluating my thoughts and did not take notes for that purpose as I read. If I feel the need, I shall write a fuller review of some of these entries. I made lists the previous few years as well, and if I can dig them out and recall what my feelings were for those books, I'll make a post collecting those as well. For now, here is the ke...

Since around Christmas (2020), I’ve been posting illustrations of scenes pulled from each chapter of my novel along with the related text. I will be posting them together here. S o far, only chapters 1-11 are done, but I shall be adding more as I get them done until samples and illustrations for all 14 chapters are up.  Sketches for all chapters are uploaded. For fair warning, there are spoilers in some of the entries . I have tried to keep them minor and cryptic enough to not impact reading, but they are there. If you want a larger sample, chapters 1-3 can be read in their entirety on this blog, starting here . Enjoy, and if you like what you see/read, the full novel can be found on Amazon  here . : ) Last updated: November 2022 Chapter 1 Eibhlin lifted her face. Seeing the room, all evidence of that day’s cleaning gone, she felt a fresh set of tears forming and moved her gaze to the blanket on the floor, as if thinking to hide beneath it. Then she saw it, half-buried beneath...

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Little could be seen through the midnight shadows of the forest men called enchanted. She didn’t have a light, so Eibhlin set herself beneath a large beech tree just beyond the tree line, hugged herself in her cloak, and after a few minutes fell asleep. When she woke, her body was stiff in the chill air. Sunlight passing through leaves tinted the world in soft green and gold. After a few painful stretches, Eibhlin stood to her feet and took out a biscuit to eat while walking. She needed to find a fairy. Deeper into the forest she went. The ground foliage thickened, causing her to trip on hidden sticks, roots, branches, and stones. The thought already arose to abandon her search, but she clutched a gold coin and went deeper. Deer, rabbits, birds, insects, she saw plenty of wild life, but not a single sign of a fairy. As afternoon arrived, she heard the sound of water and followed it to the wide river Lúrin, the border of Enbár, a river quickened from the recent rain....

Chapter 1 Fear filled Eibhlin when the door finally opened. Soon after trading the hammer, weariness had sent her to bed, but when she woke that morning to everyday sounds and a sunlit house, dread invaded her mind. She knew that when her father returned she would need to tell him what she had done. Hiding a bag of infinite gold couldn’t last long. How to tell him, though, that was hard. As she cleaned the previous night’s wreckage and returned the spilt gold to the purse, she formed and reformed her explanation, but no matter how she reasoned it, something pricked at her mind. When her father entered that afternoon, a broad smile on his face, a chill settled in her chest and fingertips. “Good day, Eibhlin, dear!” said Lochlann, kissing her forehead. “You weren’t worried last night, I hope.” “Good afternoon, Papa,” she managed. Her father went on. “Whew! I tell you, Eve, that rain yesterday nearly got us. We were in the middle of putting down the thatch, three men on each side, when we...