About Me

Worked as a writer for Canadian and American Medical journals, afflicted with a law degree. The street where we lived had contaminated water. Only 10 houses but 4 kids have law degrees. Coincidence? Doubt it! THE COMRADES deals with law in early Wales. Lots of it.

How the Comrades Came to Be

The first thing I’ll say is that it’s not my fault; if it turns out badly, blame someone else.

Law School; two little words and a whole heap of bother. In my second year, I saw the school ‘playboy’ dragging around a big fantasy novel. Making certain my wedding ring was flashing protective bolts of lightning, I asked him when he found the time for ‘free reading.’ He told me if he didn’t read something that wasn’t law, he’d lose his mind. Incredible! The kid had a point which didn’t involve hitting on me.

So, armed with new knowledge, when I got home I grabbed the first volume of Lord of the Rings and read for a bit, then decided to take a nap. I was promptly transported into a dream I’d had when I was 12. Great looking guy, beautiful woman and I had no idea who they were. All I knew was that wherever they lived was cold, with wind blowing in from an ocean.

As the days went by, every time I closed my eyes it was like watching a movie.

The guy’s name was Evan, and he had cousins who were warriors. After a few days, I knew their names, (Gareth and Owen.) They had a big grudge with a neighboring kingdom. The drop-dead gorgeous woman was called Morwinna.

One day a scholar showed up at law school to give a lecture on ‘The Tort Contract Matrix.’ After about 10 minutes, I gave it up as a Matrix that could understand itself, since I hadn’t a clue. All the students had been advised, commanded or press-ganged into attending, so I couldn’t leave as the professors watched the doors like hawks.

On the page where I was supposed to write Brilliant Notes I ended up in the fall-back position of all bored students. I drew a map of the country I’d been seeing. A mountain range here, one kingdom here, another one over there, and when I got home I dragged out an encyclopedia.

I’d drawn a picture of Wales.

That explained the names. When I had a break, I haunted the law school library, since it linked to the main university. My first hit on the computer was troublesome, since it said the law school had a book about Wales but I couldn’t find it. The head librarian told me it was in the rare book collection, produced it and asked “May I be your first footnote?” We laughed because only a few people knew I’d been published in a Law Journal before I went to law school. (283 footnotes; makes me feel a bit sick just thinking of it.)

So, wearing gloves to turn pages, I transcribed bits of the book to my laptop. There was a song that described the men of Powys and dozens of pages on customs and history and battles. I’d discovered a gold mine. Gwynedd was the neighboring kingdom where the beautiful woman lived. Ah ha! A love story separated by a grudge and mountains.

Many books and laptops later, I had a story with people that lived and breathed.

The question became: would anybody want to read it?

~ ~ ~ Photo © Unknown “Laburnum Arch in Gwynedd”.