Alan Garner to conclude Weirdstone of Brisingamen trilogy". Alison Flood. The Guardian 15 March 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2012. Published in 1963, this was the sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner and directly continues the story. She has ridden with the Shining Ones, the Daughters of the Moon, and they came with her from behind the north wind. Now she is here. But the Shining Ones did not leave Susan of choice, for through her they may wake their power in the world – the Old Magic, which has long been gone from here. It is a magic beyond our guidance: it is magic of the heart, not of the head: it can be felt, but not known: and in that I see no good.

Our Elves Are Different: The lios-alfar, who are drawn from Welsh mythology and whose society is organised along pre-conquest Welsh lines. Alan Garner". Science Fiction Awards Database (sfadb.com). Mark R. Kelly and the Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Retrieved 29 July 2013. The book's introduction concerns the origin of the weirdstone. Following the defeat of Nastrond steps had been taken to prepare for his eventual return. This involved bringing together a small band of warriors of pure heart, each with a horse, and gathering them inside the old dwarf caves of Fundindelve, deep inside the hill of Alderley which were sealed by powerful white magic which would both defend Fundindelve from evil as the ages passed and prevent the warriors and their horses from ageing. When the time was ripe and the world once more in mortal peril it was prophesied that this small band of warriors would ride out from the hill, trusting in their purity of heart to defeat Nastrond forever. Fundindelve had a guardian, the ancient wizard Cadellin Silverbrow, and the heart of the white magic was sealed inside a jewel, the Weirdstone of Brisingamen, also known as Firefrost.

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They went with Albanac down the paths of Fundindelve. Tunnel entered cave, and cave gave way to tunnel caves, and tunnels, each different and the same: there seemed to be no end. The Stone Book (1976), first in the Stone Book series, [51] won the 1996 Phoenix Award as the best English-language children's book that did not win a major award when it was originally published twenty years earlier. [52] Weirdstone took him two years to write, one year to find a publisher, one year to publish: "four years of dole queues and national assistance", as he writes in The Voice that Thunders, a collection of critical and autobiographical essays. Today, Garner says it is clear that in his first two books he couldn't handle character or dialogue, but "I did know the landscape, and looking as objectively as I can at those first two books and trying not to cringe, that young man, me, had a keen eye for landscape, and the ability to convey it". In this book, the goblin role is taken by bodachs, creatures from the far north (Scotland) who are likened to humanoid lizards. Bodachs organise as warbands, wear minimal armour, and fight with spears. They are supported by palugs, supersized wildcats. The Owl Service (1967) won both the Carnegie Medal [48] and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, [49] For the 70th anniversary of the Carnegie in 2007 it was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. [50]

As they went deeper the blue light grew pale and strong, and by this the children knew that they were nearing the Cave of the Sleepers, for whose sake the old dwarf-mine of Fundindelve had been charged with the greatest magic of an age, and its guardian was Cadellin Silverbrow. Here in this cave, waiting through the centuries for the day when Cadellin should rouse him from his enchanted sleep to fight the last battle of the world, lay a king, surrounded by his knights, each with his milk-white mare. More ambiguous in nature are members of the Wild Hunt. Garner draws in names and traditions from Scandinavia, England, France and Wales to create his huntsmen: the Einheriar, Scandinavian bodyguards to the gods who are also the horsemen of the Welsh deity Donn; the English Herlathing (similar to the French Harlequin) who accompany the ancient British king Herla across the land and through the centuries; and their leader the Hunter, a horned deity who goes by the name Garanhir, in Welsh 'tall crane' or perhaps 'longshanks' from his sheer height and stride. Why such a complicated cast list with borrowed names from every which where? In a note Garner tell us that he re-used existing ones simply because to him 'a made-up name feels wrong'.Pitts, Mike; Garner, Alan (2014). "Colouring the Imagination with Facts". British Archaeology. Council for British Archaeology (139): 14–15. When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day. In a 1989 interview, Garner noted that although writing The Stone Book Quartet had been "exhausting", it had been "the most rewarding of everything" he'd done to date. [3] Philip described the quartet as "a complete command of the material he had been working and reworking since the start of his career". [24] Donoghue, Emma (28 January 2011). "Book Of A Lifetime: Red Shift, By Alan Garner". The Independent.

Alderley Edge, Macclesfield, Mobberly, Lindow and Wilmslow are all real places in Cheshire. Most of the places mentioned in the book along the Edge; The Wizard's Well, Goldenstone, the Beacon and so on are also real. Although Garner is describing the Alderley Edge of fifty years ago, when it really was an isolated farming village in Cheshire a long way away from the nearest city, a long time before it became popular with professional footballers and other people with lots of money and no taste. South Manchester has also encroached vastly in the fifty years since this book was written.

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Pullman, Philip; Gaiman, Neil; Cooper, Susan; Nix, Garth; Almond, David; Faber, Michael (2010). "Praise for Garner". The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (50th Anniversaryed.). London: HarperCollins Children's Books. pp.1–2.