Merlin Tales
Recipe for Success
It's like this. Merlin discovered the secrets of the universe through a cake recipe and then he forgot them. Then, just as he thought remembered them again something unexpected happened and he found himself transported into a brand new adventure.
Merlin's Hat.
Yes Merlin's new adventure sees him moving between three different times in history, none of which is his own. First he teams up in 21st century Swansea with Tom, a boy whose scientist father has disappeared. Via a confusing magical shed the two of them are then sent into the past, into the time of Elizabethan London. There they meet Bess, a professional mad girl who has time jumped from Victorian London.
If you're confused at this point think how they all must feel! And that's without meeting the famous alchemist Doctor John Dee and his bad tempered assistant, a very bad tempered horse and a rogue Victorian magician. Before any of them can return to their own time and take a deep breath there are an awful lot of things to be sorted out.
Merlin's Many Moods
At the moment Merlin is having plenty of his own adventures in image and story. He's shows up everywhere. So why is he so grumpy?
Well to be honest I"m not sure that he is. But you see I've been working with the character- either writing about, studying or best of all playing him for about 12 years now and I've loved every bit of it.
There are many Merlins and its really up to you to choose your own. Rather than me tell you about them its best that you look them up for yourself.
The truth is that everything I write at the moment seems to be about Merlin. He crops up everywhere, even when I don't ask him. And I've given up trying to stop him.
So how many Merlins are there? There's the one in "The Seven" of course and in The Eighth Gateway and the books that will follow it. There's the Merlin who has lost his recipe for the secrets of the universe and becomes trapped on a cookery show on cable TV. That's how my new novel, 'The Man With The Universe For A Hat' begins.
There is also the Merlyn of Fragon Tales; the series of which I am co-writer and story editor and am proud to be associated with. That Merlin has to re-discover the lost thirrteen ancient treasures of Britain in order to help a young boy become a famous prince one day. Look out for more details of that on the Fragon World page soon.
So there's at least three Merlins and I'm sure there will be more.
Meanwhile you can see a place which may or may not be Merlin's Cave. But I wouldn't suggest going and waking him !
'There are big and difficult themes in it --- but it never loses its page turning energy or its sense of humour.'
Hugh Lupton Master Storyteller
