New publication: Seascape

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I am happy to announce the forthcoming publication of a book inspired by my storytelling research. The title Seascape comes from a play on the words ‘sea’ and ‘landscape’. Seascape is the title of one of the stories in the book. I had the idea for it walking the coast line of Cornwall. In particular along the areas connected to Gyllyngvase Beach, Falmouth. Those familiar with these areas will get a lot of the references to Cornish myths and landscape underlying the story.

An old monolithic stone arch at Gyllyndune Gardens (Parfitt, 2012)
 
Why write a book inspired by research? I had intended the writing to become part of my doctoral thesis. Yet before you think how boring (too late I suppose), the writing did not fit the academic work so I dropped that idea early on. Without using the writing as part of the research process which I did not wish to do at that point I created a book of stories instead. The stories I finally selected are interspersed with quotes from the young people in my research (with their names and details changed to protect their identity). 

I invite you to follow me into a world of fairy tales where the lines between fiction and reality blur, and melt and burst into flames. A selkie leaves the sea for the first time to go to university; three young boys find a genie in a can of Irn Bru; two friends think they see a firebird in an old housing estate; a boy discovers that people are not always who they seem to be; a man is spirited away by a snake charmer into a dark maze; goblins crawl through mirrors; an unwilling princess is “saved” from a tower; and Rapunzel is kidnapped by an automaton. A series of eight original short stories to amuse and entertain.

Seascape is available to pre-order here (release date March 26th).

Book cover designed by Manuel Aguilera x



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