Friday 25 June 2010

Peter Pan

J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan was one of my favourite stories.

Apart from the magic and wonder of it all - which you never really forget - what I like most about it now is the ticking crocodile. In the world of the-boy-who-refused-to-grow-up and Wendy and the lost boys, Hook was the one adult who made their lives miserable. How ironic that Time (in the form of a crocodile with a clock in it) should keep snapping at his heels and finally be the end of that deliciously dastardly pirate. 

A much gentler, invisible version of time turns Wendy into an adult. But in her place there is always another child, a daughter or a granddaughter, ever ready to travel with Peter to his world: 'second to the right and straight on till morning'!

Wednesday 23 June 2010

Ukranian Folktales

I was talking to a friend the other day about a big book of Ukranian folktales I used to enjoy reading as a child. Wouldn't you know it - most of the stories are available on the internet! Including the same pictures that were in my book!

Here's a link to one of my favourites - I even remembered the name of it from my childhood. It's called Telesik Little-stick.

I remember many of the stories featuring snakes and dragons. In this story snake and dragon are used interchangeably! Strange!

Image courtesy of: 4to40.com

Wednesday 16 June 2010

The reader's hook

What keeps you hooked on a book?

Original storyline
Interesting characters
Fast-paced plot
A good ending

Have I missed anything?

I also think that the plot and characters should be 'real' no matter how surreal their world is. Does this make sense?

Friday 11 June 2010

Modern vampires

Vampire stories are on the rise - to state the obvious. The Twilight series (books and now films), and Vampire Diaries and Supernatural - two TV dramas that I've been following on DVD.

Why is not so easy to answer - one theory is that identifying with 'undead' vampires helps people temporarily escape their fear of death. Immortality is a subject that the vampires wrestle with. But in the Vampire Diaries particularly you'd think that 145 years would have made these creatures a little wiser than they appear to be!

Whatever the reason for their rise in popularity it's interesting to compare these modern vampires with their mythical ancestors.

What's common to all three stories is that the vampires are likened to addicts. Every minute of every day the 'good' vampires have to resist the temptation to drink human blood. And none of these vampires turn into bats. In fact that legend apparently got included after the 'discovery' of blood-drinking bats in South America.

The vampires that appear in Supernatural seem to be the closest to the old legends - perhaps that's because vampires are peripheral to this TV series and the writers weren't too interested in presenting them any other way. The creatures usually hunt by night. If you're bitten by a vampire you become one.

In Twilight the vampires are beautiful to look at and their skin shines like diamonds in the sun, but sunlight itself does not harm them. Their bodies are as cold and hard as granite and they have pale skin. They are almost indestructible. In these stories too all it takes is a single vampire bite - the venom takes three painful days to turn the victim into a vampire.

In Vampire Diaries the vampires have to wear a magical ring to avoid getting burnt by sunlight. But none of the usual things like, garlic or holy water adversely affect a vampire - only a herb 'vervain'. Becoming a vampire is more complicated though. A single bite isn't enough. I won't say more on that. One interesting folkloric element this series retains is the fact that a vampire cannot enter a house unless it is invited inside. So... be careful who you bring home?

Thursday 10 June 2010

Yakas among us?

A lot of people have asked what made me think of doing a story about yakas (closest translation - nature spirits?). And whether I'm an expert in yaka lore and whether I heard a lot of yaka stories as a child.

Funnily enough the answer to the last two is no.

The yakas in Mythil's world are different to the ones you hear about in folktales. I like to think that they have evolved to be able to live among humans, mostly undetected.

But I've given them a history that you won't find in folklore. It's to do with portals and other worlds... But for more you'd need to read the book.

Monday 7 June 2010

Where to buy


You can buy Mythil's Secret from:

Paradise Road (all shops)
Barefoot
Lake House (main, Liberty Plaza and Hyde Park Corner)
Vijitha Yapa
Sarasavi
Mackeens
Plate
CG Associates
Social Scientists Association
all hotel bookshops
and of course from the publisher's offices at 80A Dharmpala Mawatha, Colombo 7

You can also buy it online through the publisher's website: Perera Hussein Publishing House.And Vijitha Yapa again - they do local and overseas shipping.