Children's Fiction – Page 4

Pocket Dragons

Once upon a time I made computer games. Well, tried to anyway, the venture never really got off the ground. A lucky escape, all things considered, although I didn’t think it at the time. One of the games that I was looking at involved dragons. I’ve always found 3d modelling to be easier with aContinue reading “Pocket Dragons”

Wizard and the Imp Location #2 – The Faerykirk

For as long as I can remember one of my favourite things has been finding out that places in stories are real locations that can be (theoretically at least) visited. Of course, as a dyed-in-the-wool sci-fi fantasy fan you can imagine how often I stumbled upon the places that I’d read about. Annoyingly, the woodsContinue reading “Wizard and the Imp Location #2 – The Faerykirk”

The Invading Dark

This week’s story prompt image harks back the Isle of May Trip earlier this year. In all honesty the photo wasn’t taken with the intent of using it for anything. I was trying (with minimal success) to get better at catching moving subjects. This one was on the boat-ride in. The fog-laden air progressively filledContinue reading “The Invading Dark”

Iron Dragon

I’m confident that the dragon in question is steel, rather than iron. We saw this beauty at the Scottish Wild Foods Festival earlier this year. I’m not entirely sure why Tir na nog has a massive fire-breathing metal dragon. Now that I think about it a better question is: if you can have one, whyContinue reading “Iron Dragon”

The Kelpie

Apparently I took this photo in September 2013, which seems like a long time ago. Being one of our more famous landmarks, I’m sure the content needs little introduction as being one of the two giant kelpie sculptures. They really are quite something to see in person, so if you’re into mythology at all andContinue reading “The Kelpie”

The Goblin Gate

This week’s image is from a recent walk in the woods from Cambo house in North East Fife through to the Kingsbarn Distillery. If you’re ever in the area I can thoroughly recommend it. The estate has a bit of everything from walled gardens and cafes to woodland trails. Staying in the house is entirelyContinue reading “The Goblin Gate”

Wizard and the Imp Location #1 — The Tower

This month we’ll take a look at the site that was my inspiration for the Tower of Sorcery. Calais Muir Wood is a small patch of woodland about (34 hectares, which apparently counts as quite big these days) on the eastern edge of Dunfermline. It’s been something of a lifeline over the last 18 monthsContinue reading “Wizard and the Imp Location #1 — The Tower”

Gateway

Back to Parc Güell in Barcelona this week. But first a bit of a confession: I’m not really that into architecture. It’s not that I dislike it or anything, and Parc Güell was definitely a sight to see. The whole place was a mixture of wild colour schemes and fluid curving shapes. Not a straightContinue reading “Gateway”

The Witch

Another walk in the woods this week. Since visiting the Wild Food Festival in September we’ve been noticing far more mushrooms when we’re out and about. A clear case of observational bias — it’s not as if fungus populations have exploded in response. So I saw this bracket fungus in the woods and grabbed aContinue reading “The Witch”

Hunter’s Moon

This week’s story prompt brings us back to my family’s second ever camping trip. At that point we knew next to nothing — pitching the tent was still an achievement. We’d picked a lovely campsite in the North of England about 100 metres from a beach. Delightful. Until the next morning when we’d accumulated whatContinue reading “Hunter’s Moon”