McAllister's Mates Nine
Late one! Been very busy with the day job - I’ll endeavour to tighten up my schedule on these reviews.
An ongoing series of reviews of some of the wonderful articles, poems, and stories I’ve discovered on Substack (and other places) and more importantly the beautiful souls behind the works.
Please take a few moments to read the works of these authors and if you find their work as life-affirming and life changing as I do, then please let them know. We need to support and cherish these voices.
You can meet some of my other friends in the previous instalments: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
If you want to keep me in caffeine (and keep the ghostly voices whispering for the poetry side of things) - consider clicking below. For any who do so, you have my deepest gratitude.
An antidote to mainstream fantasy writing (and more so fantasy cinema), which has become criminally pedestrian. We don't even get “bad” fantasy and science fiction anymore where the author couldn't quite wrestle with the idea. Now we just get awful Lord of the Things and Blade Stagger pastiches.
Thankfully this is neither. It is, however, very fresh and very engaging. The mythological details are nuanced and clearly well researched. While a fantasy story, it discusses matters of faith and spirituality in an intelligent manner. Rather than falling into the twin traps of “it's all true I've worked out the dates etc” or “it's all pre-scientific nonsense that humanity should have grown out of”. The story actually looks at mythology as a natural flowering of our emotional and imaginative processes, which are themselves just as much an essential neurological component of our experience of reality as the physical senses. Now if that sounds terribly dry and dull, then rest assured the story plays with this idea in a much more entertaining way than I just did. Mythological events and symbols are cleverly intertwined with the vivid descriptions of the environment creating a pareidolic effect. The relationship between the narrator and Cernunnos also implies a mutual dependence that is a lot more interesting than standard “man meets God” fare.
Heremeticat makes Cernunnos (who we've had so many generic interpretations of) feel intimate and fresh. His condescending and arch mannerisms are by turns funny and terrifying. The depiction carries echoes of Issac Asimov’s Azazel stories. Menacing, egotistical, dismissive, and yet somehow affectionate towards his human charge.
I’ve been interested in dreams, hypnosis, and altered states of consciousness for years now and I’ve read more articles, essays, and debate transcripts on these subjects than I care to count. Some well written, some not so much but most leaning into either cold overly analytical academic texts or romanticised overly speculative manifestos.
Gwyllm has achieved that beautiful and rare prize in the field of journalism - balance. This short but rich article applies detached scrutiny to the world of dreams (acknowledging that sometimes they are collections of meaningless images), however he takes a holistic view of dreams as a large part of the forces driving consciousness. He examines the content of his own and others dreams through carefully curated and highly detailed records that are briefly referred to in this article. The difference in his approach is that he analyses months worth of dream diaries as a collective whole rather than becoming fixated on individual episodes. An all too common mistake which causes many writers in this field to draw hasty conclusions about dream imagery’s significance in waking life based on isolated episodes. Gwyllm on the other hand carefully sifts his records, uncovering repeated motifs and astutely homes in on the reciprocal patterns in waking life.
This is a succinct and tightly packed little article that even finds space to touch on areas like lucid dreaming, shamanic practice, and the effects our immediate environment (and our exposure to the natural world) has upon the quality of subconscious wanderings. This is an easy first step into Gwyllm's fascinating world. What are you waiting for?
There are layers of meaning in this poem. The opening lines refer to “admiring the burning of past laments”. A physical ritual of burning written words? A Trataka meditation? A dream or hypnagogic trance experience? Like my favourite poems this leaves a space for projection allowing the reader to enter the room and dress it according to their own needs.
Three spirits rise from the flames and accuse the narrator of “forgetting the name”. They implore and debase the narrator in some of the poem's most beautiful and elegant lines. While we're left in little doubt as to the urgency and severity of the spirits’ demands, we're skillfully denied the specifics. The poetry cranks up the emotional intensity forcing the reader to fill that name. A lover, parent, perhaps even a religious figure? Maybe even an aspect of your own psyche? You're drawn to confront someone or something that you've hidden in the back of your mind.
The writing carefully avoids becoming a tirade by introducing softer cadences and gentle symbols like dusk light and a cup (grail?) of pure smooth water. This is not an exercise in punishment, rather it is one of reconciliation and healing. The poem ends on an uplifting note urging the reader to set themselves free.
As ever (especially with poetry which MUST be experienced), my thoughts serve as a companion to the piece and are no substitute for reading the work, please do so and enjoy it.
This poem moves between a beautiful description of life arising during the Archean Eon where the first microscopic organisms (our earliest ancestors), and what I feel to be a meditation on our dwindling relationship with our instinctual nature (maybe even our own biology).
There is a very effective line “Cutting the babes off from the ether.” This acts as both a lynchpin and threshold. This is the point where the poem first passes from a meditation on evolution and biology to something more psychological and even spiritual. Rather than being a straight jump, this is the first step in an intricate dance between metaphysical ideas and primordial scenes.
While the writing is elegant and maintains a pleasant steady rhythm, it maintains a deliberate conflict between its grounded passages and its more ethereal ones.
The poem is untitled and refuses to come to any sort of conventional conclusion. These are brave choices and given the eternal and irresolvable nature of the conflict described highly appropriate ones. Interesting and thought provoking.
I hope you enjoy these beautiful works as much as I enjoyed reading them and writing about them.
You can meet some of my other friends in the previous instalments: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Substack has proven to be a treasure trove and I already have a few more gifted writers lined up for my next review newsletter.
Wow, this was unexpected. I'm glad my poem came across the way I wanted. Thank you very much for your time and review!