Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (610)

Content

Morgan Sheppard (1037 KP) created a post

May 18, 2026

Some stories begin long before the characters know they've started 🌊

Ariandwyn, the ancient goddess who waits between hill and sea, has been keeping her promises for longer than anyone remembers, and when Talise arrives at Llyn Du looking for answers she can measure, she finds something she can't.

STILL WATERS, DEEP is a standalone Welsh folklore romance about a love that feels fated without ever feeling forced. Tender and unhurried, with old magic sitting quietly underneath everything.

Do you find yourself drawn to romances where destiny plays a hand, or do you prefer love that's entirely chosen? 💙

#FantasyRomance #WelshFolklore #MythicFiction #MagicalRealism #StandaloneRomance #BetweenHillAndSea

➡️ payhip.com/b/ORVhN
➡️ books2read.com/Still-Waters-Deep

Kudos Comment

Morgan Sheppard (1037 KP) created a post

Oct 2, 2026

It's #FolkloreFriday 🍂

This week’s focus explores the traditional Welsh folklore of the crossroads (Yr Ysbryd ar y Groesffordd). In the old stories, a crossroads was treated as a powerful ecological and spiritual threshold; it was understood that spirits gathered at these junctions precisely because they existed outside the ordinary boundaries of the landscape.

Welsh folk beliefs treated these spaces with an immense seriousness; lingering at a crossroads after twilight was considered a direct transgression against the unseen inhabitants of the land. The old ways reminded us that when we stand at a turning point, we are never entirely alone; the geography itself holds the memory of everyone who has crossed there before us. ⛰️

#FolkloreFriday #WelshFolklore #TalesFromWales

Kudos Comment

Morgan Sheppard (1037 KP) created a post

Oct 9, 2026

It's #FolkloreFriday 🦉

This week’s focus explores the traditional Welsh folklore of the corpse bird (Aderyn y Corff). In the old stories, certain nocturnal birds were treated as vital ecological and spiritual indicators; it was understood that their behaviour changed precisely when the veil over the landscape grew thin.

Welsh folk beliefs approached these messengers with an immense seriousness; the sound of an owl near a sickbed was treated as an authentic call to presence rather than a simple superstition. The old ways reminded us that nature remains deeply connected to our personal transitions; the creatures of the dark are often the ones tasked with guiding us through the invisible thresholds of the year. ⛰️

#FolkloreFriday #WelshFolklore #TalesFromWales

Kudos Comment

Lancashire's Sacred Landscape: From Prehistory to the Viking Age

Linda Sever

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Lancashire, situated in the north west of England, does not at first tend to conjure up an images of...

Debbiereadsbook (1846 KP) rated Wolf of the Nordic Seas (Valiant Vikings #2) in Books

May 19, 2025

as well as the Viking folklore, we got a paranormal element too!

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book 2 in the Valiant Vikings series. While not strictly necessary, I think it would be beneficial to read book one, Dragon of Denmark, before this one. It will give you a better view of this world, how it works and of the author's writing style.

I enjoyed book one, but for the repetitive descriptions of runes and things. That is why I found this a much more . . .difficult(?) . . .read.

The repeating of what runes are for, what the stones are for, and who did what and when takes up a huge portion of this book. I found myself skimming paragraphs just to get back to the story. I didn't feel I missed anything by doing so, either!

I did like that Elfi and Njord both have the majority voice. I loved that we hear again from the bad guy, and how they go about getting what they want. I do love it when well laid out plans don't come to pass for the bad guy!

What I really liked, though, was as well as the Viking folklore, we got a paranormal element too! Mermaids, werewolves, light and dark elves. I loved the way it was all seamlessly meddled together!

A good read, but one I did struggle with. Some of that was the repetition, and some me (I have *stuff* going on!)

3 very good stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere

Kudos

Morgan Sheppard (1037 KP) created a post

Jun 19, 2026

It's #FolkloreFriday!!! 😁

The lake maidens of Welsh folklore are among the most quietly subversive figures in the entire tradition, and I don't think they get nearly enough credit for it.

The most complete story is that of Llyn y Fan Fach, the black lake in the Bannau Brycheiniog, where a young farmer encounters a woman of extraordinary beauty sitting on the water's surface. She agrees to marry him under precise conditions, three times stated, three blows without cause, and she returns to the lake. The blows come, as they always do in these stories, not from cruelty but from misunderstanding, from the vast distance between what a mortal considers reasonable and what she does. And she goes back. She takes her cattle, her gifts, everything she brought with her, and the lake closes over her as though she had never left it.

What strikes me most, returning to this story again and again, is that she is never a victim of it. She came on her own terms. She stated her conditions clearly. When they were broken, she enforced them, calmly and completely, and went home. The grief in the story belongs entirely to the mortal side of it. The lake maiden simply returned to where she had always, more fully, belonged.

Welsh water mythology understands something that a lot of folklore doesn't quite manage. That the otherworldly woman is not a prize or a tragedy. She is sovereign, and the water was always hers. 🌊

#FolkloreFriday #TalesFromWales #WelshFolklore