"Dark Mist" Mission Statement:

Peel Castle, Peel Isle, Isle of Man:
The Original for my "Avalon"

Celebrated in literature, film, and song, the world of Camelot has survived in varied form for over fifteen hundred years.  Yet even in this age of science and discovery, this fabled realm remains elusive, lurking just beyond the glimpse of the modern eye.  A veil obscures Avalon, as tantalizing and intangible today as it was long ago, when aged scholars painstakingly copied decaying manuscripts by hand, bent close over their work in the dim light of a single candle.

Combining twenty years of research, plus the fruits of a three-week trip to the British Isles and my original etymological findings, my new series of books, The Annals of Anavere, tells the tale of Camelot as it must have been in the days of gods and grails: a richly-tapestried world of savage tribes and noble Roman patricians, fierce warrior chieftains, battle maidens, and strange, pagan magicians in full panoply.

In the first of these ten books, The Tyrant and the Twins, I bring Arthur’s kingdom – a real world, till now hidden from view by a host of false clues, dead ends, and “fairy tales” – to brilliant life.  Real people walk through these pages: Guinevere, Gawain, Gaheris.  Their foreign names and customs initially leap off the page as oddities, but come into startling focus as their personal histories unfold.

Alongside staid Roman troops, ancient tribesmen charge screaming in full barbarian regalia.  Unfurling their pennants, these individuals’ names, appearances, and tribal affiliations spring astonishingly to life.  Arthur’s famous “twelve battles” will rear their heads; the most celebrated of these, the terrible Battle of Mount Badon, now boasts a sensible location and historical context, complete with documentation, for the first time ever.  Camelot and Avalon – along with a host of other castles, kingdoms, and holy sites – unveil themselves in all their archaic splendor.

The shadowy organization known as “the Grail Company” emerges as an archaic sect in which dancing waters, flaming stones, and bleeding lances were not unknown.  And more exciting still, I have discovered historical prototypes for a number of Arthurian personages and dynasties.  From their original fifth-century setting, their names and deeds travel through time, echoing down to the present day, far beyond the bounds of Avalon…

Main Gate, Stirling Castle, Scotland:
The Original for my Northern "Camelot"

The purpose of this blog is to discuss some of the people, places, customs, and objects that may be foreign to today’s world…or even just a little rusty from being buried in the earth for sixteen hundred years!  Over my (many, many, many) years of writing and researching, people have asked me dozens of questions about King Arthur, the Grail Company, and the other strange legends surrounding them.  It is my hope that this blog will give my readers some idea of the historicity behind the Arthurian hype, illuminate some of my more unusual resolutions to the “Arthurian problem” (and I have chosen some “odd ducks”!), generate some excitement about my forthcoming books, and offer people the chance to “talk back”.  I look forward to hearing from you!