Blogs

She's got Spies  has shared the new video for her track ' All Outta Tears' filmed in Moscow, Russia in 2012, watch/share it below. This lovelorn tune is lifted from her new album 'Isle of Dogs' which is out now.

She’s Got Spies’  second album  ‘Isle of Dogs’  refers to an area of London, Laura Nunez’s hometown,  as well as the state of turmoil of the island of Britain. The follow up album to her debut Welsh language album ‘Wedi’, ‘Isle of Dogs’ features songs written over the last decade. She’s Got Spies is the project of Laura Nunez and her cast of collaborators. She spends her time between Cardiff and London, she’s multilingual and can sing in Welsh, English and Russian.  

"Henry Hoffman was walking on main Street and his nose was on fire. This fact apart, he was proceeding quite normally. He smiled genially and nodded as he passed by Michael Maguire."

From the moment we read the above intro to Matthew G.Rees' 'Smoke House' we are aware that we are in for a strange journey. Readers of Matthew's debut collection 'Keyhole' will perhaps be better prepared for the bizarre and other worldly tales recounted in these pages.

In contrast to 'Keyhole', in which all the stories were set in Wales, the tales in this collection are set in America, Russia, France and a number of other locations around the globe.

In 'Smoke House' we are invited to consider the fate of Fort Tinder, an American village which has long been served by an unconventional 'medical practitioner'. The arrival of jobbing plumber Michael Maguire reveals a conflict in village life which ultimately leads to tragedy. 

'The Glass' transports us to the frozen steppes of Russia where Grigor Grigoriev has arrived to repair the stained glass windows in the church at Krasyansk Cathedral. He takes a proper pride in his work and the congregants seem to appreciate it too, but who are they and will they let him leave.

There is also 'An Exhibition' which examines the predicament of a gallery attendant who hates modern art and in particular the work of a local much lauded artist whose work is on display. She plots vandalism and sabotage but do her plans come to fruition or does the artist ultimately triumph?

A worthy successor to 'Keyhole' we have no hesitation in recommending this collection to anyone with a taste for the macabre and bizarre or indeed anyone who appreciates exquisite story telling.

Smoke House & Other Stories  is AmeriCymru's Book of the Month for November 2020. 

Matthew G. Rees on AmeriCymru

Keyhole - An Interview With Welsh Author Matthew G. Rees

Keyhole - A Stunning Debut From A Major New Talent

Simon Howells Reads 'Dreamcoat', A Short Story By Matthew G. Rees

As The Meadow Ends By Matthew G. Rees

AmeriCymru:  Hi Brian and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. What can you tell us about your fifth novel Saturdays are Black or White ?

Brian: My pleasure. I decided it was about time to write about twins. Being one myself, it's naturally a subject that I have an interest in, but I've avoided it in previous novels. I also wanted to bring together two very different worlds: central London, where I live, and farm life in rural Wales, where I was brought up and where my two oldest brothers farmed. I also had in mind Bruce Chatwin’s novel On the Black Hill, about twin farmers in the Welsh borders who can’t live apart. It set me thinking about what would happen if it were the opposite - twins who’d become strangers.   So the novel begins when a former TV presenter, Arwyn, gets a phone message in his London flat:

‘Hullo. It’s me. I haven’t got long. Cancer. Thought you’d  like to know.’ 

 It’s a voice he hasn’t heard for thirty years, since their fiftieth birthday party. It’s his twin brother, Bren, who’d stayed on the family farm in the Black Mountains. Arwyn tries to figure out what triggered their estrangement. He goes back to Wales to find out. It’s not an easy return - not only does he have to confront his brother’s dying, but aspects of his early life which he’d long buried or forgotten.

AmeriCymru:  What can you tell our readers about the area in Wales, the Eastern Black Mountains, where the novel is set?

Brian: I know the Abergavenny area fairly well, from my days as a reporter on the South Wales Argus. I lived in Abertillery, which is in the hills the other side of the Usk valley from the Black Mountains. We often drive through them if  we’re coming from the South to Mid-Wales, and the area has always struck me as majestic and mysterious, if a little formidable. It’s the kind of place the makes you think how old the world is, and even more isolated than where I come from. As my mother would have said, ‘If those hills could talk!’

AmeriCymru:  You have said, in an interview with the South Wales Argus, that you, "....wanted to explore the complex nature of being a twin....". Care to expand on this theme?

Brian: Yes - over the years I’ve come across some remarkable stories about twins, and I did some more research for this book. It ranges from the twin girls in West Wales who were never apart and spoke in unison, to the twins in the US who were separated at birth and find astounding similarities when they’re reunited in later life: similar jobs, names of their children, pets, right down to the cigarettes they smoke or the beer they drink. This all feeds into the nature v nurture debate - are we born fully-cooked or does our upbringing define who we are? Strangest of all, was a documentary called Three Identical Strangers. It’s about triplets who were adopted by very different families in the New York area - as a social experiment, it turned out - who found each other by chance when they were older and became something of a media sensation. And then of course, there were the horrific experiments conducted by Josef Mengele in the death camps. There are many twin myths in different cultures and civilisations around the world, right down to the explanation of creation itself.

AmeriCymru:  To what extent is the novel a story, "...about how sibling rivalry can sometimes go wrong.”

Brian: That was part of the exploration of why Arwyn and Bren became strangers. They’d chosen very different paths in life but were ambitious and fairly successful in their respective fields. And while they got on well for many years, the mystery is why they stopped speaking. Was it a misunderstanding, or several, in that they both put different interpretations on certain things that had happened? With my own twin, we remember different things and we remember things differently, so it could be relatively easy to fall out over very minor issues. For the record, I get on very well with all my brothers, and while I and my twin are not really all that ‘twinny,’ we see each other often, and I’m very close to his children. In fact, we’re a very close family.

AmeriCymru:  What are you working on at the moment? Any sneak previews of your sixth novel?

Brian: I’d like to set a novel in Paris, where we have a studio flat. It’s been percolating in my mind for a while now, but the plot isn’t working out as well as I’d like yet. A friend who read my first novel, The Missing Room, suggested I should call it The Missing Plot. But I’ll keep at it, and had some new ideas a couple of days ago. I’ve also set up a literary consultancy, helpmepublish.co.uk, with a former colleague, Annabel Hughes, who lives near Abergavenny and edits my books. It’s to help aspiring novelists. Since I started publishing my books, I’ve had quite a few enquiries from friends of friends or relatives of friends about how to start - it can be quite a daunting process. So I thought I might as well try to make a little business out of it. 

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?

Brian: Congratulations on your new President. Many of us in the UK watched the election in as assiduously as we watch our own. AmeriCymru is a great resource for bringing Welsh culture together in a forum. Particularly in these days of the Coronavirus pandemic when socialising has its challenges, it’s a good time to start exploring some of our heritage.

..

Brian Jarmans' fifth novel, Saturdays Are Black or White  is set in the Eastern Black Mountains in south Wales. It opens with a chilling phone message:- ‘Hullo. It’s me. I haven’t got long. Cancer. Thought you’d like to know.’

Twin brothers Bren and Arwyn are brought up together on a remote hill farm. Arwyn leaves the valley to pursue a career in journalism which eventually takes him to London and around the world. As a consequence of his globe trotting lifestyle he loses contact with the family farm and more particularly, with his brother Bren, who is left to run it.

Arwyn returns to the valley to visit his brother and finds himself not entirely welcome in certain quarters. He experiences numerous instances of more or less subtly disguised resentment from members of the community that he abandoned in his youth. In the course of his stay he discovers that he is also the target of vicious rumours about his former wife who was murdered during a burglary at their flat.

But, of course, the major theme here is the relationship between the twins Arwyn and Bren. Author Brian Jarman has said that:

“I wanted to explore the complex nature of being a twin, right down to how they see the days of the week in different colours, and that’s the meaning of the title. he novel is also about how sibling rivalry can sometimes go wrong, and this is where the fiction begins.”

There are many delightful vignettes, such as the day trip which Arwyn takes to the Brecon Mountain Railway. There is also an account of a llama walking expedition which apparently, is a thing in the Black Mountains these days.

There are also many acerbic and drily humorous passages. In describing his life in London  he recounts his experiences at a journalists club which he regularly frequented in order to socialise with his old, and getting older, colleagues:

"They called these sessions Organ Recitals, when they would in turn catalogue their various ailments. One said there were three ways of knowing you’re grow-ing older: appointment listening to the Archers, secret relief when social engagements are cancelled, and you can’t remember the third."

In summary, this is a powerful novel which explores themes of profound and tragic consequence. It is also a delight to read. Unreservedly recommended!

BUY 'Saturdays Are Black or White' here

...

Central Russia, 1919, a sanatorium cut off by the chaos of the Russian civil war. The murder of the chief doctor sets in motion a nightmarish series of events involving mysterious experiments, the secret police, the Tsar’s double, an enigmatic ‘visitor’, giant corpses, possessed cats, sorcery, and the overwhelming madness of war, in this fantastical and wildly exuberant historical novel. BUY HERE

                                                                Commendations

A bold and confident n ovel that throws us into the deep end of post-revolutionary Russian life with fervour and wit. There are knowing  no ds to Gogol and Bulgakov but the voice is entirely original, with a gem of a phrase on every page. I love the quizzical, querulous, dry voice and it’s a satisfying whilst sometimes disorientating experience... the characters are larger than life, but the mud is real. Alan Bilton has a real talent for the unexpected l eft-ha nd turn, with lines that turn on a sixpence and surreal narrative twists. It reads like a very modern translation   of a 19th century Russian classic – if that sounds like your kind of thing, you will lov e this book.

Mark Blayney

A brutal, but often witty and tender tale, The End of the Yellow House is a twistedly brilliant emotional
rollercoaster. In experiencing its expansive vistas and claustrophobic tunnels, we learn to distrust the vibrant characters here, as well as the very landscape which they inhabit. A delicious mystery on every page –

David Towsey

Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Magic Realism, Surrealism.

(Robert blogs at thoughtsofrob.com  and Meagan at  ceridwensonnet.com .)

AmeriCymru: Hi Rob and Meagan and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. Care to introduce your new book The Welsh Tattoo Handbook for our readers? What inspired the book?

Rob/Meagan:  The project came to us completely out of the blue.  We and the publisher have a mutual friend who recommended us.  The publisher, Bradan Press, has a series of Celtic language tattoo handbooks, and wanted to add Welsh.  Based on our friend’s recommendation, the publisher got in touch with us and invited us to do a book proposal.  We hit it off right from the start, and from our proposal and the publisher’s response, it was clear that we shared a wavelength.  So, we signed a contract and started developing the book in detail.  We would never have thought to do anything like this on our own, but it was a real pleasure and privilege to get the chance.  We spent two and a half years bringing the book to life.  

AmeriCymru: What do you hope the book will achieve? Is the intention to encourage people to become fluent Welsh speakers?

Rob/Meagan:  We have multiple goals for the book.  Goal number one is simply to help people connect with their heritage by enjoying the Welsh language.  It isn’t just about tattoos, really, although pictures of bad tattoo translations in every language imaginable are certainly all over the internet—and the book has Welsh examples!  The book is a resource for anyone who doesn’t speak Welsh but would like to be able to incorporate some Welsh into their life, be it a tattoo, a t-shirt, a mug, a family motto, whatever.  You know, people even look for translations or proverbs to put on a gravestone, right?  So really, the book is designed to be an accessible entry point for someone, even someone who doesn’t really know any Welsh at all, to encounter the Welsh language and strike up an acquaintance with it. The book incorporates both a capsule history of Wales, and a sort of “speed date” between the reader and the Welsh language, so the reader can quickly learn some interesting things and be supported in trying to learn about Welsh.  Goal number two is that, in the process of supporting people in connecting with their Welsh heritage, or just their enthusiasm for Wales, we can also help them make sure the Welsh they use is good Welsh and not bad Welsh.  We’ve all seen the mistranslated signs and things, the immortal road sign with the Welsh out-of-office message printed on it.  Whatever it is people want—the tattoo, the mug, the shirt, what have you—we want it to be good Welsh.  Goal number three is that, among the people who do find the book useful or enjoyable, some portion of them really will be motivated to start learning Welsh.  Recognising the goal set by the Welsh government, we dedicated the book to the one million Welsh speakers and more of the year 2050.  We certainly hope that the book will inspire at least a few people to think that it’s worth learning Welsh.  Fluency is a very complicated thing and it’s a bar that learners often imagine to be in some high, far-off place that they will never be able to reach.  We would never want to say that the only worthwhile goal is for people to become fluent.  Any goal a person sets for themselved with respect to learning Welsh is a worthwhile goal.  And we know from experience that, as a learner, any time you can use Welsh in Wales, you feel on top of the world. 

AmeriCymru: You currently live in Alabama. What can you tell us a little about your Welsh background?

Rob/Meagan:  Robert is originally from West Virginia.  His ancestors came from South Wales to the United States in the 19th century, to work in the coal mining industry.  Meagan’s ancestry is Celtic but not explicitly Welsh; like so many Americans, she comes from Irish and Scottish stock.  However, she embraces her Welsh-by-marriage status and feels as though she's been welcomed into this rich heritage.  Robert has been able to trace his family back to their last known address in Wales before they emigrated, and we have visited the street!  The original houses aren’t there anymore, but it was a lovely thing to be able to do.

AmeriCymru: How long have you been learning Welsh and what inspired you to start?

Rob/Meagan:  Robert has been studying for over 15 years, going back to when he was in grad school.  The idea just came to him one day, and he got some exercise books and some CDs to listen to.  He didn’t really make serious progress, though, until he finished grad school and moved to Arizona for work.  There he got involved with the Welsh League of Arizona and the class that John Good (aka “Sioni Dda”) was teaching, and that’s how he really started to learn.  John also told him about Cymdeithas Madog, the Welsh Studies Institute in North America.  Robert’s first course with Cymdeithas Madog was in 2009.  Meagan’s first course with Cymdeithas Madog was in 2013.  Robert was already studying Welsh when we met, and was strongly hoping for a partner who would be interested in learning Welsh as well.  Meagan is a gifted poet and a language enthusiast, so the prospect appealed to her.  As a linguist and fellow Celt, Meagan saw the value in passing on the living language of Welsh to our (at the time) future children.  She previously studied French and German, which have certainly helped in her Welsh studies.  Cymdeithas Madog's enthusiasm and wealth of knowledge propelled her on after Robert gave her the idea to give it a try the night he proposed.  The value placed upon poetry and the arts in Welsh language and culture has also been a source of inspiration.  Over the years we have been to multiple Welsh courses together and have travelled to Wales together twice, including taking an advanced immersive course together at Nant Gwrtheyrn, the renowned language center in North Wales.  Now, we are glad to have the opportunity to share Welsh with our almost two year-old daughter, Kira.

AmeriCymru: Are there any persons or resources who have been useful along the way that you would like to credit?

Rob/Meagan:  In addition to the Welsh speakers of the year 2050, the book is dedicated to some of the people who have been most instrumental in our Welsh language journey.  First is John Good, who we still study with.  We have a weekly online class with him when we read and discuss contemporary Welsh literature.  Second, we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Cymdeithas Madog, without which neither of us would ever have reached the Welsh proficiency we have, nor indeed even have had the chance to write this book.  We were the local organisers for the Cwrs Cymraeg in 2016, we have both served on the board, and we’re still involved; during the pandemic, Cymdeithas Madog has started offering online Welsh lessons and Robert has gotten to teach beginners. Third, we have to credit Nant Gwrtheyrn and our dear friends Deian and Annette Evans, who first took us there to visit and blew our minds with the idea of a place in Wales where it was possible to not hear any English spoken.  They inspired us to want to go there for ourselves as students one day, and in 2017, we did!  Nant Gwrtheyrn is an extraordinary place filled with wonderful people.  It feels like a worthwhile pilgrimage for any Welsh learner—and they’re offering online lessons now, as well.  Also, for their aid in the monumental task of compiling a glossary full of Welsh tattoo and craft ideas, we must thank Antone Minard, Cymdeithas Madog board member and member of the Vancouver Welsh Society, and Angharad Devonald, Welsh television, theater, and fiction writer.  Their grammatical, cultural, and editorial advice made this project possible.

AmeriCymru: Are you currently working on any follow up projects?

Rob/Meagan:  At the moment we’re just trying to raise awareness of the book so that it can be of use to as many people as possible.  We both have various other projects that we work on as we have time—writing fiction, poetry, and Robert dabbles in game design.  We also both have blogs; Meagan blogs at  ceridwensonnet.com  and Robert at  thoughtsofrob.com .  But before the pandemic we were both working, and Robert still works full time, and we have a toddler at home, so it’s not easy for us to have enough spare time to be terribly productive.  The Welsh Tattoo Handbook was a labor of love!  

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

Rob/Meagan:  Learning any amount of Welsh is a good and worthwhile thing to do, and you can do it!  We hope the Welsh Tattoo Handbook will help you get started.  And don't hesitate to reach out to others in the Welsh learning community!  Whether it's AmeriCymru, Cymdeithas Madog, or Welsh speakers and learners in Wales, you will be welcomed with open arms.

The Welsh Tattoo Handbook   is available from bradan press. Price: $11.99 US | $14.99 CDN | £7.99 UK | €9.99 EU | $14.99 AUS