Years ago a good friend of mine went to Tenby and brought me back a gift. The two prints reproduced below have hung on my wall ever since. I dont know much about them except that they came from an antique store in Tenby and that they are not very old. They are printed on paper and mounted on masonite board. Does anyone know if they are a reproduction of anythimg interesting or significant?The text, which I may get round to copying in a future post, is for the most part historically accurate ( apart for one howler which was pointed out to me by a friend ) and of course they both reference events in the 15th century which was a very turbulent period in Welsh history. The Mab Darogan ( or Son of Prophecy ) visited Wales twice in that period. If you read the Wikipedia article ( linked above ) you will find four candidates for the title listed in all. Unfortunately they all share the same legacy of failure ( heroic and inspiring examples notwithstanding ). They all failed to create a united and independent Wales. Indeed it could be argued that Tony Blair achieved more in that direction. Does this mean that Tony Blair was the true Mab Darogan?? ( only joking )

Owain Glyndwr

Henry Tudor

Now it will be easier to check and send messages on AmeriCymru. Check out the new notification icon and message dropdown on the ning bar at the top of the page.

COMING SOON!!! A radical redesign of the blogging feature on AC. Watch this space for further details

Not read 'Resistance' yet? You should...a minor masterpiece imho. Here is the AmeriCymru review:-

http://welsh-american-bookstore.com/index.php/BookLibrary/Novels/Contemporary-Welsh-Fiction/Resistance.html

The good news is that it has been made into a film. DO NOT MISS!!

UFO sightings in Torfaen and the rest of Wales form part of the inspiration for Waliens , a new novel by two former Free Press journalists.

Darren Bowker-Powis from Penygarn and Sebastopols Richard Finlan have collaborated on this tongue-in-cheek mix of UFOs, Celtic mythology, intrigue, conspiracy, tin foil riots and missing sheep.

Set in a fictional South Wales valleys town, Waliens centres around a local newspaper reporter who is skeptical about the sightings, but soon finds himself embroiled in the mystery.

Darren Bowker-Powis quote: "The idea for Waliens has been buzzing around my head for over twenty years, but I struggled for a long while to get in down on paper. I talked about it with Richard and with the addition of his ideas and suggestions, everything just clicked into place. We decided to write it jointly and drew on well documented Welsh UFO cases such as The Dyfed Triangle and The Berwyn Mountains incident, along with some less well known ones closer to home, in Cwmbran, Varteg and Trevethin. The panic and paranoia depicted about alien invaders in the story is something of comment about the prejudices and fears some people have about immigration, but overall, Waliens is meant to be an entertaining read and not a soap-box lecture."

Richard Finlan quote: "It was great fun to write and we ended up with enough ideas for two more books. Some of Darrens settings and scenes just cried out to have a little extra dressing and I had fun helping to develop them."

Waliens can be ordered direct from www.daricbooks.com Copies can also be brought at Reliance Stores, South Street, Sebastopol and other outlets, or by calling 07889691815.

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Reproduced with kind permission from David Western's Portland Lovespoon Blog

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Spoon Draw Coming!!

Due to a surge of last minute entries for the West Coast Eisteddfod 2012 lovespoon, we couldn't get the tickets ready in time for a draw during the actual event on Saturday night. Sorry about this delay!!! To everybody who is waiting to see if they have won, we are going to hold the draw tomorrow in downtown Portland. We will be selecting a person from the lunchtime crowd (completely at random) to make the draw and will film it so that everyone knows the draw is completely above board!!!

So the good news is: YOU"RE STILL IN WITH A CHANCE!!!

Stay tuned for the blog tomorrow announcing the winner and hopefully showing some pics from the event!

Hello America,

I enjoyed this year's crop of short stories very much, and I think the quality was more even than ever before, which made my job as judge really difficult. There was very little to choose between you all, and since the whole process is subjective and arbitrary I could have picked names out of a hat and come up with an equally valid list of winners. So do carry on writing if you're not in my top three this year; I've had some severe beatings from judges over the years and I've learnt to just get on with it and enjoy myself. Judges are nearly always morons, we all know that. Myself excepted, of course.

Since he came up with not one but two charming stories, New Shoes and Too Many TVs , I'm going to give the top prize to Thomas Morris. Good stuff, Thomas, and if you haven't been published before I would urge you to write some more stories with a view to presenting your work to a Welsh publisher; I would be happy to introduce you to a commissioning editor.

Second prize goes to Natalie Grigson for Compulsion , and third prize goes to Samantha Priestley for Driving Barefoot .

As for the rest of you, there wasn't a duffer among all the entries. Good luck to you all, and do carry on scribbling.