AmeriCymru spoke to Welsh author Cynan Jones about his contribution to the Seren New Tales From The Mabinogion Series - ''Bird,Blood,Snow''. In re-imagining this myth for a contemporary audience Cynan Jones has adopted for his hero the juvenile terror and scourge of a modern council estate. Read our review here

Cynan Jones

Author of Bird,Blood,Snow

Read our previous interview with Cynan Jones

Other Titles by Cynan Jones

Everything I Found on the Beach

The Long Dry

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AmeriCymru: Hi Cynan and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. Care to tell us a little about your latest book ''Bird,Blood,Snow''?

Cynan: Bird, Blood Snow is different. Bird, Blood, Snow is a bicycle kick. By that I mean the process of writing it was instinctive and spontaneous.

It''s a re-telling of an ancient Welsh myth. More accurately, an Arthurian myth. It''s part of the New Stories from the Mabinogion series.

Seren formally approached me with the commission in November last year (''11), then we had to wait for the funding process to run through before they confirmed in March.

The book was scheduled for October 2013, which would give me plenty of time. Then at the end of March, Seren asked whether I could hit the slot for this year. I said yes. Which effectively left me three months to deliver the book. That certainly fed into the eclectic approach I took.

AmeriCymru: The book is based on the Mabinogion Peredur tale. How would you describe ''Peredur'' for anyone who is not acquainted with it?

Cynan: I was the last author to be approached for the series and Peredur was the only tale left. There were good reasons why. It''s narratively disjointed, the imagery that thunders through most of the other tales is scant, and its allegories are uncertain of themselves.

It tells the tale of a youth bent on recognition in King Arthur''s court. He leaves the isolated home his mother has removed him to in the hope he won''t follow his father and brother''s into a violent life; then he tries to draw attention to himself through a series of violent acts in Arthur''s name. That''s it in its simplest terms.

AmeriCymru: How difficult was it to re-imagine for a modern audience?

Cynan: As I''ve said, it was a bicycle kick. That''s evidently a very difficult skill, but it''s something you do without thinking in some ways. You don''t think of the difficulty, or the physics of it. You just go for it. It''s in retrospect you think... wow. Ok...

If the time scale for delivery had not changed it''s likely I would have done something much more in line with my other writing. It was good I didn''t.

AmeriCymru: Peredur, as cast in ''Bird,Blood,Snow'', is not a sympathetic character and his ''biographer'' is dismissed for having attempted to romanticize him. Do you think he has any redeeming qualities?

Cynan: He is immune to mildness. That might be regarded a redeeming quality. And he is self aware. He is violent with great target, rather than disruptive. But he doesn''t want to be redeemed. He openly admits to living in his own little world. He''s not bothered about integrating himself into society.

It''s interesting to write a character who is essentially vicious but meanwhile make him compelling. You don''t have a sympathy for him but his honesty is magnetic.

AmeriCymru: You say in your Afterword that the Peredur story is an early unfinished version of the medieval ''questing'' tale. Care to elaborate?

Cynan: This is purely my reaction to it. The Mabinogion tales were originally oral stories. Given that, there would have been great opportunity to alter the tales, to introduce contemporary factors and influences.

I wonder to what degree the Peredur tale came about because of an emerging fashion for Arthurian myth. Storytellers would have been requested to relate certain types of story, so would need to react to new trends much in the way film makers nowadays do.

My feeling is the Peredur myth had not actually formalised into a set story at the time the tales came to be written down in around the 1300s / 1400s.

But once you write something down you essentially fossilise it. If that process happens wrongly, the fossil is imperfect, scattered. It has to be pieced back together by the reader. The fact there are several disparate versions of the Peredur tale supports the guess.

AmeriCymru: What is the ultimate goal of Peredur''s quest in ''Bird,Blood,Snow''?

Cynan: Acknowledgement.

AmeriCymru: What''s next for Cynan Jones? Any new books planned or in the works?

Cynan: There''s a new book in the mix. It''s ready to go to publishers.

Meanwhile, I''m looking forward to getting on to the next story. It''s gestating a the moment. Hopefully I''ll begin early next year. It won''t be as lunatic as this one.

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

Cynan: Thanks for the continued enthusiasm. Also, there''s a quest within the book. I''d like to invite readers to dig about in the story a bit, do some archaeology. I''ve buried several artefacts from other texts. Some more easy to uncover than others. But do get in touch if you think you''ve found something!

Interview by Ceri Shaw Ceri Shaw on Google+