Katherine Roberts

Prince Elphin of Avalon A year long in Avalon Arthur slept While his queen in fairest Camelot wept, And a damsel with the Sword of Light Fought shadows summoned by the evil knight. A single jewel Arthur left with his queen When he rode to battle on Camlann’s green; Mordred’s axe cut the fearless king down The day a dragon stole Camelot’s crown. A stranger came on Arthur’s Day To claim the maid of Morgan Le Fay So Camelot’s champion rode out to fight, One boy and his lance against a knight. In Dragonland the crown lies hidden Where Mordred and his men have ridden, And druids of old breathed their last Keeping the secrets of Pendragons past. Arthur’s knights rode out at first light With Sword and Lance both shining bright, To hunt the traitor who killed their king In valleys shadowed by the dragon’s wing. Arthur’s great army fought on the plain But their horses stumbled in the rain Attacked by dragons, their blood ran red In mist-bound valley their captive fled. The t...

Some of Iain Banks' SF books One of my favourite SF writers Iain Banks has died from cancer , aged only 59. I thought it about time I wrote him a fan letter, so here it is. Dear Iain Banks, I had a dream last night where I was dancing on top of a high building, but everyone I knew was setting out on a long trek for the horizon. Although I had been enjoying myself, panic seized me, because my friends were all going to leave without me if I didn’t follow them. I prepared to jump off, then looked down and panicked again – the building was much higher than I’d thought, and there were a lot of strangers camped below, packed together like sunbathers on a beach so I couldn’t see a clear space to land. I rushed around the roof, checking all sides, and with every second the building grew higher and the people I knew got further away. Then I spotted a small piece of empty sand, and (feeling a bit sick because by that time the roof was really high) made a leap for it. P...

I've just written a post at The History Girls about Emily Davison, the suffragette who died under the hooves of the king's horse while it ran in the Derby 100 years ago. She was campaigning on behalf of Votes for Women, since in those days women had no say in the running of the country. ( Muse: Would you believe they still won't let unicorns vote?! ) You can watch a video of the race and read more about Emily here: http://the-history-girls.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-suffragette-who-died-to-be-heard.html