"Well, I'm Back."

Today I end my journey - today is the last stop on the long road 'West of the Moon'. And I'd like to thank all of you who've come along with me, even for part of it, for your tremendous patience with this slightly odd business of an author hyping her own book.  I mean, gosh, it's not really the way my mother brought me up.  I, like you, was taught not to blow my own trumpet.  You were supposed to receive a compliment with a deprecating smile and some such remark as, 'Oh it's nothing, really'.  The phrase 'He's not backwards at coming forwards!' was not used with approval.

But times have changed, and I'm not sure now how useful some of that advice really was. There are a lot of books in the world, and to assume (or hope) that one's own will attract attention while one stands modestly in the wings waiting for the applause, may actually be more arrogant than to go out there and tell people about it.  If it was worth writing, perhaps it's worth talking about.

I hope I haven't bored you.  I hope I've managed (I certainly tried) to find different approaches, different ways of saying - effectively - I spent getting on for ten years writing this book, I loved doing it, I love the characters, and I love the folklore and mythology which overshadow and permeate it.  I want to share my enthusiasm and joy not just in the book I created but in the wider and greater context of all the stories I discovered along the way - folktales from Iceland and Norway and the Orkneys, the Icelandic sagas, the Eddas, and the stories and legends of the Mi'kmaq of Canada.

Anyway, today I am delighted to have been asked to talk about anti-tales (and anti-heroes) at The Paradoxes of Mr Pond .  Here you will find me talking about characters such as Bluebeard, Lady Mary, Mr Fox and my own Harald Silkenhair.  And to celebrate the end of the tour, there's also a rather unusual competition at The Hog's Head to win a signed copy of 'West of the Moon'.

It'll be back to normal on Seven Miles of Steel Thistles after this.  But I've enjoyed every step of my journey and met some wonderful people along the way.  Especial thanks to all the fantastic bloggers who hosted me. And now at last I can say (drawing a deep breath):

"Well, I'm back."