We are organising a group read of this wonderful book starting on June 11th, so if you would like to re-read this wonderful book, or have never read it before and would like to do so with like-minded group of people
NOW”S YOUR CHANCE!
“The apple was red as blood and laced with poison”
The arrangements for the dinner party were overseen by Queen Quenevere herself, the apples selected by her own hands. And before the evening had ended a young knight lay dead, and Arthur’s beloved, unfaithful Queen stood branded as a murderess, condemned to death.
Phyllis Ann Karr has taken Celtic legendary and given it a fresh new twist in this magical murder mystery of knights and sorceresses, romantic entanglements and courtly intrigues. This is a tale that explores the passions and motivations of the men and women who stride through the pages of Mallory’s romance: Sir Kay, the sharp-tongued, jealous seneschal; Nimue, the elusive Lady of the Lake, Morgan le Fay, Merlin’s complex nemesis; the tormented sons of Lot and Morgawse; and Mordred, Arthur’s bitter, terrified son.
E-mail Interview to PHYLLIS ANN KARR, author of the arthurian novels Idylls of the Queen and The Follies of Sir Harald and the useful and detailed arthurian dictionary The Arthurian Companion, plus many short arthurian stories in various collections.She is actually a very prolific writer and she has written many novels, poetries and short stories.
You probably all know that Idylls of the Queen is my favourite arthurian novel so you can only imagine my excitement (and nervousness) when I tried to send her a fanmail, because it seems like I can’t shup up about my love for Idylls of the Queen. And for my immense joy she answered me! And Phyllis Ann Karr was kind enough to answer to some silly arthurian related questions. These are the screencaps of the mail interview and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I did because her answers are both interesting and complete.
I’d like again to thank Phyllis Ann Karr for making me a happy woman and giving us the possibility to read a little more about her own opinion on arthurian legends!
I have a responsibility to take care of this kingdom! I take no pleasure in this! But you’re sentencing the wrong person! She’s right, Father. You hear the word magic, you no longer listen.
I admit I am not a big fan of Lancelot.I just read the plot on goodreads and there seems to be Nimue in it. I wonder if Morgause and the sons (and Mordred) will appear as well! I might not look the book up as soon as it comes out as my reading list is quite long, but I’ll look out for reviews (and to find out which characters are in the novel)!
If anyone has any recs for King Arthur-related films/shows, I’ll be grateful!
I already watched Excalibur 1981, Merlin 1998 miniseries, and King Arthur Legend of the Sword (2017).
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the best (the one and only) arthurian movie ever made!
About other fun arthurian tv series:
Legend of King Arthur (1979 tv show) is one of the best arthurian series, in my opinion. The quality of costumes is not great, but the characterization is on point especially for Morgana and Mordred.
Camelot (starz) is also an… interesting show. The plot is a bit all over the place and Arthur is not great, but Morgana is the real star. Also, Sir Kay, Igraine and Merlin are quite interesting too.
Kaamelott (the French one) is THE BEST. The first three seasons are just comedic sketches (and no English subtitles) but season 5 and 6 are really dramatic and well written (also the dvds have English subtitles). I started watching this show from season 4, and I didn’t really need to go back to season 1-3 to understand the plot.
Mists of Avalon miniseries. While I am not a fan of the book, the miniseries is a softer version that I really enjoy.
and some arthurian movies (especially if you don’t mind some trashy fun ones):
I love Connecticut Yankee movies, but my favourite ones are A Knight in Camelot, the 1989 Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and A young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s court (just for how Morgana is written!).
Camelot (1967) is my favourite arthurian movie alongside Monty Python. This is the movie version of the musical and it is the movie that actually made me love Lancelot. It focuses on Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot.
Sword of Lancelot is somehow one of my favourite movies. It might be the fact that Mordred is adorable and has a cute hawk always on his shoulder.
Merlin and the Sword is also a fun cheesy movie. It has basically everything: evil Morgana and Mordred plotting, Gawain and Ragnelle, Arthur Lancelot and Guinevere, Merlin and Nimue.
Let me know if you really don’t mind… the trashier ones. I have more!
Thank you so much for those recs! I don’t mind trashy, as long as it’s fun to watch. (I didn’t like Legend of the Sword because it was so incoherent and badly cut, so there are limits.)
Sword of Lancelot and Merlin and the Sword (and Young Connecticut) are pretty trashy already!
Other trashy fun ones are (in my opinion):
Dragons of Camelot. The 100% bad acting, BAD movie, trash, but so so fun.
Excalibur Kid. This is actually one of my favourite ones because it has a lovely teen Morgause that uses her magic to transport into Camelot a random modern day teenager able to get the sword from the stone, because he is easier to manipulate than Arthur himself.
Guinevere 1994 and First Knight are more on the “meh” side than tun trashy (they take themselves too seriously), but I actually enjoyed them. They are both about the Guinevere-Arthur-Lancelot triangle focusing on the true love between Guinevere and Lancelot. First Knight in particular has a lovely Guinevere.
Merlin and King Arthur the Lion King is like SO RANDOM. Arthur is a lion, Mordred is a kitten, Morgana is the evil cat.
Spamalot (the Monty Python and the Holy Grail’s musical)
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (tv) is a lovely series of self contained episodes focusing on Lancelot. It’s more random adventures than actual arthurian themes, but there is a lot of Merlin and Guinevere too.
La Legende du Roi Arthur (musical) is… something. The music is very catchy, and it’s definitely fun (a bit overdramatic)
Arthurian Legends 