Congratulations to Glen Mehn, winner of last week’s prize The Ravenglass Eye, and many thanks to my Aunt for offering to act as a random number generator (while ironing, yet – the Aunt is nothing but game), saving me from having to run around in a frozen Norfolk field whilst suffering from laryngitis. This week’s offering from Jo Fletcher Books is The Snowmelt River by Frank P. Ryan, a book for lovers of Irish mythology, as well as classic fantasy adventure:
On the summit of the fabled mountain Slievenamon in Ireland there is a doorway to an ancient land of terrible power. The gate of Feimhin has lain closed for centuries, the secret of its opening long lost. But now four orphans drawn together by Fate must pass through the portal to face their destinies. What they find beyond is the enchanted but war-ravaged world of Tír, a strange land peopled by beings of magic. Here death waits at every corner and they must learn to fight if they are to survive. And they’d better learn quickly, because their enemy, the Tyrant of the Wastelands, is growing in power.
To win, please leave a comment below, telling me what your prefered portal to another world would look like. Would it be some kind of door or hole or natural passageway? Where would it be located? The winner will be chosen at random next Thursday at midnight: I will thrust the appropriate number of unarmed Teddy Bears into a wardrobe full of winged demons, open the door a crack a minute later, gingerly reach in, and grab the first ragged paw or other Teddy remnant that flies to hand . . . JUST KIDDING. I will probably draw a number out of a hat, while standing on the threshold of my flat. Whatever method of selection springs to mind next week, no Teddy Bears will be harmed in the course of this competition, I promise!
The toilet… You sit on it,pull the flusher and it throws you into the unknown- pull the flusher twice to come back… genius
An interesting portal would be the great whalebone arch at Whitby, Yorkshire. Entry can only be gained upon the same date / time that a whale was killed in the past. S/he who successfully gains entry to the portal can only gain access back to present time if s/he saves the whale from being killed.
See picture of the arch at:
http://iberianature.com/britainnature/tag/whalebone-arch-whitby/Photo by TallGuy
commentary under photo reads:
“The famous whalebone arch on Whitby’s West Cliff is a symbol of the whaling industry that thrived there and in other English ports like Hull and Yarmouth in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The 15 ft bones are from a Bowhead whale, killed under license by Alaskan Inuits, and unveiled by Miss Alaska in 2003. An even larger arch stood on the same spot, made from the 20 ft jaw bones of a Fin whale, presented to the town by Norway in 1963”.
“During England’s years as a whaling nation, captains returning from Greenland would bring home these huge bones as souvenirs. Ship crews would tie a pair of whale jaw bones to the mast to let anxious families on land know there’d been no casualties. Some of the bones were used in construction as house ends. Some were set in fields for cattle to rub against. Read the rest of this entry
My portal would be the trunk of a tree that’s hidden in a secret garden. You tap the trunk and it opens leading to a land of mystery and folklore that time forgot.
A path through a forest or a mountain: you walk along it, and slowly, imperceptibly, things begin to change and transform around you. You’re not sure where the portal is, but it’s impossible not to notice you’ve passed through it.
Thanks to everyone for entering into the spirit of the competition, and gifting me with this eclectic assortment of openings into the human imagination: rude, robust, historical, arboreal, immersive . . . I chose the winner by pulling a Tarot card from the Ace of Swords, the Two of Wands, the Three of Disks and the Four of Cups. Leo Elijah Cristea is the winner. Congratulations Leo!