Other Writing and Books
In addition to writing and illustrating books for children I also write short stories, novels, magazine articles, and nonfiction books on archaeology.   I thought it might be interesting to let you know what other writing projects have been published or are in-progress.   I don't always write under my own name so as to not conflict with my children's picture books.  
Since I was a boy I have always kept journals.  One of my journals that I wrote when I was seventeen is the basis for an edgy, coming-of-age novel I wrote and published through Amazon.   Here it is:
The year is 1971. Gabe Hooton is a 17 year old genius. He is obsessed with his height of 5'4" and longs to grow four inches taller, so that he might be more normal; or at least average After a traumatic car accident, Gabe sorts through his life in a series of connecting threads measured in inches: 1", 2", 3" and 4". His obsession with a charismatic and handsome French waiter propels him into the late night world of lounge singers, confessions, and the never-ending struggle to lose his virginity. Gabe is determined to be a writer, not a waiter, in life despite all the odds. This compelling, graphic, darkly humorous coming-of-age narrative reveals the extraordinary mental processes of a boy who longs to find himself.
The Dark Secrets of Wythe's End 
by Phineas Wythe
All rights reserved by the author.  Copyright 2014 Olivier Dunrea. No part of this material may be used without written permission from the author.

Note:  This is a work-in-progress.  You can follow my thoughts and ideas as I write the novel on my blog:  thewritinglifeathenwoodie.com

     For fifteen year old Phineas Wythe living in at  Wythe's End perched at the very tip of Cape Haddock filled with a large and eccentric family, a two hundred three year old ghost, secret passages, hidden rooms and a deep dark secret sets the stage for a series of neverending wild and wacky adventures.

     The Wythes are one of America's oldest and least known New England families having arrived in America in 1621 on the Sunflower, six months after the Mayflower landed at Plymouth.  Everyone knows that eleven-times-great grandfather Josiah Wythe missed boarding the Mayflower thus depriving the Wythes of the privilege in taking their rightful place in the history books alongside the Allertons, Bradfords, Brewsters, Carvers, Endicotts, Standishes, Winthrops, et al. as being descended from the original settlers who crossed the Atlantic in 1620.  Phin is determined to uncover the family’s “deep, dark secret” as to why Josiah Wythe missed the boat.  He is convinced that the secret can be found somewhere at Wythe’s End.

     Wythe’s End is the large, rambling ancestral home of the Wythe family. Filled with secret passages, mystery, fireplaces, books, and the extended, Harvard educated, wealthy family.   The majestic historic house sits on more than two hundred acres at the tip of Cape Haddock.  Paternal grandparents Gramps and Qwerty Gran oversee the extended family of elderly great aunts, sons, daughters, and grandchildren, a morose family ghost, as well as a lively assortment of devoted domestic help, the protective family dog, Scowther, a cat named Grouch, and a turtle named Wiggins.  

     The Family

     Phin’s mother, called Mab, is a Braithewaite and a successful historical novelist specializing in medieval English stories. His father, called Pab, is a Wythe, partner in the family publishing firm, who raises chickens and is captain of the family wooden sailing boat, the Sea Snail. Both are tall, handsome, athletic, and loving parents---liberal in their thinking and expectations for their four children---Phineas, fifteen years old; Thaddeus, twelve years old; Littie Pye, seven years old; and three year old Leaky Lou, who never says a word, but is silently brilliant.  

     The Braithewaites and Wythes have been close friends for more than three hundred years and founded one of the finest literary publishing firms in Boston---Braithewaite & Wythe.  

     Great Aunt Pru, Gramps’s sister, and her partner, Aunt Que, are writers whose wildly successful “Mind Your P’s and Q’s Murder Mysteries” series are perennial bestsellers on the New York Times Bestseller list and throughout the world. The two elderly women claim that Ester Pyn, a ghost, who haunts Wythe’s End and loves the scent of bayberry candles, tells their plots to them. They are devoted to their Cairn terrier, Sophie, and a huge Maine Coon cat named Grouch.

     Uncle Itchy, Pab’s older brother and a widower, maintains and runs the private narrow gauge railroad named the Flying Orcadian that runs from Wythe’s End to the tiny fishing village of Peequock. He is never seen without his faithful, chubby Chihuahua mix dog, Scout. Uncle Itchy’s two handsome sons, twenty-four year old Mathias is doing his graduate studies in archaeology at Edinburgh University in Scotland and twenty-one year old Caleb is studying papermaking in Basel, Switzerland. Both young men graduated from Harvard and return to Wythe’s End for holidays.

     The Wythe family is fussed over and looked after by a gourmet Belgian cook named Mrs. Goossens; a flirtatious young redheaded Scottish housekeeper named Brynnie Mawr; and the gorgeous, 6’7” tall groundskeeper named Russ Samson, who becomes enamored with a rugged, broad shouldered lobster fisherman in Provincetown named Augustus McBride.

     Uncle Myles, Pab’s younger brother, and Uncle Bertram, his partner, live in Gull Cottage on the property with their springer spaniels, Molly and Gabe. Uncle Myles is a successful children’s book writer but is determined to see his magnum opus, an epic heroic saga set in a mythical world of his creation, published. Uncle Bertram is an internationally acclaimed photographer, whose next photographic expedition is planned for Transylvania. 

     In addition to Wythe’s End and Gull Cottage there is another large stately house commanding views of the sea as well as the salt marshes on the property called Grebe. Grebe is the ancestral home of the Braithewaites.   It is home to Grumps, the other senior partner at Braithewaite & Wythe, Uncle Tobias, a widower whose wife was eaten by a great white shark while training to swim the English Channel, as well as his five-year-old daughter, Chatty Pye, and her four Chihuahuas---Peedie Pye, Fergus, Maddy, and Bridey. Chatty Pye’s two older brothers, John William and Carl “Sparky” Brentwood, are in Tibet, preparing to climb Mt. Everest in search of the yeti. Faithful Nanny Bryce and young Sarah Thompson look after the house and its residents. Henry Hobson Hatchet is the broad-shouldered, silent, burly groundskeeper and lumberjack at Grebe. 

    Phin finds himself more and more immersed into family lore and history as he searches for long lost diaries and journals that might solve the Wythe family mystery. Wythe's End itself is one of the most memorable characters in the story.  Nor'easters, blizzards, power outages, odd visitors, nor the nagging worry of being accepted into Harvard prevents Phin from his quest to finally solve the mystery as to why the Wythes were not among the illustrious brave families on the Mayflower.  A lively week in Provincetown with uncles Myles and Bertram and Russ, the groundskeeper, teaches Phin a few life lessons with outrageous humor and insight.

     Will Phin discover the deep dark family secret?   Will Leaky Lou spill the secret? What is the secret of the handsome groundskeeper? And what is the “true” tale of Ester Pyn and her death?  What happens in Provincetown that shocks Phin?  


  The Lay of Moel Eyris: The Saga of the Bear's Son
         A five volume epic heroic saga/mythology
AN OVERVIEW OF THE STORY

revised 15 October 2003 revised 15 August 2011 corrected 31 October 2013

Copyright 2014 Olivier Dunrea.  All rights reserved. No part of this material may be used without written permission from the author.

Manus argentea quam manus ferrea melior est.
A silver hand is better than an iron hand.

For those who live by it and upon it, the sea is the ultimate reality in their existence.
Farley Mowat, This Rock Within the Sea: A Heritage Lost


     Between the faraway past, and that time which lies near to us, there came to one of the Twilight Realms, a remote archipelago called Moel Eyris (Islands of the Maols), a vicious horde of invaders from the Faärlands filled with hatred, cruelty, and of wickedness. Though the islands were so threatened and uncertain, there yet remained strong, determined Islanders, or Eyrlenders, who knew the right and the truth and lived according to what they knew. And a boy whose fate would determine the fate of all.

     The Lay of Moel Eyris: The Saga of the Bear’s Son  tells the story about a way life that is all but forgotten. It is about dreamers in a land where dreams have never been forgotten, where words command magic, and secrets are kept well hidden. Stories command the highest respect and admiration of the Islanders. In fact, the Islanders created an extraordinary word for their story-keepers, or mythographers—maols. Maols are the revered mythographers who reside in the ancient, isolated settlement called Moolstery.

     The word mole has several meanings and many spellings. To an off-islander “mole” is the only spelling that he can think of, and is a word that only has one of two meanings. But to an Eyrlender the word “mole” has a rich and diverse history and is most closely connected to a secret messenger.

     But, the word maol is an entirely different matter altogether.

     The Lay of Moel Eyris: The Saga of the Bear’s Son tells the story of a prophecy that concerns a boy named Caelean Artair Faolán who “was born very old at a very young age.”

     The Prologue to the story begins with a perilous journey, being made under the cloak of darkness, and the added protection of a thick, magical mist—dragons’ breath. Brom and Hanne Powys are fleeing for their lives, for the life of their son, Caelean. And for the very life of the islands.

​      The Lay of Moel Eyris is an epic heroic quest that falls into the category of ‘motif of folklore’ called Bear’s Son Cycle. The Bear’s Son Cycle is concerned with a baby who was “abandoned” by its parents. The baby grows into a boy who lives apart from his homeland, Moel Eyris—the Islands on the Edge—as they struggled through the most dangerous and blackest years of is an epic heroic quest that falls into the category of ‘motif of folklore’ called Bear’s Son Cycle. The Bear’s Son Cycle is concerned with a baby who was “abandoned” by its parents. The baby grows into a boy who lives apart from his homeland, Moel Eyris—the Islands on the Edge—as they struggled through the most dangerous and blackest years of the archipelago’s history.  

     Cael’s fate is closely bound to that of an ancient prophecy, a secret book, and an ancient map. It is the timeless story of the struggle between good and evil, fate and destiny, and a boy’s quest to discover his own place in his world.


*****






    Twelve-year-old Kit Barstow is obsessed with vampyres.  He insists on spelling vampyre the correct way---with a 'y' not an 'i'.  He has read every vampyre book, graphic comic book, and has watched every vampyre movie he can find.   The year is 1975 so his access to vampyre research is limited.   Dracula, of course, is his all-time favorite vampyre book and movie.  

    When a strange, gaunt mysterious man movies into the abandoned house next door to his grandparents' house Kit is convinced he is a vampyre.  The stranger is only seen at dusk or at night.  Black seems to be the only color he wears.  He speaks with an odd accent that Kit is convinced is Transylvanian.  The new neighbor even mows his lawn at night!   Odd and unnerving noises can be heard coming from the rambling old house at night.  Kit has seen small bats swooping in and out the broken attic window.   The most disturbing sight Kit saw through one of the dusty windows was the vampyre attacking a woman and biting her throat.

    One day a letter addressed to Andrei Vladimir Dascalu is accidentally delivered to Kit's grandparents' house.   He tells his best friends, Gabe Barton and Fred (Winifred) Henshaw what he suspects.  "Obviously," Kit says "the mysterious neighbor's real name is Vlad Dracula!

       Kit convinces his friends that they have to solve the mystery as to whether or not the stranger is a real vampyre or not.   As the three friends work on solving the mystery they befriend a newcomer in town, Marcus Wainwright.  Marcus quickly bonds with Kit, Gabe, and Fred when  he saves Fred's pet rat, Bartholomew, from drowning.  In addition, the eccentric elderly Hannah Bromwell, the librarian at the public library in town, becomes their mentor and guide in helping solve the mystery.

        Is the mysterious man a real vampyre?  Are Kit, his grandparents and friends in danger of being bitten and turned into vampyres?  The four friends form The League of Managabalators---a name Kit came up with that means "solving and managing mysteries".   The League of Managabalators are determined to prove that the man really is a vampyre with surprising results.