The news of John Sayles’ novel Jamie MacGillivray: The Renegade’s Journey sent me down a wee Jacobite sidetrail. Dinna fash! I haven’t neglected my work — I got the first King Philip’s War episode recorded and ready to drop on schedule. Look for it on December 28. But ye ken that I canna resist a foray into Jacobite history. Jamie MacGillivray, … [Read more...] about Ye Jacobites By Name

Christmas is a time for nostalgia. We look back on our own childhood memories —and sometimes we project ourselves back to an early, purportedly simpler time when things were better in our fair land. But if we’re looking for a quaint snowglobe scene in an early American Christmas, we’re looking in the wrong place. In the years of America’s … [Read more...] about Christmas In The Colonies

Winter Solstice greetings, compadres! This is always one of my favorite days of the year, when the mystical connections feel strong and deep. The long night is not threatening or depressing to me — I find it soul stirring. This morning, the wind was howling around the house, as a series of fronts moves through the Pacific Northwest. The … [Read more...] about Winter Solstice

“I feel so stuck. I have no income. I’m a failure as a writer. I’ve shut down my business. I’ve got an empty nest. My career is at a standstill and I’m reworking my relationship with my spouse. I thought, ‘I have to get moving.’”  — India Wood. Hiker. Frontier Partisans Patron Chas Clifton scouted up an article on a woman who decided that … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — The Colorado X, The Trusty Side-By-Side & The Call Of The Wild

In the timbers of Fennario Wolves are runnin’ ’round... — Hunter/Garcia; Dire Wolf The Almighty Algorithm is on to me. It knows that I’m a sucker for dark, gloomy, possibly sinister forests; folklore; atmospheric folk music... I had not heard of the French/Belgian production Zone Blanche until this morning. Two seasons of it have been … [Read more...] about In The Black Spot Of Fennario

A startling realization struck as Lady Marilyn and I enjoyed Corb Lund’s set earlier this month. His masterpiece album Cabin Fever is 10 years old. Damn — that decade went by quick. Cabin Fever has a special place in Clan lore, and not simply because it is a damn fine album chock full of expertly crafted songs. In the winter of 2012-13, it served … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — 10 Years Of Cabin Fever

Henry Every (or Avery, if you prefer) is among the most remarkable Frontier Partisan outlaws in history. He took the Mughal ship Ganj-i-Sawai, (Anglicized as the Gunsway) off the coast of India in 1695, outraging the powerful Muslim ruler, endangering the position of the East India Co., and kicking off the first worldwide manhunt, recounted in the … [Read more...] about On The Run In The Colonies

This is, well,  glorious. The OG swashbuckling tale is getting a serious treatment in a French-language production — a film in two parts. The cast is magnificent — and Eva Green as a pipe-smoking Milady DeWinter is, well... Eva Green as a pipe-smoking Milady DeWinter.  No idea when this will hit the U.S., but I’m in. And I’m thinking I … [Read more...] about For The Glory Of France

The estimable Gold & Gunpowder channel has produced a profile of an undersung pioneer of the Pirate Republic of Nassau — Benjamin Hornigold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhqDYhTEbtQ Hornigold is portrayed as a primary antagonist of Captain Flint in my beloved Black Sails. This is based on the historical fact that Hornigold was pushed … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Revolution In Carolina, A Pirate & The Last Of Us