#hounds-of-chulainn

[finnlongman]

Dear Tumblr, I have been desperately wanting to share this news with you since May last year and now I finally can: Gollancz is publishing not one, not two, but THREE of my queer medieval retellings over the next few years! You'll have seen me posting little bits about these books in the past, but I'm so excited to get to share them with you properly.

First up in 2025: The Wolf and His King, a queer retelling of Bisclavret that uses werewolfism as a metaphor to explore chronic pain and illness. It's also very much about gay yearning, fealty, and the mortifying ordeal of being known. Partially in second person and partially in verse, you can see my previous posts about it under the tag the wolf and his king or, for the really early ones, werewolves and gay yearning.

In 2026, I'm bringing you The Animals We Became [working title], which is a queertrans retelling of the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, looking at gender, compulsory heterosexuality, and trauma, via nonconsensual shapeshifting. Lotta trans vibes, lotta trauma; I wrote a first draft of this last year because I got carried away writing the sample chapters for my proposal and I'm excited to get deeper into it in edits. Aka t4t shapeshifting and trauma; generally tagged as also owls are transmasculine now.

And finally, in 2027, which is the one I've honestly been most excited to tell you guys about, it's To Run With The Hound [working title]. If you've been following me for a while, you'll know that I wrote a book with this title way back in 2018… well, the one I've sold isn't exactly that book, it's a proposal for how I intend to completely rewrite that book from the ground up, but yes, this is it: my Cú Chulainn novel, my queer medieval Irish book, my (hopefully) magnum opus. Haven't written it yet, but the plan is to use a nonlinear narrative to explore why Táin Bó Cúailnge is a tragedy, featuring a great many feelings about Fer Diad, Láeg, and Cú Chulainn himself.

There's a bit more detail and some FAQs on my website right now, but the most important thing is QUEER MEDIEVAL BOOKS WRITTEN BY SOMEBODY WITH MULTIPLE DEGREES IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE. If that sounds like your jam, stick around.

[notacluedo]

seen so much cú chulainn art I need to contribute

I went with the wild multicoloured blond ombré hair bc it sounds cool

Based on that one Michelangelo sketch with that guy :/

[some-old-psyker2]

Ana didn’t turn to him immediately, preferring instead to continue monitoring the read-out on the cogitator’s screen. She herself was crowned with greying hair tied up in a tight bun though this aged appearance was merely a mask carefully crafted by biomancy. The ancient wanderer had learned long ago that the appearance of age went a long way in getting relatively important people to be more likely to listen to you.

“I suppose you are right, I very well could have boarded their ship at the head of a cadre of war forms, slagged everything in my path and taken whatever I wanted for myself.” Her voice was smooth and unhurried as she turned to face Finnbhar, carrying the weight of centuries with little effort. “However, as you can see, that was not the approach I chose today. Brute force isn’t always the answer, and even I have limits on what I can work with, in spite of what my illustrious reputation may have told you….” She snorted in amusement at the thought. “There are times when flesh and blood mercs have an edge over anything I can conjure up from my ships factorum.”

She tilted her head, considering him. “Pirates here expect warships and hulking killer servitors, not an eclectic band of professionals to slip in, take what’s wanted and leave before they even have a chance to notice. Sure perhaps I had to crack their tin can open a bit to help you and your people find a way in but such is life. And besides…” a faint, knowing smile ghosted across her lips. “If I did absolutely everything myself, I wouldn’t get to observe the artistry of others.”

Acquisition (open starter/drabble)

Data crawled across cogitator screens in the dimly lit research chamber where a lone figure stood closely observing and taking careful note of any consistencies and patterns she noticed in its flow. Anastasia may not have been trained extensively in the mysteries of the Martian priesthood, but she was at the very least observant enough to ascertain noteworthy details from the machine’s output.

The device she was currently analyzing was levitating within a gravity-null stasis field a few feet away and clearly of Xenos origin but unlike anything she had seen before. The overly bold pirates she had wrestled it away from hours earlier had been using the strange object as a fucking generator of all things. The perpetual wasn’t sure whether to lament their shortsightedness or praise their ingenuity.

The device was roughly spherical, about the size of a human torso, with an irregular, almost crystalline structure. Its surface was adorned with smooth, curving panels interspersed with angular, jagged segments. Beneath these metallic segments coursed vein-like structures that pulsed with a strange rhythm that almost reminded Ana of a heartbeat. It was as if this artifact blurred the line between mechanical and organic.

Outside, her ship The Wandering Lady busied itself in self-repairs. Small drones sprayed nanite repair swarms over plating that had been scarred by plasma during the recent skirmish while larger drones worked relentlessly upon sections along her port side that had received damage from macro-cannons. Beyond the ship’s hull, the immense sheltering shadow of a burning, lifeless planet only partially obscured the light from the system’s star, light that was beginning to creep up over the horizon in a spectacular diamond-ringlike dawn.

[gay-laeg]

Cu Chúlainn is having a really bad day

Cu chúlainns horse are usually just described like normal horses traditionally but I decided to have fun and make it look slightly aquatic

Bonus (Conall’s Horse)

um

horses aren’t supposed to have a hounds head wth sharp teeth and ave the ability to kill people

[matchanne]

One comedic yet hypocritical take that (I think) the devs can do with Cú’s relationship with his wife is…he gets ironically jealous to a degree/possessive when Emer interacts with other guys in Chaldea.

Oh, it gets worse when that guy happens to be a certain Archer (you know who that is). THIS ONE IS A DECLARATION OF WAR.

[sissiarte]

Back at it with the Cú Chulainn/Ferdia agenda bc I'm reading The Hound of Ulster and my god... this happens like I didn't came up with it this is literally a scene in there my god...

[deadgiants]

Trying really hard to finally get through this, but the framing of CúChulainn's character is just so...shit? I don't know if there's a different text Bolger is basing it on, but this just flat is not the CúChulainn from the Ulster Cycle texts I've read. The fun thing about CúChulainn is that he's just, like that. Making it so he's poisoned by the Morrigan to be a violent berzerker who halucinates enemies as horrifying beasts, and just want is to settle down and be a farmer is...Marvel shit. The art is so on point, but the effort to make the narrative function how they want it is just, boring. By necessity, it ignores so much of CúChulainn's existing character, just to make him one more ex-black ops operative being pulled in "One Last Big Job," and I have an actual negative amount of care to read that.

I'm only like 20 pages in, but this is upsetting enough that I'll probably keep complaining throughout.

[gingersnaptaff]

Everybody say hi to Oisín again!!!!! He's one of my favourites in Irish mythology so I had to include him in Book 1. :3

[hxroic-wxlls-fxrever]

One fluffy princess has made her way to a certain Lancer. Staring at him, sizing him up, before opening her arms for a hug. "Aren't you at least going to hug me after it's been so long?" (I toss +1 Emer at Lancer- have fun, Lancer!)

" Hehe...well, ain't you a sight for sore eyes? "

She certainly hasn't changed much, that much is for sure... Nice change of pace to see someone like her for once, instead of the usual noisy crowd that Master always pairs him up with...

Of course, it is, in fact, his fate, to grant her her wish of a hug. And hug her, he shall...while also lifting her up and spinning her around.

" Nice to see ya again, princess. Hope ya didn't miss me too much. "

[berzerker-oni-musashi]

Hey! How do you think cuddling would be initiated with Guda from Mori, Izou and Cu’s perspective?

Well Wellll let's see! Thanks 4 the ask.

Mori :

Hes a honest guy so he'd just come right out and ask Guda he's not somone who overly cares about social graces so he'd cuddle guda wherever whenever. And being Mori he will try to murder anyone who goes near guda while there cuddling so it's best if ya need master's attention to wait it out.

Cu:

Cu is also honest and asks directly for things he wants he'd be a bit more humorous and laid back in asking. Saying it as a joke something like ehhh hey master you seem lonely wanna cuddle up with me. He'd be a good cuddle he's warm and got string arms so a good cuddle buddy!

Izou

Izou would be embarrassed about liking cuddling he's a manslayer not a teddy bear! So he'd never ask or hint about wanting to cuddle guda in public. He'd probably wait till thier alone in thier room then drop by and hint that he wants cuddles. He'll grumble alot at first but he eventually mellows out a little.

[iukasylvie]

Ethan Sabatella's reviews of Hound by Paul J. Bolger and Barry Devlin are invaluable since he writes from the perspective of someone who has studied Irish mythology.

[finnlongman]

Finished rereading The Hound of Ulster. It is honestly so great, as retellings go. Sure, I have quibbles with some details of interpretation, and you can see Sutcliff's reliance on secondary sources, but it's FUN and the narrative works and the characterisation is great and there's a real emotional through line to it. Would love to do a more detailed study of its sources and influences some time.

[xxx-calibur]

"Oh fuck off ya cunt, you ain't equal to a fart on the wind." He's not gonna hear the end of it, he just knows it. He'll never know peace. He might even long for the days of 'lancer ga shinda'.

[lunaetis]

@caemthe asked :

🕯️ for cú and misaya uvu

send me 🕯️ to hear my character's inner thoughts about your character. || no longer accepting

─「美沙夜」─  one would think he had forgotten the promise he had made to her back when she was still human. the CHERUBIM didn't usually entertain the thoughts about the past. it felt like a long time ago as well as it just happened yesterday all at the same time. the days she spent with a shackle around her neck, and a countdown until her LIFE was no more. he was still waiting, she realized. misaya realized that very truth the moment she reopened her eyes as the VESSEL when she was first called upon. the way he rushed down to the summoning circle as though he had been waiting. why ? she didn't get it. or, perhaps, she did, but a part of her refused to come to terms with it even now.

                that she had summoned a servant who was LOYAL TO A FAULT. a servant who proved her wrong about her belief that servants would eventually betray their masters. a servant that refuse to give up on her.

                " what a stubborn pup. " she muttered to herself, words breaking the SILENCE between them yet the tone she carried was nothing of a COMPLAINT. there was a clear hint of tender affection others would not detect but the avenger knew that he would catch it. how was it that her words had bound him so deeply to her when she was sure he would be able to run free once she released him from the LEASH she had around his neck. those eyes when they looked at her, he looked as though he was telling her he would never fail her again.

                as though he spent CENTURIES beating himself up over the fact that he could not protect her. she cut him loose and instead of running off, he remained faithfully right where she left him, eyes still looking at HER. his master. she was and still is his master after all these years.

                misaya ran her fingers through his unruly hair.

                " you really are one of a kind. " her best hound yet.

[sissiarte]

oughghhghgougohguhughgh I'm so soft and so sad about them

[deadgiants]

I'll hand it to "the Hound," it gave me a lot to think about.

This has been bouncing around my skull for a few days, though it's not really something that I mentioned in the posts while reading it.

Connla's conception and death are all told in the Hound, but they're also very much changed. I do want to preface that this post is more musing than argument against the book, though I do think it shows a kinda gross through line of a very modern sexism in the story.

So in this, the moment when Connla is conceived is depicted in two tiny panels following Eva (Aife, the angicizations are awful) invading Scáthach's school because... she thinks she could teach better than Scáthach? But then she's welcomed back, so everything is cool, and her and Cú have barely implied sex. Cú leaves to go home from exile early on the next page I think (not sure that's how exile works) with the knowledge that Eva (Aife) is pregnant. Importantly though, when he leaves, all he does is give her a ring for Connla to be identified by, and instruction to send him to Ireland at some point.

The key difference here is that in the original telling (or oldest we have) CúChulainn gives these full instructions, framed as geassa;

Connla cannot turn back once he starts his journey, he must not refuse a challenge, and must never tell anyone his name.

I dont Know Bogan's mind, but it's here that I can see where he may have thought "well that makes no sense, why would he do that?" Which is fair if you don't think too long, it is a mythological telling from a culture we don'thave the full context for, but the solution he settles on is to make Eva (Aife) be the one who insists that Connla not tell his name, and that he should come to Ireland and act as aggressor, rather than simply not be able to turn down a challange. The framing makes this read as some malicious act on her part, as though making CúChulainn kill his own son is an act of vengeance for his unceremonious departure unrelated to her.

It also serves again to remove agency from CúChulainn while I think trying to humanize him. In the original he: willingly couples with her, instructs her to send Connla to him in the future, and puts these geassa on him. It gives Aife in the original test less agency for him to make these choices, but to only give women characters agency to make them temptresses, or malicious and calloused feels like a zero sum at best.

This was supposed to be a shorter post, but I haven't gotten to the thing I even really meant to yet because any analysis of this comic cascades into a half-dozen other things.

The thing I wanted to get to is, in a nutshell, CúChulainn needs to know who he's killing when he fights Connla. It may be my interpretation of the story, but from my repeated readings I think CúChulainn and Emer know who Connla is basically from the moment they arrive on the scene, and are trapped by their own laws and mores to play out the scene as if written ahead of time. This created a much more tragic scene of people who know what they are doing, and must continue to do it anyway. It also createds a much more poignant foreshadowing for CúChulainn's battle at the ford with Ferdiad where CúChulainn is in some ways put in Connla's place, knowing that he must move forward, but knowing ahead of time what it means, while Ferdiad is trapped by his society to try to kill one of his greatest loves.

If CúChulainn doesn't know at all who this random 10 year old is, then it's still a setup for the battle, but only in a thematic framing, without as much emotion.

I said before this post isn't as much about the Comic being bad as the others. And while there is something I'm going to say i. Another post following this that IS. The reason this one isn't is that I totally get these choices, or the motivation for them, I still think theyre badly thought out, because the internal logic of the story is damaged by having these characters do the same actions for different reasons, both internal and external. I can see the problem here especially of "how do you adapt this narrative for a modern audience?"

I think the answer is, don't.

Adapting the characters and changing the reasons for events that need to happen in the story in the way they did here, full of (I don't like that I keep saying modern, because it implies a fundamental difference between then and now in people hearts that I don't think exists) contemporary sensibilities, stemming from a neo-liberal society, started in the late 90's, makes the story flow naturally only if you dont think at all about how events connect. It's building a lego set but the top hald are mega bloks.

All adaptations have an element of authorship and will by their nature be personal to the time and place they are made, adaptations that try to be the exact thing are almost without fail boring and somewhat sterile. This seems to be an intentional overwrite of the original, like they were going to "fix" parts if it, and honestly if you feel like you need to fix something like folklore and mythology in order to make it good, maybe you're not the person to do that adaptation.