What's Coming Up Next?
The Fireside project is still in full motion, with new titles taking shape alongside sharper, better editions of the books already out in the world. I'm revisiting sources, checking variants, tightening notes, and polishing the storytelling so each tale feels clear, faithful, and alive. At the same time, I'm improving the way you can find and read these stories online, with cleaner metadata, stronger filtering, and smoother electronic access across the archive. It is a lot of work, and it keeps me properly busy, but it is the kind of busy I like, because this is what I care about, and it shows.
01
Consolidation
The Fireside Tales project is turning back to its earlier volumes, polishing them, deepening them, and making the library easier to live with. New editions are in progress, with cleaner modern UK English, refreshed introductions, tighter notes on sources and variants, and redesigned interiors and covers so the whole series feels like one coherent shelf. At the same time, several of the older books are being consolidated into larger regional groupings, which means fewer separate purchases, better value, and a simpler collecting path for readers who want a proper folktale library without chasing dozens of slim volumes. The aim is clarity, consistency, and kinder prices.
02
Tales From The Pacific
Next on the Fireside path is the Pacific, a wide theatre of islands, reefs, mountains, and open water, where stories travel by canoe, trade wind, and whisper. I’m collating tales from across Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and the Pacific Rim, tracing sources, variants, and local names, then adapting them into clear modern UK English while keeping their cadence, humour, and sacred edges intact. Each story will be introduced with careful context, notes on collectors and communities, and a map of themes, from creation and ocean spirits to tricksters, taboos, and brave voyagers. New designs will bind the whole collection together soon.
03
Tales From The Slavic Peoples
Further on in the Fireside project comes a Slavic volume, built from village tales, forest legends, river myths, and the hard bright humour of long winters. I’ll be collating sources across languages and regions, tracing variants, collectors, and local names, then adapting each story into clear modern UK English while keeping its original cadence, strangeness, and moral bite. Alongside the retellings will come notes on provenance and context, so readers can see where a tale was found and how it travelled. New design work will tie the book into the wider archive, and make it feel at home for years ahead.
04
Expanding The Archive
I'm also expanding the Fireside electronic archive, not just by adding more tales, but by strengthening the bones beneath them. Over the coming months I’ll collate new story texts, variants, and source notes, then tag everything with richer metadata, country, region, themes, motifs, collectors, and publication details, so each entry can be found, cross-linked, and trusted. I'm also cleaning and standardising existing records, adding design improvements, and building faster filters and clearer tables. The goal is simple: a living, searchable library, made widely available online, where readers can browse, discover, and return to stories whenever they wish, from any device, anywhere.
