VU – experimental fiction attempting a new literary form

Our most recent Pantolwen Press publication is a work of experimental fiction. In VU former playwright Kenneth Sinclair attempts a new form. His captive storyteller finds himself face to face with the legendary Princess Scheherazade. Narrating to her in the mythic and exotic location of her private apartments, he presents a collage of vividly-painted lyric pictures – his personal selection from two-thousand years of culture across the globe. Writing for the Historical Novel Society reviewer Susie Helme exclaims, “I’ve never seen a book like this. The words are so beautiful, so image-rich, a cornucopia for the senses.”

Telling the story – A G Rivett with Gillian Paschkes-Bell at Findhorn

The ISLE FINCARA TRILOGY – a Celtic portal fantasy – an Alternative history

Previous Pantolwen Press publications include The Seaborne and The Priest’s Wife by A G Rivett, the first two books of the Isle Fincara Trilogy. The final book, The Shareg, is in preparation, due to launch at the 2026 Iona literary festival.  Damian Walford Davies described The Seaborne as “a parable for our particularly torn times.” Rolf Billes, an educator with the Iona Community, described the novels as “a work of great beauty and imagination.”

The Isle Fincara Trilogy begins and ends as Celtic portal fantasy. It is also a spiritual odyssey and alternative history. Each book, set on the same mythical island and including many of the same characters, tells its own distinctive story. In The Seaborne a 21st century man finds himself in a world like that of a thousand years ago. With The Priest’s Wife the perspective shifts to a woman’s emancipation in challenging times that reflect the tensions played out centuries ago between the Celtic and mainstream churches. In the final book, The Shareg, these tensions will come to a head as an authoritarian church sweeps away old traditions and an underground resistance combines with a deeper wisdom to reach a radical conclusion.

A G Rivett talks with Clive and Anne Upton at Great Oak Book Shop, Llanidloes

Printing and Publication

All our Pantolwen press publications have been printed through the outstanding services of Gomer Press to produce a quality product, locally, on carbon neutral paper. Our books are also available print-on-demand for world-wide e distribution.

We are grateful for support from Llyfrau Cymru, the Books Council of Wales, who distributes our books. You can buy from them direct at their on-line shop, Gwales.com