Peter Berresford Ellis

1943-; b. March 10, Coventry, England, son of Cork journalist Alan J. Ellis. Educated Brighton College of Art and London University. BA(Hons), MA (in Celtic Studies), Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (1997), Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (1997), Hon. D. Litt (University of East London, 2006). Career in journalism started on Brighton Herald and other local newspapers. First book published in 1968, a political history Wales – A Nation Again. Deputy-editor at launch of Irish Post weekly newspaper for Irish in Britain in 1970. Editor of weekly publishing trade journal, Newsagent & Bookshop, 1973-1975. Full time author from 1975. Organising chairman of the first-ever Celtic languages Book Fair (Scríf-Celt) in 1985 and also in 1986. Inaugurated a bard of the Cornish Gorsedd for his work on the Cornish language in 1987. Commenced a regular monthly column `Anonn Is Anall’ for the Irish Democrat (founded 1939 as the journal of the Connolly Association), still running as a bi-monthly, and was editorial consultant on the quarter Labour and Ireland 1988-1990. Elected international president of the Celtic League 1988-1989. Recipient of Irish Post Award in 1989. Commenced a regular fortnightly column `Anois agus arís’ in the Irish Post in 2000, which is still appearing. Elected Hon. Life President of the 1820 Society of Scotland. Hon. Life Membership of the Irish Literary Society (founded in 1892) conferred by Hon. President Seamus Heaney in 2002. By 2007 he had behind him a considerable body of work comprising a total of 89 books (34 under his own name, 47 as Tremayne and 8 as MacAlan), plus over 90 published short stories, and 6 pamphlets as well and numerous signed articles and academic papers for a wide variety of publications and many miscellaneous contributions such as the introduction to the 2004 edition of Dwelly’s Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary. His reputation as an historian began with his History of the Irish Working Class (Gollancz, 1972). As `Peter Tremayne’ he is best known for his international best-selling Sister Fidelma Mysteries, commenced in 1994, set in 7th Century Ireland and featuring a female sleuth) who solves her cases in accordance with the Brehon ancient Irish law system. His work has appeared in over 20 languages.

Works
[As Peter Berresford Ellis] Wales – A Nation Again (Library 33 Ltd, London, 1968); The Scottish Insurrection of 1820 (co-authored with Seamus Mac a’ Ghobhainn, Gollancz, London, 1970); The Problem of Language Revival (co-authored with Seamus Mac a’ Ghobhainn, Club Leabhar Ltd., 1971); History of the Irish Working Class (Gollancz, London, 1972); James Connolly: Selected Writings (intro. & editor, Penguin Books, London, 1973); The Cornish Language and its Literature (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1974); Hell or Connaught: The Cromwellian Colonisation of Ireland 1652-1660 (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1975); The Boyne Water: The Battle of the Boyne 1690 (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1976); The Great Fire of London: An Illustrated Account (New English Library, London, 1977); Caesar’s Invasion of Britain (Orbis Publishing, London, 1978); H. Rider Haggard: A Voice from the Infinite (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1978); MacBeth: High King of Scotland AD 1040-57 (Fredrick Muller, London, 1980) By Jove Biggles: The Life of Captain W.E. Johns (co-author Piers Williams, W.H. Allen, London, 1981); The Liberty Tree – A Novel (Michael Joseph, London, 1982); The Last Adventurer: The Life of Talbot Mundy 1879-1940 (Donald M. Grant, Rhode Island, USA, 1984); Celtic Inheritance (Frederick Muller, London, 1985); The Celtic Revolution: A Study in Anti-Imperialism (Y Lolfa, Talybont, Wales, 1985); The Rising of the Moon – A Novel of the Fenian Invasion of Canada (Methuen, 1987); A Dictionary of Irish Mythology (Constable, London, 1987); The Celtic Empire – The First Millenium of Celtic History (1990); A Guide to Early Celtic Remains in Britain (Constable, London, 1991); Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (Constable, London, 1992); Celt and Saxon – The Struggle for Britain AD 410-937 (Constable, 1993); The Celtic Dawn – A Historian of Pan Celticism (Constable, London, 1993); The Book of Deer (Constable, London, 1994); The Druids (Constable, London 1994); Celtic Women – Women in Celtic Society and Literature (Constable, London, 1995); Celt and Greek – Celts in the Hellenic World (Constable, London, 1997); Celt and Roman – The Celts in Italy (Constable, London, 1998); The Ancient World of the Celts (Constable, London, 1998); The Chronicles of the Celts (re-title in 2002 as The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends) (Robinson Publishing, London, 1999); Erin’s Blood Royal – The Gaelic Noble Dynasties of Ireland (Constable, London, 1999); Over the Hills and Far Away: A Hurstpierpoint Soldier in Wellington’s Army (Hurst History Study Group, 2002); Eyewitness to Irish History (John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2004).

[As Peter Tremayne] The Hound of Frankenstein (Ventura Books, London, 1977); Dracula Unborn (Bailey Bros., Folkestone, 1977); Masters of Terror 1: William Hope Hodgson (edit and intro. Corgi Books, London, 1977); The Vengeance of She (Sphere Books, London, 1978); The Revenge of Dracula (Bailey Bros., Folkestone, 1978); The Ants (Corgi Books, London, 1979); Irish Masters of Fantasy (Wolfhound Press, Dublin, 1979); The Curse of Loch Ness (Sphere Books, London, 1979); The Fires of Lan-Kern (Bailey Bros., Folkestone, 1980); Dracula, My Love (Bailey Bros., Folkestone, 1980); Zombie! (Sphere Books, London, 1981); The Return of Raffles (Methuen, London, 1981); The Morgow Rises! (Sphere Books, London, 1982); The Destroyers of Lan-Kern (Methuen, London, 1982); The Buccaneers of Lan-Kern (Methuen, London,1983); Snowbeast! (Sphere Books, London, 1983); Raven of Destiny (Methuen, London, 1984); Kiss of the Cobra (Sphere Books, London, 1984); Swamp! (Sphere Books, London, 1985); Angelus (Granada Publishing, London, 1985); Nicor! (Sphere Books, London, 1987); Trollnight (Sphere Books, London, 1987); My Lady of Hy-Brasil and Other Stories (Donald M. Grant, Rhode Island, USA, 1987); Ravenmoon (Methuen, 1988); Island of Shadows (Methuen, 1991); Aisling and other Irish Tales of Terror (Brandon Books, Ireland, 1992). An Gwels Nownek ha hwedhlow erell (The Hungry Grass and other tales) (Kesva an Tavas Kernewek - The Cornish Language Board, 1996 – a first world edition); The Un-Dead: The Legend of Bram Stoker and Dracula (co-author Peter Haining, Constable, London, 1997); An Ensuing Evil – Fourteen Historical Mystery Stories (St Martin’s Minotaur, New York, USA, 2006).

The Sister Fidelma Mysteries: Absolution By Murder (Headline, London, 1994); Shroud for the Archbishop (Headline, London, 1995); Suffer Little Children (Headline, London, 1995); The Subtle Serpent (Headline, London, 1996); The Spider’s Web (Headline, 1997); Valley of the Shadow (Headline, London, 1998); The Monk Who Vanished (Headline, London, 1999); Act of Mercy (Headline, London, 1999); Hemlock at Vespers (Headline, London, 2000); Our Lady of Darkness (Headline, London, 2000); Smoke in the Wind (Headline, London, 2001); The Haunted Abbot (Headline, London, 2002); Badger’s Moon (Headline, London, 2003); Whispers of the Dead (Headline, London, 2004); The Leper’s Bell (Headline, London, 2004); Master of Souls (Headline, London, 2005); A Prayer for the Damned (Headline, London, 2006); Dancing With Demons (Headline, London, 2007),

[As Peter MacAlan] The Judas Battalion (W.H. Allen, London, 1983); Airship (W.H. Allen, London, 1984); The Confession (W.H. Allen, London, 1985); Kitchener’s Gold (W.H. Allen, London, 1986); The Valkyrie Directive (W.H. Allen, London, 1987), The Doomsday Decree (W.H. Allen, London, 1988), Fireball (Severn House, London, 1991); The Windsor Protocol (Severn House, London, 1993).

Pamphlets (as Peter Berresford Ellis); The Creed of the Celtic Revolution (introduced by F.A. Ridley, Medusa Press, London, 1969); The Story of the Cornish Language (Tor Mark Press, Truro, Cornwall, 1971); Revision in Irish Historical Writing (Connolly Association, 1990); The Cornish Saints (Tor Mark Press, Penryn, Cornwall, 1992); Orangeism: Myth and Reality (Connolly Association, 1997);

Contributions

Signed articles, book reviews, columns, even poems by the author under his pseudonyms going back to the early 1960s, according to a bibliographer who has attempted to undertake the task, has been impossible to fully enumerate. A book review weekly column by `Berresford Ellis’ was found in the Blackheath Reporter (London) in 1965. The estimation has been over 700 signed articles as Ellis since 1967 to date as and 25 as Tremayne, not including the regular columns.

Criticism
Masters of Fantasy: Peter Tremayne, introduced by Brian Lumley (British Fantasy Society Booklet No 6, London, March, 1984).
Discovering Modern Horror Fiction ed. Darrell Schweitzer, Starmont House, New York, USA, 1988. Essay `Quietly Soaring: Peter Tremayne’ by Christina Kiplinger.
`A Chat With Peter Tremayne’ by Ian Glasper in Invasion of the Sad Man-eating Mushrooms, No 3, Spring, 1992.
`Three’s No Crowd’, Million: Magazine of Popular Fiction, September, 1992.
Peter Berresford Ellis – life and work by Richard Dalby in Book and Magazine Collector, No 108, March, 1993.
Critical entry in The Encyclopaedia of Fantasy, ed. Clarke and Grant, St Martin’s Press, New York, 1997.
`Focus Interview with Peter Berresford Ellis’ in British Association for Irish Studies Newsletter, January, 2000, No 21.
`Peter Tremayne: Sister Fidelma and the Triumph of Truth’ by Christiane W. Luehrs and Robert B. Luehrs in The Detective as Historian: History and Art in Historical Crime Fiction Bowling Green State University Popular Press, Ohio, 2000.
`The Celtic Man of Mystery’, Irish Voice, New York, November 27, 2001.
Entry in The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction ed. Michael Ashley, Carroll & Graf, New York, 2002.
Interview in Solander: The Magazine of the Historical Novel Society, London, Vol. 8 No 1, May, 2004.
`The Sister Fidelma Mysteries’ by Richard Dalby, in Book and Magazine Collector, London, October, 2004, No. 247
Entry in Supernatural Literature of the World: An Encyclopaedia, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, USA, (see Vol. III pp 1120-1121) November, 2005.
Crime Fiction, John Scaggs, Routledge, London, 2005 (pp 133-134)
`Finding Fidelma: History Within the Mystery’ Dr Michele Klingus (University of North Iowa) in The Brehon., Vol II No 2 and Vol II, No 2 (2003).
`Celtic Ireland yields a supersleuth: Golden Age Returns through the adventures of Sister Fidelma’ by Pádraig Ó Cuanachain, The Holly Bough, Cork, December, 2001.
`Sister Fidelma: A Woman for all seasons’ by Professor Edward J. Rielly (chair of English, St Joseph’s College, Maine, USA), The Brehon. Vol III, No 2, May, 2004.
`Seventh Century Whodunnits’ Books Ireland, September, 2004.
`Secret Murder in Ancient Ireland’ by W. Johns, Attorney, California, The Brehon Vol. IV, No 1, Vol I, No 2 (January and May, 2005)
`Peter Tremayne – Irish Heart’, Writing Magazine, England, October, 2005
`Nothing Hidden That Shall Not Be Known – Mystery and Detection in the Sister Fidelma Novels’, Dr John Scaggs, University of Limerick, The Brehon, Vol. IV No 3, September, 2006.
`Fidelmania’, Livres Hebdo, Paris, May 13, 2006.
`Misterios de la Antiqua Irland – Entrevista e Peter Tremayne’. La Cruz del Sur, Buenos Aires, Argentina, May, 2006.
`The Sister Fidelma Mysteries’ by Marion Verweij, Feminenza Magazine (Holland) Spring, 2006.
`The Mysterious allure of the Celtic sleuth, Sister Fidelma’, Mary Leland, Sunday Independent, Dublin, July 30, 2006.
`Fidelma the Celtic nun is on the case’, Islington Gazette, September 1,2006.
`Nonne auf Morderjagd’, Der Patriot, Germany, October 6, 2006.
`Smoke in the Wind: Historical and Cultural Links of Ireland and Wales in the 7th century’ Dr Andrew Breeze (University of Navarre, Spain) The Brehon, Vol VI, No 2.

Notes
With the global phenomenon of the Sister Fidelma Mysteries, set in 7th Century Ireland, appearing in 17 languages by 2007, an International Sister Fidelma Society was set up in January, 2001, with a thrice yearly print magazine entitled The Brehon an a website www.sisterfidelma.com. The Society was formed with the official approval of the author and is based in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. The director of the Society is Charleston businessman, David R. Wooten.

In September, 2006, the first three day international gathering of Sister Fidelma enthusiasts, Féile Fidelma 2006: Sister Fidelma’s World at Cashel, was held in Cashel, Co. Tipperary, organised by the Cashel Arts Festival Committee. A second Féile Fidelma at Cashel is schedule for September, 2008 .

The Sister Fidelma Mysteries attract a significant amount of tourism to Cashel, the main base for the stories, and in 2006 a Bruden Fidelma – Sister Fidelma Guesthouse was established in the town (website www.sisterfidelmabandb.com) where visitors could stay and maintaining a library of the books, rooms named after characters and decorated with illustrations and posters relating to the series.

`It is only in the last ten or twelve years that a recognisable body of Irish crime fiction began to develop… far from being part of this boom the Sister Fidelma stories were one of the contributing factors that set it in motion’ – Dr John Scaggs (University of Limerick’ in `The Impact of the Sister Fidelma Mysteries’, lecture delivered in Cashel, September, 2006, text on www.sisterfidelma.com.

`Tremayne’s super-sleuth is a vibrant creation, a woman of wit and courage who would be outstanding in any era, but brings a special sparkle to the wild beauty of medieval Ireland.’ - historical novelist Morgan Llewleyn.

On his supernatural horror stories:

`Tremayne has almost single handedly created a sub-genre of fantasy writing – he possess consummate skill in re-interpreting Irish folk tales and legends in a way to freeze the blood. A worthy successor to Sheridan Le Fanu and Bram Stoker.’ – Eldrtich Tales (US magazine).

`Tremayne weaves no less engrossing tales than Edgar Allen Poe.’ – Asbury Park Press, New Jersey.

`His stories have a quite and sorrowful atmosphere because his terror is a lamentation and wailing of the tortured soul… This element causes the stories to rise from `horror fiction’ to profound literature…’ Professor Marie Kai, Tokyo University, introduction to her translation of Aisling in Japanese.

`Deliberately calculated to give nightmares to anyone whose veins contain one drop of Irish blood.’ – Times Literary Supplement (London)