Ellis, Peter Berresford 1943–

(Peter MacAlan, Peter Tremayne)

PERSONAL: Born March 10, 1943, in Coventry, Warwickshire, England; son of Alan J. (a journalist) and Eva Daisy (Randell) Ellis; married Dorothea P. Cheesmur, September, 1966. Education: Studied at Brighton College of Art and University of East London; earned B.A. (with first-class honors) and M.A. Politics: Socialist. Religion: "Humanity."

ADDRESSES: Agent—A.M. Heath and Co. Ltd., 6 Warwick Court, Holborn, London WC1R 5DJ, England.

CAREER: Brighton Herald (weekly newspaper), Brighton, England, junior reporter, 1960–62; held various jobs, including reporter, bus conductor, rifle range attendant, and dishwasher; assistant editor of publishing trade weeklies; Irish Post, deputy editor, 1970; Newsagent & Bookshop, editor, 1974–75; full-time writer, 1975–. Scrif-Celt (Celtic languages book fair), chairperson, 1985 and 1986.

MEMBER: Royal Historical Society (fellow), Celtic League (chairperson of publicity committee, 1969–70; member of committee of the London branch, 1981–; international chairperson, 1988–90), Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (fellow), Scottish 1820 Society (honorary life president), Irish Brigades Association of the United States of America (member of advisory council, 1991–94), Irish Literary Society (honorary life member, 2000–), Society of Authors, Crime Writers' Association, London Association for Celtic Education (honorary life member; chairperson, 1989–90; vice president, 1990–96).

AWARDS, HONORS: Inaugurated Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd, 1987; Irish Post award, 1988.

WRITINGS:

Wales—A Nation Again!: The Nationalist Struggle for Freedom, Library 33 Ltd. (London, England), 1968.

The Creed of the Celtic Revolution, Medusa (London, England), 1969.

(With Seumas Mac a'Ghobhainn) The Scottish Insurrection of 1820, Gollancz (London, England), 1970.

(With Seumas Mac a'Ghobhainn) The Problem of Language Revival, Club Leabhar (Inverness, Scotland), 1971.

A History of the Irish Working Class, Gollancz (London, England), 1972, Braziller (New York, NY), 1973.

(Editor and author of introduction) James Connolly: Selected Writings, Penguin (London, England), 1973, Monthly Review Press (New York, NY), 1974.

The Cornish Language and Its Lityerature, Routledge & Kegan Paul (Boston, MA), 1974, 3rd edition published as The Story of the Cornish Language, Tor Mark (Redruth, Cornwall, England), 1998.

Hell or Connaught!: The Cromwellian Colonisation of Ireland, 1652–1660, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1975.

The Boyne Water: The Battle of the Boyne, 1690, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1976.

The Great Fire of London: An Illustrated Account, New English Library (London, England), 1976.

Caesar's Invasion of Britain, Orbis (London, England), 1978, New York University Press (New York, NY), 1980.

A Voice from the Infinite: The Life of Sir Henry Rider Haggard, 1856–1925, Routledge & Kegan Paul (London, England), 1978.

MacBeth: High King of Scotland, 1040–57 A.D., Orbis (London, England), 1979, Barnes & Noble (Totowa, NJ), 1993.

(With Piers Williams) By Jove, Biggles!: The Life of Captain W.E. Johns, W.H. Allen (Portland, OR), 1981, published as Biggles!: The Life of Captain W.E. Johns, with Jennifer Scholfield, Veloce Publishing (Godmanstone, England), 1993.

The Liberty Tree (novel), M. Joseph (London, England), 1982.

The Last Adventurer: The Life of Talbot Mundy, 1879–1940, Donald Grant (West Kingston, RI), 1984.

Celtic Inheritance, Muller (London, England), 1985, illustrated by Gabriel Sempill, Dorset Press (New York, NY), 1992.

The Celtic Revolution: A Study in Anti-Imperialism, Y Lolfa (Talybont, Ceredigion, Wales), 1985.

The Rising of the Moon: A Novel of the Fenian Invasion of Canada, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1987.

A Dictionary of Irish Mythology, Constable (London, England), 1987, American Bibliographical Center-Clio Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1989.

The Celtic Empire: The First Millennium of Celtic History, c. 1000 B.C.–51 A.D., Carolina Academic Press (Durham, NC), 1990.

A Guide to Early Celtic Remains in Britain, Constable (London, England), 1991.

A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, American Bibliographical Center-Clio Press (New York, NY), 1992.

Celt and Saxon: The Struggle for Britain, A.D. 410–937, Constable (London, England), 1993.

(Editor and compiler) Beeston Castle, Cheshire: A Report on the Excavations, 1968–85, by Laurence Keen and Peter Hough, English Heritage (London, England), 1993.

The Celtic Dawn: A History of Pan Celticism, Constable (London, England), 1993, published as Celtic Dawn: The Dream of Celtic Unity, Y Lolfa (Talybont, Ceredigion, Wales), 2002.

(With Roy Ellsworth) The Book of Deer ("Library of Celtic Illuminated Manuscripts" series), illustrated by Roy Ellsworth, Constable (London, England), 1994.

The Druids, Constable (London, England), 1994, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1995, published as A Brief History of the Druids, Robinson (London, England), 2002.

Celtic Women: Women in Celtic Society and Literature, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1996.

Celt and Greek: Celts in the Hellenic World, Constable (London, England), 1997.

Celt and Roman: The Celts of Italy, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1998.

The Ancient World of the Celts, Constable (London, England), 1998, published as Eyewitness to Irish History, John Wiley & Sons (Hoboken, NJ), 2004, revised paperback edition published as A Brief History of the Celts, Robinson (London, England), 2003, and as The Celts: A History, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2004.

The Chronicles of the Celts: New Tellings of Their Myths and Legends, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 1999, published as The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends, Robinson (London, England), 2002.

Erin's Blood Royal: The Gaelic Noble Dynasties of Ireland, Constable (London, England), 1999, Palgrave (New York, NY), 2001.

Also author of six pamphlets on Celtic history and linguistics. Author of "Anonn Is Anall" (title means "Here and There"), a monthly column in Irish Democrat, 1987–, and "Anois Agus Arís" (title means "Now and Then"), a fortnightly column in Irish Post, 2000–. Contributor to newspapers, periodicals, and academic journals.

UNDER PSEUDONYM PETER TREMAYNE

The Hound of Frankenstein, Ventura Books (London, England), 1977.

Dracula Unborn, Bailey Brothers & Swinfen (Folkstone, England), 1977, published as Bloodright: A Memoir of Mircea, Son of Vlad Tepes of Wallachia, Also Known as Dracula, Walker and Co. (New York, NY), 1979.

(Editor and author of introduction) Masters of Terror: William Hope Hodgson, Volume 1, Corgi Books (London, England), 1977.

The Vengeance of She, Sphere Books (London, England), 1978.

The Fires of Lan-Kern, Bailey Brothers & Swinfen (Folkstone, England), 1978, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1980.

The Revenge of Dracula, Bailey Brothers & Swinfen (Folkstone, England), 1978, Walker and Co. (New York, NY), 1979.

The Ants, Sphere Books (London, England), 1979, Signet (New York, NY), 1980.

The Curse of Loch Ness, Sphere Books (London, England), 1979.

(Editor) Irish Masters of Fantasy, illustrated by Jeanette Dunne, Wolfhound Press (Dublin, Ireland), 1979, published as The Wondersmith and Other Tales, 1988.

Dracula, My Love, Bailey Brothers & Swinfen (Folkstone, England), 1980, Dell (New York, NY), 1983.

Zombie!, Sphere Books (London, England), 1981, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1987.

The Return of Raffles, Magnum Books (London, England), 1981.

The Morgow Rises!, Sphere Books (London, England), 1982.

The Destroyers of Lan-Kern, Methuen (London, England), 1982.

The Buccaneers of Lan-Kern, Methuen (London, England), 1983.

Snowbeast!, Sphere Books (London, England), 1983.

Raven of Destiny, Methuen (London, England), 1984, Signet (New York, NY), 1986.

Kiss of the Cobra, Sphere Books (London, England), 1984.

Swamp!, Sphere Books (London, England), 1985, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1989.

Angelus!, Granada Publishing (London, England), 1985.

My Lady of Hy-Brasil and Other Stories, Donald Grant (West Kingston, RI), 1987.

Nicor!, Sphere Books (London, England), 1987.

Trollnight!, Sphere Books (London, England), 1987.

Ravenmoon, Methuen (London, England), 1988, published as Bloodmist, Baen Books (New York, NY), 1988.

Island of Shadows, Methuen (London, England), 1991.

Aisling and Other Irish Tales of Terror, Brandon Books (Dingle, Ireland), 1992.

Dracula Lives! (omnibus edition of the "Dracula Trilogy"), Signet (London, England), 1993.

(With Peter Haining) The Un-Dead: The Legend of Bram Stoker and Dracula, Constable (London, England), 1997.

Contributor, under pseudonym Peter Tremayne, of more than seventy short stories to magazines and anthologies in England and the United States, including Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Great Irish Detective Stories. Ellis's works under pseudonym Peter Tremayne have been translated into more than twelve European languages and into Japanese.

"SISTER FIDELMA" SERIES OF MYSTERY NOVELS; UNDER PSEUDONYM PETER TREMAYNE

Absolution by Murder: A Sister Fidelma Mystery, Headline (London, England), 1994, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1996.

Shroud for the Archbishop: A Sister Fidelma Mystery, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1995.

Suffer Little Children: A Sister Fidelma Mystery, Headline (London, England), 1995, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1997.

The Subtle Serpent: A Sister Fidelma Mystery, Headline (London, England), 1996, published as The Subtle Serpent: A Celtic Mystery, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1998.

The Spider's Web: A Sister Fidelma Mystery, Headline (London, England), 1997, published as The Spider's Web: A Celtic Mystery, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1999.

Valley of the Shadow: A Sister Fidelma Mystery, Headline (London, England), 1998, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2000.

The Monk Who Vanished: A Celtic Mystery, Headline (London, England), 1999, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2001.

Act of Mercy: A Celtic Mystery, Headline (London, England), 1999, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2001.

Our Lady of Darkness: A Novel of Ancient Ireland, Headline (London, England), 2000, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2002.

Hemlock at Vespers: Fifteen Sister Fidelma Mysteries, St. Martin's Griffin (New York, NY), 2000.

Smoke in the Wind, Headline (London, England), 2001, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2003.

The Haunted Abbot, Headline (London, England), 2002, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2004.

Badger's Moon, Headline (London, England), 2003, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2005.

Whispers of the Dead: Fifteen Sister Fidelma Mysteries, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2004.

The Leper's Bell: A Novel of Ancient Ireland, Headline (London, England), 2004, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2006.

Master of Souls, Headline (London, England), 2006.

A Prayer for the Damned, Headline (London, England), 2006.

An Ensuing Evil and Others: Fourteen Historical Mystery Stories, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2006.

UNDER PSEUDONYM PETER MACALAN

The Judas Battalion, W.H. Allen (London, England), 1983.

Airship, W.H. Allen (London, England), 1984.

The Confession, W.H. Allen (London, England), 1985.

Kitchener's Gold, W.H. Allen (London, England), 1986.

The Valkyrie Directive, W.H. Allen (London, England), 1987.

The Doomsday Decree, W.H. Allen (London, England), 1988.

Fireball, Severn House (London, England), 1991.

The Windsor Protocol, Severn House (London, England), 1993.

SIDELIGHTS: An authority on Celtic history, Peter Berresford Ellis has written extensively on the history and folklore of these ancient people. Under the pen name of Peter Tremayne, he has also brought to life the world of seventh-century Ireland in a series of mystery novels featuring the character Sister Fidelma. These novels reveal a world in which women are treated with respect and equality. Highly educated and an expert in the complex legal and religious codes of the Celtic culture, Sister Fidelma uses her talents to solve brutal crimes throughout the length and breadth of her native land. She is an elite member of this society, being the sister of one Celtic king and the daughter of another. She is also a highly intelligent person who is knowledgeable of the legal system used by the Brehon courts. The character of Sister Fidelma is confident to the point of being domineering at times; however, she is portrayed by Ellis as a compassionate crime investigator who strives to see justice done.

In the debut mystery in the series, Absolution by Murder: A Sister Fidelma Mystery, readers are also introduced to Brother Eadulf, a Saxon monk who has many ideological differences with Fidelma but soon becomes a loyal partner in her investigations. As a Publishers Weekly contributor noted about this first book, Ellis describes this time in Irish history as a "golden age" of gender equality, learning, and enlightenment. The critic found the murder mystery "intriguing" but felt the story is weighed down by the inclusion of more historical detail "than can be absorbed." In reviews of other books in the series, some critics have had issues with Ellis's characterization, finding some of the secondary characters to be stereotypes and Fidelma herself to be a difficult person to like. For instance, a Publishers Weekly reviewer commented that in The Monk Who Vanished: A Celtic Mystery, "Fidelma remains cloaked in the heavy mantle of her many virtues [and she] never comes fully alive." Faith J. Cormier, writing online about Absolution by Murder for Green Man Review, stated, "I'm not sure I like Sister Fidelma…. She's an arrogant young woman."

More commonly, critics of the "Sister Fidelma" mysteries have found them to be intellectually stimulating and enjoyable reads. For example, Margaret Flanagan wrote in her Booklist review of The Monk Who Vanished that Ellis has created "a superior brand of medieval mystery," and in a review of The Haunted Abbot in the same periodical, Flanagan pointed to the "meticulous attention to historical detail in this intelligent and artfully crafted whodunit." Critiquing Smoke in the Wind on AllReaders.com, Harriet Klausner concluded that the author "makes the culture of that period come alive in the mind's eye and snares the interest of the reader from the outset."

Ellis has been active in Celtic cultural and political circles for many years. He has argued for the reunification of Ireland and for the reestablishment of Scottish and Welsh Parliaments, the latter of which occurred in 1999. He once remarked to CA that he sees "the success of the peace process and eventual reunification of Ireland as the most urgent and pressing problem fac-ing the Irish and British peoples." Reviewers of Ellis's nonfiction work on the Celtic peoples have noted that the author's love of Ireland and the Celtic past has sometimes led to his depicting the Celtic world in overly idealistic terms. For example, in his Celtic Women: Women in Celtic Society and Literature, Ellis discusses the equality women enjoyed in Celtic society—something also evident in his Sister Fidelma mysteries. However, Lisa M. Bitel remarked in a Historian review that Celtic Women "is a pseudo-scholarly work designed to illustrate a romantic, pseudo-political principle that Celtic civilization, with all its pro-feminist sentiments and liberal sexuality, was 'bludgeoned' to death by Roman culture, Roman Christianity, and the spare Anglo-Saxon, Frank, and Norman." Charles Freeman's History Today review of Ellis's Celt and Roman: The Celts of Italy questions the author's claims that the Celts' sacking of Rome in 396 B.C.E. was a devastating event from which the Romans took decades to recover. Freeman stated that the "sack" of Rome would better be described as a "raid" that was not nearly as detrimental as Ellis claims.

Despite such occasional evidence of Ellis' favorable prejudices toward the Celts, many of his books about them have been widely praised as valuable contributions to the understanding of these people who, after the Greeks and Romans, represent the oldest culture in Europe. Ellis has written on many aspects of Celtic culture, ranging from straightforward reference works to detailed social histories. One such work is A Dictionary of Irish Mythology, which RQ contributor Daniel P. O'Mahony appreciated for its "concise and knowledgeable" entries. "No other reference work," the critic concluded, "seems to attempt to do what Ellis" does: present to the lay English reader a window to one of Europe's oldest mythologies in dictionary format." In work The Chronicles of the Celts: New Tellings of Their Myths and Legends, Ellis provides a thorough description of Celtic stories, many of which still survive and are familiar today, such as the tale of Tristan and Iseult and stories of King Arthur. A Publishers Weekly contributor described the book as a "vivid collection." Library Journal contributor Katherine Kaigler-Koenig remarked that "the legends have not been dumbed down … but are nonetheless more readable than many other versions."

Even the Ellis books on the Celtic past that have received some negative feedback have garnered their share of praise. In a review of Celt and Roman by Charles D. Hamilton in History: Review of New Books, for instance, the reviewer explained that it is a useful book for providing readers with the Celtic version of a history that has typically been viewed through the eyes of Roman historians' writings. Hamilton wrote, "Celt and Roman focuses attention on the important interaction of these two peoples in a period and a region that seem not to have been the object of a book-length study before, and it succeeds in causing the reader to pause before accepting the traditional, that is the Roman, depiction and interpretation of events."

Ellis once told CA: "When I was a young journalist, I had the temerity to ask the British poet-laureate C. Day Lewis why he wrote his detective fiction under the pseudonym Nicholas Blake. He replied: 'Because a poet can't write detective fiction.' Only later did I realize what he really meant by his enigmatic response. If you have eclectic tastes, publishers feel uncomfortable with you. You are merely a brand name for the public. X only writes thrillers; Y only writes historical novels and so forth. God forbid that X should also write historical novels. How can the publishers 'market' him? That is why I have been writing under three different names. Yet I am still the same person."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 15, 1996, Patricia Monaghan, review of Celtic Women: Women in Celtic Society and Literature, p. 1223; July, 1998, Margaret Flanagan, review of The Subtle Serpent: A Sister Fidelma Mystery, p. 1866; September 15, 1998, Patricia Monaghan, review of Celt and Roman: The Celts of Italy, p. 188; June 1, 1999, Margaret Flanagan, review of The Spider's Web: A Sister Fidelma Mystery, p. 1801; March 15, 2000, Margaret Flanagan, review of Hemlock at Vespers: Fifteen Sister Fidelma Mysteries, p. 1333; January 1, 2001, Margaret Flanagan, review of The Monk Who Vanished: A Celtic Mystery, p. 927; November 15, 2001, Margaret Flanagan, review of Act of Mercy: A Celtic Mystery, p. 558; September 15, 2002, Margaret Flanagan, review of Our Lady of Darkness: A Novel of Ancient Ireland, p. 211; July, 2003, Margaret Flanagan, review of Smoke in the Wind, p. 1872; May 1, 2004, Margaret Flanagan, review of The Haunted Abbot, p. 1525; January 1, 2005, Margaret Flanagan, review of Badger's Moon, p. 829.

Canadian Journal of History, December, 2000, James Allan Evans, review of Celt and Roman, p. 521.

Historian, winter, 1998, Lisa M. Bitel, review of Celtic Women, p. 427, review of The Druids, p. 436.

History: Review of New Books, spring, 1999, Charles D. Hamilton, review of Celt and Roman, p. 134.

History Today, September, 1998, Charles Freeman, review of Celt and Roman, p. 61.

Journal of Women's History, summer, 1999, Katharine W. Swett, review of Celtic Women, p. 224.

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2001, review of Act of Mercy, p. 1458; January 15, 2002, review of Erin's Blood Royal: The Gaelic Noble Dynasties of Ireland, p. 84; August 1, 2002, review of Our Lady of Darkness, p. 1083; May 15, 2003, review of Smoke in the Wind, p. 721.

Library Journal, September 1, 1998, Bennett D. Hill, review of Celt and Roman, p. 196; May 1, 1999, Darryl Dean James, review of The Subtle Serpent, p. 140; February 1, 2000, Rex E. Klett, review of Valley of the Shadow: A Sister Fidelma Mystery, p. 121; February 15, 2002, Charlie Cowling, review of Erin's Blood Royal, p. 159; January, 2003, Katherine Kaigler-Koenig, review of The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends, p. 125.

Publishers Weekly, November 27, 1995, review of Absolution by Murder: A Sister Fidelma Mystery, p. 55; March 29, 1999, review of The Chronicles of the Celts: New Tellings of Their Myths and Legends, p. 83; May 24, 1999, review of The Spider's Web, p. 70; February 28, 2000, review of Valley of the Shadow, p. 65; November 20, 2000, review of The Monk Who Vanished, p. 49; October 22, 2001, review of Act of Mercy, p. 52; March 11, 2002, review of Erin's Blood Royal, p. 67; February 21, 2005, review of Badger's Moon, p. 161.

RQ, spring, 1990, Daniel P. O'Mahony, review of A Dictionary of Irish Mythology, p. 438.

ONLINE

AllReaders.com, http://www.allreaders.com/ (December 8, 2005), Chuck Nugent, reviews of The Rising of the Moon: A Novel of the Fenian Invasion of Canada and Suffer Little Children: A Sister Fidelma Mystery; Harriet Klausner, reviews of Smoke in the Wind, Badger's Moon, Act of Mercy, and The Haunted Abbot.

Green Man Review, http://www.greenmanreview.com/ (December 8, 2005), Faith J. Cormier, reviews of Smoke in the Wind and Absolution by Murder.

International Sister Fidelma Society Web site, http://www.sisterfidelma.com/ (December 8, 2005).