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SEE THE WORLD. BUILD ONE, TOO.

"Winter is coming, and when the Long Night falls, only the Night's Watch will stand between the realm and the darkness that sweeps from the North." - Ned Stark, Game of Thrones

Burning of the Clavie, a New Year fire festival in Burghead, a few miles from Findhorn.

Fire festivals, G.O.T. waterfalls, volcanic beaches, glacial caves, serpent holes, ruined castles, haunted pubs, and the ancient wonders of the world, WINTER IS HERE! is an annual writing workshop/adventure retreat founded in 2018 when Lev Grossman (The Magicians, Bright Sword) and I took a dozen students to Findhorn, a fishing village on the North Sea of Scotland, for two weeks of writing and adventuring and fire festivaling. We stayed in an 1850 seaman's mansion with window seats overlooking the water and drank seaweed ale and read work to a hundred locals in a 250-year-old bay side tavern called The Crown & Anchor. 

Reading at The Crown & Anchor (aka The Crank).

Dave Rudden (Knights of the Borrowed Dark, Sister Wake) joined the retreat on our second foray to Findhorn, which also featured World Fantasy Award winner Michael Swanwick (The Iron Dragon's Daughter). The retreat is now helmed by me and Dave and has additionally included an expedition (2020) to the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, a pandemic excursion (2022) to Iceland, a Tolkien pilgrimage (2023) to Oxford & Bath, and, most recently, Gruyeres, Switzerland, a small medieval town at the foot of the French Alps, featuring a museum dedicated to H.R. Giger (the Swiss surrealist who devised/built the Xenomorph) and a bar designed by him.

Drinks in Giger's biomechanical bar in Gruyeres.

Upcoming Winter is Here! Workshops include Shetland's Up Helly Aa (viking fire festival, Scotland) and Huacachina (desert oasis, Peru), Plus Prague, Santorini, and Marburg, Germany.

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Next up: A HAUNTING IN VENICE! Write Fantasy and Horror in the City of Masks & Water!

The Grand Canal, Venice's iconic waterway.

 Venice can be described as “haunting” just as easily as “magical.” At night, the romance factor has a tendency to darken, and it has its fair share of ghost stories. Some places, like the palace Ca Dario, have no particular tales attached to them and are simply said to be cursed. But others are rich in yarns. There's the Butcher of Santa Croce, the Drowned Man of Campiello del Remer, the Mad Doctor of Poveglia Island, and the the Painter of Casino degli Spiriti. Plus plenty more.

COST: 2,500 (includes all accommodations, ground transportation, admission fees, and many meals).

WHAT: Intimate, daily workshops, topical talks, one-on-one mentoring sessions, nightly readings of participant work, and group excursions to evocative points of interest. Plus plenty of time to socialize, write, and wander the back canals.

WITH: Internationally bestselling Irish fantasy author/Dr. Who scribe Dave Rudden and Rutgers University creative writing professor (and certified international tour guide) Alex Dawson. Plus retreat/workshop deputies Julian Lance & Nikki Weaver.

READ: Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino; Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke; The Haunted Hotel, Wilkie Collins; Death in Venice, Thomas Mann, Hallowe'en Party, Agatha Christie; Dylan Dog, Tiziano Sclavi; Corto Maltese, Hugo Pratt; The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco.  

WATCH: Don't Look Now, Comfort of Strangers, Casino Royale, Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade, A Haunting in Venice, Cemetery Man.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade used Venice as the backdrop for many scenes.

Click HERE for a short video detailing Venice's Last Crusade shooting locations.