Reviewed By: Robyn Brinkley
The Book of Lost Tales
http:/www.geocities.com/Soho/Cafe/1614/Lostales.htm
The Book of Lost Tales Website is a personal site created by a 25 year old Brazilian college student, Americo Cardoso dos Santos Neto. The contents of his interesting and well fashioned, however in no way scholarly, site solely reflect the author's eclectric tastes in Music, Storytelling, Celtic lore, Wicca and Fantasy. The Music section is divided into three chapters. The Introduction gives a comprehensive look at Celtic music and its instruments. The second chapter covers Folk and Popular Music, which is confined to ten of his favorite artists. Chapter Three looks at five different classical composers. The articles within these chapters are penned by different people, some given credit, others not. The Storytelling portion of the site begins with an Introduction to Storytelling credited to Aline G. Chan from the Leader, Dec. 1987. It gives a brief history of the art of storytelling and gives tips on how to be a good teller. The rest of the area is devoted to information about English and European Tales, including chapters on Authurian Tales and Tolkien. The quality of writing among these "articles" is very diverse, some well written, others not. Celtic Lore and Wicca gives a brief history and look at ancient Celtic folklore and examines the pagan religion called Wicca. The whole chapter on Wicca seems to be lifted from another website that is in no way credited. Portions of the Wicca text informs the reader on how to be a witch, with step by step instructions. Fantasy makes up the last section of the site and covers a myriad of topics from unicorns and dragons to a treatise on Medieval weapons, complete with illustrations. This website should be taken for what it is; a compilation of articles or excerpts from books that the owner found interesting. Most are not credited. There is no reference page or bibliography to track down any of the works. The site shows no signs of updating and the latest date is 1998. Two e-mail addresses are available, one is the creator's and the other is unknown. It is light reading (some good, some awful)in a well-designed website, with lots of artwork and music.
Reviewed By: Teresa McMurray
The Book of the Lost Tales is a charming and informative personal web site. Excluding the Home Page, the site is divided into four main sections: Music, Storytelling, Celts & Wicca, and Fantasy. Music and Storytelling is the primary focus of this review, however, it should be noted that Fantasy and Celts & Wicca also contain information pertinent to storytelling. On the Home Page, you are greeted with classical music and lovely artwork in the Celtic tradition. The Music Page has several different links, including Classical Music and Folk & Popular Music. The Folk & Popular Music Page lists ten artists. Clicking on the Celtic knot in front of the artists’ name will bring up their history and information concerning musical contributions. Artists profiled are: Jethro Tull, Renaissance, Dead Can Dance, Steeleye Span, Joan Baez, Cocteau Twins, Clannad, Pentangle, Loreena McKennitt, and Marco A. Araujo. Frequently, the articles and information are attributed to authors other than Americo C. Santos, owner of the site. There are sections of information, however, that do not list an author. The information is factual and includes pictures of the artists, but does not include musical samples. The Storytelling Page is divided into seven chapters. Each chapter, except Chapter I – Introduction, discusses a particular type of story. The chapters are as follows: The Celtic Bards, Northern Folk Tales, The Silkie Folk, Luthien & Beren, Tolkien, and Arthurian Tales. The information is well written, factual and accompanied by brilliant artwork, but authorship of the materials is not made clear. There are links available to other web sites. The owner of this site is Americo Cardoso dos Santos Neto, a graduate of “the college of Fine Arts”. He is a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil and can be contacted via email, which is prominently displayed throughout the site. No dates for revisions or updates are given on the site. While clearly not an academic site- just a compilation of the owners “passions and interests”-, it does inform and entertain.
Reviewed By: Deanna Wallace
The Book of the Lost Tales This site, with its beautiful pictures and music, is divided into four sections. The first of these sections is titled “Music.” There is an introduction to this part of the website that explains the correlation between the Celts and their music. There is an extensive list of the musical instruments of the Celts with detailed descriptions of each instrument. In addition, there is information on the bards (poets), minstrels, and troubadours in Celtic cultures. There are two more parts to this page, a link to folk and popular musicians (including information about Joan Baez!) influenced by Celtic music, and a link to classical musicians also influenced by this music. A second section of the website deals with storytelling. An introduction discusses the “Art of the Storyteller.” Here you will find tips and hints for choosing and telling a story. Six additional links provide information about different types of tales such as Celtic, Arthurian, etc. The third section is titled “Celts and Wicca.” There is extensive information about the culture, values, and daily lives of these people including information about art, poetry, holidays, folklore, and the Wicca religion. The fourth and last section of the site is titled “Fantasy.” There are links here on such topics as role-playing, literature, dragons, fairies, unicorns, etc. This website is very well organized. There are mounds of information on a large variety of topics regarding the Celts. Beautiful color graphics and Old World lettering make this very aesthetically pleasing, as well. In addition to being pleasing to the eye, a variety of old Celtic tunes play with different links. This would be a great site for anyone conducting research on the Celtic culture or for anyone just interested in this topic.