Evan's Land is Coming True

 

There is currently no free online text copy of the flawed masterpiece of my debut novel Evan's Land. It was originally published as a book by The Aldyth Press in 2002 and I never went for a second print run. By then I was well on to my second novel Rockall. This was in the days before print-on-demand; it was necessary to invest hundreds or thousands of pounds before a single sale to produce a certain number of copies in advance. Today you can still enjoy a free audio book and I hope to give you a free text copy at some point. Evan's Land is an epic hero's journey set in a strange futuristic vision of Wales that has some elements of an alternative present. It tells the story about how the country descends into civil war after an ultranationalist regime seizes control of part of the country. The revolt leader, a man called Owen Clun-Jones, calls his territory "Free Wales" and sets about to eliminate the English language from it totally. Children born under his dominions are given "monoglot status credentials", proof that they are unable to speak English. Such youths have privilege over others and considered more worthy citizens. As an outsider says at one point: "I thought knowledge was the key to success, here it is ignorance." Owen Clun-Jones also abolishes all the English place names. This is why I was alarmed enough to write two articles when I saw this happening for real, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2024/10/cvd-is-ruining-wales.html and: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2024/10/dont-call-it-wales.html. Now it has been announced that Wales' tallest mountain, and taller than any British mountain outside Scotland, is going to lose its English name. Snowden will henceforth only be called Yr Wyddfa and Snowdonia will be officially referred to nothing but Eryri. This scheme has been running for two years and has been considered "a success". The only concern is the minor obstacle of explaining to foreigners how to pronounce the names. Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpvz1k23zlwo. The news article about this does not even address the subtext of what the authorities are saying; that Welsh people who do not speak Welsh are now to be considered foreigners also. I do wonder how many of those who have learned Welsh as a second language in recent years have done so because they can't bear this acidic rejection. Nations who practice this kind of Cultural Revolution will suffer a backlash. Some people will refuse to learn Welsh as a protest. The idea that only Welsh-speakers are really Welsh is historically and culturally illiterate, but facts can't be allowed to obstruct an Orwellian rampage. When I wrote Evan's Land in the late '90's I had not read 1984, but I swear I must have channelled it. Maybe Anthony Peake is right and I read it in a past life, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2023/02/anthony-peake-book-launch.html.
See here the Evan's Land audio book: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2021/02/evans-land-audio-book.html.
See here for Rockall: https://hpanwo-bb.blogspot.com/2009/02/rockall-chapter-1.html.