The Author’s Kingdom is a series of articles, where the Author explains his perception of Heirs to the Kingdom. It is written to cover the festive season of Christmas 2016.

Closing the Circle

Today we sit on the edge of Christmas, and the end of another bi annual event for Heirs to the Kingdom.

This year has been a special experience, as I have shared a great many things with those of you who read my work, and from my point of view, it has been a wonderful and also inspiring time. I have looked back over the last thirty years of my own life, and brought back the memories of all those little moments that came together in a wonderful jigsaw, and created the Woodland Realm.

Heirs to the Kingdom has been a joy, if not at times a little pressured to create and write. This last month has indeed shown me something of myself that I do at times take for granted, and that is how I have sat alone here at my desk, and painstakingly created a work of great love. For to me it is, and I have thoroughly enjoyed doing it. As you know I have always stated I was reluctant to publish, it is true, I am very introverted at times and it was actually a very terrifying thing for me to do at the start. This last month of writing, has brought to mind all those little moments that reminded me of the loyalty and dedication of the small group who are the Heirs to the Kingdom fans. I remembered all those moments where I turned to wife whilst writing something and commented things such as, “Julie will hate me for writing this.” Or “Ian is going to love this bit.” And so on, but it does thrill me that this is being shared today with people who have gained a great amount of pleasure from it.

Heirs to the Kingdom is not a best seller, I doubt it ever will be, writing in today’s environment is hard, as over three million books a year are published, and the amount of people reading has fallen dramatically each year, I have to confess that it is something I do not quite understand, books have brought me so much pleasure in my life, and I am now reminded of a comment made on a radio interview I did David Grey, back in 2011.

I had commented on my love of mythology and how I was inspired by those tales, and decided to write a tale of my own based on something that inspired me as a young boy. He commented on how important it is that the line of storytellers is not broken, and how one day having done my bit, it may inspire another person to write, a so called passing of the baton as it were. That comment has always stayed with me, and I think it is the best way to consider the modern writer. Book purchases have fallen globally for many years as the market becomes more and more saturated, but one day, we may see a revival, and when that happens, new writers will take up the baton and continue onward. In many ways this is how I also see Heirs to the Kingdom, the heroes of yesteryear fell and in my story, the new heroes arose to lift up the baton and take the struggle forward into a new age. It is dare I say it, the way of the circle of life?

“2017 will see the final book of the series, but I will continue to add more to the websites and blogs, as I am quite sure I will not end completely, but I do want to walk with new characters, and even if only for a while, I shall let the Woodland Realm rest and develop alone. I will obviously continue to promote this tale, as I would like to increase the readership a little more, and as I write new material for other projects and work alongside new authors as I do in VCP, I will consider this work of the lives of my green loving dwellers back on the farm at Loxley, and look to see if it honestly can be expanded at some future point.

As the new year of 2017 begins, I have a lot of work to do, I have a stack of notes as usual, and I will be continuing to work on the last book. I would love to give a date for which it will be released, but alas the pressure to make this a bigger, faster more exciting book than all the other is phenomenal, and so I am going to take it page by page until it is complete. I will say that this month of looking back has inspired several new twists that I would love to include into the stack of notes I already have, and for now I will say that “The Ravens of Berengar” for that is the title I am set upon,  will take you back into the distant past, and open up a picture of how the darkness that has shrouded this story began. I am finally going to show you the entire history of the Dark One, which is a very interesting tale, and something I have already given you hints and clues about in the blog series I have presented you with this month. The story like all things has to go full circle, and so I shall start at the very beginning of that dark and suspicious circle, and bring right around it to the point we are at, and then the circle will finally close as the book reaches the final page.

It will be an adventure worth the wait, well I am hoping so. (Smiles) You will walk under the veil of darkness into a place of deep vile secrets, and you will also walk into the land of Florae and finally see how the Fae of Earth live, which will be two new realms you have not entered before. This is going to be a tough time for all sides, and I am sure you will be as excited to read it as I am to write it.

May you all have a wonderful season of festivities no matter what your faith or belief? May it be safe and peaceful, and may the cheer of the season bless you until we walk on a green path edged with flowers in the coming New Year.

Many thanks to all of you for your loyal support, it does mean everything.

My parting gift this season, is the only picture of this series, as I have deliberately kept these posts free of artwork, so for the time being I shall leave you now to consider the family tree of a certain group of well know Ravens.

May peace be with you all. RJM.

Click on the image to enlarge and then hit the return button to come back to the blog.

Family tree depicting the House of Berengar from the books Heirs to the Kingdom by Robin John Morgan.