The Women of the Kingdom.

Silhouette Image by Mohamed Hassan, with additional background added by this blog. Images royalty free.
Archer at Sunset

Now the series of Heirs to the Kingdom has come to an end, and whilst I am looking at other projects, I have taken a little time to sit back and reflect on what is now a full body of work.

Heirs to the Kingdom has many messages within the pages, be them about justice, the environment, betrayal or loyalty, but one message that I wanted to be loud and clear, also reflects an aspect of my own life, especially in the role of management or business owner, and that is, I believe in complete equality for all.

In recent years I have seen messages certainly around the book world, and in film that there really isn’t enough female hero’s, and at times I have sat back and gasped with disbelief, history is packed them, Boudicea and Joan of Arc come straight to mind, as does Wonder Woman, who has seen a huge revival on the silver screen in recent times. I cannot think of a better example of a female hero than Wonder Woman, the bi-sexual, whip and sword bearing shield maiden who fights for justice, she has it all, and even as a boy I was a huge fan of Linda Carter, who was the Wonder Woman of my 1970’s youth. Literature is littered with rebellious strong women, and yet they appear ignored, Pippi Longstocking the free spirited teenager, Jo out of Little Women, and not forgetting Elizabeth Bennet out of Pride and Prejudice, as some of the strongest female character’s I have read, and I would say for women they should be inspiring figures.

When it came to Heirs to the Kingdom, I wanted similar characters. Yes the book is an action and adventure story laced with magic and mythology, and there was always going to be fights and brawls, but when I first set out to write the books, I looked seriously at the situation created by the Red Death, and to me it made perfect sense that not just the males, but the females would out of a survival instinct, fight to protect what little they had. Today I know my wife is as capable as me if it came to a survival situation, she has been by my side throughout most of HTTK, and yes we have made our own arrows, and taught the kids how to filter water and start a fire with wet wood, everything in the books has been looked at and examined, and if I simply did not know, together we tried it to document the process for the writing. I will add at this point that the sexual reference to barbeque tools in book seven, is very specific to Jett Amber only, we have no knowledge of such things, although my wife has had green hair, which happened once as an accident, and she did do it once on purpose.

Heirs to the Kingdom whilst a fantasy, had to reflect real life in my mind, and so I started by creating females who would enter the books as the very ideal of what is the stereotyped female, especially in the case of Runestone. Rune is a few bits of several people I have known in my life, her long red hair and sapphire blue eyes, are from one person, her temperament comes from another, and her slender frame and kick ass abilities, came from yet another female from my life. I grew up in the 1970’s around hippie culture which morphed into rock culture, and I was surrounded by friends like Runestone, Jade and Jett. It was my intention to show Runestone as would be expected of a young innocent girl, and then I began her transformation from girl in the clothes shop, to kick ass powerhouse side kick to a warrior lord, her evolution through the series has been a real pleasure to write, and for any young girl reading HTTK, I hope it shows them, that the stereotyped world is not their only choice in life.

The hippie community was filled with slender elegantly dressed, and certainly very feminine women, and it was from these people I referenced a selection of characters, the biker/rocker community gave me a sample of strong capable women, and it was from combining the two that I came up with a basic idea of how the females within the books would be shaped. For myself Runestones ability to lift a sword and fight besides her husband is a natural thing, I have seen women who are more than capable outshine the men in real life. The broad South Wales speaking, at times flaky, yet highly aggressive Jett Amber, is actually quite a normal persona from my past, and I actually think I live with Jade, as my wife is much happier in oversized hoodies, my shirts and her heavy boots. All of these people who shaped my story entered my life in a very feminine manner, and as I grew to know them and they became good friends, I began to see all their wonderful additional qualities, and to be honest there was no debate back then of treating them differently, as they were naturally seen and treated as equals. I think in many ways today the battle of the genders has become so fraught, we fail to see how alike we can all be at times, and that is a main point of HTTK.

This a post-apocalyptic story, a dystopian tale, and in a situation where the uncertainty of death hangs over you. I would say all the fights and squabbles over gender would be brushed aside, as everyone pitched in to help overcome the trials of the changes to life. It is a shame that we have such great stories literally within arm’s reach, and yet it feels at times like the world is stuck in this fight for rights and power, when if such an incident happened in the real world today, everyone would see that given the situation, all of us are capable of simply getting stuck in and doing what was necessary to survive.

The biggest change I have seen is my life is the eroding of acceptance. Growing up in hippie/rock culture, I saw a different way of living, which was based more in nature and less in the world of money and stone, it shows in my writing. Today we have moved away from simply being ourselves and accepting everyone around us for whom they are, this media driven world has become critical and is all about shaming others, and I find it very sad. I would like to think that HTTK whilst a wonderful vehicle for escapism, also can show a more natural way for all of us to live together, which is the whole principle behind Robbie’s Mere as the base of the Specialist’s. I really love the fact that there are alpha males and alpha females’ side by side, who get along and serve the community.

Human nature I feel is naturally accepting with an open mind, there will always be love and romance, sexual frustrations and expressions. Bravery will appear in the most unlikely, and fear will create doubt in the strongest, there are good and bad people in all communities, and there is certainly no shortage of bullies and those who will become their victims, and these things apply to both sexes equally. They have always been there, history tells us the tales of those times, and they are at times misleading, as they are only the words of the one person who wrote them. I think it is why I admire Celtic culture, for they believed in complete equality and in community. They lived by tribe mentality, and accepted each other as equals because their way of life depended on it, so why are we not teaching more of this to our children?

To say there is a shortage of female role models or hero’s I feel is misleading, if you look hard enough you will find them. Arwen and Eowyn from lord of the rings, Lyra Silver Tongue from His dark Materials, Jo Playton from Day of the Triffids, Super Girl, Bat Girl, Black Widow, Harlequin, Storm, there are so many of various types, and there is one pretty much to suit every woman alive, and now you also have Runestone, Jade Opal, Jett Amber, Scarlet, Sapphire, Opal Green Circle, Gwendolyn, Tila, Crystal, and Amethyst to add to the collection, and the thing that makes them all admirable is, they are all true to themselves and those they support. I will add if perchance you hate them all, go follow Rags for a while, because that girl can cope with just about anything.

Heirs to the Kingdom is a series of eight fantasy and adventure books, written by Robin John Morgan, and is available from Amazon and all online book retailers.

Life and Darkness.

It was always my hope that within the pages of HTTK the characters would take on a life that felt real. I wanted the readers to form a bond with the characters as if they were real people within their lives, and so a great deal of my time writing this story was put into thinking each and every movement of the characters, and their reactions, which I hoped breathed life into them.

HTTK albeit a fantasy story, is in my mind about life, the normal everyday life that we all live in the time that we have. Life has many wonderful things, such as love, family, companionship, laughter and joy, but it also has its fair share of hurt, betrayal, sorrow, jealousy, and heartbreak. We are taught that life has to be a balance of both, and have many sayings such as, “taking the rough with the smooth,” and even though we may talk to others about their pain and suffering, I find it is often the case that people hide their own fears and pain, by burying it deep inside them in fear of the shame that they will appear less complete or weaker than those that surround them.

HTTK has many themes, but one underlying theme has been within the pages since the very start, and that is of course the darkness that is hidden from everyone. Throughout this story spanning eight books, every so often a little of the darkness hidden deep within has seeped to the surface, and this was shown in book one with betrayal, and two and three especially in the manner in which Mason’s soldiers conduct themselves. All of these served the purpose of showing a much deeper layer hidden inside the story that I hoped would serve to prepare the reader for the final two books. Greed and Power also show the darkness within people, and that has been very obvious within the tale since the start, and so these were my vehicles that would provide the truth of life, and clues to the final book in the series.

It is well documented, that in order to write Kingdom, I took much of my life experiences and that of others I had observed, and wove them into a fantasy series of books, using my characters as the vehicle to deliver my message, so if you take some time, and having read all eight books and follow the darkness, you will find that the final book comes to the most natural conclusion possible for this story, although I am sure at first reading that will not appear to be the case, and you will spend a little time pondering the way the book comes to its close.

In order to fully understand this, you have to go right back to book one and look at the actions of the green lord. He had watched for a long time, and seeing how out of balance the world had become, he decided to act, hence the Red Death virus that wiped out the largest percentage of mankind. Evil had spread through the lines of men, and they were blamed for all that was wrong, and so he took action to halt it for good. The opening of book eight begins with our old lord as he ponders everything, and in doing so he begins to realise he has made a mistake, for there deep within everything was a darkness hidden from everyone.

For myself personally, I feel that at some point in life, we too sit as the green lord does, and we all take some time to reflect on our past and on the life we have lived, and it is in these times that we begin to see that at some point in our life, we too have had to deal with a circle of darkness that surrounded us. Our lives do slip out of balance, and it is usually in these times that we suffer silently with our own dark thoughts, as our mind tries to deal with the experiences that we have had, and in most cases it is within the hours of darkness that our greatest fears creep into us, and we see the truth of not only our own lives, but also the lives of others. These are our own times within the circle, and they are powerful moments hidden from view, veiled from the rest of the world, and book eight is the book that finally brings these moments to the surface as everyone feels its effects and loses a little faith.

Without revealing any spoilers for the final book, I am sure those who have read the book will be a little surprised at the way this book comes to its close. I think I am right in saying it will be unexpected, although the clues have been there if you look for them.

The pace of the final book is very different from the rest, it is irregular as it weaves and twists through the highs and lows, and is filled with doubt and confusion. Book three was pretty dark in places, but this book takes that to a whole new level, you start to realise that the Specialist’s are jaded from over a year a hard fighting and they have lost a little of their zest, I think Rowan says it perfectly when he states, “he has seen things no man should have to witness” and just for the quiet contemplative man he is to suddenly admit that, shows the fatigue they all feel. He too is looking back and seeing his own personal circle of darkness and finally having to deal with it, as is Robbie, Rayne, Runestone, Jade and Sapphire.

Book eight reveals just how badly out of balance everything is, and it is not just a world view, or a natural environmental view, although they are important themes within all eight books, this time it on a personal level, and it does shake the inner most foundations of everyone’s beliefs, and that is why the ending of this book is the right one.

The only way to survive is to try and return things back to balance, there has to be light, but in order to keep the scales level, there also has to be some darkness, and this book looks at the way that can be achieved, and I am sure the last page of the book will highlight that perfectly.

Heirs to the Kingdom by Robin John Morgan

Heirs to the Kingdom was always meant to reflect life as it is today, and whilst it is wonderful to live in a fantasy that involves families, love, desire, friendship, simple living and compassion, sadly life today has too much of exploitation, violence, rape, war, and greed for wealth and power. Take a moment to study history and it reveals the great evils of the past that men have committed on their own race and other races. History shows how we have destroyed and exploited nature for gain, persecuted each other for power and control, and committed acts of horrendous evil. There was no coincidence in Opal saying “Look to the past,” her message was always to look deeply into the darkness and cast the light on the truth.

Life no matter how much you want to avoid it contains a great deal of pain and injustice, I know I have lived it myself, and witnessed it in the lives of those who have surrounded me. I have walked in my own circle of darkness and suffered, and I have fought on through it to find the light again, and I have accompanied many others on their own journey through the darkness into the light. What I have learned on these many journeys is that we do not always have control over it, we certainly hide most of it and wrestle alone as we deal with it, and sometimes, it is not us who can finally banish it, sometimes it takes another at our side to finally rid us of it.

We are never completely alone, we may feel it at times as the pressure mounts, but no matter how dark things become, if we have the courage to face the darkness and reach out, all of us find the help we so desperately need, be it a friend, professional or family, and that is the heart of the story that is Heirs to the Kingdom.

Heirs to the Kingdom by Robin John Morgan is a complete fantasy Adventure series that is available to purchase from Amazon and all other online book sellers.

Happy New Year 2019.

Winter within the Woodland

At one hour past midnight in a glade filled with soft snow, the sounds of a small babies cries echoed through the bare snow dressed trees, around the ancient woodland that surrounded Robbie’s Mere, and the house of the Lord Loxley and his wife Runestone.

   As if they all knew, the few animals that scratched in the snow for food, stopped and all raised their heads and looked in the direction of the wooden house. It was a sacred time when a power of the sight of the future was brought by Stephanie and Jessica into the world.

   The house rang with cheers, and laughter and the ringing of glasses of celebration, and somehow in the world of the woodland that was asleep for the winter, life seemed to tread round the trees and bring tidings to all of a new addition to the noble line of Loxley.

Taken from The Queen of the Violet Isle. HTTK Book Four, by Robin John Morgan.

Is it 2019 already?

It is hard to believe that 10 years ago in January of 2009, I sat with my girlfriend, later to be my wife, and looked through every page of the Bowman of Loxley. We were in the process of starting what was to become a publishing deal for the first editions of HTTK, the only problem was, the publisher was concerned about the word count. We edited a sizeable chunk from the first book, something I did very begrudgingly, as this book was the culmination of 20 years of research and ideas.

It was an exciting time, I had been pushed and pushed by a lot of people to publish this book, and for two years I had dodged doing it, from my own point of view I did not feel like I was a writer, I simply wrote stuff down and enjoyed doing it. Writing was a past time, a hobby, it was not something that was meant to be serious, but having been pushed by just about everyone who had read the rough first draft, I had finally made the decision to publish and set about getting things ready.

The rest as we know is history, the book was edited down, the book was published in April 2009, followed by book two the same year, and the third book came out a year later. It has all felt like a whirl wind trip, and the kind of story dreams are made of, but sadly that was not to be the case.

The fourth book in the series was not published until 2014, four years after the third book, which was mainly due to the fact that as my third book hit the stores, I began to feel very uneasy about allowing my publisher of that time work on the fourth. Things felt wrong, and my suspicions grew a great deal that things with the publisher were not as expected. I am glad now that I listened to my gut feelings because as I arrive in 2019 I still have not received a single penny in royalties from those first editions, and I can no longer reach the publisher as they have disappeared, I have had no choice but to write off those earnings from what at the time was a lot of book sales.

It served as a lesson for the future, and became my driving force to set things right and establish HTTK by a means I could control, and funnily enough, it was New Year’s Day 2014 that I launched Violet Circle Publishing, after a year of seriously hard work and effort on the part of my wife and myself. January 2014 was once again a hive of activity as I pushed to firstly revisit the first three books, and put back all the edits that had been removed from the first editions. The focus from that point on was to completely re-format the interior with a format that could be replicated throughout all the books, I wanted it simple, clean, and easy to read, and by making the page size a little larger, I manged to drop the page count, and thus reduce the price of the books, as I had always felt the first editions were just too expensive.

January 2019 is going to follow a similar pattern; I will be writing none stop as my wife looks towards the editing of each chapter as I write it, in order to speed up production of the final book of the series. It will feel good to finish with the final book on the tenth anniversary of the first publication, a feat that will bring to a close a whopping twelve years of none stop writing of this particular series of books. Who knew it would take so long to actually get all of it to this point and into print?

Heirs to the Kingdom has seen me write millions of words, spend literally a good few years of just editing and revising, I have taken thousands of photographs, driven hundreds of miles, and have hours of notes on my digital voice recorder, and I think I have used a good few trees worth of recycled paper in the process.

I would love to say it’s been exhausting, but honestly even though there have been so many nights sat up alone writing, and I have at times suffered sleep deprivation because I got carried away on a particular stubborn part of the tale. Exhaustion was never an issue, it has been a challenge of that there is no doubt, but I loved every moment I have worked on this story, and it has become a huge part of the person I have become, and hopefully I think I can say I have finally earned my stripes as full time writer.

2019 will take me into a place where my focus and concentration have to be better than ever, I have a lot still to do to bring this story to its final conclusion, and it with that in mind that I take my inspiration from the last ten years of working to publish this story. It still needs a much bigger fan base if I am going to continue to write, and once the final book hits the shelves, that will be my goal for the second part of this year, but for now, I am simply doing what I love the most, writing the tale that you have all come to love, for all of you who read this are one of the inspirations that drives me forward, and I will be forever grateful to all of you.

I wish all of you the very best for this coming year, I wish you all peace, and safety in whatever you may face this year, and I hope all of you will get to walk a greener path lit by the shade of old trees.

Happy New Year 2019 to you all.

The dappled shade of the Woodland

Yuletide

  On the late afternoon of December 21st, he had returned, and with Runestone, they led the vigil in the old stone circle above the stockade and celebrated the Winter Solstice, and the going down of the sun on the shortest day of the year.

  Rune had smiled with joy as they headed back to the Mere in the darkness, and placed a fat heavy log on the fire to banish the darkness and celebrated with wine and ale. It was a time of family, and together they decorated the house with fresh holly and mistletoe, and Rune laughed with delight as Robbie carried in a large potted pine, to decorate with small decorations made of woven straw, and biscuits hung on red ribbon.

  The tree was topped with an elaborately made five pointed star of silver, which was their first ever Yule gift as a couple, and made by Jade’s skilled hand.

   All round the house candles burned, casting a warm flickering glow across everything, as the house rang to the sound of Rune, as she giggled with happiness while she prepared the meal for all the family who would be arriving shortly.

            Taken from “The Queen of the Violet Isle, HTTK Book Four.”

Green Man Yule.

Yule for me is time of darkness and light. At this time of year I always yearn to be alone and reflect on my year and my past, something that is not as possible now as I have a family. Before 2008 when I worked alone, I would always close up my shop at the end of the day of selling Christmas trees and wreaths, and walk home in the cold crisp air. On many occasions, I would divert from the road, and walk along the dark silent canal pathway, my mind lost in thoughtful reflection of my year. I think it was on one of those long walks home that I formulated what was to become the opening passage of book four, a section of which is at the top of this article.

The above passage from HTTK BK four, is based on real life events, and something I was a part of in my teenage years with a wonderful group of hippies, who changed my life, and showed me a way of living that was more in tune with who I was, and less in tune with the expectations of my family at that time. We numbered eight, of which today only three of us still live spread across three different countries, and on this day more than ever, I remember them and miss them dearly.

One figure more than any stands out for me, for she was the oldest of all us, and in many ways she became the focus of the character Steph in my books. I shall not name her out of respect for her family, for she walked from this realm and into another many years ago, and yet such was the power of her kindness and wisdom, I have never forgotten her, an feel privileged that I had a part in her life .

With her husband she made jewellery, and bags from cloth, she even knitted all of us warm hats and scarves, which she usually presented us with on Yule. Her husband was a Druid, and it was from him I learned a great deal of tree lore and the rituals of a Celtic past. My Steph figure was indeed a mother figure to all of us, even though she was only five years older than us, but even so her wisdom for her young years was honest, open, and deeply insightful. She gave me a lot of good advice at a time when I was lost, insecure, and looking for direction, and it was through her wisdom, which has stayed with me always, I think I found my way back into my love of plant lore and eventually writing.

I remember one Yule celebration and telling her how one person in my family life referred to me as the Scarecrow, and she smiled and asked how I felt about that. I was pretty scruffy at the time with my long tatty hair, faded Led Zeppelin tee, afghan coat, and patched pants, I told her it felt insulting and unjustified, and she simply smiled and asked, “are you ill at ease with the way you dress?” No I protested, I love how I dress, and her reply was simple, “Then embrace the Scarecrow, if you embrace it, then it will no longer feel unjust or an insult, I would say, it could be a compliment.” She gave a sly giggle and it made sense.

One particular member of my family expected our whole family to conform to her standards, I had refused to, and as a result of my teenage rebellion, I had embraced my free living side and joined the throng of growing hippies across the UK. She was appalled at it and refused to entertain me until I cut my shoulder length hair and changed my attire. Scarecrow was meant to be an insult, a means to shame me into conforming to her will, and so I embraced it and became more extreme, and whenever the insult was fired at me by herself or one of her pillar of society friends, I simply stood still and lifted my arms out in a Scarecrow pose. (I smile as write this)

It worked wonderfully, and soon the comments stopped. Embracing the Scarecrow took away my insecurity, and gave me the courage for the first time in my life to actually make a stand for who I was, and who I wanted to be. It felt like a life changing moment in my life at the time, and today as I look back, I can see how much of a difference it has made to the person I have become.

Every year on December 21st and 22nd, we all made our way to her house, and as the light of the day faded, all the lights in the house were extinguished, and we would gather around the hearth of the old open grate fire. She would say a small blessing and thank the world around us for the gifts of life, and the bounty of the wilds, and then she would lean forward and light the kindling stacked in the chimney grate. Once the fire began to burn, she would take a large cut log out of a basket, and place it on the fire to burn slowly over the coming days. Candles were lit from the burning fire and placed all around the house, bringing light to every room.

Once the fire was burning, and the house filled with light, her husband would carry in the tree of scots pine, one year we even had a holly bush in a huge pot, and we would all take part in the decoration of the tree. There were few baubles, and only a short string of electric lights, all the rest of the decorations were small neatly wrapped packages bearing the names of each of us, and special cookies that hung on red ribbons. Even now I still find it to be one of the most magical parts of my life, which is why many years back when I wrote the above passage for the fourth book, I wanted to save that very important moment of my life within its pages.

Drink mead and hail the Ancestors.

Yule was a time of friends and feasting, and all of us stayed together for the two days and laughed, talked and got quite drunk as I remember, I almost danced once such was the power of the home brew.

It is a memory filled with light, but also for myself edged with darkness, for I miss those wonderful people deeply at this time of year. Heirs to the Kingdom is more than just a story, it is the combination of a life, of love for people, and the adventures that are woven through all of my life of experience. I realise for most people it is simply a tale of adventure and fantasy, but I can assure you it is so much more than that, it is filled to the core with a life as real as your own, carefully written from hidden truth of a time long since gone, when people cared about each other and love had a true meaning between not just lovers, but true friends. The world has changed so much since that time, which is why it was so important for this memory to be kept alive in print.

On this day I gather my family around my own fire, and light a candle to light the darkness and pay tribute to my friends, and those other important special people I have lost from my life. Alone later I will sit and toast them, and then for a sad while I shall sit alone and remember them.

Whether you follow Yuletide or not, I send out my blessings and goodwill to all of you, may you walk on green paths with the trees above you, to keep you all safe from the storms of life next year and beyond.

Yuletide blessings to you all.