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Happy New Year 2019.

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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

The roadblocks of life.

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When I started this year, I had high hopes and a long list of notes and ideas to move forward and complete the final book of the series in Heirs to the Kingdom.

Looking back through all the data I had collected last year, which for the past ten years have been the backbone of what was a story that had been an obsession for 20 years, it became clear very quickly that the notes for the start of this story, where sketchy at best.

I have extensive notes on the Ruling Council, Gwendolyn, Opal and the different lifestyles of all the different races of people within this story, but what I lacked was the very start of the line of Le Fey. Mostly I had a small roughly scribbled story of two members of the Fae races that met in Avalon during the time it was being constructed for Rhiannon, and it lacked a great deal of detail.

The main bullet points highlighted the importance of this time, but they were just the bare bones, and lacked any kind of meat to build on. It became very clear that in order to complete the final story of HTTK, I needed a lot more detailed information on those times, something that could be achieved by writing the tale from start to finish. I soon understood that what I was about to embark on was the writing of two books side by side.

I began as I always do, researching and making rough notes of the plot, and started to write the back story, which was actually the very start of the series that I wanted to complete. Ten chapters in I had enough to go on with, and so turned my attention back to the final book of the HTTK series and made a start. The process that has been my routine for most of this year has been a strange kind of writing leap frog, the start of this series, and then jump to the final book and so forth, and as a result both books have progressed at a much slower pace than they would normally.

To give you all an idea of how fast these books come together, I wrote book one back in 2007 in a rough draft based on over twenty years of thorough research and notes, it took approximately three months to write the first draft, which was then revised and edited over a whole year to become what was the first edition. At that time (With a different publisher) I was not that happy with the final book, and so spent a further five months working on a revised edition in 2012, which was published as a second revised edition in 2014 via Violet Circle Publishing. Book One is still the fastest book I have written, book five took almost two years to write, and here I am trying to put together two very detailed books in as little time as possible, to say I have felt the pressure is an understatement.

2018 has to date possibly been one of the most difficult years of my life. My family life has been rocked since the year began, and as a family we have faced some very difficult and challenging times. I cannot deny that as I arrive in the last month of this year, I find myself stressed and strained and suffering from complete emotional and physical exhaustion. Endless hurdles to face and overcome has been the theme of my year, and even though there have been many times when I ached with the frustration to simply hide away and write, such has been the theme of this year that I have not completed anywhere near as much work as I would wish to. Writing, promoting my books and getting out and about to actually sell books to the public, have all been pushed on to the back burner many times, in order to have to stop and drop everything for the needs of others.

I have entered December this year hoping for some calm and stability in the hope of finally having the time to work through this whole month and play catch up on my writing, I am even considering planning to leave the house and hole up in some distant guest house, in order to finally complete the first manuscript of the last book, something I may well do in January if resources are available.

It has always been my plan to complete the last book and get it on the shelves, and then take my time finishing the final edits of what will be one last related book in the HTTK series, as it will become a prequel to the story with characters of whom you may have heard in references throughout the books, but you have not actually met to date.

I do get asked on a regular basis if there will be any other related tales, so I can say yes to at least one book, and there will always be a possibility of shorter tales, but for now I can only focus on the final book of the series, at which point I will see. I have other stories unrelated to HTTK I would love to complete, and so given the time and good health, I hope I can continue with those as well.

For now my frustration levels remain high, and my fingers are crossed for an uneventful life in 2019 so that I can relax and focus on the writing. Life is getting a little too much in the way, and I want to address that next year and withdraw more from the circles that surround me in order to focus on what I love the most, making up stories and getting them down on paper.

In the very little free time that has been available, I have managed to get some rough pieces together for the blog, and so with luck I will edit them and clean them up, and then get you some more insights into this wonderful tale on the blog over the coming weeks. Fingers crossed life will remain stable this month and I hope you enjoy what I can share with you.

My thanks and blessings to you all for the coming festivities. May you all walk safely and in peace into the coming New Year.

Zandra’s Revenge

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the first book in the series heirs to the Kingdom by Robin John Morgan.

A few days ago, whilst I was out with my wife driving, she asked quite out of nowhere if she could ask me about an element of HTTK. This is quite normal for us, we often pull apart the story in order to ensure there are no holes that may be picked up on by a reader, so as always, with possibly the one reader who knows more about this series of stories than any other living soul, I told her ask away.

There are one or two questions I do expect from her, (Literally because I know how much effort she puts in to looking at every layer within these stories), but there is one area of this story where I have done a lot of layering, and if I am honest, I don’t expect many to question me about it, today was one of those days where she spotted a very significant point, and for a moment, I think she felt she caught me out.

My wife began, “You know how power is passed down through the female lines?”

I gave a nod as I was driving, “Yeah what of it?”

I could feel her eyes on me as I looked forward out of the windscreen. “Well I have been thinking.”

“Ok.” I know how her mind works, and her tone of voice told me, she had figured something out, and I suspect she thought she had found a gaping hole in the story.She asked.

“If Mason has all these orphanages, then knowing female heirs will be powerful, why has he and his children not just taken any women they wish, and created a new powerful line?”

It is a great question, and one I have wondered if someone will find. My response was simply, “Zandra Hargreaves.” And I gave a smile; I knew that would confuse her.

So the reason I am writing this is I wondered how many more of you have looked this deep in the seven books that are already available. In explanation to her confused stare at me, I shall present the following, which is a loosely translated version of my response as I drove.

Mason did not really think when he married Zandra, he knew he needed an heir, and preferably a female one. At that point in his life he was developing his plans, but even he did not know that the Red Death was coming. I have always thought that when the Red Death struck, he suddenly realised that firstly, he could achieve his plans for domination much quicker. Secondly, he could do far more, and so began to expand his plans and work on a much larger scale than he had previously planned.

At that point he had married and expected children, and along came William, followed by Lance, and then his most precious prize, he gained a girl in Judith. In my mind he must have felt he had achieved his goal, and so when he did begin to establish his orphan program, he really had no need to use them himself, and at that point his children were too young to procreate.

I think with a man like Mason, who you have to understand he is ruthless and single minded, he may have considered that maybe one day he would be able to secure more heirs using his male children, but by this point, he had Judith, and so I think he would have been satisfied that he had an heir to Morgan le Fey, who he sees as his mother, but we are now aware (As Steph discovers) she is actually his grandmother.

His plan fell apart as the relationship with Zandra deteriorated; she became in his eyes, weak. Zandra became difficult, she complained and cried, and he grew very unhappy with her behaviour. I think his placing of William into Loxley would have shown how cruel and cold he could be, and that was the start of the end of any care between him and Zandra. She never forgave him for giving away her first child, and as a result she smothered her other two children with affection, and Mason began to suspect she was deliberately making her children weak, in order to ensure they did not grow to be monsters like their father.

It failed for Zandra, because as Mason and her argued constantly, I think it is certain that his wild tempers became a more frequent part of home life for Lance and Judith, and as a result, his children feared him. Zandra was not weak in my eyes, but she was mistreated, even though she lived in luxury. Lance appeared weak and feeble because he started to fear his father, but if you read between the lines, and have read all the books to date, you will clearly see that he formed a close bond with Mark Richard Dale, one of Mason’s closest friends, and a man even Mason admired.

Zandra in the final minutes of her life, made what is actually a very brave sacrifice, she leaped up in front of her husband to shield him in the cathedral, and it cost her life, as she was hit by the Hooded man’s arrow. This has been a big talking point with readers, so just to catch up let me say this. Zandra was deeply unhappy, and in that final moment I think she realised that Mason was probably the only chance her children would have for survival. She knew that she would never be able to escape his clutch, and if she did, the price she would pay would be to lose her two other children. Giving her life to save him, she ensured her children had the chance to grow and live, and I feel she hoped her loving care would show up in them, and through that they would fail to be the children he desired. In many ways it was a massively calculated risk, but one she was willing to test.

In the case of Judith, she was proved right. Judith at the loss of her mother fled from Mason to her uncle’s house, and ultimately ended up falling into the hands of Robbie via the House of Good Hope. It was a massive blow to Mason, who realised he no longer had a female heir, and he needed to find a way to create another, nevertheless he had learned much from his experience of Zandra.

the Third book in the series Heirs to the Kingdom by Robin John Morgan

Dana was one of his team, who played a large role in the orphanage organisation. She was tough, cold, and commanded a great deal of authority, something Zandra was not. Mason chose to pick a new wife who had most of the qualities he required in a child, and because she was actually quite emotionless, he knew the bond would not be as deep and loving as it had been with Zandra.

It’s a pretty cold act if you think about it, he basically used her for her womb, but as I worked out the plot, I gave it a great deal of thought, and finally I began to wonder who in this new relationship was actually colder. I think Dana is a smart woman, she is certainly no fool, and I think she was more than aware of what she was getting into. Dana craved power, and as the mother of Mason’s new heir she certainly got plenty, it was a win, win for both of them.

Raven Merle was always destined to be more like his grandmother, but with greater power, and in Mason’s eyes she would ultimately replace her. In truth he could have picked any woman, but having realised, he decided to look to his own ranks, and I think the fundamental reason for that, was very simply that he had a full profile of the behaviour of all his lead team. To use a random woman from the orphanage, could have resulted with a repeat of his experience with Zandra, so he picked from a list of woman he knew would have every aspect of the personality he desired for the mother of his child.

Mason as the only parent of Lance, put all of his effort into creating a smaller version of himself, and he to date has done a very good job, Lance is as cold and emotionless as his father. Book seven shows how Lance has grown like his father intended, but I have often played with the notion that in this there is also a flaw. (Spoiler possibly coming)

Lance is just like his father, and seeks the same kind of power, and in so doing, he is ultimately the greatest danger to Mason. When Mordred’s spirit is brought back from the dead and planted within William with the black blade, Lance takes his chance to prepare his future. When Mordred cruelly beats and rapes the servant Nadia, Lance takes her under his wing and raises her son Victor as his own. Lance is repeating his father, and it is his hope that Victor will one day create a female child that has all the power of the line, but also has the cruelty and cold disposition of Mordred.

In his mind any child born to Victor, should according to the rules of power, (AKA be more powerful) should be stronger than Raven Merle. In his final moments faced with Runestone, in what is now an alternative reality to the current tale, Lance shows a small chink in his makeup, and finally Zandra gets what she always desires, as Lance makes it clear to Runestone, that Nadia and Victor are innocent and have been used by him.

He begs for Runestone to spare them, and his final moment shows an act of compassion by begging for their lives and freely offering his death . Zandra finally got her wish, and her love and compassion showed through to rival the cold and brutal side of Mason.

Zandra’s biggest success is that William (AKA Sage) confronts Mason and asks for him to stop the war. I have to admit it was a wonderful part of the book to write, and all the time I wrote it, I was thinking of how proud Zandra would have been of her son.

the first six books in the series Heirs to the Kingdom by Robin John Morgan

Somehow I never expected anyone to work all this out, but now they have, here it is shared with all of you, I hope it adds to your own enjoyment of Heirs to the Kingdom. Congrats Rin, it took a while, but you did find one of my more elaborate plots hidden within the text. Well done you. ?

Happy New Year.

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As the clock strikes midnight, and we all move from one year into another, I guess I will not be that sad to see 2017 end, its not be the easiest of years.

2017 has felt like the popular theme of my HTTK work, I have faced some pretty overwhelming odds and had to fight my way through. The year began in what for me is a creative frenzy, and I was inspired and working really well, but unfortunately it was not long before life began to tap me on the shoulder, and point out that things were occurring which required a great deal of my attention.

This country has seen some pretty major upheavals in recent years, and the most significant being the Brexit vote, at first I was not overly concerned, but after several years of Austerity cuts in this country, it became very clear that the book market was suffering, as people had less and less for a luxury product such as books.

A great deal of my attention was switched to promotion, as I had to don my VCP hat, and do what I could to help bolster the promotions, to try and find new audiences for not just myself, but the other authors I represent, and that at times has meant prioritising their work over my own. It has been a long and hard struggle to get the word out this year, especially against the bigger publishers who were feeling the same bite, and pushed more of their resources into promotion on levels I could not possibly compete with. It’s been a creative year there is no doubt, as VCP has expanded in many more ways on social media and networking, to find audiences with more disposable income. It has felt like a long hard struggle, and at times I cannot deny it has been exhausting.

My greatest set back has been in the form of simple life, events and growing issues around family have diverted a great deal of my attention away from writing into dealing with day to day life. Emotionally this has been the toughest year I have had for some years, and it has been hard to focus on writing in the small amounts of down time I have had between drama and the problems around me. I have felt very frustrated for a great deal of the year, and torn between VCP, HTTK and Family, not the best recipe for focused writing.

It’s not all grim news, HTTK is alive and well, and even though I started out 2017 with an ambitious project of getting two books ready for print, I have completed a considerable amount of my goal, and both stories have had a significant amount done on them. My aim for the quieter moments of 2018 is to start and get them finished ASAP. HTTK eight is my priority, which will then be followed up later with a related story, which will take the story right back to the start of everything, and open up the back story of how the Merle worked its way into the line of the Dark One. Both are in good shape and just need to be completed, I have written a huge amount on the back story, which has allowed me to weave elements of it into the final book of the HTTK series, and as I start this new year, the last HTTK edition and getting it finished is my priority.

I am feeling the pressure to get more readers, and finish the book, and also to make this a book worth reading.

To all of you who have shown such great loyalty to my work, I wish you every happiness for this New Year. I hope that the paths you walk are greener and shaded from the brightness of distraction, and the focus of your lives this year is peaceful, safe, and productive.

Happy New Year to you all.

December 22nd 2007.

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The Market Garden Shop December 2007

 

The picture on this post is possibly the last picture taken of the “Market Garden Shop” on Denton Market, it may even be the last picture of a trading shop on the market ever. It was taken on December 14th 2007, and within eight days of this moment, sadly the market and this little shop was closed forever bringing an end to 147 years of Market Trading Tradition in Denton, Greater Manchester in the UK.

Today 22nd of December 2017 is not such a great day for myself and a great friend, as today marks ten years since we lost our business to a council hell bent on ignoring the wishes of those who used the market, and their ambition to create a town plaza in Denton. It is yet another example of how local councils ride rough shot over ordinary people to achieve a pointless goal. The plaza that is now empty of life and has killed off a great deal of the surrounding business has been yet another very expensive nail in the coffin of local community.

For my good friend Pru and myself, we fought a long and hard campaign to try and save the market, but the odds were always against us, and for our efforts we paid a very high price. Our health suffered greatly and we lost the one thing we loved the most, we lost our market trading businesses. The people lost so much more, especially when you consider the impact that local communities have felt in the last eight years of austerity. Never before has there been a greater need for traders who work on smaller margins to keep prices low for the poorer members of our communities, never has there been a greater need for Market Traders.

We warned back in 2007 that all the local markets would be hit hard, and today we can see we were right and should have been listened to, but our warnings fell on deaf ears, and the cost that has been paid will be felt this Christmas by a lot of people, our markets stand shrunken, overpriced and almost empty.

It has taken me ten years to recover from that terrible time, it’s been a process that was long and hard and at great personal cost, and I have been asked many times if a regret the fight that cost me everything? I regret that I lost everything; I will never regret facing the overwhelming odds of a fight that took everything I had. I fought for what was right, and I still believe that it was the correct thing to do for the many people of Denton who needed a voice. I am sorry that Pru and myself could not bring the small victory our customers hoped for, and have always regretted that, but I think we can both say, we did our best in an impossible situation.

I have many happy memories of working on the market, and today as I look back, they will bring me some cheer. Markets were the life blood of our communities at one time, they were filled with so many different kinds of people, and I was always proud to be there to serve them. I have met many very kind people, many grumpy old souls, and some of the most bonkers people ever, I have not forgotten them, I never will, and so today I feel a little sadness.

All things end, and life no matter how bleak eventually brightens up. The light at the end of the tunnel was my decision to recover my health and change my career, and as a result I became a full time writer. My stories contain some of the struggle of those times, and some of the joys, life for me changed but the darkness of those times shaped the way I tell my stories, and that is the positive in my own personal story. This tiny little wooden shop meant so much to me at the time, and sat here ten years later it means even more. It is here in this little wooden building that the quiet moments of thought and talk with friends brought about the motivation that began another journey. On December 22nd 2007 I locked up my shop forever, and even though it has been demolished, and wiped from this earth, there on that cold empty plaza is a spot that will remain in my heart forever.

That spot to me is sacred, for it was there that I looked at my friend Louis, and told him of a story I had been working on for years, and I had begun to write it at last. In that little shop the very first draft of “The Bowman of Loxley” came into being, it was part one of a story that I had no idea would grow to a series of eight books, and bring pleasure to readers in many other countries from the one that I lived in. The Market Garden Shop, even though wiped from the face of the earth, is the birth place of Heirs to the Kingdom.

Let’s see the council try and take that away from me.

Merry Christmas Pru, and Louis, thanks for all your support and inspiration.

Blessed Yule Robbie, Runestone, and the Specialists.

 

The Bonds of the Specialists

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A couple of nights ago, I had the chance to meet up with people who in most cases I have not seen in thirty years. A very old friend of mine from my teenage years was fifty, and out of the blue I received an invite, which is something of a rarity these days as I have very much become quite the recluse over the last ten years.

For me personally, it was a chance to walk down a familiar lane into my past, and for the few hours that we assembled and laughed as we caught up on old times, it felt like I had travelled back through time to an era that was very precious to me. It was amazing how meeting these familiar faces and personalities gave me a strong sense of ease, as there was no awkwardness or long pauses, it was almost as if the assembled group just went from one way of being, straight into a past way of being as the years appeared to shed away, and we simply picked up where we left off.

Like many groups of people from the past, we all grew up together and hung out as teenagers, and with time we followed our career paths or settled down to start our own families, and as a result some of us lost touch. I for one headed off into the world of Horticulture, and my life became long hours of work, which did indeed take me away from the social scene. It was quite an eventful moment to walk into a room and meet those now much aged faces, which still bore the smiles and sparkles within the eyes of people who surprisingly, despite the difficulties of life and age, still wore that familiar air of youth and devilishness that I know so well.

The Dedication from Heirs to the Kingdom Book seven

I was very lucky in my youth to be a part of few social circles, and it is with these circles of very special people from my past that I draw the inspiration for my Specialists within Heirs to the Kingdom. It is these strong bonds from my youth, which have been the back bone of my writing of the group that unite as friends in the common purpose of fighting for freedom from repression. These people of my bygone era are my pool of characteristics and personality traits, which I have blended and shaped to form the strong personalities of my story. The feeling of comradery one feels within the pages of the book, are a very real aspect of my own life, and it has always been my hope to allow the reader to sense the strength of the bond, and hopefully identify with it, and relate it to their own lives and past memories and understand the importance of such connections.

I think it is more and more an important aspect of all our lives these days, especially in the modern times where it is so easy to become despondent with life and isolate ourselves. Modern technology does indeed take us from the group and give us the digital means to remain in contact, but it is also a very isolationist technology, and as my evening amongst old friends proved, it really is no substitute for the real thing of meeting in person. I have chosen a way of life that in itself is isolationist, as I am writer, and in order to focus on the task of assembling my stories, I lock myself away and use a combination of memory and imagination to work out my plots and characters. I am also and have been most of my life very much an introvert who feels like I am always on the edges of any social gathering. When placed in amongst those who I feel comfort around, then I feed off the energy of the moment and can interact with wit and laugh with ease, which probably does explain why these people of my past are so important, not only in fulfilling a part of my life as a human being who needs interaction, but also as the source of the deep bonds that binds us all.

In Modern life it is so easy to become distracted, and without realising it suddenly find the threads of our life are broken, I watch people sat in café’s and on the street as they look down at their phones, and go about their lives staring at their screens, without really noticing what is going on around them. These devices that enable us to communicate, I think most of the time work against the principle of their invention. It concerns me that in today’s modern world we consume small soundbites of friendship, and information as the guide to living, and it feels like we are missing the bigger picture of interaction on a personal level.

When I talk to those who read my books about the story, their comments are always centred around the interaction of the characters. It feels at times like what I see as the normal bond between friends, is fast becoming a major part of the fiction I write. It surprises me when I realise that people crave the same strong bonds and interaction, and yet to ask them to switch off their phone, is like asking them to walk through fire.

Meeting up with these very special people from my past, was such a wonderful experience, and in many ways it has fuelled yet more inspiration for my writing. The ability to sit and talk, share old stories and laugh with each other, was very much a deeply rewarding experience, and as I have remembered the way we once lived and the joy we had from our interactions, I have watched the youth of today and noticed a massive difference that maybe I had not really understood or connected with until now. Today’s modern teenagers do not talk in person, they sit in groups, but they do not face each other and smile, they all sit in rows with their heads down looking at the digital screen and tapping their keys at speed. Will they meet up in 30 years to talk of the fun and wildness of their youth? Will they even recognise each other? I am not certain they will, and I cannot help but feel some sadness.

Maybe the characters I write today will one day have a fictitious relationship that is seen as a snap shot of the past, and maybe the books of the future will be all about interaction via a digital appliance. It is somewhat of a sombre thought indeed, and does to a degree echo my thoughts throughout all of Heirs to the Kingdom, on walking away from the modern world to live a simpler way of life that is not as dependant on technology.

As with all things I will continue to watch the world and it will serve as inspiration for future works, but I think for now it does strike an interesting point, and one  I feel I will continue to discuss amongst friends (In person).

The Author’s Kingdom #20

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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.

 

The Monsters of Morgan le Fey

One of the main aspects, and I might add some of the greatest fun when writing HTTK, is all the monsters Morgan creates to face the Specialists, and terrify Harry. Like all things within the books, I have spent some time behind the scenes creating not just the beasts, but also an origin, which is not always seen in the books. I thought today I would walk a devious path and show you a little more of the monsters and how they were created, I also like the fact that this close to Christmas I can add a little horror to the blog.

There is far more to Morgan le Fey than first meets the eye, and this was first hinted at in book two when Leenard and Runestone discuss the black book, which at the time was rumoured to be a myth. The book is the research of a member of the Fae Ofmoon known as Branna, she was placed in Avalon in the days before Rhiannon arrived, and her research was focused on the secrets of the Merle. Branna discovered a way to use the Merle to corrupt the creations of Hearne and Eve,and  she documented her work and mixed it with Fae magic with devastating results. This was a very long time ago, and the magic at the time was very rough and crude.

The book was hidden from Maud, one of Branna’s children, as Branna felt that Maud was far too destructive and dangerous to possess it, but when Morgan first began her work within the Whites Lines, she realised the power she could have if she could mix the two, and as a result she spent an age seeking the Black Book for her own. How she acquired I cannot at this point say, as it does have a part in the final book of the series, but I can say that she immediately began to work on improving all of Branna’s research.

Smoggets/Soul Taker.

In book three the group enter the castle of Morgan le Fey, and they encounter many vile creations, one of which appears at first relatively harmless, but this particular creature was created by Branna as one of her first weapons. The Smogget, as named by Jade at the time, was actually referred to as a Soul Taker by Branna. The puffs of smoke seek out a soul, and then begin to copy the image of that soul, as a result they grow into a smoky form that is an identical copy of the container of the soul i.e. a person.

The smoke then solidifies to look solid, and as it deepens in a smoky grey, the creature pulls its victim into a death hug, and as it embraces them, it slides into the body and takes control of it. It is a chilling sight to witness, and the body, soul and mind of the victim are taken over and become a puppet of the master or mistress. In the case of the castle at Dunnottar, it was the Dark One. They can be defeated by either confusing them, hence Ruby and Rowan as they laughed at the Smogget as it writhed to take a form, or once they begin to solidify they are vulnerable for a short time and can be killed with any blade or sharp weapon.

Houlen

Houlen means hole black in the old language, and again they were an experiment of Branna that went horribly wrong. She never managed to perfect the creature which was made by fusing the Merle with a Fae victim. Her problem stemmed from the fact that such was the corruptive power of the merle, the Fae she introduced to it died in horrendous ways. It was later that Morgan le Fey understood that Branna had only used Fae Ofmoon, which were also sky based like the Merle. With a few changes to the spell, and the introduction of Fae of Earth, she realised she could ground the Merle within the body which adapted better to Earth, and as a result she created a line of elegant and attractive dark creatures that had the ability to change at will into horrendous almost rabid like beasts.

They were initially named Houlen (Hole Black) due to the fact that when they changed from Fae like looking people into the skin stripped snarling creatures Robbie faces. Their inner personalities became so vacant, that if you were to look within them, they had become pure darkness and empty of anything remotely seen as a life form. Morgan’s first Houlen were crude but none the less terrifying, but they were earth bound and easily wiped out by the Marshals of Fae. After many years of work she refined them to add an ability to fly by manipulating the Fae ability of popping into a sprite like spirit. She also added an ability to grow increased claws and a capability to secrete a deadly poison or a sleeping poison that burned the body slowly over a prolonged period of time. Both deaths were incredibly painful before the end, and most died long before the full process was complete simply due to exhaustion and fear. I rank the Houlen as probably the most evil of all her creations.

Army of Death.

In book four we finally get to meet Harry’s greatest fear, in book three he sees them but they are dormant, in the fight on the moors he has to face thousands of them. The Army of Death, or as Scarlet names them ‘The Coffin Boys’ are the reanimated soldiers who died in previous battles. There were created to cause fear and it does to some degree work, most soldiers will bolt long before the slow methodical and semi mutilated body’s walk zombie like towards them. All things dead are Harry’s greatest fear, and I must admit I really enjoyed introducing them to him. Writing Harry as he slashed bits off them to find they did not die was a great experience, and there was a great deal of laughter as I sat alone composing each part of the battle scenes. I think the more twisted side of my nature created the Army of the dead specifically for Harry, hence the “Nice Earmuffs” joke from Jett.

Darkmares/Fear Faces

Morgan le Fey created the Fear Faces at Dunnottar as a side experiment of the Black Guard, a fearsome steroid pumped human with unnatural fighting abilities. She found out later that they had been named by Jade Darkmares, and changed the name as she thought it was a far better description. The reasoning behind Jade’s naming was that these leather clad warriors showed no skin or body part, they were encased in leather, with only the single panelled face mask that was removable. As the Darkmare lifted its mask, instead of seeing the soldiers face, you get to see the tortured face of the one you love most, hence your worst nightmare dressed in black, a Darkmare. I honestly cannot remember what actually inspired me to write Darkmare’s, I have a vague memory of being afraid of something, and from that moment I was able to create them and write down my thoughts, as is much the case with a lot of things I write, I am triggered by an event, but alas I cannot remember the source of inspiration. Maybe it is a good thing I no longer remember, what I do remember is writing the passage where Morgan is stood on the beak of her stone raven, as they fly out from the castle and she wails with laughter as she feels they will overcome Robbie and group, to which for a moment they almost did.

Bronteal

The Bronteal were inspired because of my son’s absolute love of dinosaurs. Alfie has a massive knowledge of them that even leaves me scratching my head, because to be honest I have no idea how he remembers the Latin names, let alone is able to translate them in a way that makes absolute sense. I had originally planned for Morgan to release large toothed eels into the waters of the Mirrored Lake, but as Alfie sat there waffling on about how such a Latin name meant actually long necked plant eater, I was so impressed with my son who was about eight at the time, that I put a Brontosaurus with my original eel and created the Bronteal. You can meet them in book six if you want to, although I would suggest you do not swim with them.

Marsh Hounds

The Marsh hound is a natural beast that lives in the marshes of Avalon, although Morgan has captured many and trained these large scruffy haired disgusting dogs for her own purposes. They have foul breath, flee infested matted fur, and much to the surprise of Jade they taste wonderful. I think the lesson here has to be, do not judge your food via the looks, have a taste before standing in judgement. Although it is strongly advised that you do not tell Steph.

The Marsh Hound is based mainly on my fear of large dogs. When I was seven I was bitten on the face by a dog, and as a result I am still afraid or at least untrusting of large dogs. I still have the scars on my face, so the thought of a giant dog snarling at me as it pounded towards me is still something that would cast me into a cold sweat of fear.

I have always felt that one of the greatest weapons you can use is fear, and Morgan who you have to understand has far less powers than those of the circles, uses fear to great effect. I want a new monster to appear in book eight, but as yet have not created one yet. I will at some point find something very scary and terrifying to add to the book, but I want to talk fear with a few people before I go away to concoct them. I was going to provide an explanation of the Piper Dwarves, who you last saw in book three. As you may recall, Robbie shoots at red cloth, and as the figure falls he fears he has killed a child. They did at the time appear to be an odd creature to have in the castle, but as with all things me, they were there for a very good reason, and you will be meeting them again in book eight. The final book is going to take you back to the past and the roots of Morgan le Fey, and part of that journey will show you many of the reasoning behind some of the things you have already met in HTTK, as I have always said, nothing is written without good reason, and so It is my hope to try and make this next book the best one to date, which is no small feat as I have a huge amount of pressure to match, let alone beat all the previous books.

I can promise a lot of monsters, devious acts and some truly inspiring skulduggery, and I hope that it will meet with all your approval.

The Author’s Kingdom #19

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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.

 

The Relationships That Bind Us Together.

We are all the sum total of our experiences from the past, none more so than that of family.

Today I want to look at the dynamic of family, and the way it affects the characters within HTTK. It may appear like a strange subject at first, but it is one I can assure you that I have put a huge amount of time and effort into as I have written the books.

Before I began to write Heirs to the Kingdom, I took a long look at all the people that surrounded me, as well as my own life and family interactions. I wanted to write a story that would show the true interactions of people with each other, as well as the close bonds that unite all of us, or to a degree separate us. I wanted as real a portrayal of all the diverse interactions, so that the story held a very real feeling on every level.

I should firstly start with my own observations from my own life just to show the depths I worked at to get the results of the writing of family and friends. I will add at this point that I have also worked in the field of counselling, and so have experienced a lot of different concepts, and in the early days of writing, some of my work in this field did play an important role in how I developed the characters and had them interact.

I have always been a bit of a rebel, and so therefore have to a degree in my life been seen as an outcast from my own family, I have actually spent many years at times isolated and not communicating with my family mainly due to disagreements of ideology. I grew up from age four not seeing or having any contact with my father, which did in many ways have a huge effect on my life and direction. We spent 28 years separated and then finally came together and had to start from scratch, it was not always easy, but today I am pleased to say that the bond we share is very solid. I think the experience has to a degree had a big impact on me, and it also motived me to really push myself to be as good a man as possible, something that I now feel has been an advantage and also a disadvantage. The good thing about all of it was it was great source material for me when I first started writing.

Looking at friends growing up and the relationship they had with the parents has also been great source material in the creation of a few of the characters, and that has added weight to each of them. HTTK contains some very personal thoughts feelings, hopes and dreams from mine and a good few others past, and I have hoped that it has contributed a very realistic feel to the books. So with that in mind I walk into the process that brought some of the characters more to life.

Writing Billy was not as hard as I first thought it would be, I wanted to show how over time he became closer and closer to the family of Lox, and yet deep down inside there was a nagging part of him that felt a loyalty to his true family, and I think this played out across the whole Billy/Sage aspects of the books. In my mind I felt that even though he suffered the brutality of Samuel Moore’s at his father’s orders, and I would say for a time hated his whole family for it, over time as he interacted with his grandfather, who was his only blood relative he had contact with. From my point of view, through this he began to speculate as to what his father had become. This is something I feel I can easily understand, losing your father at four and only finding them again at the age of thirty two played a huge part in the writing. I too grew up wondering what my father’s life was like, and trying to get any little snippet of information I could so that I too could build an accurate picture of him. Even though I kept it out of the first few books, as I unravelled the mysteries of the Sage, I finally allowed him to seriously think about what his father had done, and what that meant to him, which those of you will know now from reading the books lead to a misplaced sense of family when the Sage confronts Mason, and tries to convince him to change his direction. I really enjoyed writing this scene in the books, it did take me a long time to get it as I wanted, and I wanted to show how being in the Lox family had changed him so drastically that his perception of his father had to a degree become a fantasy and idealistic view of who Mason really was.

One of the things I wanted to show as the moment came to a climax, was how suddenly the Sage began to understand that there was no side he belonged to, he was caught in dangerous trap of being stuck in the middle, a feeling I know well from my twenties, where suddenly he realises that his loyalty to any party will not improve his life, and that he is very much on his own and will have to fight to establish something that will be only for him. It’s a really sobering moment of realisation, and I cannot deny I felt a huge feeling of common ground with him where my own life influenced the actions of the character, which again is another reflection of the importance of real life examples influencing the writing.

Moving back to Loxley and the Lox family dynamic was a wholly different approach to family life. I know families like the Lox household, and have been around them often growing up. I think today my own little family is very much a similar comparison, I have two fantastic children and a very loving wife, and that helps me with the way I write, but when I first began to write HTTK that was to be a few years ahead of me, and so I looked to the experience of watching certain families which I will not name and their daily interactions. It is easy to write the Lox family as they do have a close bond with few fireworks, although in book four I tried to show that even the perfect family can have dark moments, and it was here I think my wife to be influenced a lot of what I wrote as I worked Runestone into the equation between Robbie and his Mother who was grief stricken. Here I tried to show the loyalties as they divide, and I think the best example of that was in the form of John Lox. He disagrees with his sister Jess, yet feels a strong bond towards her and understands her grief. He takes a very pregnant and upset Runestone back to Robbie’s Mere. Here we see the strong and powerful John show such care and concern for Rune, who you can clearly see is a very important part of the family in his eyes, and he is caught between her and Jess. It was not the easiest of parts to write, as I had to tip toe through it to try and get the wording to accurately reflect the huge emotions that were surging through everyone at the time. I scrapped it several times before finally settling on a the part that was to make it into the printed book.

Later on we see the grief stricken Robbie try to make sense of the situation after his mother has come round and made things good between them. For this part of the story I deployed my best weapon in all of HTTK, I brought in Runestone’s mother Steph. Let me just say at this point that Steph is based on someone who is no longer with us, but was a very good friend indeed to me in my youth, and I loved her very much as one of my closest friends. During the moment where Robbie is on his way home and stops to talk with Steph, we see that she takes the whole situation apart, and then shows Robbie each piece and how it all relates to him. Again this was not something I wrote easily, as it took a lot of deep thought and careful wording, but It is one of my own personal favourite moments of book four, as I think here we really see the power of Steph and the huge influence she has on everyone, I will add at this point it was no coincidence that her nick name within the group became “Mother.”

One of things that I feel we all to have to do in life is to revaluate as we move from one stage to another. Life presents many challenges, and so we have no choice but to try and adapt as we progress through each experience. One of the best examples of this is Alice.

Towards the end of book one faced with rejection and betrayal, Alice admits that she is pregnant, and has to face the very real fact that Billy has joined his father and betrayed her loyal best friend and Cousin Robbie. She is heartbroken to discover his actions have led to this point, and she questions herself as to why she did not see his flaws in time. The simple fact was she was absolutely in love with him, and to a degree during their time on the farm, Billy had done nothing to raise suspicion. Once they left the farm to travel with the group, as Billy’s apprehension grows, his moods change. She is not aware of the trap he is in as he tries desperately to find a way out that will not result in anyone being hurt. Over the journey she begins to question their relationship, and I think it’s obvious that she at this point must be aware that she suspects she is pregnant. It is a no win situation at that point, and her heartache grows slowly to anger as the act of betrayal takes place and she has to deal with seeing the pain Robbie suffers.

Again here we have a classic situation where her loyalties are pulled apart, and for a young girl in love this presents a massive conflict within her that leads to her growing resentment and anger. This was not the easiest part of the book to write simply because this was one area of life where I could not easily put myself in Alice’s shoes, simply due to my gender, I could only speculate and it was not easy to ask questions of those around me without giving away an important part of the plot for the books end. In my mind I tried to work out how anyone would react knowing this big secret and hiding it, only to discover the truth of the father. I thought it through, and I came to the decision that once Alice realised the truth of Billy, it just added to the size of the secret, in my mind I asked the question how could she speak up now?

I pictured Alice as part of the group being distracted at every moment with this huge problem, and tearing herself apart inside as she firstly came to terms with it on a personal level, and then on a group level. She was surrounded by the others who were very obviously very angry and talking about Billy as Robbie took some time away from them to deal with it himself. Alice could see the effects all around her, and all the time she was carrying his new child. It felt almost impossible to imagine the burden on her shoulders at that point. Finally all is revealed to Robbie at Honey Hill, and we see Robbie comfort her as she feels at least a little relief by sharing the burden.

What comes next is the unexpected shock of her turning to Robbie and making him promise to Robbie that he will kill him if the chance arises. This is a massive ask knowing the closeness of Robbie and Billy, but here we see the position Robbie falls into as he is caught between all the feelings of betrayal he himself is dealing with, along with the massive loyalties he feels to his family and especially his Cousin Alice, who he sees more like a sister. It is an impossible position, and he knows instantly that he is trapped.

Is this love spurned, can love turn to hate so quickly? These are both great questions from the point of view of writing. As the story progresses and it leads to the final confrontation with Billy, as Robbie faces him in that final moment of truth in book four, we see a lot of book one come into play. Robbie has to face his own betrayal, he has to understand the significance of the fight with Mordred in book three, where he realises the Billy he knows is trapped inside, and he commands him to fight to save himself. But more importantly he had given his word to Alice that if the chance arises he will kill Billy. It’s a wonderfully complex and multi layered moment with high emotions and tension. Runestone who is watching and very pregnant herself at the time can hardly bear it, and finally Robbie makes his judgement, which was not an easy one at all, and yet I think it is here we see the true power of the Lox family, and the loyalties they have built within the family for a long time. There is a strong sense of honour in the family, an influence especially given by Robert Lox himself throughout the whole books, Robbie takes the most honourable route and spares Billy’s life under possibly the harshest of conditions, and possibly worse than death. It’s a defining moment, and one Alice hears of and rushes to Robbie’s Mere to confront Robbie in person.

Alice by this point has struck up a relationship with Bear, and given birth to Jessica Sapphire, and for her things have changed as she has had a lot of time to really think deeply. We must not forget the moments of her imprisonment at the hand of Billy, who we discover is his only real option to protect her until the baby comes. Those last fleeting moments with Billy alone before her escape, shows her yet another aspect of the man she knew, and although she feels the confusion and pull at her emotions, finally when the moment comes to a head, she cannot bear the thought of him being killed and wants him to live. It was a challenging moment in the writing as I tried to show all of those moments in the conversation she has with Robbie and again, I have several rejected versions that were deleted before I finally got it the way I wanted.

I think the whole spectrum of the journey taken by Alice  is something we can all identify with, life is not always black and white and navigating those multi layered grey areas is not an easy task. We all must tread carefully and reflectively as we strive to make the right decisions, and if we make the wrong one in the height of high emotions, it is important we take the time to realise and change the path we set out upon, and I think Alice really reflects this aspect of daily life.

On a more personal level I have asked myself many times, what exactly is love? I consider after a life of many twists and turns, that it is indeed where you feel so strongly about another person that all your personal needs become irrelevant. I honestly believe that this other significant person means so much, that their happiness is the single most important thing, and you will move heaven and earth to ensure their happiness, and if they are happy, you take great joy from simply being a part of it. That is my definition, and so that leads me to ask what Jealousy is?

I will add at this point my own view is simply that it is wasted emotion; it serves no purpose at all except to create tension and unhappiness. In this world today, it appears to me that a great part of the populous suffer from this wasted emotion, and to be honest it is my opinion that if more people actually sat down and communicated more often, then we could go a long way to removing the Jealousy that thrives in the world and understand each other far better. The simple fact is that it is my experience that people are simply not open or honest with each other enough. I have three example within HTTK that look at this issue, although I admit such is my intolerance of the subject that I did not really get to a good play through of it until I used an example in book seven. I did want to use it as again I felt it is a real aspect of life, and at the end of the day that was what I wanted to show in HTTK, real life.

My first reference was obviously Billy in the woodland, where he verbally attacks Robbie about being Lord of Loxley. I like this part, as it shows really how stupid people can be when they let their imagination wander and blow things up in their own head. Billy is out of order, but he feels a resentment because he was not given a task as important. He fails to see that Robbie had no idea or warning of what was coming for him. The position was thrust upon him without notice and what real choice did he have sat in a room surrounded by a great deal of Loxley? He took on the job filled with doubt, and tried to include Billy in all of it, but the jealousy was such Billy could not see the simple facts of the truth of the matter. I thought at the time of writing it served as a good example of my own feelings, because let’s be honest here, we all thought Billy was acting like a small child, how could he not expect that one day Robbie would be heir to all of Loxley?

My second example came in the form of Runestone and her confusion over Melissa. I write this as a slightly comedic moment because I have seen it so many times. Melissa is very stand offish with Rune simply because she got a man that she was not even aware was interested in Robbie. We have all seen it let’s be honest, we have no clue at all why someone suddenly closes down on us, until finally it all comes out and we suddenly understand. I like the fact that Robbie was well aware of it but had chosen to ignore it, and when he points out something he sees as quite obvious, Runestone’s sudden understanding goes from confusion to bewilderment as she does not understand why Melissa takes it out on her instead of Robbie. It made for a good giggle moment, but I think again it shows how lack of dialogue can lead to peculiar behaviour.

The most telling thing is in book seven, and features that old chestnut assumption. Hawk is devastated at losing Sapphire, but rather than actually try to understand the situation and find clarity, he looks for a cause, and he determines it is Rafe’s fault, and that he must have had some form of liaison with her. I love this bit of book seven as it shows the hidden macho side of Hawk as he feels a challenge from another alpha male rather than face the facts of reality. Blaming Rafe is an easier to deal with option, as it allows his jealousy to take control and blow everything away from the truth and out of proportion. The resulting clash sees the two commanders almost come to blows, and I think what is also important here is that it also shows how jealousy can tear even the best of friendships apart, there is most certainly a lesson to be learned here from not communicating.

Finally my last example is a complex one, and I am afraid one that can only be fully resolved with book eight, but I do want to briefly look at it. Society has many rules, these are not written down anywhere, and yet we all feel a huge amount of responsibility to live by them. I have to admit I don’t. I apply basic fact to most things, which is probably why I am a writer, so I see the so called rules of society as guidelines for the weak minded. We all have to a degree a sense of common sense, and as life throws challenges our way we have to deal with them in a rational and considered way, and sometimes through no fault of our own, the situations challenge the status quo. Although we have been indoctrinated all our lives in these so called rules of life, we find the answers lie outside of them, and so we may do something no one will ever understand, and at that time it is the right thing to do, although a lot of people will never accept it.

One such rule is we should always love our mother. Life simply is not that simple, and it is here that suddenly the rule may not apply. Should Billy love the mother that allowed her husband to give him to a sadistic man, who beat him and then put him into a strange house to be raised by another woman? It is a great question and I am afraid as you can see, one not easily answered. At the end of book one Billy shows no concern over the death of his natural mother, was he right or wrong to feel that way? I will let you decide.

Mason hates his mother and her constant interfering. He finds her tantrums unacceptable, and at times she is a complete embarrassment to him. Does he love the woman who has helped him achieve so much? He does not show it and acts as if he hates her, so there must be a very good reason, and that my dear readers will be revealed as we get to see the family of Berengar in book eight.

I have tried very hard to show you a little of the huge amount of work I put into the kingdom to fully illustrate every aspect of life. I hope as you have read through it, it has hopefully added greater weight and made it a much more realistic story. I do work very hard behind the scenes to try and get things as accurate as I can by thinking out every part of the story. I know many of you have taken a huge amount of pleasure from HTTK, which is one of my principle reasons for writing this Author view series of blog posts, as I do want this work of fantasy to feel as real as the life you live. So until my next piece, I will leave you all to think, and I hope it helps you discover more about the life of all the characters, and adds to that all important story of the Kingdom.

 

 

 

The Author’s Kingdom #18

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The Authors Kingdom is the Author, Robin John Morgan’s point of view that reveals an insight into his writing of Heirs to the Kingdom. It forms part of the Christmas Event for 2016.

 

A Circle of Belief

It is Yule in the Woodland Realm. The snow is white crisp and deep, the houses are warm, and a large log has been set to burn to bring back the light and warm the world.

 

One of the primary aspects of the woodland life is their belief system. When I first started out putting HTTK together, I tried to look at every aspect of life, and a part of that was the way in which the country would change, even within the spiritual belief of people. I assumed that all the remaining religions would declare that the chaos and death, was whichever particular God’s you followed way of showing their power, by wiping out the evil in the world. Too many times after a destructive event we are told, this is their will, and we are sinners who must repent, and this made me think, because I do understand how a large proportion of people think, what if those who were suffering could no longer accept that?

In my end of the world of Modern Man scenario the people fled into the countryside, and it was here that they found their saviours in the form of people who still embraced many of the of the old customs. It is largely true today that within the rural community there are still many of the old traditions that exist, even though Christianity is still a major factor of modern life. If you look you will find many pageants around the country that celebrate the Celtic and Saxon traditions of our past, and so that led me onto the path of looking at these older traditional beliefs as a way to reconnect the survivors with a different faith that could to a degree show to be their saviours.

In the scenario I wrote, I have shown how after the Red Death, and once the people had fled from the cities, the weather turned warm and nature flourished. Although I have never written it, I have implied that Opal played a big role in this, never forget she at that point was the Lady of the Woodland Realm. From my point of thinking, it was Opal who influenced the life all around her, and so therefore the harvests were better than normal, a very important ingredient in the survival of everyone in that first year. This created a scenario where those of a pagan based faith could stand and say that this was the work of their precious nature taking care of everyone, and in many ways for those who are disillusioned, I felt it would be something many would accept and embrace, after all their life had gone from one of the modern way of living, to working with the land.

One of the biggest problems with Paganism is that for the last two thousand years it has been painted black by the Christian faith, and so I knew at the time I had to approach the subject in a more sensitive way. There are many today who still think that to be a Pagan you have to be a devil worshiper, which is a tribute to the success of the Christian faith and its propaganda throughout the past. I have a lot of involvement with Pagans; I have many friends who all practice in different ways, but the one thing they all share, is a deep awareness of the world around them, and especially in the area of the Nature and the seasons of the year. I like to think that being a Pagan is a sort of life that is very spiritual (In many mays likened to Buddhists) and deeply environmental, there is no coincidence that many environmental protestors are Pagan, as they see the natural world as a sacred space, and they are prepared to stand up and fight to save it.

The most popular form of Paganism today is Wiccan, which began to resurge from about the late 1950’s in the UK and the USA, it has grown a lot faster in the states, but again there are many misconceptions about it, especially in the area of what they term as “The Craft.” Wiccans do call themselves “Witch and Warlock” as do many other kinds of Pagan, and to a large degree this frightens people off. I can assure you it is not all broomsticks and cauldrons and evil spells, in many ways it is the gentle approach to life and its surroundings that involve a directed focus on creating peace and harmony through rituals and spells, you may see it more as “White Witchery.”

Rather than have everyone in the books convert to Wiccan or any of the other forms of Pagan belief, I decided to create what we see in the books as Earth Faith. I used the term for two reasons, firstly to show the reader it was a belief based on the Earth (Nature etc..) and secondly I do not actually like the word Pagan. Historically and still even to this day in the dictionary, you will find that the definition of Pagan means at its most basic, “Uneducated Heathen” something I feel considering how many pagans I know is false. It is yet another example on the success of the Christian Church and how it has influenced every aspect of modern life, including our language.

Earth Faith in the books is based very much on the Pagan belief of the Druids. It is a way of life based in the soil and the belief that we are all connected to this Earth, and that there is an almost symbiotic relationship between us as humans and the trees and plants that surround us. The belief we are all dependant on each other in the circle of life is something I do actually believe myself, and so it was easy for me to write a belief system based on those views. Put as simply as possible, we need each other. We need the trees to provide the air we breathe, we need the plants to feed us and the animals so that we can thrive, we need the spaces to provide natural habits for the animals, and at the heart of all things we need the seasons and what they bring to help us maintain a natural and healthy environment, especially in the aspect of providing clean water.

In my mind all the above is simply the most practical approach to maintaining the world we live in, but even for those who are not believers of the Pagan way, I am sure you will agree that when you walk alone in a woodland, there is an almost spiritual air to the experience, as we all can when we look at nature, we feel our own connection to the world around us. Here it is easy to bring into play some real Pagan belief. We don’t always realise it, but in modern life we humanise everything, our TV shows have ghosts and talking animals. It is not uncommon to see children’s TV showing animals that wear clothes and drive cars and love all of the things we do, as they live in tiny houses etc, and yet talk of a man of the woods, lady of the lake, or god of thunder, and suddenly the modern world says we are all high on drugs and talking nonsense.

Here I always point to mythology, which has inspired the writing of books for hundreds of years, simply read the Tales of Grimm, Arthur and the round table, or Arabian Knights, and you will soon see that our whole world is underpinned with the tales of yesteryear, which are all based in one form or another on Pagan belief. These stories are not works of fantasy, they are the upgraded stories of our ancestors, all from a time long before the Christians or the Islamic faith grew to power. We are exposed to these tales throughout all of our childhood, and yet once we step into our adult life we are told it is nonsense, fairy stories, and wrong to continue to believe it. I always point out, that it was these very myths that taught children how to navigate our iron and bronze age world, and no matter how modern and protected we think we may be, nature as we have seen in the last decade has a funny way of rising up to show that man is not really in control, and we need to learn better how to avoid the pit falls she creates.

One of the easiest ways to get a child to understand something is to make it human like, which is why our ancestors did it, within HTTK I have done the very same thing. I have the Man of the Words who they call Green Lord, I have the source of life Eve, I have a power that lives in the sky, Albanlin, and I have a force of nature divided between two human forms, Runestone and Jade. Each of these characters interact with other humans on a human level, but they are the human representations of those very same powers of the Earth.

When it came to the rituals, I wanted to avoid the old argument of how the Christians used Pagan dates in order to supress Pagan belief, and introduce their faith to the masses. It is a very important aspect of Pagan belief, and so with a delicate touch I have introduced some of the main traditions of beliefs to the books under the guise of Earth Faith. I think to be honest a part of me wanted to write how living within the balance of life has its rewards, but I also wanted to show that these traditions are not evil, or devil related. I mention Imbolc (Fed 2nd) and show a little of what is still today a big part of rural life, in the form of Beltaine. (May Day) There is no coincidence that we all have a bank holiday on the weekend of May first; this is more a political thing today than say religious, but it is yet another example of how the Pagan belief has been manipulated to appease the masses whilst suppressing the Pagan tradition. Summers end is still the highlight of the Pagan year, and so I wanted very much to show it within the books. To overcome any issues that could arise from it, I spliced it with Runestone’s birthday, and her upcoming wedding. This allowed me to show the celebration in the background, whilst writing a full piece into the book on her wedding. Samhain, or All Hallows Eve, is a sacred time for Pagans. Whilst the rest of the country today celebrate the death of witches, (Pagan women burned alive for their Pagan belief) Pagan’s celebrate the end of the growing year, and the start of the preparations for winter and the new growing year to come.

Again with the modern world this is no longer significant as we all just run off to the local large market on the edge of town to buy what we need, but I wanted to show that for our ancestors this was a dramatically important time. The harvest was in, and it was a time to prepare for the storage of food, this is a life and death moment for those who live solely on the land, if you do not store enough, you will not make it through the long cold days. Samhain is about doing exactly that, you take what will be required and place it into storage, food is pickled and preserved, meat is salted and stored, and grains are ground to flour and placed in cool stores. It is the reason most houses to this day still have a pantry, because in older times that was where the food was placed until required. Once everything is stored away and safe for the winter, the excess was then used in a meal of celebration, and the whole community would gather to share a meal and strengthen the bonds between them. It is something I feel to be a tradition that we should revive, after all we all lock ourselves in our homes for the long cold snowy days of December and January, maybe a festival revival would make us realise that we do have neighbours, and we could strengthen our communities and maybe take a moment in bad weather to think of them and ensure they too are safe. This was the purpose of Samhian, and as I wrote it, it is clear that there are no devils or evil acts involved, if anything it is a festival of friendship.

Life no matter how you try to deny it is a wheel. It goes round in a circle dictated by the seasons and repeats, we are born, we live, we die. We are children who learn, grownups who work, and mature adults who retire, and then we die. We go to bed and sleep, we wake and eat, we begin our day and work, we return home at night to eat, and then we sleep. The whole of human life revolves around circular patterns of routine, the Pagan’s recognise this and work their faith within it.

My story centres on a farm that became the focal point of a group of people, and so as the year progresses I show the circle of the farms work routines. I show the fields of Mid-Summer filled with food, Jess and Hanna running the preserves operation as they pickle the tomatoes, or Fuse as he oversees the corn and wheat stores with Jess. Throughout the whole of Heirs to the Kingdom there is the farm always in the background noting the lifestyle of those within the woodland realm, even Joe alone in the woodland has his still as he cooks up potent whiskey. It is the cycle of rural life, and again it shows us all how we can live on the land with hard work and make it successful. Everything appears to balance, even Robbie when faced with a stag and the deer as he hunts, tells Runestone, “we only take what we need.” This is the heart of Earth Faith working to the benefit of everyone.

Today as I write it is the start of Yule, another element of the faith that I briefly slip within the pages of the books. Today we know that the days will begin to stretch and grow longer as more light will enter the world. Light from the sun is one of the most important elements of the growing year; it is the one factor that will determine the success or failure of your crops. It is the middle of winter, which is a time of concern, especially if you have to manage the food you have stored. In the faith it is important to recognise that the half way point has been reached, and soon you will be on the threshold of Spring. In Pagan belief evergreen trees are sacred; they show us that life can be sustained through the long deep cold of winter. They are the symbol of hope that kept our ancestors going, and today we take an evergreen and bring it into our home and decorate it. It is a massively Pagan belief, and something all of us do without even understanding why.

To our ancestors it was a significant act that brought new life at a hostile time, into the home to show that it was possible to live in the most hostile of seasons. The days are dark and cold, and so a large log is placed on the fire, they called it Yule Log; we still have them today except we make them from candy and cake. It is at this point when you look to your stores, and you will know how you will fair in the coming months. Up until this point food has been rationed, and so now is the time to see if there is extra. At this time of celebration of the halfway point, extra rations are given and it provides a chance to fatten up a little to have the important reserves within your body to face the hostile end of winter. It is an important part of the life we live in partnership with the land, and so it is a highly significant time in Earth Faith. It has been demonised by the Christian Faith as tree worship and demon worship and converted to Christmas, and yet even they bring in a tree and decorate it in their churches.

The whole point of Earth Faith was to give mu characters a stronger sense of identity based on rituals of the past. I also wanted to show that this belief that still exists today, is not evil or sinister as it has been painted, but is based on a way of life that kept us alive long enough to evolve into the world as we know it today. Like all things you can hood wink the people for so long, and Pagan belief has become a growing trend in the last decade. I still think there is lot of misconception between the clashing faiths of Pagan and Christianity, and actually the sad thing is that Christianity in a bid to overcome the strength of Pagan belief in the past developed a lot of its own ritual around that of the rituals it was trying to destroy, and as a result both faiths have very much a similar way of living their year. They have far more in common, than they realise, if fact I would even say they have more in common than they do uncommon. Christian’s have one god, Pagans give human aspects to the powers they know are out there, and yet the rituals and timing of them are very similar, and I felt when writing I wanted to show this.

In book four I deliberately wanted to show the Christian Church of the past, and the modern church. I crashed the two together in the chapters leading up to the chapter “Tests of Faith.” I think it is important to acknowledge those of all faiths who refuse to change with the times, and it was here I showed the dogma of Brother Argus, pitted against the reformer Bishop Steven’s. Into the mix I through reason in the form of Runestone, and as we see she does point out that they both have far more in common than they would at first realise. I like this chapter, although I will not deny I had a lot of flak over it, but at least that provides me with my side of the coin and I can explain to those who attacked me at the time what it was I was trying to show. Admittedly those entrenched in dogma were never going to listen and understand my point of view, but a lot did listen from both sides of the equation, and I felt that the chapter brought forth a lot of understanding for both parties, and that is a good thing. It is easy to sling mud at an opponent, but point out their similarities and the task gets harder.

In HTTK understanding Mason would seek to influence, I think it was simple deduction to say he would look to a surviving church, and so it made sense to give my opposition to Mason an opposing view. It served the purpose of creating a good clash between old culture and new evolving culture, and also gave me a chance to show a little more understand of all sides of the spiritual boundaries. I hope it worked well and did show the readers something new of this modern world. I think within Earth Faith it shows you can be spiritual, without being religious, and you can work to protect the earth without being a Pagan, but more importantly I think it showed that we can all live together with dialogue no matter what our spiritual beliefs may be, and looking at the current world today, I actually think it could be a very good thing indeed.

The customs and traditions of our past were there for a very important reason, and it is one we should not forget. They were customs that kept us in touch with ourselves and the land we lived on, and in many ways it is sad they have been left by the wayside in the wake of Christianity, and the growth of the modern world. Pagan belief taught us that we are all connected to everything, and modern life with money had taught us everything can be sold. More than ever it is important that we understand the past, for it is in doing so we can build a better future. I think the message of our ancestors is very important, and it is not one we should easily ignore as we are doing today. The messages woven in to early religious faith was based on the facts of survival, and we are all intelligent enough to now see that, and understand we can learn from these rituals without having to be a part of that faith, and as a result we can prosper in peace.

Heirs to the Kingdom highlights one way of life, that could evolve in future years, after all we really do not have any idea of what will become of mankind. No doubt if such a scenario did occur, I am sure religion would rise in one form or another to either control or aid the survivors. I honestly think if one religion rises, others will rise to challenge it, and within those faiths will be a blue print for the kinds of life those people want to rebuild. I have to confess it is a great deal of fun to sit back and play out all the scenarios, and I have very much enjoyed putting my little pieces together. I enjoy reading books that challenge my view of the world, because in doing so I have to open my mind and try to figure out where my place in it would be, and in a way I have done something similar with HTTK. I suppose now the only question is, where would you be in HTTK, green world or stone?

Be you Christian, Islamic, Pagan or any of the other faiths that exist in the world today, I send to you my wishes for a peaceful and prosperous time of year, and I hope your celebrations are fruitful and happy.

The Author’s Kingdom #17

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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.

 

The Heart of HTTK

It would be impossible to write anything in detail about HTTK as a series, without taking a moment to consider what is probably one of the most important ingredients to the story? I would even go so far as to say that in every sense of the word, the topic I have chosen for today is the heart of Heirs to the Kingdom.

I speak of course of the relationship between Robbie and Runestone.

From the point of view of the writer, I have to admit this is perhaps the most complicated, intertwined and complex aspect of everything I have written. Getting the simple relationship of these two to balance and work has never been an easy task, and yet some of the moments that they share, have become some of the greatest moments within this story.

In my eyes Robbie and Runestone are as perfect match, and yet they are similar in so much as they are also very different. In all honesty I knew when I first began they would couple up to create the future lines, I had their whole way of life and relationship scripted out long before I did anything else, but like all things with my writing they were just bullet points. I took the view that as I wrote and filled in all the blanks they would develop as a couple and I would just in a way wing it. I never for one moment considered that their relationship would blossom into the incredible romance that I have now created. What started out as an integral part of what was an action adventure story, has indeed developed a heart that has become a wonderful tale of true love. I get asked all the time, is this really a love story? It is harder and harder to answer, because even I have say now after seven books, it is their love that has become the glue that holds everything together, they are the heart and soul of HTTK.

In order to fully understand these two, I must show you the way in which I created the characters, and then expand on how I then brought them together by using a series of questions. You see my very first steps in writing is that I create as much as I can on paper, so Robbie and Runestone to begin with were two very distinct and different characters. I first of all created their image, and so to begin with I worked with what I already know. Robbie is a taller and more muscular version of myself as teenager, I figured what the hell this look I understand, after all I have lived it, I had the long knotted wavy hair, the dark eyes and tanned skin, I was complex as a teenager and stubborn, and I did observe a great deal in order to understand the world around me. Robbie was quite easy to create because of this, and even now as he has developed away from the person I have become, I still have a very deep understanding of the character. I get asked all the time if I based Robbie on me, and to be honest he is like me in looks only, in everything else he is a very different person.

Runestone was far more complicated. I do have to ashamedly admit that my weakness for the Celtic blues eyes red haired and pale skin female does show a little. I grew up around a few girls like Runestone and did indeed date a few, and so when it came to putting Rune together it was not that difficult task as I had about ten girls I had known in the back of my mind from which to pool the better aspects, and again I always get asked is who is Runestone, did you know her, was she someone special? Well to finally lay the myth to bed, she was special, all ten of them were in one form or another (laughs) I think if she was one person, I would have more than likely married her thirty years ago, however she is the pieces of several old really good old friends/girlfriends rolled into one, and so therefore no she is not based on any one girl.

Robbie was pretty easy to develop; he was a farm lad with a good education, and a rough understanding of most things. His parents showered him with love and treated him like an adult as soon as he was old to fully understand them, so even though when he enters the story he is only 17 almost 18, he is far more advanced than say a normal average 17 year old by today’s standards. Runestone was far harder. Robbie has this extraordinary talent with the long bow, which to him is just something that he has an ability for, he does not question it or even get big headed about it, he just applies it to his life. One of the keys to the Robbie/Runestone equation that is really important is in his understanding and feelings for nature. He loves the natural world and finds a way of existing within it that keeps it safe, protected and balanced. I think it is here we see the true key to his love and understanding of Runestone, although I have never actually written it in the books, I do think in many ways on a subconscious level, Robbie identified those qualities within her, and in doing so combined his love of the wilderness with her without even realising what he had done. It is in my mind a completely natural act that bonds them in ways no other will ever fully understand.

The biggest problem with Runestone was that she lived in a world of secrets, and had been taught in a way to act against her better instincts. This was more as a means of protection than anything else; after all as we now know she is a very exceptional person with many talents and gifts, and a very important future destiny. The other often unseen part of Runestone is that she has all of these gifts that are developing all the time, and so from my point of view there was always going to be a part of her that was far more aware of things that others knew. To get the point across I brought in the line “Trust me I know stuff.” It was a simple way of showing the reader that she understood far deeper than the others realised, we see another great example of this in book four, when Steph shows Leenard the equation of Iona, and he works out that Runestone all along had been trying to influence the events around her, to protect Robbie and ensure that he became the one for her.

Runestone is very difficult to write, she has to be one step ahead at all times and yet holding back. The way in which I developed this is by slowly changing her adult behaviour. In the first book we meet what at first appears to be a typical teenager, she is shy and appears vulnerable, and yet when Harry passes out and Robbie is asleep on the settee, she takes the lead in initiating their first sexual encounter. I must admit at this point I do laugh, as I remember a certain friend reading this and looking at me in horror. Her view was I could not write this because it showed a teenage virgin girl initiating a sexual experience, and also in front of a passed out relative. She was really quite disturbed about something she saw as quite graphic, and as I pointed out to her, this is actually by modern day standards a very normal occurrence, kids today do this stuff it is actually accurate. I also added that I wrote nothing graphic, I simply implied something, and then left the reader to draw their own pictures, at which point she blushed and I laughed and told her, “Wow your mind is filthier than mine.” I still laugh about it now.

Once again this is yet another example of the natural side of her coming to the surface. Teenagers are pretty much raging hormones, and even though in this so called modern society of today we like to think we know it all, we still tend to hide the behaviour of a normal teenager behind a cloak of shame, let us be quite honest and clear, we have all been there and all tried out something equally as naughty. I actually think it is the problem with modern adults, if at times we allowed nature a little more of a natural influence, we would all feel much more at ease and fulfilled.

Runestone is developing far quicker than Robbie, it is the normal rule and as you read through the books and just pay attention to her language and phasing, you will see that she develops much faster and is more mature at times than Robbie. I had set points in each book at which I upped the level of her intellect and her language, and with these small changes Runestone takes the lead and does indeed become the centre of everything. It was a really difficult task at first and I had to really balance things out carefully to get the development at the right rate. You have to understand that her awareness of herself and the rest of the world are constantly expanding, as she becomes more like her mother and Opal even though she is still only young. Runestone is nature personified in a human form, and that brings into play a massive amount of data. This young girls feels every life force and understands everything that is living around her without question, she speaks every language, and senses every emotion. She is still young and yes at times it completely overwhelms her, as it did when Robbie fell into the river, but again at this point you have to understand more of who she is, because in a simple way she is actually two people. We have Runestone the centre of everything and force of nature, but we also have Runestone the teenager who is completely in love, and that creates a clash at times.

Just imagine being so deeply in love and we know from the books she has been in love from the moment she first watched Robbie through the old gate. Here is a young girl with all these intensely powerful hormonal emotions flowing through her, and they rule no matter how much other power or gifts she has, it is the most powerful aspect of who she is, which is why Leenard comments he would like to study it. Even the old wizard can see that her love is actually restraining her true gifts, and that makes for something more powerful than anything the Ruling Council has ever seen.

I developed the two characters as separate individuals, and then by sticking to those characteristics I then brought them together. One of the first things I asked myself was is this possible?

It probably sounds like an odd thing to ask, but I looked at the scenario that would play out and pull them both together in a task and shared destiny, and before I could even write a word, I had to answer the question of if this would actually come across as being a real task and adventure. I looked deeply at the plot and gave it a great of thought because I knew in the back of my mind if this mission was not achievable, then the whole story would fall down before I even began writing. I asked myself several questions, could Robbie and Runestone really take a party of mainly teenagers accompanied by a few adults into what was going to be a combat zone and get the job done?

I spent a lot of time looking at just how they could accomplish all the hurdles they would encounter, and before writing each part of the story, I looked at ways of solving the problems before adding the new chapters. Having been able to find credible answers to the tasks before them, I then began to work on how they would come together to create the union that would eventually bring forth the next queen of Fae.

Being a parent helped, and in a way it was nice to look at back at the birth of my daughter and remember all the panic and feeling I experienced when faced with the prospect of having to raise my own child. Writing does involve using personal experience, so from Robbie’s point of view I could easily add the concerns that I went through, shortly after writing a large section of the parts in book four my wife told me she was pregnant, and so when it came to the editing I used a huge amount of my experience of going through the birth of my second daughter with her as a good guide in adding more to the book, it was amazingly helpful and I think really added weight to that section. For the rest of the theme I used a long list of notes of what I had actually written and my characters had experienced to shape their relationship, spliced with a few things I seen and admired in other very successful relationships. It has always been important that the interactions between Robbie and Runestone are written with care, I knew from day one that the whole series would be based around these two people, and as they learned aspects of the world around them, so would the reader. This became my process of revelation from page one of the first book, this is after all the story of these two people as they experience their home and the fear of an oncoming oppressor.

Although Robbie and Runestone are scripted out at the start of each book, I do find that because of the way they have naturally evolved, I find myself writing in little special moments. In an odd way I have reached a point where even I see them as a real living couple in my mind, and as I write them together I can see them in my thoughts, and this again really does help as I imagine the scenario of them together, and I think it creates a deeper bond not only between them, but between the them and the readers as they follow the progress of their lives. I have asked myself many times, would the story be as successful if these two special people were not as close and bonded as they are? I think I can only answer no, because after all this is their journey that is being shared with those who read it.

Like all of us they do have their ups and downs, Runestone because of who she is has to keep some secrets from Robbie and you feel the tension she feels, especially considering the life for life scenario, which could have easily brought about their end. Robbie does not always quite understand the life she has to live that encompasses all the strange aspects of her family and their tasks, and it does at times cause friction, after all both of them are human at their core. His lack of understanding does breed some frustrations, but likewise so does his life as a lord in Loxley, which does put massive demands on his life, which is something that Runestone at times has to understand and accept, even though she feels a little insecure at times and wants him closer to her.

I think that this is what creates the unshakeable bond of trust they hold between them, and they do believe in other 1000%, in the fact that no matter what happens, they know they will find their way through it and back to each other. I magnified this when Robbie was lost in the river, after a week everyone had lost hope and was starting to slip into the acceptance he was gone forever, it is Runestone who wakes form her collapsed state after a week with the resolute belief he is not dead. Even though every single fact points to his death along with Sapphire, Runestone feels the bond between and refuses to accept it at all, even to the point where she is prepared to stand against what is possibly the most powerful and influential figure in Robbie’s life, his mother. She screams at Jess, “he is not dead.”

No one wants to believe her, and yet they underestimate the power that is contained within her, and as Runestone flees in search of her one true love, all they can do is hug each other and try not to hope. I thought a lot about this part of book two, as at the time it appeared to me that actually no one really understood what had happened between Robbie and Runestone. No one really could see the true depths of the bond they shared and the scenes that followed with Runestone’s unshakeable belief he was still alive was yet another way I tried to open up to the readers what was really coming in the future books. This was the one way I could really illustrate the power between them that would create the Violet Lines, and as we saw Runestone proved to be right, and her determination even whilst fearful everyone else was right, gave her the power to finally find him and bring him home. This powerful drama was played out in the second book to pave the way for what was to come, and as the books developed we move into the wedding, the loss of Robert where again Runestone fights to hold her love for Robbie and her coming family together, the birth of their children, and her loss into the hidden realm. From that first powerful drama Runestone rises as the power behind the both of them, and even Robbie has to admit that she has grown to become the centre of his world and everything else, his simple acceptance of this is yet another tribute to the power of this couple.

I often get asked if I will write more on HTTK after the initial series is finished, or will I like so many other authors write something completely different? Obviously this is something I do give a great deal of thought to, can I really walk away from HTTK and not look back? I honestly have no idea, I would like to write some other things I do not deny, I already having several unrelated stories that I would very much like to put together, my mind is always working on something, and as I approach the final book in the Heirs to the Kingdom series I already have the foot notes for several unrelated stories. I am not sure what my future holds, I do after all have to balance my real life with my writing life, and that is not always easy when bills have to be paid. I will say this, that as long as I have life, I am after all 52 years old and almost into my 53rd year, and ten years into the process of preparing and writing HTTK, I will continue to write. But if I never write another word for publication I can honestly say that out of the amazing things I have done in my life, the creation of Runestone and Robbie has been one of the most satisfying and most rewards aspects of my life so far. I do feel very proud of this story, it is still pretty much undiscovered, but maybe one day many others will walk with this special couple through the trees and love them as much as I do.

There will be no shortage of lose leads when I finally complete book eight, and if the demand grows for more of this couple and their story, I would love to return to it at some future point, because emotionally I am very invested in this story, and I am also sure I want to know what will become of them all, but for now the tale will end on the last page of book eight. I have so much already written on the back story and even some speculative bits for future use, and I am sure that between other projects I will find time to add more detail to the tale, whether or not they appear as full stories I have not decided, but that is simply because I want the last book out so I know where I stand with everything. The books do change for their original scripting as the story evolves, and so for now nothing is set in stone until the last book hits the shelves.

Robbie and Runestone will live on in their world, and I will always walk with them occasionally, as they have been a huge part of my life. I have the web site and the blog, and so I am sure more will come in one form or another, so I will end here with a confident. “We will see what evolves?”