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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?”

 

The Author’s Kingdom #16

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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 Fair and the Fearsome Fae.

Today I am going to share some of my notes that were written somewhere around the late 1990’s, and they feature the way I first set up the two lines of Fae. I have hinted at some of the detail here, but as of yet I have not shared much of the story behind the writing of the Fae in the books.

We all know the story of the Fae, and how Tydeguide left the body made for her by Eve, and returned to an energy spirit and went off in search of Earathome. Eve took the garment left behind and used to refashion two more new garments that were given life and named Rhiannon and Bridge, who late changed her own name to Bridget. These were the first of the Fae, and as females they were set as Queens to live a longer life than the human, and this was the creation of the two lines, one being White Circle the Fae of Earth, and the other being Ofmoon the Fae of the Moon.

Within HTTK there are many hints and side stories that paint a very vague picture of the Fae, and one of my main reasons for this is that they are known as a people of secrets, I am sure Opal would be thrilled to share her view of the Fae with you. Rhiannon and Bridget worked very closely at first, and in the start of their days together, they shared many of the secrets that they learned of their powers. No one is quite sure who, but at some point one of them chose to withhold a new aspect of their power from the other, and so began the deeper secrets and the protection of each of the lines powers.

Rhiannon is probably the main suspect of the split, but it has not been proven, although if rumours are true, there was a great deal about Rhiannon that Bridget did not agree with and she started to distrust her. The result of the split caused two things; firstly everyone was banned from the Realm of the Moon, and so today only Fae Ofmoon can go there, even Hearne and Gwendolyn have never been allowed to enter the sacred halls.

it is said that The White Lord Alabanlin, who is the most powerful member of the Ruling Council, demanded entrance, and when Rhiannon refused, he blew off the doors and walked inside. Rhiannon was fearful for her life, and eventually conceded to the White Lord, that she would work again with Bridget to reunite the Fae, and as a result, and after some convincing from Albanlin, Hearne and Eve agreed to allow Rhiannon a realm on the Earth, so as to allow for commerce between the Fae of the Moon and the Fae of Earth, and some Human traders. And so Avalon was opened and Rhiannon sent her workers to build in the realm and prepare for her arrival.

The second thing that happened was Bridget sent out her scouts into all the realms, and asked for the land of Florae to be given to the Fae of Earth, as it was connected to the Violet Isle, the place on the Earth where Bridget had set up her centre in the early days. It was a reasonable request submitted with great reverence and eloquence, and Hearne was so overwhelmed by it, he travelled with Eve to the realm and prepared it personally, by adding some things which up until that time no one had seen. Bridget ruled that all would be welcome in the new realm, and she took her seat and married Malcolm of Fae to rule beside her. Bridget was a close friend of Eve, and they spent many hours talking each day as the realm was built, for Eve loved Florae as it had been created as a realm of life. From the first day of her rule, Bridget proclaimed that the Fae of Earth would bring peace and life to the world, and she deemed the land of the Fae of Earth sacred. The main rule to her people was that they would make her realm, which was a cluster of seven islands flourish with life, and from that day forth none would mine or burrow into the deep earth of the land, but would till the soil and use it for the creation of more life. The Fae of the Earth practiced their skills and after many longs years they now excel in the growing of food, trees and plant life to preserve the creations of Hearne and Eve, they also excel in the sculpting of timber.

Rhiannon had a different approach, her workers dug deep into the land and tunnelled under everything. They discovered huge caves and hidden lakes, and a wealth of crystal and amethyst and other assorted precious gems. Avalon which was the name given the realm by Rhiannon became famous for its trades, and everyone benefited from the jewel trade, but none more so than Rhiannon. Avalon was a vast realm of wild lands and mountains, and her workers scoured every corner to seek the wealth of this new country, and the Fae of the Moon grew prosperous and very wealthy. All appeared happy, but scratch below the surface and it was clear to see, that the queen had her favourites, and at times within the far corners of her realm there was some dissent. Rhiannon responded by building an army of fierce fighters known as the Marshals of the land, and in the early days before her arrival, many small rebellions were quashed. The root of the unrest grew out of her love of golden hair, and those who had darker colours were set to work below the surface out of sight. Albanlin advised her of her position and requested she reconsidered her favour, but Rhiannon stood fast on the arrival in her new realm, and whilst those of fair hair lived in luxury surrounded by wealth, those of the darker hair moved further away from the centre at Avalonia, to pursue other aspects of life, out of sight of their queen.

Whilst the Fae of the Moon practiced fighting, and the creation of things of great beauty, Bridget in her own realm ruled with a fair hand, where all were equal. She promoted harmony and sent many of her Fae out into the other realms to learn of the people and the lands that they lived in. Her counsellors and ambassadors were greeted with respect, and many races prospered due to the peace accords set up by the Fae of Earth. Malcolm laboured for a long time on the realm, as his son Ninian grew into manhood, he too became one of the architects of Florae, and together many of the royal buildings and bridges were built and carved by Ninian and his father.

Shortly after Ninian was married to Erin of Kell, an important ambassador to the House of Scribes went missing. Ariel who had been the head of documenting everything the Fae of Earth had done to bring peace to world went missing, and Malcolm was deeply concerned, she was a close friend to Bridget, and both of them knew she was not the type to simply wander off without word. Scouts were sent out, yet all returned without every finding a trace of her. In a last ditched attempt to find her and the important documents she carried, he took a small group of well-trained hunters and went in search of her. His search lasted for seven years, and he returned with no hope in his heart, and sick, having not found one of the most important members of the House of Scribes. Shortly after his return he developed a fever and died within days, the shock was great and the people mourned for the loss of one of their greatest members to the line of Fae. Bridget never really recovered from his death, and slowly as the years advanced she grew paler and weaker, until she lapsed into a strange kind of sleeping sickness. For ten years it was as if she fought some terrible internal struggle, that filled her nights with terrors and her dreams with fear. None of the healers could find the reason for her decline, and after suffering in her chambers locked away from her people, she finally died in the arms of her granddaughter Gwendolyn.

To this day, there is still no explanation for the death of Bridget Violet of Florae. She was buried in splendour beside her husband, in a tomb made of the blackest stone, set high on the mountain of Kivi overlooking the land she so beautifully shaped to fit the hand of her people. Gwendolyn reluctantly took the mantle of queen, and with her father Ninian, and her brother Gwynfor, they set about finishing off the plans that had been made by her mother for Florae.

Rhiannon ruled over Avalon guided by the Seer of the Fae, until tragedy struck at the heart of the realm. Late in the night, at the heart of Midsummer, Eleanor her daughter, who was loving and gentle was slain in the night. The attack on Eleanor was brutal and vicious, and the ripples of shock crossed all of the land. Such was the manner of her death that the whole realm was rocked, as no one could imagine who would wish to do something so vile and brutal to the elegant and sweet Eleanor. Rhiannon was devastated, and for the first time in a long time she lost all sense of direction and even her will to continue. Within weeks the old wizard Merlin disappeared, and at first many accused him of the killing, but Gwendolyn who was now his wife approached the queen and argued in his defence. As the weeks progress and turmoil ruled in Avalon, where even the Seer and her son argued for reason from the queen, it collapsed when suddenly out of nowhere during the day, the screams of a women resounded all over Avalon. No one was sure as to what had caused such a loud and terrible scream, the truth was revealed with the roar of the Green Lord as he discovered the mutilated garment of Eve. Her human form had been slashed and mutilated, and her fading spirit was ripped right out of her form and hung from a tree. It was so sickening that many fled right there and then, dropping their things and heading down the Queens Road to the gate.

Gwendolyn had her suspicions, and soon others started to disappear, along with members of Gwendolyn’s own family who had been residing in Avalon as ambassadors. When The Green Lord disappeared followed shortly by his daughter, the realm panicked, and whilst Gwendolyn begged for calm to resolve the issue, Rhiannon announced she would leave the realm and seal it forever from everyone. Two months after it had been announced to pack and prepare, Una arrived with her wounded mother. Una was the eldest daughter of Gwendolyn, and Rhiannon in a bid to save her friends life, took them deep into the Forest of Time, and gave them a place that was safe to hide until Gwendolyn was well enough to return. Word was sent to Gwynfor to seal Florae from all but the Fae, as Gwendolyn had accused Morgan of Cornwall of the deaths of all the members of the council that had died, and informed them it had been Morgan who had masterminded the fall of Arthur, the one true king of the men of Britannia.

Fagan, Maker of Avalon, and son to the Seer of Fae, took up the call and rallied the Marshalls to hunt her down. Avalon was sealed and every corner was searched. One night whilst alone close to the Mount, the sacred burial site of Arthur and Uther, Rhiannon discovered Morgan and a bitter fight took place. It is unclear as to the full facts, except to state that Rhiannon was injured with a powerful and dark curse. As the Marshals rang out the alarms and ran to the protection of their queen, Morgan escaped, but she was for the first time outsmarted, and she was met at her small cottage by Fagan and a group of very angry Marshals, of which one was Rayne Ofmoon. The fight that followed was bloody, and many of the marshals were defeated by a pack of beings never known in the realm before. Rayne and Fagan endured, and in the midst of the fight, something very strange happened. As Morgan flung out curses and her beasts attacked, suddenly she froze in the doorway to her home. No one is very sure as to what actually happened, except to say that out of nowhere, Morgan suddenly looked terrified, just for a second she was frozen with fear, and Rayne with Fagan seized their moment, there was an almighty explosion and the house was almost completely destroyed. When the dust and debris cleared there was nothing to be seen of Morgan, just the old chimney and part of her doorway were left standing, everything else was blown to pieces and blackened.

Morgan was never seen in Avalon again, the realm was sealed, and nothing was found to prove she survived. No one understood why the young girl, who had been an apprentice to the old wizard, had committed such horrendous acts, and as Rhiannon recovered and prepared to leave, she was haunted by the lack of details to explain her daughter’s death. As the final days approached and Sequana the Seer of the Fae set off in search of her dreams, her son Fagan begged the queen to allow him to stay and maintain the realm in her absence. At first she refused, but after his persistence, she granted him leave and named him Keeper, and Fagan headed into the large Forest that bordered the realm to build a house, and start his new duty ensuring all within Avalon was carefully preserved. Rhiannon finally took all of the Fae back to the realm of the moon, and Avalon became a memory in the lives of the men that had visited and traded there, where eventually over time it slipped into legend.

Several months after Rhiannon left, members of the Fae of Earth began to disappear, and there were rumours of sightings of Morgan, who now used the identity of the Countess le Fey. Fear ran wild within the Fae communities and as a result they began to scatter and hide within the lines of men, Florae which still sealed remained hidden from view and those of the realm continued to work to protect their land. Ninian was aging but decreed that it was time to take their hunting skills and use them to protect the Fae, and a new legion of fighters were trained for a day when the Fae were put in danger. The House of Scribes predicted the coming of a new queen of violet, and they all prayed it would be Bridget returned to them, and so behind the scenes, they began the long preparations for the coming of their new queen hidden out of sight of all the realms, for it was also predicted that a darkness had arrived in the world, and it would seek to destroy all that had been built and kill the new queen at birth. Secrets became far more guarded and the magic was researched and improved, Fae were sent out to find out about, where and how the new queen would come. and guard her from the shadows, for the day would dawn when a raven would herald the start of the days of darkness, and as those days began, it would dance with the dragon of blood.

As I stated this was the piece I wrote to lay out the ground work for all the Fae as they interacted within HTTK. Gwynfor wandered out into the world to watch and coordinate the efforts to seek out the new queen. When Gwendolyn briefly appeared he contacted her and was advised to seek out and protect the Hooded Man and those who would support him, he already was watching one; a young woman in Scotland named Rose. As more news appeared of a new Hooded Man behind the scenes the Fae began to secretly watch and protect those surrounding Loxley which was fast becoming a centre for those who opposed a man referred to as the Snake. This Snake had a crest of a bloody dragon, and he was aligned to a new power rising in the north who’s troops wore the crest of a raven, it made sense that at some point the Hooded man would come to Scotland, and all Gwynfor had to do was sit and wait, and he knew that a line long lost to the Fae would return.

 

The Author’s Kingdom #15

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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 Hidden Force behind HTTK.

 

There is far more to the Green Circle than meets the eye.

There is an aspect to this story that is not always as obvious as it should be, and to fully understand it, you have to take a trip back in time to none other than the Forest of Time.

Back in the dark past, this place was the first home of Eve and Hearne, and it is here that everything was created, including a tiny individual that was going to grow up running wild in the impressive forest, and getting into all kinds of mischief and learning far more than she should be doing so. I speak of that little wood nymph Opal.

It is very easy to understand where Runestone comes from, all you have to do is look to Leenard and Stephanie his daughter, for there you see the understanding and the wisdom Runestone inherited, but that poses the question, “How the hell do you explain Jade?”

There is no coincidence that Jade has a second name of Opal. From the moment she opened her bright green eyes and smiled, it was clear where the main influence of this child lay. In many ways when writing HTTK I deliberately wrote Jade as a younger version of Opal so that I could go some way to showing Opal as a young girl. It is at first hard to understand this older woman, who is filled with so much insight and wisdom and then compare her to Jade, but the simple fact is that they walk hand in hand as they are relatively the same kind of person. Jade does not fit in at Loxley and is gossiped about for most of the time she is there, this is due mainly to her wild and carefree personality, which everyone disapproves of. But if you travel back in time to the Forest of Time, you get to start to understand why, Jade is confined, and that is something she can never accept, once she is taken to meet Joe and start her training as a Woodsman, a door within her is unlocked that allows her true nature to break out, and it is that of a child born to roam and investigate the surroundings of everything. She is beyond doubt almost identical to Opal in her youth, and so the understanding of both of them deepens as we get a view of what Jade will be like in her extreme old age, and at the same time we see Opal the younger girl running wild through the trees and scrub.

During the setup of HTTK, The Forest of Time was set together to become the balance within the world. It is made up primarily of living things such as trees and flowers etc. As we all know, trees and plants spread, and so as the mighty forest expanded, so did the ability to bring life and balance it to all the other realms. This was my basic premise for the forest, and into that I placed Eve and Hearne. For them this is home, it is the centre of everything they are, and everything they will become, and when the time came to build a special place for Rhiannon to base herself on the Earth, it made sense to attach that realm to one of the most powerful realms of all. Eve and Hearne took the first realm they had built as an experiment, which was adjacent or overlapping into their home realm, and they gave it to the people of Fae of the Moon, it was renamed Avalon, and slowly Rhiannon sent down her workers to craft the realm to her desire.

This realm was a new realm that was initially an experiment for Eve and Hearne, and having created it, they then went onto to build many more realms, including the Woodland Realm, which would become the home to their children and some of their other creations. So we have two realms of massive importance that overlap, the Forest of Time and Avalon, the realm that was to be filled with Fae secrets, at this point, enter small wild child of the Green Circle, Opal.

Green Circle is nature personified in human form, something I think we have lost touch with in our modern life, being natural is exactly that, but in the modern world today it is regarded as shameful, and ironically referred to as “Unnatural.” If you look at the vast attributes of nature, you begin to understand Opal and the children she would bring into the world, and her grandchildren. For Opal it was normal and natural to run wild and naked through the Forest of Time, this was after all her playground, and clothing became a concept of the Human and Fae world. Like all of nature, there is a growing sense of almost inquisitiveness about it. Nature as we know creates many things and tries many different paths, and it watches to see what works and what fails, we call it evolution, but for nature it is just a normal natural thing, which probably goes a very long way to explaining the personality of Opal. Nothing really surprises her, everything is taken it her stride as she goes about her business, and her mind which is far keener than most realise, is always open and working at seeing everything.

Opal also feels everything deeply like Runestone does; even after her powers have decreased, she is still very aware of everything around her, it is almost a habit that she has done it for so long and so she naturally feels the need to watch and learn, and may I add at this point interfere. The Fae of Earth and Ofmoon hold many secrets that they guard with their life, but the problem there is if you are an inquisitive small wild child with the ability to become invisible, then nothing is truly a secret, especially if you happen to be based within what is to begin with, a realm that served as a playground for the Daughter of Life herself.

Opal is not like anyone you would meet easily, she is kind and accepting, and very friendly to all, but she is also a force of destruction more powerful than anything you will ever wish to meet. Never forget who her parents are, and as Eve explains she is the union of two very distinct powers, Opal was the first child born of two lines of power, which if you need further explanation read Book Six.

Opal has witnessed many things that have happened in the world since its very early days, she has run wild and experienced everything, she has eaten foods we will never encounter, picked flowers we have no names for, watched her father create new forms of life including the human race, and then watched her mother bring them to life. Opal has been included in the Ruling Council, which was created shortly before Rhiannon came to Avalon, and was actually one of the reasons she resided there. Out all she has done, the one thing she has done the most, is she allowed her inquisitive mind to get the better of her, and she went spying on the Fae. She walked their tunnels of Avalon unseen, and watched them in their woodlands and mountains as they crafted the realm, and she has watched and listened to things that if those doing it had known, they would have been very angry.

No one will ever truly know the extent of her observations, but in all of it she has grown very knowledgeable and filled with deep wisdom of all things, much of which she selflessly uses to aid Runestone and her family, something that is frowned upon by the White Lord Albanlin. Let’s be honest when it comes to the rules, Opal sees them more as simple guidelines, and works her own way between the rules bending them slightly to the advantage of others. It is the one aspect of her that really does annoy Albanlin, but she gets away with for no other reason than her mother is Albanlin’s sister, and she is after all his niece, and if the truth be told, he adores her, even if he is trying to keep the rules intact for the sake of keeping order.

One of the most important things that most people miss is the fact that Opal is an only child. Her mother was so busy in the affairs of the realms that before she had the chance to have another child, she lost her human form at the hands of a young Morgan. Eve was preoccupied and off guard when Morgan snuck up on her and took Eve’s human form, leaving Opal motherless and with no siblings, it is not something Opal has forgotten, and she hates Le Fey more than people will ever fully understand. Being alone for most of time means firstly she had a lot of time to learn and practice her skills, most of which she did in the Forest of Time. When the realm for the humans was made, she travelled into it and gained a massive amount of knowledge about its forms of life, she even played a small part with her father in selecting some of things that would be added to it. It was Opal who began to teach the humans the plant lore they needed to survive, and as a result with her help they flourished. Opal has been a huge part of the Woodland Realm since it was born, and that should never be underestimated, as she has seen the growth of everything.

Because of her isolation as a child, even though she was never lonely, when it came to family, which was late in life compared to others, she embraced them all and loved them, and again that should never be overlooked, Opal is fiercely protective of her family, and especially Runestone and Jade, and as we have seen she has always been in the background of her grandchildren, watching over them and helping them where needed, it is one of the reasons she chose to move as a guardian into the Hidden Realm to oversee the protection of the dream spirits. This role served two purposes, firstly she could maintain contact with Runestone, and it also allowed her to keep a watch over Morgan le Fey, because Opal was actually the only one that knew where Morgan was hiding long before the others were taken and held captive during the age of sleep. It is not mentioned, but I believe Albanlin knew that Opal allowed herself to be taken by Morgan, in order to get inside and work to free her father Hearne, although even to this day, he is not sure as he has never been able to pry it out of her.

The wisdom of age has shown a little bit of an irritable side of Opal, which does at times appear in Jade, especially in her opinion of fairies, whom Opal finds quite annoying as they guard their secrets, for which she well knows are not that secret, as she knows them all too from her spying days within the forest. Opal’s knowledge is vast, as we see through the simple things she does, as she has most of the abilities of her father and mother, and yet she has also acquired a few more. One of her stolen abilities being  the Fae trick of being able to summon a fire to cook, this is a well-known White Circle secret, Opal takes it a little further by adding the food and the pan to cook it in. Her knowledge of plants helps her constantly with healing and also the ability to strengthen people, such as her famous pink liquid which will recover the body faster than anything else known to the Green or White Circles.

In a nut shell, Opal has a finger in every pie whether the owners know it or not, and she is possibly one of the most influential roles within HTTK. Not only does she guide Runestone and Jade, she educates Sapphire, aids the Sage, and gives good advice to her father. In her time she was a loyal and faithful friend to Gwendolyn, and has on many occasions provided aid to Rhiannon at Avalon and no doubt she will do the same for Amethyst.

Opal does not always get the credit she deserves, but I consider her one of the most important pieces behind the scenes, there is a still a part for her to play as the story comes to a conclusion, and always her interference will bring aid and rewards to all. So as you take the final leg of this journey, I hope you will see her in a brighter light and enjoy her rule bending and frustrations at the Fae, and laugh along as she weaves her own particular brand of magic from a circle out of sight, deep in the Hidden Realm.

 

The Author’s Kingdom #14

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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 Face Behind the Evil.

When I first wrote The Bowman of Loxley, I made the decision at the very start that I would intentionally side-line the major villain. One or two at the time commented on this act and thought that it was a strange thing to do, after all in many books and almost all films; you get to see the bad guy long before he enters the fight. With Mason Knox I wanted something a little different, and so I made the choice that I would only refer to his acts of evil, rather than show him doing them.

My second choice for him was to choose a logo for his brutal Cutters that would stamp a hallmark on his reputation, almost like branding, and so whenever you saw or heard any mention of this specific crest, you would feel the evil that was in progress. To add to the intrigue, I made his crest similar to that of a king, I chose the dragon, which long ago had been the crest of all kings, it is only since the time of Richard the first, that a lion was depicted as the kings crest, before that all true kings, and especially the one true king had the crest of a golden dragon. I liked the idea of Mason’s hand being covered in the blood of the innocent, and so for him I picked out a dragon that was long and slender with short legs (Almost Japanese) and coloured it blood red. From that moment on I used the phrase the snake with legs and wings, and those who opposed him referred to him as Snake, I think it paints a very specific picture of a creature that slithers and writhes to get what it wants.

The psychology and the symbolism of it made for a great way to identify the evil of the man, and it was behind this crest that I hid my bad guy, well out of sight until the moment of confrontation. His face would only appear in the very last chapter of the book, and that gave me the space to paint a full picture of his deeds and wrong doings throughout the 24 chapters that came before his face. I think it worked really well, as I was able then to show the face of his son (William/Billy) as a bright happy blue eyed boy, and in a way without realising it I created yet more mystery about who this greedy and cold hearted villain really was.

Throughout the book we see the deeds of the Cutters and hear of the maiming and slaughter they create as they moved slowly into the north to seek out Loxley and York. There is rumour of orphanages and factories that treat the workers like slaves, using them as they will and killing them for no reason at all, and all the time Billy is happy and joking and dare I say even likeable, it was a wonderful way to cast a shadow across the book, as the readers tried to work out if this guy really was as horrible as everyone said. Hiding his face left the reader in suspense, because there really was no way to fully gauge the man until he appeared in the book, and for that moment, everyone had to wait to the last chapter.

It took a long time to write the scene in the cathedral, I had floor plans and maps, and had to watch every move each member of the story made as I carefully noted things down to ensure I kept the pace fast enough to thrill, but the tension ready to break at any moment. I had chess pieces on a large board that I marked out with the floor plan, and as I wrote each line I moved the pieces. The balcony was chosen for Robbie’s stand for one reason only, I wanted him to see only Mason’s back as he approached the high altar. When Mason finally turned, he was hidden behind the clergy who were performing the crowning ceremony, and then I added in Robbie’s frustrations as he spoke to Rune of how he could not see him to get a clear shot.

It was difficult to write it, as I had to make every arrow count, but in the back of mind the words “Sacred Ground” thumped through it. Neither Runestone nor her sisters of the circle could kill in this sacred place, something I had not revealed yet, their arrows could only wound, which is why at the moment of crisis, Robbie asks Rune to create a wind and lift the crown. Rowan, Martin and Alice provide the deadly shots that take out the vicars around Mason, and then finally after waiting for 24 chapters, his eyes meet Robbie’s, and for a moment there are gasps. It was great stuff to write, every reader was convinced Mason could not possibly have long curly blonde hair, but he did, he was almost the double of Billy, only a great deal older with the same pale cold blue eyes. Here was the villain finally unmasked in the light of day, and it fuelled even more speculation about him, and just to add yet more suspense, he got away and Robbie failed to kill him. Every member of the readers group expected him to die, and that was the twist that caught out every reader, the hero failed and the villain got away.

Just to add a little more shock, Robbie shoots his last arrow and instead of hitting Mason, his wife Zandra leaps in front of the arrow and is instantly killed. The shock was intense, how could the hero of the book kill an innocent woman? Out of all the vile and evil people gathered there that day, Robbie kills the only one who did not deserve to die, I have to admit I enjoyed watching the ripples of surprise as they emitted out of those first early readers, it was great fun and it just inspired me to look for yet more twists to really up the pace for the second book.

In the final moment of the book we see Mason sat with his son as he casually announces to him that his mother is dead. The reaction for Billy is equally as cold, and this I think goes right to the heart of the story, for it is here we realise that Billy no longer regarded Zandra (The mother that gave him up) as anyone significant. This was my first moment to set the stage for future books where the love of Jess, who he considered his mum, would come into play at the heart of the plot.

When it came to book two, I had already shown the readers the villain, and so at first I placed him in the very opening of the first chapter. It is here we see Mason as he ridicules the Bishop, and you get your first glimpse of how calculating Mason can be. He laughs out loud as he suggests hiring a woodsman, and it is here you can get your first glimpse of how Mason uses the church as one of his pawns. His anger at Robbie is there to be seen, and suddenly we see how his anger rises very quickly and the sadistic side of him is revealed. A little later in the book we read of the retaliation as entire villages around Kingsdown are slaughtered and butchered by his Cutters to pay for the actions of Robbie.

This was my setting for book two, where Mason once again would strike and strike hard from the shadows, and although I slipped in small moments of him, they were seldom more than two pages like the moment he discovers Judith has run away, and his first reaction is to shoot the man who should have been on watch. It’s an instant reaction with no warning that even leaves Billy a little shaken and Lance is terrified by it. This shows the ruthlessness of the man mixed with a cold unemotional personality.

Later in book two we truly get to experience the brutality of the Cutters, on the motorway we see them looting the escaping villagers of the south, followed by an attempted rape of a young girl, which is halted by Runestone with her arrow. Once again we see that the Cutters feel that thier leader is invincible, and so they are free to do as they wish, this is the way Mason had planned to rule, he wanted to utterly dominate all of the people and control them with fear as he has already in his cities of stone. His Cutters are his preferred tool of use, and it all paints a very vivid picture of his ambitions, and even though I keep him out of the book as much as I can, the result of his actions is clearly seen, none more than the village of trees where everyone is slaughtered and hung from the branches as a warning to those who pass through. I had two books to show the kind of man Mason was at heart, as this would set a backdrop for the whole series of books. I must admit at times I gave a shudder as I wrote scenes, and I soon realised that writing the actions of the Cutters actually made me a little uncomfortable. I almost edited the attempted rape out as I was not sure if I was going too far, talking to the readers group who had read the first draft, gave me the assurance that I had not been too graphic, and had written it more to imply what was to come rather than actually write a graphic description. They convinced me it should be OK and so the scene stayed in the book.

Writing the first book with a readers group taught me a massive amount, and so when it came to preparing the end of book two, I already knew the value of a good twist in the story. Once again Robbie travels out to disrupt Mason’s plans at Liverpool. The set up for the last pages had to be at least as tense as the first book, I wanted it better and I felt confident I could do it.

Harry was brought in for heart breaking comedic additions, and slowly woven into the plot more as a distraction from what was coming. Just as Robbie finally reaches the top of the building where it is rumoured that Mason is holding up, Jade runs laughing into the road and bang!!! She is shot in the back, it is almost a repeat of Zandra, and the book takes a turn that was not expected. Rune leaves Robbie alone, something no one expects and as he shouts out at her for going through a wall, boom there is an explosion that rocks the building throwing him off his feet. The small frightened figure of Lance comes round the corner, and Lance faces his biggest fear, he is face to face with the Hooded Man. Once again this was just another way of building the tension and hiding Mason until the very last second. I spent quite some time working out what was to come, and it had to be woven into the Jade and Runestone scenario of the life for a life choice  perfectly to create that seat hugging moment where Mason is revealed and looks up to see the angry eyes of Robbie.

Because of Book One, no one expects Mason to die, and this is where I go into reverse and the twist kicked in. The fight is long and drawn out as I cut back to a broken hearted Runestone, it is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, but finally the moment comes where Mason loses his temper at the calm and collected Robbie, and pounds him with his sword. It’s a merciless attack and at first the concern goes to hoping Robbie can withstand it. It is just the two men alone in a fight to the death, and as I pull the action back and forth, I wanted to make the readers worry a little as I hoped there would be no way of predicting the outcome. Finally Mason’s goading of Robbie pays off, and he yells with rage and unleashes an onslaught at Mason that results in the killing of Mason Knox.

The cards are suddenly all up in the air at what is one of the most emotionally tense chapters I think I have written. The questions flow, how can Mason be dead? Will Billy replace him, or the Dark One? What really has happened to Billy with the black blade? Will Runestone ignore Una’s advice and tell Robbie of the life for life choice? As you start to ask the questions, the book ends and suddenly all the chips are in the air, and there really are no answers as the man who was the symbol of all things evil is suddenly no longer a part of the tale, once again he slips back into obscurity, but this time he is not coming back.

For those of you who have read further than Book Two, well you now know the answers. The thing is that in my own little way I wanted to show that the villain of a story does not necessarily have to be a main central character. By showing the results of the orders he has given, I was able to paint the full picture of the man without having him present, and I actually think having read through the books again in the run up to this series of articles, just implying what he is capable of and not showing him in person, actually creates a far more sinister figure than he would have been if I had written more of him into the books. Actually hiding his face creates a picture that each and every readers draws for themselves, and they have to use their own imagination, which let’s be honest is a lot more frightening, because it plays directly to the emotions of those who read it. In a way you create a personal sense of the man as viewed by yourself alone, and I actually think it was a much better way to present Mason.

To make the story far more interesting Mason did not appear in the third book, here I replaced him with his even more sinister mother, and not forgetting Billy who has been possessed by Mordred through the Black Blade. I knew this would confirm to all the readers that Mason was indeed gone forever, and yet the twist was, before you in the book was the resurrected soul of Morgana’s first child to prove she had the power to bring back the dead. No one noticed this fact in reference to Mason, and so by Book Four, I felt it was the right to bring him back looking a little younger and with more stamina than before, it made for very interesting writing and reading.

I won’t add more spoilers for those who have not discovered more of this tale, except to say that those first two books really do set up the character of the whole family of Knox. Through Mason, I paint the scene to allow myself to single out each character through the following editions, and open up their lives a lot more to show all of you the inner workings of this cold and brutal family. There is so much more to come, and even for those who have made it right through to the last page of book seven. I still have a lot more to write on this devious family who come from the heart of a Saxony tribe. I still think I have a shock or two that are unseen to come, and I can only hope that the first two books provided enough insight to draw you deeper into this brutal clan and have made you want to continue to the last page of the last book, because I can assure you, it will take that long to truly reveal the evil that lurks hidden from view.

The Author’s Kingdom #13

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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 Contradictions of Jett Amber

Before you begin to read, I will warn you of a spoiler alert if you have not yet read book seven. As much as I do not want to spoil the book, this particular part of the articles does contain some hints that may affect the reading. I have tried to keep everything as low key as possible, but sadly in this particular article some important points from Book Seven had to be referred to.

Today I will open up and examine one of the most popular characters of HTTK. I am going to look deeper into Jett, the cold ruthless sword wielding comedian. This is the girl who will attack with no fear or no mercy, and all before her will fall, she will laugh and scream with delight as she fights, and yet contrary to belief, if she sees her friends hurt, her tears will be the first to fall, and as you will soon see, there is a good reason for every aspect of Jett.

When I first began to create my characters for HTTK, I decided to use the names of minerals to not only name the characters, but also explain a little about who they were. This was mainly something I used as a support technique, because it meant as I created each character and began to write them into the story, their name also triggered their behaviour, and so by using this as a kind of code, it helped me remember what each character was like as I threaded them all in together to interact with each other. One character that was always going to be prominent was Jett Amber.

Jet: Seen as the stone of sorrow, but mixed with the properties of Amber, it can have the reverse effect.

Amber: Known to clear negativity, and for healing, soothing and harmonizing. Can exert a great positive influence.

So if you look above and see the main influences, you very quickly begin to see how I was able to take some of these qualities, and weave them into her character. The one thing we all know is that Jett is loud, she holds nothing back and her brash attempts to fit in create humour amongst the group, which on several occasions in the early books breaks the ice and lifts the spirits of the group.

One aspect that I always saw as very important was her bonding with Jade. It is very clear in the early books what a misfit Jade is, and as a result it is also the cause of a great deal of unseen loneliness. Jett proves to be the cure, and as the two build up a friendship, they become inseparable and together create all kinds of mischief. Jett without realising actually helps Jade adjust and find a voice, and as a result she becomes a very integrated and important part of the Specialists.

Even the effects of the Jet Stone, which can be seen as negative plays a positive role due to the fact it is linked with Amber. There is a dark side to Jett which in the early books is not seen often, one of the elements of that is her power. Sorrow can mean many things, and I deduced that it could also mean pain. Jett prefers to use her sword to fight, it is actually really important to the type of person she will become in later adult life, but she does have a gift like all of the other members of the circle, she just chooses to only use it as a very last resort. Jett can focus her mind to create internal pain, something I show in book two when she is trapped in an impossible situation pinned to a wall. The Cutter who feels he will take advantage of this, soon experiences tremendous pain in his head as Jett’s eyes turn a violent dark blue, the result for the Cutter is death by excruciating head pains. I saw it when writing as quite a dark and sinister power compared to those of the others, and felt it fitted in well with the meaning of the jet stone.

Back in 2008 I sat in my office one evening with Louis, who was at the time working on sketches for the covers of the first editions. I had just finished the first draft copy of ‘The Darkness of Dunnottar’ which oddly enough at that time was actually being written under the working title of Dark Rock of Dunnottar, I changed the title shortly before it was published. As we looked at the book and described the action, it became clear that the working partnership of Jett and Rafe greatly appealed to him, and we talked at great lengths about the story as it was then. It was during this conversation that I mentioned that Jett was actually a multi layered character with many hidden levels which would be revealed over the next few books, I tried not to give any spoilers, but I slowly over the period of an hour pulled apart her character and showed him the reasons for each and every aspect of her characteristics. I still remember that conversation with clarity as I think it really opened her up and made him see her in a completely different light.

On the surface Jett is loud and brash, and very flaky at times, but actually like many people in this world today, a lot of it is a mask she wears to hide her real self, and it is in this area I have been able to slowly reveal the great depths of her character. Possibly the most obvious elements of this was in the chapter the “Coming of Queens” in Book Five.

During Dunnottar I showed a little bit of her vulnerability when she saw the people being brutalised by the guards and she reacted by attacking them with her gift. It was an action that alerted the Dark One to the presence of the Specialists, and had it not been for the swift action of Sinclair, they all would have been caught. Later she weeps and gives an apology, but the root of her pain and anger at the guards, was at that point she was starting to see her companions as family. In the Coming of Queens, I used a memory playing in her head, as she faced one of her most difficult opponents in the form of the brutal Ivor Walter’s.

During the fight Jett weakens under the powerful blows from Ivor, and it is at this point we get to see the childhood of Jett in the form of one of her memories. From this we discover that she has dance lessons as a small child, but whereas most parents would do this to provide fun and entertainment for their child, Scarlett has an ulterior motive. Dance teaches balance, and the more balanced Jett is, the better she is able to wield her sword in combat. As the voice of her mother talks in the back of her mind from the past, we get to hear her mother scalding her, and telling her to get up and do it again. I think at this point it becomes obvious that for Jett, childhood was more of a training camp that a fun experience. Her childhood was one long rehearsal for later life as Scarlett, a warrior queen herself, trained her eldest daughter to be even better than she was. Scarlett is incredibly competitive; we see this in small things like the meals she serves at the castle in Caerleon. Jett quips at the table, “This is just mum showing off, we will have toast tomorrow.” Losing is not an option for Scarlett, and through her endless training of her daughter, we start to see how this has been ingrained into Jett almost like a mantra. The result is exactly as Scarlett would have planned, Jett rises up and allows her training to kick in, and as a result she finds the skills and power to defeat Walters.

Once we start to fully understand her childhood, we begun to understand Jett more. Her life from almost day one was strict and controlled by her mother, her freedoms were very limited, and I think it is a direct result of her mother’s controlling nature, that breeds into Jett the rebellious instincts that become her most popular attributes for mischief. Jett learned very early to fight her mother with rebellion, and this to some degree shows the inner strength she has. I think it is very clear, she has no intention of becoming her mother, and from that appears her only real defence, she appears uncompliant. The ants in the cooks knickers, the attacks on Harry, her wild sexual deviance are all things her mother disapproves of, as they are not the sort of things that a warrior queen should be doing, this is Jett’s fight back to established her own identity and avoid the trap of being seen as cold and as calculating as her mother is.

Another telling aspect of Jett is her loyalty and protection of her little sister Ruby. It is here we start to see how much Jett values family, her sister means everything, and even though they are separated as Jett is constantly in training sessions, it is evident that for most of their childhood, Jett when free devoted her time to Ruby. The loss of Ruby is very difficult, we see that Jett struggles to let go, a moment shown here is when Robbie arrives at the graves to find Jett weeping for her sister. Even in front of her grave, and confronted with the facts that Ruby is gone, Jett cannot let go and still feels that Ruby is out there somewhere, something book Seven reveals the truth of, and here again we see that absolute dedication to her sister and her memory that plays a huge role in her loss at the bridge of the Mirrored Waters. It is clear as she defends Runestone (Who she also regards like a sister) and is cast towards her death in the Mirrored Lake, that her will power interferes with the powers of those trying to save her, and as a result she is cast beyond the reach of everyone into a land she should never have been able to access. This action as described by Tula, is something that should have thrown out the balance of all the realms, and yet for Jett it does not, which again is a direct result of her ability to create stability as her name implies. After a whole year in Maybean she finally is recovered, and yet that year to her is only a few weeks back in her home realm, but the changes within her are there to clearly see when she returns.

Book seven is a definitive turning point for Jett, here we see her confront Robbie openly for the first time. It’s almost a challenge to his leadership, and to be honest it is not done with malice, but it is clear to everyone as she turns on him and snaps back at him “Don’t you dare.” And “I am the queen of Caerleon.” It is a very important moment of clarity for everyone, but more so for Jett. Here is the moment when you finally see that in her year away she has had a lot of time to actually think over her life. In one way, it is almost as if she has given in to her mother’s wishes and has stepped right into her mother’s shoes, but we are talking of the qualities of Jet and Amber, and this is the contradiction that truly shows the hidden depths within the character. You see from my point of view it does not matter so much that her entire life has been combat training to become a warrior queen, the really important aspect her is the influence of Ruby. Through Ruby her younger sister Jett experienced love and compassion, she saw the true value to the protection of the weak, and in many ways these have had a much more profound effect on her. The love she holds deep inside for her sister sway the balance away from the cold ruthlessness she was trained in, into a more caring and affectionate person, and that as far as I see it is the defining quality that makes Jett the truly gifted and loveable character she is.

There is no doubt in my mind she will one day rule Caerleon as the queen with great authority, but because of Ruby, she will also rule with great humanity, and that makes her a very different ruler compared to her mother’s reign. Jett will probably be a much better ruler, as she will combine all the qualities of her inner self. I think I can clearly say that even though at this point I have not mapped out her future, if I do decide that she becomes a parent, I would say her approach to teaching her children will be very different from her mother’s.

There is no doubt in my mind that Scarlett loved her children, but her competitive edge and drive to prove herself as the supreme fighter who had no understanding of losing was indeed her greatest flaw, or was it? It was her drive and education that she instilled on her children that actually allowed them to find a way to revolt, and in doing so, it added a stronger and more determined if not at times softer edge to her children, and so in a way, it brought out the finer qualities of Jett and Ruby, so maybe in a weird way, it was for the better.

Jett Amber is an amazingly deep and complex character, but you have to peel away the layers to fully see and understand it, it is an aspect of the way I write that maybe my geeky side shows more than I realised. I have placed many layers within all the characters simply because to me it is a part of the natural process, due mainly to the fact that I grew up at a time where writers were deeply invested in ensuring their books could if examined deep enough reveal more than just the story.

What I have put above is just the tip of the iceberg, dig deep enough and you will be able to read far more into her character than you first realise. On the surface Jett is great fun and very bubbly, she is full of mischief and tricks and has a love of using sexual innuendo to gain an advantage by embarrassing those she deals with. But scratch at the surface and soon you will see the full depths to a girl who can lift a sword and dance like a ballerina with devastating results. In book seven Rowan comments that yes she can be flaky at times, but she is never complacent, it is without doubt a definitive explanation of her, and it also shows how deeply Rowan understands her. I am sure if you have read this and return to the books, you will start to see the qualities of her name start to show more in each of her interactions, and it is my hope that by doing so, you will enjoy her moments within the pages far more, or you can just take her as she comes and giggle at her loud and brash ways and her mischief, either way, the books are there to be enjoyed, and so I wish you well and hope I have helped to make HTTK a little more fun for you.

 

The Author’s Kingdom #12

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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 Day the World Died.

Have you ever crossed paths with someone who was just so vile and horrible, that deep at the back of your mind those naughty thoughts took over for a second? You know the ones where you look at them smirking and think if only I had a gun, you mate would be top of the list.

Admit it, like me you have been there. (Smiles)

I still have a list from school; yeah you know who you are J

The fact is that even through Harry’s glasses of violet tint, there are days when just about everything appears to rip at your soul and drag you down, and that one individual provides you with those quiet thoughts where you slowly think of more and more horrible ways in which to make them suffer… Enter the writer.

For me, it was my starting point, and with the added creative input of my constantly crazy and hectic mind, it grew out of control as the list grew bigger and soon in the darkest parts of my mind I had worked out a way to finally wipe out all of those annoying people and create a new way of living peacefully. Actually just so you know, I am a really quiet and nice person, it’s just I now have the skills from years of research to plan your death and get away with it, it’s a writer thing, honestly you have no need to worry… just yet!

Wiping out the world is fun, but hell its hard work (Giggles) When I first decided upon the means, which I referred to early in these blogs, I then had to work out the mammoth task of just how exactly a virus that was airborne would take to have effect. My book case has some strange book titles in it from that period of my life, and I am sure there were a few people at that time who were more than a little concerned to find me reading titles such as, “History of the Plague, All you need to know about Bird Flu, The History of Influenza, The Coming Plague.”  To be honest after reading all of the material I did at that time, it’s a miracle I did not turn into some kind of sad Howard Hughes type figure living in a plastic bubble, because when you read this stuff it terrifies you.

It became clear that for this to work it had to be a worldwide pandemic. If it was just this country that suffered the Red Death, then other countries would come to our aid, so I knew I had to take on the world and eliminate a very large amount of the population. It had to be done in such a way, that the infrastructure of every country was crippled, which would then isolate every nation. This was my primary reason for an airborne virus; it can be carried and transmitted into any and every surrounding.

A small and what appeared to be an irrelevant fact at the time became the key to a spark that gave me the means almost in a head exploding moment of clarity, and believe it or not it was inspired by smokers. Crazy as it now sounds, back in the seventies and eighties when you went on board a plan, you were allowed to smoke. Due to the build-up of smoke in the plane, small vents were open to allow for the passage of fresh air into the plane as the air was filtered and expelled from the plane, this served the purpose of keeping the planes internal compartments fog free. It actually created a small amount of drag on the plane, which meant at that time the planes used more fuel. When the smoking ban came in, planes realised they could close the vents remove the drag and save fuel, so they then fitted air recycling units to the filters and recirculated the cleaned air back into the plane. I realise at first it does sound like nothing that important, but the thing here was, after a quick call to an old friend who worked at the time for British Aerospace, he confirmed that the filters do not remove things like flu germs from the air, they do take out a large percent of the carbon dioxide but that really is about all. Considering the point, I became very much of the opinion that it would be safer to have a little drag rather than breathe the second had air that you now do. Imagine a long haul flight such as UK to the USA, or UK to Australia, just exactly how many times do you breathe in the air that others have breathed out, frankly it horrifies me, but it became my saviour because what that meant was that it only took one individual to get on a plane with the Red Death virus and not be aware of it, and everyone else on that flight would become infected. Once they left the plane and went all of their different ways, literally everyone they came into contact with from that point on would become infected. Add to that the amount of plane flights that cross the world every day, which are literally thousands of flights, and you have a virus incubating globally within a matter of days. It was my mad scientist moment as I laughed hysterically at my computer and declared “I CAN DO IT HA HA HA!!”

It is actually a terrifying prospect that we can send a virus globally and infect the largest amount of the human population within a week simply because we use aircraft every day. I will say this, if I travel abroad, I am taking breathing apparatus with me, or going by boat, you cannot unread this stuff and it really is the stuff night terrors are made of. (Giggles)

I had the means to conquer the earth, what I needed then was a starting point and a way to spread it as fast as possible across the country. I always knew that the virus would be a creation of Nature, and for that I used the creator of all things Hearne, but how was I going to get it from him to the world? I felt it would be ironic if Hearne breathed it out, and then everyone else breathed it in, it somehow felt poetic, the one who created a great deal of everything, was also the one to bring it to its knees. This would be a targeted strike aimed at only humans, no animals or plants would suffer, after all they do live within a balanced state on the earth, it is man who is the great destroyer, and that thought triggered my next idea, because it hit the core of who I am. I am at heart a person who is inspired and has worked most of my life in the natural world. I was an environmental activist in my youth and I still speak out against the corruption of man and his damage of what I see as a beautiful planet. The key to my next success was Global Warming.

Having worked out doors for most of my life, I am a little more in tune with my surroundings than say an office worker. I have seen the seasons in this country change from when I first began in horticulture, and in recent years because of the changing weather patterns I have had to change and adjust the list of tasks I would usually do on a monthly basis. Winter extends now in March and the Daffodils take longer to bloom these days, back in my youth you could pick Daffodils in the woods in early February, something which today is a very rare occurrence. The cold kills viruses, and so I soon worked out to have my virus remain active in the air for as long as possible it would need to be warm. Spring these days with the first real warmth tends to be around late March to early April, or it was back in the late 1990’s when I first put this scenario together, I have noticed that it does occur even later these days. I have had years in my youth where I wore sleeveless T shirts in February outside as I got an early tan, these days I seldom remove my usual long sleeve tops before April, so I set my date for April, and as was normal at the time I made the weather nice and warm, just for a little spice, I made it warmer than normal.

The wonderful thing about the UK is we moan like crazy about the cold wet weather, and then we get a long warm spell and for a few days we all go wild and enjoy it, then we revert to type and moan about the heat and pray for rain. It was perfect, I gave the country a heat wave and had everyone complaining about having to work in a stuffy office in this heat, they prayed for rain, and they got it, it was for me the perfect British scenario. The virus was released into the air, and in came a cool front that spread across the country and brought with it the very first heavy downpours of Summer Rain. It fitted beautifully as I have memories of April and Easter working in a greenhouse as the rain bounced off the glass above me, it was timed perfect. The virus goes up, and the rain brings it down, and everyone stops and for a moment enjoys the cool dampness after a long hot two weeks, let’s be honest we have all done it and given that grateful sigh of relief, I have even danced with the kids in it.

After working out the means, I then had to focus on the effects. I did have a long list of bullet points, some of which I used in the introduction to book one, but I wanted to look at the Red Death in more detail, and it was in early 2005 that I decided to write down the full symptoms and the effects it would have on the human body. Again I creeped myself out as I listed all the things I hate the most about being ill. Coughing, itchy rashes, vomiting, sneezing etc. Then I began to time the process of when each symptom would appear, as I wrote what became my biological time line of the Red Death, like all things I write I added more graphic detail and gave it a horror factor, and the ending had to be so vivid and terrifying I would not sleep for at least a week. It worked believe me, I terrified myself, I played into my own fears of a gasping bloated violent death, and for a moment questioned whether my tale was a fantasy or a horror story.

The only thing I had left to work out was how exactly would the country cope? I sat down with a pad and began bullet points to make a list of the events as they would occur in a timeline. I began with the hospitals and the slow rise of flu patients, we have all seen this many times over the winter as the British NHS starts to strain when a particularly violet flu strains hits. This is very well documented so I did a little research and followed the news events as it happen in the UK over the winter, it was great source material. This allowed me to show the rise, but because this is so normal in the UK, there was little panic at a national level. We are so used to it we just down some extra vitamin C and take paracetamol to continue attending work, so again this set behaviour was perfect for spreading the virus even more. Once the hospitals filled to their limits concerns would be raised, but obviously by then it would be too late to really be effective, and I knew at this point the government would start to show the first signs of strain. The press are vultures in this country, the media is very alarmist about just about everything these days, so when the panic starts, it was obvious to they would fuel the fires as they always do.

Next would come riots followed by marshal law, and slowly the fabric of society would collapse into chaos. I had a huge list of blow by blow events all leading to that point where some of the few survivors would in a desperate bid to live, escape the cities and flee into the rural population. My biggest problem was it was a list. I thought about it for quite some time. I did not just want to list everything in the book, I had planned this as a look back piece for the start of Book Five, and I worked on several pieces at the time to try and find a fast and effect way of piecing this part of the HTTK puzzle together. It was my wife who after a conversation suggested I use a character living through it to get all the facts together, it was perfect and so I looked at all the characters to see if I had one that would be able to express this in a way that would work in the book.

By the time I got round to writing the piece, I had already began to write different bits that would be slotted into book five. I had at that time a little foot note that wanted to separate Jett and Rafe for a short time, and I had underlined it as a part to involve Sapphire, as I was looking to isolate her as the first of her power began to show. I wrote a few small bits and then I came up with the idea of what if Rafe’s mum was sick? It felt like a eureka moment, and I sat down in front of the computer and instead of writing the separation of Rafe and Jett, I began what was to become the history of Rafe, and his parents, who I placed into a hospital in Birmingham as part of the staff. Over a couple of weeks the start of book five evolved with the history of Rafe’s parents intertwined with the past and the present. What really excited me was this was something completely different to the introduction of the other books, and it really gave me a lift as my writing hammered out and I worked a scenario of a story spliced with bulletins to create the brief but better detailed history of the Red Death. I think it worked out really well, and I must admit it is another slice of my writing I am really pleased with, as I was able to add detail, mix it with tension, and keep it themed well to the characters, whilst creating an interesting backstory. I will add it also provided a much better set up for Rafe’s departure from Jett.

I had done it, I brought in death, added riots and bloodshed, saved a nice couple who would be very useful in the Woodland Realm, explained why Rafe was so close to his uncle, and taken Sapphire away from the crowds. Just to make it better, I worked it into a sequence that brought together the birth of Robbie and Runestone with the event of Hearne bringing forth the virus and the explained how some lived and were protected by Opal and Merlin. It was a brilliant move if I say so myself, and just to expand the moment before introduction the king, I threw in Uther and Una’s excited and girlish stories of Arthur, I really could not have scripted it better if I had tried and I gave a sharp breathe of relief as the first seven chapters of book five pretty much wrote themselves over four long weeks of late nights and exhausted long sleeps.

It is odd really to look back at it now. The Red Death took me almost six years to work out through reading and researching. It was a constant in the back of my mind all the time, and it evolved very slowly as I really did want to make it as realistic as possible. It makes me laugh to think that had I been paid an hourly rate to create this part of the story, I probably would have earned over 10k doing it, which would make each copy of book five one of the most expensive books on the market. It is the same for all writers, and whenever I work with a new author as I now do with VCP, I always question their motivation for writing, those who do it for the money, I advise will be very disappointed. The process of writing is actually hard to explain, I would almost compare it to the addiction of drugs. It gets under your skin and you feel the need to sit in front of the computer and write. There is almost an adrenalin rush like experience when you know it’s going fast and flowing, and I must admit, the experience for me as I write HTTK is deeply satisfying and something I love more than anything else I have done.

I tell my daughter Iona, writing is the ability to draw pictures in the minds of other people, at first she found this quite strange, but over time she has actually sat on my knee and read the words as I have written them on the computer, and when I ask her what she can see she explodes with delight and gives me her opinion of the pictures in her mind, it is like a game we play at times when her brother is being mean to her, and for myself it has become one of another aspect in the joy of writing. I have always written for me, I never write for others, it is my story and written as I want it to be told, and I hold that as my first rule of HTTK. No reader, friend or wife can tell me what to write, I ignore them, because this is my own adventure in which I have chosen to share each finished chapter with those who wish to read it. I decided one day to destroy the world, and from that has come the magic of this series. I have been asked if I will one day write a prequel to show how each of the characters dealt with the fall of the modern world, and I must admit it does interest me, but for now I am too busy working behind the scenes on the final instalment of the story we have. No doubt in later days I may consider it, but for now it is not viable.

As always I am grateful to those who have read it and enjoyed it to date, I have had some wonderful feedback on the last book, which was far better than I expected, because the simple truth is I have no idea how each book will affect those who read it. I am very much a hermit and I do shy away from the limelight, simply because it does conflict with my writing, and so I offer what I have done and hopefully it will provide you with as much pleasure as it does in its creation, so many thanks to all of you.

The Author’s Kingdom #11

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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 science behind the fantasy

Some time ago I was asked by a reader if I believed in Aliens. Now I must admit at the time it felt like the oddest question ever in relation to HTTK. What followed was actually a very interesting conversation, and whereas the questioner had actually asked a question with some merit, I found in the conversation that followed some plus and some negative points to their thinking.

I am a writer, and an avid reader, and I think that one of the things that reading allows us to do is open our minds to the possibility of anything and everything. Before I give an explanation to the question and my answer, I will explain a little about my own view point when writing.

I do see myself as being very open minded, I am at heart a liberal person who believes in personal freedoms, which I do not deny conflicts with a few peoples closed view of the world. I like science, I am by far no expert, but I read a huge amount of all sorts of unusual and different subjects. Like most people some things I can accept, and there are a few things even I find a little too weird for even myself.

So back to the question. Do I believe in Aliens?

After some discussion with my questioner, I began to realise that their principle premise for asking was the Ruling Council. It suddenly made sense, as in the books I do indeed refer to them arriving in our solar system and discovering the Earth, on which half of them set up house on this planet and then start creating things such as humans and Fae. Ok now it made for a very good question, and I had to admit it was not at all how I had first thought of it. In all truth the Ruling Council was my way of building a creation that was an alternative to the whole God created the world in seven days event, you see I had set a line of people on the earth (White Circle/ Green Circle) that were not exactly the same as us, and so in my way this was one way of explaining their race and the powers they had. I suppose I was looking for a way to introduce the magic that is used throughout HTTK, but I must admit the alien theory did intrigue me, as in a way my idea of the Ruling Council did indeed point to the fact that they were not of this planet, and so therefore they could actually be perceived as alien lifeforms.

The questioner then went on to explain that they believed aliens walked amongst us and that the human race was actually manufactured by aliens, Ok so suddenly mid conversation I found myself walking into what I consider to be conspiracy theory territory, and so I began to tread lightly. The thing here is that the questioner made some really good points that I had never actually considered, and this indeed is one of the greatest things about talking to the readership, because it does provide that window on their thoughts. Do I think we are a product of alien creation, well having read the origin of species by Darwin, and garnering an understanding of his Theory of Evolution, I would possibly say that currently I think the world view (Darwin’s Theory) has more merit and is more believable, but again I am open to a good theory, so show me credible evidence and I will give it some thought.

I think the conversation remained with me for quite some time; well obviously it did because here I am some time later still pondering the question. How do you explain Runestone? Well actually the most simplistic way would be ‘well actually this is a fantasy,’ so I need no defined explanation, but in a way that would be wrong, because even though this is a fictitious tale, I do try on every level to create a believable scenario.

Ok so here goes…. Did you know there is a tribe living on an island in the South Pacific named Melanesia? Most people don’t. I read an article in a magazine many years ago that actually had the theory that the people who lived there have a type of DNA that includes the involvement of a third species. Now I have to admit at the time I thought it was pretty interesting, I mean we all know the story of the human development being a mixture of the Neanderthal and the Denisovans. Science points to the fact that these two distinct types of being were the initial man/ape like forms that at some point met and interbred to create what we all know today as the Homo Erectus or human being. The thing that fascinated me was that firstly science is exploring what they believe to be a third kind of species of man, and the second thing which really grabbed my attention was that these people all had sapphire blue or jade green eyes. Hmmm see where I went with that?

My questioner when given these facts was a little disappointed, and sort of elated at the same time, they announced maybe the third DNA from these people was alien, which ok suited their need to believe and who was I to kill their joy? I just was not ready to buy into the whole lizard Martian type theory just at that moment in time. The good news is since reading that article scientists have indeed isolated a third type of DNA in these people who previously we had no knowledge of, as to its origins, well science still has a long way to go so stay tuned.

The important point which my questioner missed was the very simple fact that here was an interesting and science based fact that I was able to take and manipulate to work for my story. It’s what I do, and to be honest they were a little disappointed in me because of it and clung to their aliens are invading us script, which to be honest I have no issue with, for all I know they may well have done, one thing I have always believed is that looking at the millions of solar systems we see through Hubble, I think only fool would think we are the only life form in the entire galaxy, I just have not met anything other than human beings yet to confirm my own private theory.

I use all sorts of facts to create my story, I do indeed allow my imagination to run wild, but I always try to find a logical explanation. So at this point I will turn away from ET and his supporters and try to explain my answer as to why I made the first Ruling Council the way I did.

In a nut shell I did not want one all seeing all powerful god. That pretty much sums it up; I did not want to get dragged into some form of religious dogma, which then embroiled the whole tale around some all-powerful creationist who set his children free to roam the planet whilst sitting in judgement of everyone. I wanted something slightly believable, but I also wanted something that was a little bit more human. I wanted something no faith could claim, this was to be a work of fantasy, and so I got imaginative and tried to pull something that was unique, but felt comfortable. In many ways I like the theory of the Greek gods, although when it comes to Greek mythology I have to confess I get tired of it, I did so much at school that I think it turned me off it for life, my wife however loves it, and she is the one the children consult, and she is good at rattling it off. The one thing that did always appeal to me was that the Greek gods were human in their approach to life, and yes in a way I pinched a little of it. You see Greek mythology has very human aspects to it, their gods are lovers of the same things and have the same failings as us, and I really do find that appealing. One of the things about most of the other faiths that has always been a little bit of contradiction for me is the whole concept of man being created in the supreme beings image. We are told we all God like, and then you read the books that contain all the words of this supreme God only to find out that pretty much everything that makes us human is banned by the god. The Greeks had one thing going in their favour, Human appetites. They love food, adore wine, they think and study, they are wildly sexual to the point of deviance, and have the power to take life and give life, and most importantly they bred with the humans to create lesser gods. This is a mixture I could use, in the Council we can see the qualities of us all, and that I feel is a much better working theory behind my characters. I adore the fact that Hearne carries his deep love for Eve so deeply within himself, I think we can relate to a ruling council who makes a mistake or can be wounded or killed as Eleanor was. These are the things that build a sense of identity within my Earth Faith, and we see them in Runestone and Jade and all the other members of the circle lines. I find it creates a deeper bond built on similar imperfections and makes them more believable as a result.

The example of the people of Melanesia helped me to realise that I could create lines that fitted into the human form and appeared human whilst still wielding unusual powers, and having created my first real line of different peoples, it was not long before I could use the same believability to create more. The Fae, a race of two distinct lines all based in the same theory of creation, and that led me to then take one of those lines and morph it into another as the Dark One does to create Houlen or Darkmares. I found a way to go into a complete realm of total fantasy but still had that small set of believable facts behind it all to back it up, and that made for better writing which leads the reader into a much deeper and more fascinating tale.

I like to create questions in everything I write, I think it is important that books make the readers think. Runestone and her families ability to communicate via their thoughts is yet another example. We all have that deep inner sense of being, and call it what you will as science still cannot fully answer it, but we do have an uncanny ability to suspect something only to find out we are right. That one human quality helps me explore the deep inner workings of Runestone and her family line, it’s almost like the old tale of someone after they discover their partner has been cheating, I have certainly been there in the past. You know something is not right, there is no evidence at all, and yet deep down inside you just know, and so you look and look hard. Most of the time being right and discovering the truth is not satisfying, and yet something deep and primal within you had set you on the right path to discovery. It is still something science cannot explain, and yet we all know it to be true, and again it is one of the most fascinating things about the human condition, we believe it to be true with no evidence to prove it all because we have felt it and we have experienced it. These are the simple aspects of human life that allow me to take a thin thread of fact and weave it into a believable story line, and let’s be honest no one questions Runestone’s abilities because of it. She just turns to Robbie, smiles and says. “Trust me I know stuff,” and bang I have you caught in the web of believability, for no other reason than at some point in your life you have been there, and experienced the very same thing.

I don’t need Mars, Saturn, Venus or Buddha, I have no need for a Christian or Islamic God figure, I have five entities of energy, who create a lifeform from what was the primordial soup of life and they inhabited it with all their human qualities. They learned from their own experiences and created other life forms the same way that were likened to them, and their creations held all the same qualities, and those are the very same qualities as you and me, and that creates a situation where they become more believable, because we can all identify with them because we all have made the same errors of judgement.

My Grandfather was a head teacher, or head master as the position was known back then, he became the inspiration behind Albanlin. He once said to me when I was commenting on a book, if the facts support how believable the character is, and if they have something in common with you, then you will identify with them quicker, and as a result you will understand them better. He must have seen the writer in me long before I did, but I find today many years after he is gone, because he died when I was just 17 years old, he gave me some of the best advice ever in that small statement for writing. I must admit I have also passed it on to other writers as a really good way of expressing how I create and write my characters. You only need the smallest seed to germinate, and then you have a story worth telling based on that one grain of truth, everything that follows is built on that foundation, and as I think about it whilst writing this particular piece, I realise that my habit of sewing science, history, mythology and human behaviour into my tale, has actually brought it to life better than I ever expected it to. Is it based on aliens, well to be honest none that I am currently aware of, although I must admit, at the time it was indeed a very fascinating and well thought out theory.

 

 

The Author’s Kingdom #10

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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.

 

Village life.

One of the most recognisable aspects of living in a small community is you never have any secrets. Village life is well documented for the neighbours who like to gossip, and if you move into a small rural community today, well you had better be squeaky clean in how you live, because if you are not, you can pretty much guarantee that very soon everyone else will know your business.

From an early point in Heirs to the Kingdom, I pretty much knew that I would to have to find some way in which to reflect community life, and it did not take me long to work out, that I had two options available to me. The first would be the monthly reports given to the Lord of Loxley by Fuse, and the other would be the gossips… Enter Agatha Patterdale, or as refer to her, the Queen of the Conversations.

Adding little snippets occasionally gave me the chance to explain a little of what was going on at Loxley whilst Robbie and crew were on the road. I had set up Loxley village in the early days with two rows of houses totalling 14 in all, and so by using gossip, I was able to fill in the blanks of who lived where and what their specific role within the community was.

The wonderful thing about doing this was not only did it give Loxley a familiar feel for the reader, it also gave me yet another place in which I could add scenes of importance. I think no one will forget book one and the clearing of the snow, without the kindness of Alice Kirk and a bag of warm scones, with a gentle prod in the back, you have to question if Robbie would ever have plucked up the courage to actually approach Runestone for a conversation. It was almost a mirrored scene of the one I had written at the time of their meeting when Rune first moved to Loxley, but that was a part of the story I did not share until book five.

The small street leading to the dusty road gets to see a lot of interesting moments, and I have to confess I do deliberately move back to the main street at times, simply because it is a place that I can picture so clearly in my mind, it is almost as if I am actually there.

The life and times of the dwellers of my street have become a very important part of Loxley, and early each morning we see the lights come on at just before dawn as the Alf Smith at number 13 starts his busy day preparing the meat for sale. Just up the street the smell of freshly baked bread is wafting from number nine, and Ann and Alice Kirk fill their ovens and put up their collapsible tables under the window ready for their freshly baked goods. Next door at number seven, Agatha is up and shuffling round her shop, as Melissa her granddaughter who has just snuck in after leaving the small flat behind number twelve is ready to carry the new Cheese from the cold store out to her Grandmother.

Johnathon Appleton and his sons Ben, Will and Ray have been up for quite some time and are already up at the farm herding the livestock out to grass, and as the lights come on in number Two, Graham Ashton and his wife Julie are feeding their two sons before heading to the farm to team up the horses to begin their long day working on the farm. It is a busy time, and as the sun lifts above the trees, the small street comes alive as the first of many visitors of the day arrives.

By Nine in the morning Joss and Maud Baily are hard at work in the candle shop, wrapping up their orders to be delivered, and across the street at Number 4, the pots and pans shop is open, and Susan and Jake Holmes are usually stood by their door sipping herbal tea and complaining about the lateness of John Lox’s latest delivery of freshly made metal pans. The last shop open is usually Number twelve, Trinkets and Trousers, and Runestone and her mother can be seen as they carry out their metal frames adorned with all the latest clothing designed and sewn together by Runestone. Across the street at Number 11 Ian Hall the furniture man, waves as he displays his latest freshly renovated furniture, and scowling across at the cheese shop is old Ruben Stien the cobbler at number 8, as he watches Agatha leaning on the doorway gossiping as usual whilst Melissa runs round the shop serving.

It’s a busy street with a lot happening, and sometimes I like to stop just to catch a small part of the conversations. There has been a lot of late about the book shop at number one, it appears since old Mr Hargreaves left, (Because nobody was told exactly what had happened to him) Some members of the street do not approve of the fact that Young Judith who now runs the shop, has had it painted from the old burgundy to a new and colourful powder blue. Agatha is not at all impressed and referred to it as gaudy, whilst Ann shrugged and expressed the fact she quite liked it, and so this morning in particular, it appears Agatha has decided to canvass the visitors and get their opinion, but only after fully expressing hers.

This is a street with history; Robbie’s meeting with Leenard ended up in archery lessons, and below the window at number 12 Steph gave her approval in front of a very excited Runestone for a hunting trip outside the walls. At the bottom of the street is where for many a year a young and rather tom boyish dressed Jade Opal would lean against the wall of number 13, whilst waiting for her mates to arrive, before slipping off to create some mischief. Although when it comes to the approval ratings of this street, here is one particular victim of the gossip and the way in which it can turn on you. Jade has witnessed quite a bit of disapproval over the years from the cheese shop, and it has not always done her good, there have been many times alone in the workshop at the rear of number twelve over the years, where Jade cried alone after a particularly nasty scalding from Agatha.

Every February second the windows fill with candles as new light is brought into the world with Imbolc, and early on the first day of May, all the residents decorate the fronts of their houses with freshly cut blossoms from the orchard, and gather with food to celebrate the Beltane or May Day parade, where the street is the focus of the start of a long parade and showing of the candidates for the New Queen of the May. Robert Lox with his wolves head mask has led the parade many times down this cobbled street, and in recent time after his death, his wife and land owner Jessica has taken to leading them out with pride.

Fires are lit at both ends of the street during Samhain and to the rear of the bakery and cheese shop, the large market square is a hive of activity as the community comes together to celebrate the completion of the harvest and the preparations for winter. Like any other small rural village in any other part of the country, this small street has become the focus of everything the residents identify with home. It shares a part of all their lives, and is the place to be for all the latest gossip and news as to what is happening where.

Out of all the places I have created in my imaginary world of Loxley, and that includes Robbie’s Mere, which is probably the one place I would love to live most, Loxley Village is without doubt my favourite place of all. It is one of the first places I built in my mind back in the early 1980’s, and I have tried to sketch it a thousand times, but in all honesty I am a lousy artist with no sense of proportions, and somehow even though the pictures in my mind are so clear, I cannot find a way to get my hand to move the pencil exactly where it needs to be, and in a way maybe that is OK, because I am sure every reader has an image in their mind of how it looks to them, and maybe that is how it should be. I love this place and one of the saddest things about finally after ten years of work finishing the story, is I will more than likely have to move along and leave it behind, which is a sad prospect for me.

A day will come in the future, when the house at number 6 will fall silent, as there will be no more Jett Amber residing there, and the sound of military horses clattering up the street to the farm will fade away. Bread will still be baked, cheese will still be sold, and Ruben Stien will possibly still scowl across at Agatha. The bright red hair of Tegan Lox will shimmer in the morning light, as she helps her older sister Iona set up the displays for her mother at Trinkets and Trousers, and life will move on as the aged figure of Alf will walk besides his son, as the meat is cut and hung in the shop. Around the Village hopefully life will continue, although there will lesser guards and the days will slow as people move on to other destinations, only returning for market days and big parades.

If you are very lucky you may even catch a glimpse of Lord Thorn, as he goes about his duty on his snow white horse, tending to his duties on behalf of the Lox household.

It has been a remarkable journey from the street and back, and I have thoroughly enjoyed bringing you the drama of Agatha being confronted by Beth, or Maggs and Harry as they sold beer at the markets stalls and were positively filled with happy vibes at the looming nuptials of Rowan and Jade as Robbie walked away laughing. One of the happiest memories of the Village for me was back in early 2008 when a new member of the readers group was reading the start of the draft manuscript of Book Two. She rang me up complaining that the group had still not made it back to Loxley, I smiled as she spoke and I think it was at that particular moment that I realised that this crazy person at the other end of the phone had fallen as hopelessly in love with the Village as I had. Such was the power of Loxley that in 2011 she became my wife, only beta reader and editor.

It has been a wonderful journey to share with all of you who have read HTTK, and it is not quite over yet, so I am sure we will walk at least one more time down the street of 14 houses, all with small stone garden walls and wooden gates, all displaying their goods for sale to the sound of trudging feet, clattering horse hooves and gossip.

I am always interested in hearing your personal view and experiences, so please leave a comment either here or on FB and share your joy with everyone who reads this blog.

RJM.