The Author’s Kingdom #16

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Rob

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

Posted on December 18, 2016 by Rob

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

Posted on December 17, 2016 by Rob

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

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Rob

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

Posted on December 15, 2016 by Rob

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

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Rob

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

Posted on December 13, 2016 by Rob

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.

The Author’s Kingdom #9

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Rob

The Author’s kingdom is a series of articles written by Author Robin John Morgan, as part of the Christmas event for 2016. Through the articles, Robin is sharing his point of view of the books and some of the secrets that create a much greater depth to the story.

The sightless centre

From the start of Book Two, one character has been a constant feature at the side of Robbie and Runestone, who without realising has become as important as some of the major characters, and yet this slightly melancholy and hard working part of the Specialists has at times been overlooked.

I speak of course of Sapphire.

Daughter of the mighty Tor and bird talking Melanie, she was destined to be the centre of the Table of Knowledge to succeed her Grandmother Gwendolyn, shortly after her birth. Merlin pronounced she had been rejected as a centre due to her lack of ability, and just when everything appeared to have been agreed, she was snatched with her mother and brother by the Dark One, and frozen in time hidden in the Realm of Sleep.

When Sapphire awoke, life had changed; she was a thousand years into her future, and hidden on the Isle of Lewis just below the famous waiting stones of Callanish. This would be home until her sixteenth birthday, when she would be packed up with her older brother, and shipped across the ocean to a safe haven provided by the family of the boatman who visited the island with their supplies. Separated from her mother and given the instruction to teach two orphaned children, Sapphire had little choice but to try and live her isolated life the best she could, not always aware of the truth of the world in which she lived. Her only real enjoyment came with the letters from her mother that talked of hooded men and circles of power, and for the time being it was enough to help her pass the time with wild fantasies of a world she thought she would never see, until that was, she received a letter telling her she would be leaving the safe house, and being collected by her mother and travel to join with the Hooded Man returned.

Just the above is a lot to deal with, and considering how young she was when she was taken by the Dark One, it is a miracle that Sapphire survived without some serious mental defect. Talk about trauma, and we think our own lives are difficult, and most of this was just on the first few pages that introduced Sapphire to Heirs to the Kingdom.

As she enters the books, it is clear that sapphire is very feminine, she is soft and gentle, very kind and very well educated in literature, maths and the affairs of court to the king. She comes across as a little timid and easily embarrassed, and suffers from bouts of self-doubt, and to be honest very little changes in those characteristics as she weaves into the story besides Runestone and Robbie.

From the point of view of her creator, I find Sapphire to actually be a very deep and emotional character, and I really do enjoy building her slowly up on a parallel to the other characters. I will add at this point with the seventh book being such a recent release to this event, I do have to hold back a little so as not to give spoilers, except to say, I have always considered Sapphire to be an essential part of the plot.

When we first meet her stood on the quayside waving to her mother, I am sure no one understood her relevance to the story, and as she journeyed across the waters to the coast of Northern England to meet her Aunt Una, it was clear that Sapphire was at heart quite a romantic and her notions of the Hooded Man had run a little wild with her fantasies. Sapphire honestly believed that she was in love with the Hooded Man, the only problem there was that Robbie was not even aware that she existed at that point, and there was also the minor fly in the ointment that he was and had been in love with Runestone for a very long time.

Alone with her dreams in a remote part of the coast and out of contact with the rest of the world, Sapphire had imagined she would be the one to win Robbie’s heart, and so to find out he was taken, and taken by the person who had also taken control of all the tables and prevented her from becoming the centre of a circle, must have been a crushing blow for her. From the moment she had been freed from the Hidden Realm she had been protected with her family under a veil of secrecy, and now suddenly she is on the mainland and away from her protections, and her introduction to the new world is she is hunted from the moment she lands by the Dark One, who has picked up her trail and is on route to capture her again. It was quite a dramatic entrance for Sapphire with her brother and mother as they ride like the wind to get to the safety of a circle of stones.

Sapphire up until that point has only ever talked of her powers to come, and yet here on horseback in the driving rain, she is suddenly called upon by Runestone to help protect the members of the group. Filled with terror Sapphire faced her first of many moments of bravery, as Runestone connects with her telepathically and floods her with the power of the Green Circle in order for her to aid her family. It is actually a very important if not terrifying moment for Sapphire who is riddled with self-doubt, and she is consumed and overwhelmed by the power and ends up exhausted and collapsed as she arrives at the circle.

That is all in the first few chapters of Sapphire’s introduction to the book, and my intention behind it was to show the readers that even though she had not become the centre of the circle of knowledge, which had been a place occupied by Bridget and inherited by Gwendolyn previously, Sapphire still had the ability when called upon to open a circle. It’s an important moment that points the way towards her future, for although at that point she feels she has been denied her destiny, we learn as the books progress that she does have a destiny that is far beyond what was first expected of her. In essence I was laying the groundwork for future events that would be vital to the plot of Book Six and Seven, and so began a long line of hints that showed you a little more of Sapphire as the pages turned.

Later in the book she strikes up a friendship with Keith, the son of Lee Sherman an important character in Book Three, and here I took her thoughts and feelings which had been aimed at Robbie, and allowed her to transfer them to Keith. As the days progress and Keith gives her more attention her feelings appear to grow, and she gives him a lot of attention in return, which if you step back for a moment and consider, from Keith’s point of view it is the best thing that has ever happened to him. If you read the first descriptions of Sapphire, you will find that she is described almost identically to Runestone. Sapphire and Rune have a similar look, similar figure, same sapphire blue eyes, she is in every way Runestone like, except she has long auburn hair, not the fiery red with golden strands that Runestone has. It is a deliberate act on my part, after all Sapphire should be the centre, and so in my mind I made as like her own centre as I possibly could, which for Keith a rough and tumble woodsman is a massive bonus. She likes the attention and transfers her image of Robbie onto him, and let’s be honest, Keith will never attract a girlfriend better looking than Sapphire, they finally partner up and everything in the camp is happy, or is it?

Sapphire has greater abilities than she realises, something the shrewd Runestone is very aware of, and she begins to instruct Sapphire in the control of her gifts. In many ways I think it is apparent that Sapphire is a little bit relieved not to have fulfilled her destiny as the centre of a circle, she has many doubts that actually interfere with her progress, and as a result her true ability does not become clear until early on in Book Five, and even then she doubts herself so much, she actually prevents herself embracing her true nature.

I actually have always seen Sapphire as stronger than most people realise, but there again I am writing this, so I don’t need to show you the full side of her until I feel it is her time in the story, but occasionally I have given you a glimpse of what is to come, for example when Robbie is shot and falls to his near death in the wild river in Scotland, the one person who should be the strongest momentarily falls apart, Runestone goes into melt down, and what happens? This is the first peek at what Sapphire can be, without even thinking she dives into the rapids and goes in search of Robbie and almost drowns herself in the process, but it is her hidden abilities that come to the surface and help her. In the cave she loses herself and drifts in and out of consciousness, and yet she manages to keep Robbie going and it does save his life. There is moment my wife will never forgive, and I am afraid I have soiled her opinion of Sapphire forever, because when Robbie drifts in his half-conscious state and asks for Runestone, Sapphire (Who is Runestone like) leans over and kisses him softly. Believing it to be Rune, Robbie drifts back into sleep blissfully unaware of what has transpired and my wife will never forgive either myself for writing it or Sapphire as a result. (Giggles)

In my own defence this was yet another hint at how like Rune she is in the hope that some of you would start to see that actually Sapphire was a lot braver and stronger than she realised, and actually she did have the power and strength to control a table. Ok so it would be another four books before you see her destiny, but I think this was the first clear hint at her future task.

Once I had the second book finished, which to be honest was still a huge part of actually setting up the series, I had the time to sit back and focus on book three, which in my mind is where the story really starts to get going. It is in the third book that you really start to see the characters open up and reveal who they really are, and again for Sapphire this is an important book. It was not always easy I had to keep her a prominent figure in the book, but I also wanted to play her down a little and just keep her a familiar figure. It felt like a very fine balancing act as I worked out each part of her story and slipped in little clues as to what her final direction would be.

In Book Three as the Specialists enter the dark brooding castle of the Dark One, here we see that Sapphire has an important role besides Keith as she works slightly up front of Robbie and Runestone as a protective guard. Again this is an important aspect of her position within the Specialists as it shows the growing confidence that Runestone has in her. At one point she slides down the wall exhausted after fighting the Smoggarts, and she says. “Whoever said be true to yourself is an idiot, I have just faced myself two dozen times and won.” Like many things in HTTK it at first appears like an insignificant comment, but again from my point of view as I wrote it, this is another sign that sapphire is growing in confidence and is starting to understand who she is becoming. Again in Book Three I give another cryptic hint in the form of the pendant that Runestone gives to her during the ceremony of the passing out of talismans. Sapphire receives a butterfly, which in universal symbolism is the symbol of the passing of information. Butterflies carry the words of those who send them, as Runestone presents her with the talisman she tells her. “Carry my power with you always, and know you are close to my heart.” We now know that actually at this point Runestone has already created a table of power for Sapphire, and it is hidden within the talisman she has just p[resented her with. I like this part as it actually shows that not only is Sapphire about to fully understand who she is, it also shows that Runestone is well aware of what is set for Sapphire and is already at work preparing for her, a point which is actually vital to the end of Book Six.

At the start of the fourth book I took a little time out to work out a few of the advanced details for future books. I had up until then been working on what was just a basic rough outline of what was to come, and in the case of Sapphire, I knew I had to start preparing the readers with a little more information so that they began to understand there was something important to come. It was not the easiest task because actually as some of the readers now know, there is a direct link between Sapphire helping Merlin transport Jade and Robbie into the Hidden Realm to collect Runestone who is trapped there, and Book Seven. At this point before writing four, I had to fully work out the details of what would become the Bridge of Sequana, I had already dropped a hint in the form of cryptic mentions of it, but at this point I really had to focus on the detail and then try to replicate it without giving it away.

In order to do this I brought in the aide of Rhiannon, who after all is high Fae, and is aware of most deep Fae magic, she is also one of the most important ingredients to the equation, she is a queen of Fae. By placing Merlin, Rhiannon and Sapphire together and then pulling in the use of great power, it is obvious that what is really happening is not lost on the very perceptive Rhiannon. Rhiannon says nothing, but she is aware that actually Merlin is wakening up parts of Sapphire that she is not aware of, and through this action Merlin forces her true powers through all her self-doubt and brings them to the surface. In book seven you will a better explanation of this as given by Iona, so I will leave it there and you can read it at some future point.

There are unresolved issues within Sapphire and when Runestone returns she becomes aware of the big changes going on inside her. As a way of helping her, Runestone takes her back to Callanish and awakens the sole of her father who is buried on the isle in the centre of the old stone circle, this really is the first part of the unleashing of Sapphire as a centre. During the powerful session which also starts to show Keith the true powers of a centre, Sapphire meets her father and begins to understand her past and the events that have led her to be over one thousand years into her future. She begins to see that she has far more than first expected and she has the chance to ask her father questions and more importantly tell him how she feels and say goodbye. It is a massively important moment in the life of Sapphire, and from this her powers begin to rise and show themselves.

At the start of book five the dreams begin, and Runestone sidesteps a little and allows her grandmother to take some control. Opal already has an idea of the direction of Sapphire, after all Opal has been sneaking about and observing things she shouldn’t for a very long time, and it is Opal who is in contact with Runestone who takes the lead and starts to explain to Sapphire where her new direction will lie. For poor Sapphire this becomes very confusing and she just cannot understand why she has been chosen, she had finally given up all notions of becoming a centre, when Opal announces she will be the centre of the circle of sight.

At this point it is worth just taking a moment to contemplate the whole picture. Here is a girl who has pretty much lived her life in isolation, at the age of 16 and just when she was starting to learn about who she was, she was taken from her mother to a strange remote place and given the task of education two orphans. She is alone lost and very lonely living a very sheltered life. Suddenly out of the blue her mother arrives and brings her to the mainland to meet all of her family, and the infamous Hooded Man, a figure she has fantasised about. Within days of arriving on the mainland she is in the thick of a war, and is teamed up with the Specialists where she encounters Cutters, and the Dark One, a figure she is aware is hunting her to kill her. She becomes involved with Keith and for a short time she manages to stabilise her life as best as can be expected considering the circumstances. Out of the blue the two orphans she has educated turn out to be the future king and his sister, and she was not even aware of it, and Sapphire starts to understand that this has all been part of some elaborate plan set for her by her Grandmother, who just happens to have been one of the most powerful seers of the Fae. Towards the end of Book Five Sapphire finds herself alone at the farm of Rafe’s parents, suddenly she is separated from all the chaos she has faced since she had arrived at Loxley, and she finally has the time alone to actually think and process everything that has happened. I thought about this time a great deal, and I think in my mind it was clear that this would be the turning point where Sapphire began to understand that her whole life up until that point had been manipulated by others.

As her powers which have now been unlocked within her start to grow, Sapphire starts to feel it is time to take back the control of her own life, but for her who has been sheltered for so long; it is not as easy as she thinks. Her powers have awoken her gift of sight, so as she comes to terms with who she is becoming she is haunted by a dream of a young bohemian boat girl. She does not fully understand the significance of the dreams, and it feels like just one more aspect of her life preventing her from deciding what she wants and who she wants to be. This is an important moment where Sapphire has to face herself and make some harsh decisions, and these decisions are vitally important to the relevance of her future, and so with the aid of Opal her process of change begins, although it is suddenly interrupted when out of nowhere she is awoken by Opal and cast out of the circle of protection and told to immediately go to Robbie’s aid.

Talk about confusing?

At the end of Book Six sapphire finally faces her destiny and accepts the mantle of Centre to the Circle of Sight. She is very nervous and apprehensive, and Opal is very intense as she appears to be distracted by a rhyme that sapphire for some unexplained reason cannot get out of her head, it is clear this will become a very important aspect of Book Seven, but again here I have to hold back a little to allow those of you who have not yet read the book catch up. Book Seven will force sapphire to finally accept her destiny, and it will also show her the way in which she chooses to live her life, and it is not what many expect. The gift of sight is a bonus and a curse, and as it intensifies, Sapphire has little choice but to accept it and deal with it, and in doing so finally we see the true courage and power of the real Sapphire.

I personally have thoroughly enjoyed her journey to date, she has been a very detailed and intense character to write, and I must add it has not always been an easy task, as I could only show the readers small parts of her at a time, I have done a lot of editing along the way to ensure she developed at the right speed for the readers. There is far more to her than first appears, and that has actually been part of the joy of writing her character. Books Seven and Eight will finally show you her true self, as she grows in power and understanding, and you will see her find her place in this world, and in the world of the Fae of the Earth, because finally she will travel to Florae to fully understand her future role as a teacher to the future Queen of Fae, but that is yet to come and the only hint I am prepared to give. Will she ever truly find a settled place where she can feel at one with her surroundings?

Well even I am not completely sure as I am scripting out yet more of her for the final book, I think she will have to endure great hardship before that can happen just to make it a reward worth waiting for. The one thing I do know is that she is far more important to HTTK that all of you may first have guessed, and that begins with Book Seven, so I will now take a back seat and allow all of you to catch me up as I put together the final book of the series, and in the mean time I wish you all well and hope this has again opened up a window that has given you yet more insight into Heirs to the Kingdom.

The Author’s Kingdom #8

Posted on December 11, 2016 by Rob

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.

The sinister edge of everything

When I first started to seriously plan the first book in the series, I asked myself the question, Is Mason Knox a God fearing man?

I realise it may at first to be an odd sort of question considering who Mason is and what he doing to the country as it recovers, but it felt like a very important question at the time, simply because I was dividing up the loyalties of the people to create the areas that would eventually become Woodland and Stone loving, and I knew that any surviving churches would have some say with the people.

The answer to the question was obviously no he is not, I mean how could he be, considering who is mother is? so I asked a second question. Could he bribe or influence the church to support him?

This is a far more interesting question, especially considering the state of the country at that time. I looked at the scenario I was creating, with the Cutters inflicting pain and death and stealing the harvested crops of those who could not defend themselves, and it was abundantly clear that Mason was storing up as much as possible behind his walls and swords. So here was the man who had everything, and he controlled everything, and in this scenario I think it would be pretty clear that to support Mason at that time, would indeed benefit those individuals.

It was clear to me that after a chaotic event such as the Red Death, people would seek out answers as to why the world went the way it did, I was under no illusion that there would be members of every faith that pronounced this as Gods will, after all there are certainly enough passages in all religious writings to show how God would punish the evil. It is a modern day phenomenon that after all disasters and community crisis, churches that have been almost empty for months, suddenly find themselves filled to the rafters as lapsed worshipers seek some form of spiritual guidance and answers, and in my mind the Red Death would be no different.

Ok so I have had a little bashing in the last nine years, and I have even been called anti-Christian, but actually this is so far from the truth, and my defence has always been, I have done my best to show a balanced representation of how I feel the church would evolve after a post-apocalyptic crisis. I am after all a people watcher, and obviously I have used the Christian Church as my example simply because firstly, Mason has been raised in what up until recently has been a predominately Christian country in which he has had to blend in for 100’s of years, and secondly, I have been involved with it and have spoken at great lengths to members of this faith throughout my life time. I would say also that when I talk of Christians, I am not talking about “The Church,” to me they are very separate indeed, as I see the Church as the organised political wing of Christianity, and Christians as the many diverse individuals who believe in the faith, and in my mind mainly due to my own experiences, they are indeed two very separate machines.

The Christian Church is simply wonderful material for a writer, it has a rich and at times highly questionable history, and really if you take the time to look at the broader picture of the Roman Catholic, Church of England, Baptist, Methodist and even Latter Day Saints side of the organised parts of the Church, there is a whole list of drama’s and scandals on which a writer can build a working profile. I asked myself would men who want wealth and power be drawn to the church, well yes of course they would, these kinds of people have filtered into every walk of life in the past to seize control and make personal gains, and so I had no problems lining the hierarchy of my surviving church with such people. I would add at this point that Mason has these kind of people all around him, they are in his Marshals, Captains of his Cutters, part of his military and so forth, and so it makes great sense that they would also be in the church. This was never a personal attack on belief, if anything it is my own attack on capitalists and greed as individuals, for the world today is riddled with them and I despise every one of them.

I once knew a Reverend who was to be honest one of nicest and kindest individuals that I have ever known. He was pretty unorthodox in his approach to the way he ran his church, he was very much a reformer, and I can tell you he was not popular with the old crowd. He died not that long ago, and I was so sad to hear it, because I genuinely really admired the work he did with his wife, I have some wonderful memories of his time at my local church, and the happiness and joy he created as he filled his church with young people and children.

The old crowd hated him, he disturbed their out dated ideas and routine in the church, and after a year they conspired and found a way to get rid of him, it is of these people, the control freaks and monopolisers of the church that I speak about when I write of Brother Argus and the First Church Council. Even though I was young at the time, it was easy to see how he threatened their control and the comfort they felt controlling the local church. I saw with my own eyes the pure vile and evil of these people, and it was a harsh eye opening in my youth to confront such prejudice and two faced hypocrisy. At the end of the day it all boiled down to a power play for control of the church, they won by underhanded means, but their church emptied and the collections slipped back to normal, in a way at the time it felt poetic.

I think it is very important to make the distinction between how I feel about people like this, and how I feel about people of faith, and within the plot line of this series, which I hope is as accurate and true to life as it can be for a work of fantasy, I would like to think that I have struck a good balance that highlights the difference between those who truly believe in their faith, the those who see it as a convenient position of power for personal gain and control of the people. Historically the Church has always played its part in politics and the control of their local areas, today they are not as influential which I feel is a good thing, but take the country into the kind of scenario I have created, and I think you will see some traits of old resurface, especially in a leaderless society.

It has been my aim throughout all of HTTK to show the accurate picture of division within the Christian faith, because it is an important political element to the plot. As the story has progressed and the Church has been woven through it, I show the side of Christianity I have seen in the form of Sister Mary, Father Warren and John Stevens, and I have pitted them against their opposing numbers, which again I have seen in life, such as Bishop Holmes, Brother Argus or the Brethren. I think it is evident, that good people do good things, and corrupt people corrupt everything, and I have shown this not only within the church, you see it in the midst of the army of Mason and at times within the Woodland forces, especially in the south where there is very much a sense of distrust amongst certain groups. Silas and his jealousy of the Outlaws for example.

One thing I do know, and has been something I have watched all my life is the scramble for power at every level of life, and so I think it is a natural element of every organisation, and no matter how hard you may want to believe that all within the church or any religion for that matter are pious, the simple fact is hypocrisy will show its hand far more often than not. When you pit the faith of one against another you will always get sparks of prejudice, and history is riddled with it within the church. The witch burnings, the crusades, the slaughter of native Americans and even the Irish conflict are examples of how certain aspects of the Christian church in the past has exerted it’s power, and even in today’s climate we see a great deal of war that has become embroiled with religious conflict within what should be a modern civilised world. I think it takes little to get emotions high and then factions clash and all text about peace and love get pushed to the side as the texts of fire and brimstone are wheeled out for battle.

The Church has always played a very important role in the affairs of state, none more so than in the monarchy. Lord Loxley mainly due to his teachings from Leenard is wise enough to know that without the Church he will never convince the people to support him. I think is also a relevant point that Mason has been more aware of, as he began very early on garnering support with the recovering church, and as the books begin it is already very obvious he has been hard at work behind the scenes laying the foundation for his own coronation.

Most of this comes down to a single point of great interest in relation to HTTK; can the church tolerate a Pagan King? This really is the centre of everything, because had Leenard provided paperwork for an heir to the throne that was a recognised Christian, would Lord Loxley really be having the fight he has to convince the church to support him? I think not. I am well aware that under the constructional laws of this land, the King or Queen become the immediate head of the Church of England. No Catholic is allowed under constitutional law to be seated on the English throne, so really any prejudice that is aimed at Lord Loxley in not so much about the fact he supports a Pagan faith, but more about the point that he supports a king assumed to be Pagan, I would imagine Argus and co would hate him equally as much if he was trying to place a Catholic, Muslim or Buddhist on the throne too. It is a rather wonderful mess and absolute gold for a writer as the web of deceit and intrigue widens out.

Historically the church has always used its very significant power to control the masses, and I think it is for this reason Mason would have looked to the church. He built them a new stone headquarters at Hull. He repaired and expanded the Cathedral at Lincoln, and funded Argus after the fall of the Church Council, in order to ensure that the church continues to publicly support him and convince the people to side with Mason as King, and not this so called Pagan pretender offered by Lord Loxley. As Mason is attracted to the church and its power, so are others for exactly the same reasons, and I would say if you look hard enough, you will see some of these kinds of people in positions of power in the church, local and national government and industry today, they are the ones who enforce the rules, yet they themselves do not live by them.

I see all organised religion today as divisive, and I think it shows in the writing. Religion preaches tolerance and compassion, and it is very evident in the world today that some people honestly believe in those ethics and live their life accordingly. On the other side of the coin, if you look at the internal squabbling in recent times over women vicars and bishops, and more recently gay marriage, the divisions are also clearly seen, and they are very deep indeed. On a more personal level, if you talk religion, or better yet compare religions with others, you very soon see the divisions between individuals, and this from my point of view has allowed me to open up a debate within all parties in the story to create much greater depth. Robbie takes what he has read in the small book given him by Sister Mary and found a great deal that matches in with his own belief system, and yet Sapphire who has suffered at the hands of the church hates them with good reason, although even she was touched by the kindness of Bishop Stevens. It is this wonderful set of contradictions that play well into the story line and it does give me great latitude to play people off against each other, be they Christian against Pagan or Christian against Christian.

Religion can be a mine field and I do tread carefully when writing, after all my aim is not to offend, but to provide interesting dialogue, but I do find I have a wonderful wealth of information on which to base my characters and their belief system. In book Seven you see yet another great example of the divisions created by religion when even Jett Amber, possibly one of Robbie’s loyalist supporters, speaks out publicly her objections to Robbie’s support of part of the church. It’s a wonderful heady mix that helps add yet more life to this tale, and it is my hope that it does keep the plot alive and bubbling.

I think it is safe to say that Mason probably enjoys watching the church fight internally for the controlling power of the people. To a degree it serves his purpose well, as all he has to do is sit back and wait for one to emerge with all the power, who he can then manipulate via their own greed to give him what he wants. After all he is the one holding all the best cards as he has the best equipped force, and all the reserve supplies to push the country forward into something more inclined to his view of the world. I have a three way conflict in so much as I have Mason, the church and Lord Loxley, and as the story has evolved there has been a good amount of doubt and uncertainty on all sides, which has allowed me to play out a scenario that does indeed hold tension at times. I have always felt this was good for the reader, and it has embroiled them in what possibly is one of the oldest conflicts of mankind. Historically none of these groups can be perceived as thoroughly good; all of them have a somewhat jaded history, be it the crimes and greed of the Christian faith, the rape and pillage of the Saxons, and even the Celts as they spread out from Europe long before biblical times, committed some horrendous acts against their enemies.

My aim has always been within the plot to show that not everyone is nice, and some people try very hard to do the right thing, I think this is a clear example of mankind, we are all saints and sinners and no one is perfect. As much as the old hippie inside me wants peace in the world, I fear it will never be so, it’s a great shame as we have the technology and the intelligence to actually create a far better world than we have today, hence my unrest and lack of faith in mankind at times. Sadly part of the human condition for some is greed and control, and I think no matter how far the human race goes, even if some apocalyptic incident happened, we would still be the primitive war mongering tribes we have always been. I think in the world today we may wear suits and act like we are responsible humans, but always simmering just below the surface is the primitive being we have always been, and all it takes for that side of humanity to emerge is one big chaotic event. Heirs to the Kingdom is for me a chance to lift up the false charade and take a peek at why lies underneath, and whereas sometimes it’s not really that bad, occasionally it does make all of us a little uncomfortable.

So in conclusion I will simply say this, I am a writer, and from my experience of writing and reading over my lifetime, I have found at times being uncomfortable makes for good thinking and the questioning of ourselves, and that is not always a bad thing.

As always, I love questions, because that begins good conversations that broadens the minds of both parties, and all of you are welcome at any point to message me and ask them, so until my next piece, I bid you all happy ponderings.

The Author’s Kingdom #7

Posted on December 10, 2016 by Rob

The Author’s Kingdom is a series of articles by Author Robin John Morgan that provides some deeper detail and understanding of his writing. This event has been written and planned for Christmas 2016

The Cycle of Life.

There is something quite special to the relationship between a person who works with the land and the natural world that surrounds them. Having spent most of my life working with plant life, I feel a lot more in tune with the world, than say some of my friends and acquaintances that work in offices and factories.

Even now, whilst I am no longer working as a professional in horticulture, and I sit at a desk most days to write, I still take out time to walk within the natural surroundings of my home. The strong urge to reconnect is never far away, and I can only go for so long before I feel the urgent need to work in the soil or walk beneath the trees. It is often hard to explain this to others who live a more material life within the built up areas of town or in the city. I feel that it is within this part of the person that I am that I have created the woodland peoples and the realm that they live in.

There is something about working outdoors and being part of the circle of creation of life that has a deep impact on you, and in many ways your senses changed and become more in tune with Nature. I have found after most of my life working with plants within each season that I feel the changes in the weather and the atmosphere as they build. People laugh when I tell them I can smell snow or rain coming, but I do notice those slight subtle changes. It is probably odd to say it, but the smell of the earth changes as you work through the seasons, and there is a very real difference between the damp earth of autumn and the earth of high summer.

Basing my Woodland dwellers in this cycle of a working life that is dependent upon the life cycle of life, not only gives me the chance to express a great of the joy I take from the wilderness, but I have also used it as a vehicle in which I can share some of these precious moments of my year with the readership. There is no coincidence that Robbie and Rowan react as they do to the world around them as I add small details to the background of my writing to let you know what is going on in the British wilderness at that specific time of year.

I started the books on New Year’s Day as a deliberate act so that as I progressed through the books I could introduce the circle of the year’s events and some of the tasks involved in the life cycle of the plant and tree life around the characters. It really pays to visit the British countryside and witness the life that the people there live, it is very similar to the way in which Loxley functions, and it is a very important part of our living heritage. Many towns and villages still celebrate many of what are now the old country traditions, and you would be surprised at just how many people get involved and celebrate. We are indeed a country that was built around Christian worship, and yet I am never surprised to see that a great deal of our Celtic and Saxon country based traditions are still upheld and celebrated, be it corn dollies in Somerset or well dressing in Buxton.

In many ways it is nice to know that around the country there are small pockets of people that work very hard to keep alive important skills and traditions. All of us have visited craft shows organised around our larger towns where we get to see just a small selection of a few of the living skills we hold on to, and it is important we see them, but it always appear to be the same old skills of wood turning or hand pottery throwing, yet in my travels over the past forty years I have delighted in finding that there are people keeping these important crafts alive such as spinning wool and cottons by hand and traditional weaving, even glass blowing has had a resurge over the years. What is even more important is that these skills that have been passed down from an age where they were essential to the survival of the community are now being taught to our young, and this is all happening quietly behind the scenes of modern life.

There is no coincidence that I started my series by mentioning how those who flocked to the countryside were saved by the country folk who had the skills but were too old to carry them out on a larger scale. I was questioned by a few in the early days of HTTK as to whether or not this would be a likely scenario, but if you look at the plain facts of younger people fleeing in terror from the crumbling cities, it is abundantly clear to me that the influx of extra youth into rural communities would serve to greatly enhance the survival rate of all of them.

I have always tried to encourage the people around me to look at these skills and learn them, my children have benefited greatly from both myself and my wife taking time out of our routines to teach them these skills. My children see this as fun family orientated activities, but it serves the important tradition of helping to keep these traditions alive, and it also has the added benefit of allowing me the personal experiences that enable some of my writing from a point of knowledge. We have made our own arrow heads, started fires without matches, learned to identify all the wild foods that are actually very nutritious and safe to eat. As you can imagine the kids love our wild rambles outdoors, as I always point some form of food they much as we walk, and even though they are not aware of it, I am preserving some very important ancient skills that sadly were once common knowledge.

As with all things within the writing community, every experience helps to enhance the writing and although most readers probably do not realise it, HTTK is riddled with some really important ancient skills that are the reason we survived through the pre modern times. Ok so maybe we will not have some major apocalyptic event, I mean it’s not like I am planning one any time soon, but the thing here is we do really know the fate of the world? When I look back at my youth and then compare it to just the last five years of my life, I think it is very noticeable how the weather has become more and more extreme round the globe, even here in the UK we are seeing flooding and freak weather we have not witnessed before. It matters not if this caused by global warming or not, the fact is that the world as we know it at the moment is very unpredictable, and so the scenario I have painted or something similar could very well happen, and I feel that is even more an important point to consider. Learning a few of the skills of our past may be the very thing that gets us through some major future event, and that is why I feel it’s important to share the information or make people aware, which is one of the many purposes that HTTK also serves as a hidden layer between the pages. Ok so we don’t all have to become arran clad folk singers, who spend our days weaving and carving, although I must admit I think the influence of my father has given me a bit of a desire to get into wood work, which I need to find more time to practice more, but let’s be honest being more connected with anything remotely natural is not exactly a bad thing.

I cannot mention nature, country living without the influence of Pagan ways on my woodland dwelling folk. Earth Faith, which I created as a slightly enhanced version of what is traditional Paganism. I have had the privilege of being around Pagan’s for a very long time, and I do have a very deep understanding of their beliefs, many of which I share. HTTK does contain a huge amount of pagan ritual and beliefs due mainly to the fact that the faith is based to work within the wheel of the year and it is a very seasonal linked faith. When I wrote the very first draft of the Bowman of Loxley with a readers beta group, a great deal of the questions I got were Pagan based. The Beta group asked if it was actually feasible that a woodsman type belief would actually resurge across the country as depicted in the introduction of the book. I think they were surprised to learn that actually in this country there are far more Pagans than people realise, it is a faith that has been growing steadily since the 1950’s and I have been a large part of it. Unlike most mainstream religions Pagan tend to be quite secretive about their beliefs, which mainly is due to the stigma placed on it by both the Christian and Islam faiths. Devil worshiper is a tag often placed on Pagan, and even in this modern time, the slightest hint of anything remotely Satan based is still something very much shunned and frowned upon. The sad thing is that Satan or the devil is a Christian creation, and no self-respecting Pagan would support such nonsense, but mainly due to the fact that for almost two thousand years the Church has demonised Pagans, it is still a very sore point with modern pagans today, and society frowns due to a huge lack of understanding of the Pagan faith.

From my own observations and involvement with Pagan belief, I see it as a kind of spiritual environmentalism, which considering who my lead female character was going to be revealed as works perfectly into the woodland community. From my own point of reference and my knowledge of the lifestyle that surrounds plant life, I do not feel that there is a great stretch of the imagination to understand that people who turn to country ways in order to survive would embrace a Pagan based faith. I have always felt that people would tend to embrace what was around them, and Pagan tradition and lifestyles do still predominately get practiced on a higher scale in more rural areas today. It did help create a good backdrop on which to work in the politics of some of the Christian faith, after all we have over a thousand years of historical rivalry between the two, so from a writing point of view it does give me a good vehicle for a lack of understanding between the two factions. Although it was never planned or scripted, I have found from my conversations with readers of HTTK that it has actually broadened peoples understanding of the faith, which cannot be such a bad thing as knowledge breeds acceptance, so I take that as a plus for the books.

In HTTK I have taken the workings of the rural community, added a more earth based faith, and introduced what are basically the living skills of the medieval era, spliced with a small amount of modern technology. In my mind this was always a natural direction to take considering the scenario I had created, but I have to admit that from the initial scripting, to what has evolved in the books to date I am happy to find that the story almost feels timeless. I have had quite a few people comment that suddenly during the reading they stopped to think, and realised this is a story set in the future, and yet it would also fit snuggly into modern or even medieval times. It is hard for to me comment as at times I become so immersed in the story as I write that even I lose track of the date, although I will add at this point I do actually keep a calendar of 2038-40, to which I add each event as it is written just so I am aware of the actual date and the season. It is important that I keep this kind of record of events as it allows me to place my horticultural knowledge in its correct time frame, which is why I can write about the aconite popping through the snow or the honeysuckle creeping through the hedgerows of green.

There are days I sit back and ponder just why the hell I spend so much time sat at my desk adding all this stuff to the story in ever increasing layers, and then I get a message or someone I meet who has read the books comments on a particular aspect of the story, and it is during these moments of seeing the enthusiasm of a reader that all of it makes sense and it brings me a great feeling of satisfaction. I really do enjoy the feedback I get and the chances to explain something in deeper detail, and I always encourage questions, and so as I pull this next instalment of The Authors Kingdom to a close I will say that I am here and even though I have written a lot for this event already, I am happy to work out a piece that explains any aspect of the Kingdom, all you need do is message me, and I will write something to provide my view of it for you. It matters not whether I have one, or one million readers, as long as it is required from one of you, I am happy to keep writing it, and I am very grateful to all of you for the love and support you have shown my work, as always my thanks to you all.

heirstothekingdom.com blog

Robin John Morgan shares his thoughts on Life, Writing, Publishing and his published works

Tag Archives: reflection

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