Conquerors

 

Since I started writing three years ago there have been very few weeks when I have not been working on something or other. I have surprised myself at how much I love writing and how sure I am that I will not give it up now that I have started!

So what have I been working on lately?

At the moment Return to Kalathan, third novel in the series, is in the "drawer phase". This means I close the doc and leave it there for a few weeks before reading it again with fresh eyes. Then I will send to my trusty beta readers who will hopefully give me some feedback. It's a short novel, about two thirds of the length of the other two. I originally intended for it to be a novella but the story took me further than I thought it would! 

I also have another novella, Queen of Kalathan, 90% finished, waiting for me to get the last bit done. But in the meantime I have been distracted by another story which I think I started thinking about when my husband and I watched the Netflix series Barbaren. The story (apparently based on fact!) of a child taken in and trained by the Roman Army growing up to have very divided loyalties was a fascinating one. The Empire in the Kalathan books is of course inspired by the Roman Empire; in fact the whole thing began with me wondering what might have happened if it had never fallen and had continued spreading its influence into Asia. Although I never went into it in the first book, the Western Conquerors of Kalathan came from a Germanic branch of this Empire. So even though the events of the series occurred about 1000 years before my story, it the connection inspired me! 

So since watching the series, a reluctant conqueror has begun to appear in my imagination - a soldier closely connected to the first king of Kalathan, Albrin. His story will reveal some of the details of the conquest which happened five hundred years or so before the events of The Curse of Kalathan. It will explain some of the culture, the origin of the Temple and even the source of the Devilclaw Curse. There will be romance, of course, a journey, and a battle (or two) as a new nation emerges. 

I should be coming up with marketing strategies.

And I'm keen to get going with Kaspar's story, Prince of Kalathan. The more I put off starting the more ideas I get for it. So best put it off a little longer. (Although at this rate it will end up being a 500 page epic.)

Anyway ... for now my mind is full of exhausted conquerors trekking through rain and mud, wary tribespeople staring from doorways, and one man's audacious plan to take back what has been stolen from him. 

I leave you with a video of these three beautiful Georgian girls who make me think of Kalathan and Trina :)