The news is good. The royal children Fion and Dream, rescued from the downfall of the European royal court, are alive and well and being cared for by Margaret, the mysterious wise woman who belongs to the condemned Heretics movement. And where are they off to? They are going:
Yes, the first sequel to King Abba (see www.kingabba.com) is finally available after a long wait.
There's a scene in Chapter 2 where the book really began for me, over ten years ago. I had gone to the Pyrenees for a month to do some writing and I remember standing on a bridge in a peaceful valley, watching the house martins fly up and down the stream. I was completely engaged with the peace and beauty of the valley, and maybe even saw it as a kind of refuge from millennial madness, the threat of which around then was quite in vogue.
I don't know that millennial madness has gone away. If anything it seems more and more threatening as we watch our absurd politicians and governments squabbling beside the rising waters. I write in a week where it seems that half of southern England is under water. The sea which for centuries lapped at the foot of Glastonbury tor (how else could Joseph of Arimathea sailed there...?) is now reclaiming its own. How did we let things get so bad? Surely through sheer stupidity and short term gain. Shouldn't we tear up the blueprint and start again? That is the message of my series The Seven Songs, which starts with King Abba and now Behind the Mountain.
Princess Dream is the character who can't see nature without wanting to take out her sketchbook and paintbox. She is not skilful with words, at least not in the beginning, but she grows in strength as her character develops, and takes a quite unexpected and adventurous path in this book.
Prince Fion has equally forced surprises on me. At one point I had a real struggle with him and, in paratrooper terms, almost had to shove him out of the plane so he would get back on his hero's journey. He is assailed by doubts and also, poor lad, thinks he has problems with relationships. Who doesn't? Especially at age fifteen.
It's quite a difficulty when your character won't do what you had planned for them and in this regard Fion has perhaps been the most problematic. However, an awful lot is being asked of him, to save the world amongst other things, so we have to be patient with him. His greatest tests are to follow, as his mentor Adhemar tells him. We shall see as the series develops.
Enjoy the read.
CJM
To mark the launch of the new ebook sequel, Behind
the Mountain, an Amazon Countdown offer will apply starting Friday March
21, available on amazon.com. This promotion runs over five days with the
biggest discount (81 percent) on the first day, reducing daily to the smallest
discount (21 percent) on Day 4. The available discount will be posted on the
Kindle Store page as each day goes by.
