P.J. Berman's Blog, page 7
October 6, 2019
Jostan Kazabrus
Jostan Iskiartus Castervantus Kazabrus is a Verusantian nobleman whose ambition poses a great threat to the people of Bennvika. He was born at his family residence in Gorgreb, Bruskannia, Verusantium in 1490 AU. This is his story prior to the events of Vengeance of Hope.
Early Life:
Jostan is the only surviving son of Margus Kazabrus, Governor of Bruskannia, and Turiskia Alfwyn, half-sister of King Lissoll III of Bennvika, making him a cousin of Princess Silrith and Prince Fabrald. He became Governor of Bruskannia after the death of his father in 1512 AU.
Religious Views:
Jostan grew up in a time of widespread religious intolerance in Verusantium. As was common for a child of a noble Verusantian family, he was tutored by priests, who left him in no doubt that the Verusantian god, Estarron, was the one true Lord, and that any other faiths were false.
From an early age he accompanied his parents to witness the execution of non-believers, and when he was fifteen he volunteered to join a local group of Emperor Graggasteidus’ ‘Heretic Hunters’. It was a task that would become a bloodthirsty obsession, and as the years progressed, Jostan became consumed by the idea that he had been chosen as Estarron‘s most favoured servant.
Jostan is notorious for his lack of remorse in this. He has been quoted as saying ‘regrets are for the unfaithful’.
He is also known to have claimed that he spent hours of his adolescent years locked away in his rooms in the Governor’s Palace that his father, and subsequently he himself, owned, studying holy scripture, though it has been whispered that while his knowledge of the divine word was good, he often had too many lithe young women in his rooms at this time for anyone to believe he was busy speaking with his god.
Other Pursuits:
As has always been expected of youthful rulers, Jostan is a well built man of renowned physical fitness. He hunts, wrestles, fences and falcons to a very high level.
Claim to the Bennvikan Throne:
Jostan has a strong claim to the Bennvikan throne, as he is King Lissoll III's nephew.
Early Life:
Jostan is the only surviving son of Margus Kazabrus, Governor of Bruskannia, and Turiskia Alfwyn, half-sister of King Lissoll III of Bennvika, making him a cousin of Princess Silrith and Prince Fabrald. He became Governor of Bruskannia after the death of his father in 1512 AU.
Religious Views:
Jostan grew up in a time of widespread religious intolerance in Verusantium. As was common for a child of a noble Verusantian family, he was tutored by priests, who left him in no doubt that the Verusantian god, Estarron, was the one true Lord, and that any other faiths were false.
From an early age he accompanied his parents to witness the execution of non-believers, and when he was fifteen he volunteered to join a local group of Emperor Graggasteidus’ ‘Heretic Hunters’. It was a task that would become a bloodthirsty obsession, and as the years progressed, Jostan became consumed by the idea that he had been chosen as Estarron‘s most favoured servant.
Jostan is notorious for his lack of remorse in this. He has been quoted as saying ‘regrets are for the unfaithful’.
He is also known to have claimed that he spent hours of his adolescent years locked away in his rooms in the Governor’s Palace that his father, and subsequently he himself, owned, studying holy scripture, though it has been whispered that while his knowledge of the divine word was good, he often had too many lithe young women in his rooms at this time for anyone to believe he was busy speaking with his god.
Other Pursuits:
As has always been expected of youthful rulers, Jostan is a well built man of renowned physical fitness. He hunts, wrestles, fences and falcons to a very high level.
Claim to the Bennvikan Throne:
Jostan has a strong claim to the Bennvikan throne, as he is King Lissoll III's nephew.
Zethun Maysith
Zethun Ddachmen Maysith is a Bennvikan politician. He was born to Moyevedd Maysith and his wife Roosigya (nee Rickabadae) in their country villa in the Halaevia Valley, Asrantica, Bennvika, in 1498 AU. This is his story up until the events of Vengeance of Hope.
Early Life:
Little detail is documented about Maysith’s early life, but what is clear is they it is one filled with tragedy. When he was six, his mother Roosigya died in childbirth. The infant, a daughter, was stillborn.
Other members of his family were taken by the notorious Kebben Sea. His father remarried when Zethun was eight. His new stepmother, Bagaria, was a noble Lady from Asrantica and brought her five children, sired by her own late husband, to live at the Maysith residence near Kriganheim.
Bagaria had relations in Verusantium, and it was on the return trip to visit these family members that in 1512 AU, their ship went down in a gale and all six of them tragically perished, leaving Zethun and Moyevedd again as the only surviving Maysiths. There is no record of Zethun even speaking of this event for some years after receaving a messenger bearing with the terrible news.
Parentage:
Zethun’s father Moyevedd was something of an extraordinary man. Born the son of a blacksmith and rising to a become a member of the Congressate, Bennvika’s parliament, he was a charismatic individual and a great communicator who developed many contacts. Zethun’s political allies write that he inherited these celebrated traits, though others add that his actions insult his father's memory.
Non-Political Activities:
As a child, Zethun could often be found painting. This is known because some of these works have survived. It was a pastime that he made little mention of during his political career, and during that period his output of work appears to have ground to a halt, presumably because of the all-encompassing pressures of his radical approach to politics.
During his teenage years, however, while living in the more pampered confines of his family home, his work rate was much more prolific, and the beginnings of his political standpoint can been seen, immortalised in these images.
While there are occasional landscapes of peaceful tranquility, many are more chaotic. These more turbulent pieces often show the suffering of the poor at the hands of the rich - a street beggar reaching out, only to be ignored by a wealthy noble in a carried litter, or a stick-thin farmhand being beaten by an overseer in the shadow of great castle.
It is implicit from these images that Zethun’s affinity with the common people began at an early age.
Early Life:
Little detail is documented about Maysith’s early life, but what is clear is they it is one filled with tragedy. When he was six, his mother Roosigya died in childbirth. The infant, a daughter, was stillborn.
Other members of his family were taken by the notorious Kebben Sea. His father remarried when Zethun was eight. His new stepmother, Bagaria, was a noble Lady from Asrantica and brought her five children, sired by her own late husband, to live at the Maysith residence near Kriganheim.
Bagaria had relations in Verusantium, and it was on the return trip to visit these family members that in 1512 AU, their ship went down in a gale and all six of them tragically perished, leaving Zethun and Moyevedd again as the only surviving Maysiths. There is no record of Zethun even speaking of this event for some years after receaving a messenger bearing with the terrible news.
Parentage:
Zethun’s father Moyevedd was something of an extraordinary man. Born the son of a blacksmith and rising to a become a member of the Congressate, Bennvika’s parliament, he was a charismatic individual and a great communicator who developed many contacts. Zethun’s political allies write that he inherited these celebrated traits, though others add that his actions insult his father's memory.
Non-Political Activities:
As a child, Zethun could often be found painting. This is known because some of these works have survived. It was a pastime that he made little mention of during his political career, and during that period his output of work appears to have ground to a halt, presumably because of the all-encompassing pressures of his radical approach to politics.
During his teenage years, however, while living in the more pampered confines of his family home, his work rate was much more prolific, and the beginnings of his political standpoint can been seen, immortalised in these images.
While there are occasional landscapes of peaceful tranquility, many are more chaotic. These more turbulent pieces often show the suffering of the poor at the hands of the rich - a street beggar reaching out, only to be ignored by a wealthy noble in a carried litter, or a stick-thin farmhand being beaten by an overseer in the shadow of great castle.
It is implicit from these images that Zethun’s affinity with the common people began at an early age.
Ezrina of Sagorno
Born in the farming village of Sagorno, the Hentani Kingdom, in 1499 AU, Ezrina is a Hentani rebel. This is her story prior to the events of Vengeance of Hope.
Early life:
Ezrina never knew her biological parents; her father having been killed fighting the Bennvikans in the opening skirmishes of the second Hentani war, and her mother having died in childbirth.
The people whom Ezrina grew up referring to as her mother and father were Astokiro, Sagorno’s head priest, and his wife Vitsakona, a messenger’s daughter, who had no children of their own blood.
Given her adoptive parentage, paired with the fact that she grew up in Sagorno’s modest Hentani temple, it is hardly a surprise that from an early age, she exhibited a deeply religious fervour, attending every service that her father conducted and accompanying him on his rounds seeing to the needy.
The Second Hentani War:
The second Hentani war broke out in 1500 AU, and lasted for three years. This, along with the many tales she heard of it in the time that followed, was a critical stage in Ezrina’s formative years.
The timing of this conflict would see that almost from the start, all Ezrina knew of the Bennvikans was an image that cast them as conquerors that burned homes and cut down anyone who attempted to resist them.
The fact that this sort of barbarous behaviour was typical of all warfare in that period did nothing to sap her desire for revenge. Her early childhood was a bloodbath of fire and ash, where the sight and smells of the dead and dying were commonplace.
Life under Bennvikan rule:
When Ezrina was four years of age, the Hentani Kingdom finally collapsed and fell under Bennvikan governance.
It was during this imperial period that Ezrina struck up a close friendship with Jezna, a girl who lived on a farm close to Sagorno.
Jezna’s mother had been raped by a soldier during the Bennvikan invasion, and the girl’s subsequent birth has always been attributed to that event in gossiping whispers. This was only exacerbated when the woman had taken her own life, leading to Jezna being raised by her grandparents. While Jezna presumably had fewer memories of the war, and is known to have had a more forgiving attitude to the Bennvikans, this story, when paired with her own ghastly memories, appears to have only fired Ezrina’s desire for bloody revenge.
In the meantime, Ezrina and Jezna soon found that they were also oppressed by their own people. They found their relationship becoming ever closer, yet an archaic Hentani law decreed that homosexuality was punishable by death.
Ironically, life in Bennvika’s more established provinces might well have been easier for Ezrina and Jezna than it was in the western reaches of the new province of Bastalf. In other areas of Bennvika, more and more progressive attitudes to homosexuality were spreading but in many Hentani communities the old laws of the tribe were still enforced with Bennvika turning a blind eye to such things in the hope of avoiding stirring up a rebellion.
The idea that life in other provinces might have been easier appears to have been unknown to Ezrina and Jezna. In 1518 AU, when the death of Jezna’s grandfather left her in charge of the farm, her grandmother having died some time earlier, Ezrina went to live with her there, telling her own parents that she was going there simply with the intention of helping her friend run the place.
However, after an all-too-brief period of the two living happily together, the rising tax levels imposed on them by the Bennvikans turned running the farm profitably into a task well beyond the capabilities of a pair of inexperienced teenagers, and when the bailiffs came demanding the overdue taxes be paid the following day, Ezrina and Jenza made their escape overnight, leaving everything behind them.
After this, they lived together for some years, high up in a tenement block in Lithrofed, working as dancers. It is unclear how much contact they had with Ezrina's adoptive parents after this point, and dancing for customers became their life their until their involvement in the conflict between Silrith Alfwyn and Jostan Kazabrus began.
Early life:
Ezrina never knew her biological parents; her father having been killed fighting the Bennvikans in the opening skirmishes of the second Hentani war, and her mother having died in childbirth.
The people whom Ezrina grew up referring to as her mother and father were Astokiro, Sagorno’s head priest, and his wife Vitsakona, a messenger’s daughter, who had no children of their own blood.
Given her adoptive parentage, paired with the fact that she grew up in Sagorno’s modest Hentani temple, it is hardly a surprise that from an early age, she exhibited a deeply religious fervour, attending every service that her father conducted and accompanying him on his rounds seeing to the needy.
The Second Hentani War:
The second Hentani war broke out in 1500 AU, and lasted for three years. This, along with the many tales she heard of it in the time that followed, was a critical stage in Ezrina’s formative years.
The timing of this conflict would see that almost from the start, all Ezrina knew of the Bennvikans was an image that cast them as conquerors that burned homes and cut down anyone who attempted to resist them.
The fact that this sort of barbarous behaviour was typical of all warfare in that period did nothing to sap her desire for revenge. Her early childhood was a bloodbath of fire and ash, where the sight and smells of the dead and dying were commonplace.
Life under Bennvikan rule:
When Ezrina was four years of age, the Hentani Kingdom finally collapsed and fell under Bennvikan governance.
It was during this imperial period that Ezrina struck up a close friendship with Jezna, a girl who lived on a farm close to Sagorno.
Jezna’s mother had been raped by a soldier during the Bennvikan invasion, and the girl’s subsequent birth has always been attributed to that event in gossiping whispers. This was only exacerbated when the woman had taken her own life, leading to Jezna being raised by her grandparents. While Jezna presumably had fewer memories of the war, and is known to have had a more forgiving attitude to the Bennvikans, this story, when paired with her own ghastly memories, appears to have only fired Ezrina’s desire for bloody revenge.
In the meantime, Ezrina and Jezna soon found that they were also oppressed by their own people. They found their relationship becoming ever closer, yet an archaic Hentani law decreed that homosexuality was punishable by death.
Ironically, life in Bennvika’s more established provinces might well have been easier for Ezrina and Jezna than it was in the western reaches of the new province of Bastalf. In other areas of Bennvika, more and more progressive attitudes to homosexuality were spreading but in many Hentani communities the old laws of the tribe were still enforced with Bennvika turning a blind eye to such things in the hope of avoiding stirring up a rebellion.
The idea that life in other provinces might have been easier appears to have been unknown to Ezrina and Jezna. In 1518 AU, when the death of Jezna’s grandfather left her in charge of the farm, her grandmother having died some time earlier, Ezrina went to live with her there, telling her own parents that she was going there simply with the intention of helping her friend run the place.
However, after an all-too-brief period of the two living happily together, the rising tax levels imposed on them by the Bennvikans turned running the farm profitably into a task well beyond the capabilities of a pair of inexperienced teenagers, and when the bailiffs came demanding the overdue taxes be paid the following day, Ezrina and Jenza made their escape overnight, leaving everything behind them.
After this, they lived together for some years, high up in a tenement block in Lithrofed, working as dancers. It is unclear how much contact they had with Ezrina's adoptive parents after this point, and dancing for customers became their life their until their involvement in the conflict between Silrith Alfwyn and Jostan Kazabrus began.
Silrith Alfwyn
Silrith Avissindra Alfwyn is the Princess of Bennvika and was born to King Lissoll III and Queen Gidrassa in Kriganhaim Palace in the year 1497 AU. This is her story prior to the events of Vengeance of Hope.
Early Life:
The second of two children and generally healthy, she spent many of her childhood years causing chaos with the boys at court, challenging them to fights, sometimes with wooden swords, other times by wrestling. When her challenges were accepted, she often gave better than she got, hurting the pride of many a boy in the process.
Even as a child, she travelled much. By the time she was eight, she had visited every province of Bennvika, with the exception of Bastalf, which had only been added to the kingdom’s territory with the end of the Second Hentani War in 1503 AU, and was considered too dangerous for a visit by the royal family until 1509.
Twice as a child she travelled to Etrovansia, once when she was two, and again when she was five.
She made what is thought to be her only childhood visit to Verusantium when she was ten, along with the rest of her family. This was the scene of her first known meeting with the notorious Jostan Kazabrus.
Scandal:
Silrith is a famous philanthropist who works hard to build a positive reputation in the eyes of Bennvika’s lower classes, but her standing in the eyes of the nobility took a knock in 1513, as a result of rumours that had emanated from Hazgorata.
Having been given her first sword for her birthday earlier that year by her uncle, Lord Yathrud Alyredd, the young Silrith had immediately become consumed with desire to master every aspect of its use.
Knowing that her childhood friend, Oprion Aethelgard had been learning swordplay from a young age, she made plans to travel to Hazgorata and request that he teach her. There is no record of her asking for her father’s blessing for this tuition, only that she could visit Oprion.
When King Lissoll discovered what Silrith had been doing, the combination of his rage, Silrith's recall to Kriganheim and her temporary ban from visiting Oprion again all conspired to set tongues wagging and the rumour mill into overdrive. This did not cease when the ban was lifted over a year later and Silrith returned to the province.
Heir Apparent:
Silrith courted controversy again in 1518 during the fallout of the tragic death of her brother, Prince Fabrald. She had been the only person within sight of him during a hunting trip when the Prince met with a fatal accident. The young Princess categorically stated her innocence in this, as did all of her close family, but people talk, and the fact that Fabrald's death made Silrith the heir to the Bennvikan throne did nothing to limit this.
Early Life:
The second of two children and generally healthy, she spent many of her childhood years causing chaos with the boys at court, challenging them to fights, sometimes with wooden swords, other times by wrestling. When her challenges were accepted, she often gave better than she got, hurting the pride of many a boy in the process.
Even as a child, she travelled much. By the time she was eight, she had visited every province of Bennvika, with the exception of Bastalf, which had only been added to the kingdom’s territory with the end of the Second Hentani War in 1503 AU, and was considered too dangerous for a visit by the royal family until 1509.
Twice as a child she travelled to Etrovansia, once when she was two, and again when she was five.
She made what is thought to be her only childhood visit to Verusantium when she was ten, along with the rest of her family. This was the scene of her first known meeting with the notorious Jostan Kazabrus.
Scandal:
Silrith is a famous philanthropist who works hard to build a positive reputation in the eyes of Bennvika’s lower classes, but her standing in the eyes of the nobility took a knock in 1513, as a result of rumours that had emanated from Hazgorata.
Having been given her first sword for her birthday earlier that year by her uncle, Lord Yathrud Alyredd, the young Silrith had immediately become consumed with desire to master every aspect of its use.
Knowing that her childhood friend, Oprion Aethelgard had been learning swordplay from a young age, she made plans to travel to Hazgorata and request that he teach her. There is no record of her asking for her father’s blessing for this tuition, only that she could visit Oprion.
When King Lissoll discovered what Silrith had been doing, the combination of his rage, Silrith's recall to Kriganheim and her temporary ban from visiting Oprion again all conspired to set tongues wagging and the rumour mill into overdrive. This did not cease when the ban was lifted over a year later and Silrith returned to the province.
Heir Apparent:
Silrith courted controversy again in 1518 during the fallout of the tragic death of her brother, Prince Fabrald. She had been the only person within sight of him during a hunting trip when the Prince met with a fatal accident. The young Princess categorically stated her innocence in this, as did all of her close family, but people talk, and the fact that Fabrald's death made Silrith the heir to the Bennvikan throne did nothing to limit this.
A Step Through Silrith's Portal
Hello everyone,
I am delighted to announce the publication of an exciting new feature on my website - Silrith's Portal. If you'd like to immerse yourself in the Bennvikan world, this is for you. Every week I will be releasing a new article about something within the universe that Silrith and her contemporaries are unlucky enough to reside in. Sometimes it will be an article about a character. Other articles will focus on a nation, a city, a town, a deity, a myth or an event from the history of Bennvika or one of its neighbouring countries.
To celebrate the unveiling of this new feature, the first five articles will be released today!
The titles of these articles are as follows:
Silrith Alfwyn
Ezrina of Sagorno
Zethun Maysith
Jostan Kazabrus
The Noble Wars
Have fun exploring!
Peter
I am delighted to announce the publication of an exciting new feature on my website - Silrith's Portal. If you'd like to immerse yourself in the Bennvikan world, this is for you. Every week I will be releasing a new article about something within the universe that Silrith and her contemporaries are unlucky enough to reside in. Sometimes it will be an article about a character. Other articles will focus on a nation, a city, a town, a deity, a myth or an event from the history of Bennvika or one of its neighbouring countries.
To celebrate the unveiling of this new feature, the first five articles will be released today!
The titles of these articles are as follows:
Silrith Alfwyn
Ezrina of Sagorno
Zethun Maysith
Jostan Kazabrus
The Noble Wars
Have fun exploring!
Peter
September 27, 2019
King of the Republic Cover Reveal
Hello all!This is so exciting! Today I can finally show you the cover and blurb for the next book in the Silrith series, King of the Republic!
BlurbQueen Silrith has fallen. Now she must rise again. However, when her army lands in Etrovansia in search of reinforcements and political support, their welcome is far from warm. Their retreat from one war could start another.Ezrina, a vengeful Hentani priestess, feels the weight of expectation placed on her by her tribe. Without Jezna by her side, her headship is a lonely one. Will the arrival of strange new allies prove a welcome help or complicate matters further?Zethun, an ambitious young politician, rides a wave of public support amid the passion of revolution. Now he must restore order before the mob descends into anarchy.All three rebels stand on the precipice of their defining moments. There is no going back now. Meanwhile, the tyrannical usurper, King Jostan, brings new violence to the Verusantian reign of terror over Bennvika.Scene OneARIGBASA, HERTASALA, BENNVIKA, 1520 YEARS AFTER UNIFICATION – SUMMERHeathens. Rebels. Savages. All words that had applied in the past, yet there was now but one word to describe the three people who lay at Jostan’s feet. Corpses. Corpses whose souls would be imprisoned by Estarron upon their attempt to enter the heavens, and who would be the slaves of Luskaret, King of the Underworld, for all eternity.Such would be the fate of all who stood against him. The lean, athletic young Jostan, clad in the holy white robes of a son of Estarron and born across the sea in the Verusantian Empire, had been King of Bennvika for less than two seasons, and already many had been sent to their graves. With the putting down of a huge rebellion at Rildayorda in the far south, led by the traitor, Silrith Alfwyn, he was the undisputed master of this wretched land. Now these non-believers would repent their sins, forsaking their false gods and converting to the worship of almighty Estarron, else face widespread slaughter.Jostan had been filled with a sense of deep satisfaction as he led his army into the panicked village. En route back to Kriganheim, Bennvika’s capital, Jostan had received reports of a heretical preacher denouncing Estarron and his divinity, and so Jostan had ordered his army to take a diversion and make an example of these people. The village was too small to have a defensive wall, and the preacher, it seemed, had fled long ago. What faith he must have had in his false idols’ ability to protect him from harm.An old woman had attempted to plead with him as his soldiers ripped people from their homes to force their conversions. He had been affronted by this withered, primitive creature’s yowling, so amid the chaos, he had ordered her daughter and teenage granddaughter to be snatched from her.‘People of Arigbasa!’ he had declared in the street, causing each of his soldiers to pay attention as they wrestled the heavily outnumbered village populace from their homes and into the streets.‘See what befalls all who refuse to follow the divine lord, almighty Estarron,’ he said.He made the old woman watch. The crowds of soldiers looked on as they held down their prisoners. In the middle of the street, the pair of terrified younger women were forced to their knees while a soldier took out his sword. He sliced off each of their ears amid piercing screams, the better to prevent them from ever hearing such heretical notions again. Then, the soldier took the four ears and forced them into the old woman’s mouth as his comrades gripped her arms. She choked and spluttered as she tried to breathe, but the soldier forced the ears further down the woman’s throat amid the groans of the two earless women as their blood soaked the ground. All around looked on in stunned silence.As the fourth lobe was forced into the wrinkled old crone’s mouth, the soldier forced his victim’s jaws shut. With the woman’s mouth full of her own womenfolk’s ears, the soldier looked to Jostan for his order. Jostan gave a nonchalant nod, and the hag’s throat had been slit. On a whim, he ordered the daughter and granddaughter to be slaughtered too. It seemed like the right thing to do.Now he stood before the shocked villagers and their captors.‘Repent,’ he said. ‘Or share in your deranged, misguided kin’s fate.’
BlurbQueen Silrith has fallen. Now she must rise again. However, when her army lands in Etrovansia in search of reinforcements and political support, their welcome is far from warm. Their retreat from one war could start another.Ezrina, a vengeful Hentani priestess, feels the weight of expectation placed on her by her tribe. Without Jezna by her side, her headship is a lonely one. Will the arrival of strange new allies prove a welcome help or complicate matters further?Zethun, an ambitious young politician, rides a wave of public support amid the passion of revolution. Now he must restore order before the mob descends into anarchy.All three rebels stand on the precipice of their defining moments. There is no going back now. Meanwhile, the tyrannical usurper, King Jostan, brings new violence to the Verusantian reign of terror over Bennvika.Scene OneARIGBASA, HERTASALA, BENNVIKA, 1520 YEARS AFTER UNIFICATION – SUMMERHeathens. Rebels. Savages. All words that had applied in the past, yet there was now but one word to describe the three people who lay at Jostan’s feet. Corpses. Corpses whose souls would be imprisoned by Estarron upon their attempt to enter the heavens, and who would be the slaves of Luskaret, King of the Underworld, for all eternity.Such would be the fate of all who stood against him. The lean, athletic young Jostan, clad in the holy white robes of a son of Estarron and born across the sea in the Verusantian Empire, had been King of Bennvika for less than two seasons, and already many had been sent to their graves. With the putting down of a huge rebellion at Rildayorda in the far south, led by the traitor, Silrith Alfwyn, he was the undisputed master of this wretched land. Now these non-believers would repent their sins, forsaking their false gods and converting to the worship of almighty Estarron, else face widespread slaughter.Jostan had been filled with a sense of deep satisfaction as he led his army into the panicked village. En route back to Kriganheim, Bennvika’s capital, Jostan had received reports of a heretical preacher denouncing Estarron and his divinity, and so Jostan had ordered his army to take a diversion and make an example of these people. The village was too small to have a defensive wall, and the preacher, it seemed, had fled long ago. What faith he must have had in his false idols’ ability to protect him from harm.An old woman had attempted to plead with him as his soldiers ripped people from their homes to force their conversions. He had been affronted by this withered, primitive creature’s yowling, so amid the chaos, he had ordered her daughter and teenage granddaughter to be snatched from her.‘People of Arigbasa!’ he had declared in the street, causing each of his soldiers to pay attention as they wrestled the heavily outnumbered village populace from their homes and into the streets.‘See what befalls all who refuse to follow the divine lord, almighty Estarron,’ he said.He made the old woman watch. The crowds of soldiers looked on as they held down their prisoners. In the middle of the street, the pair of terrified younger women were forced to their knees while a soldier took out his sword. He sliced off each of their ears amid piercing screams, the better to prevent them from ever hearing such heretical notions again. Then, the soldier took the four ears and forced them into the old woman’s mouth as his comrades gripped her arms. She choked and spluttered as she tried to breathe, but the soldier forced the ears further down the woman’s throat amid the groans of the two earless women as their blood soaked the ground. All around looked on in stunned silence.As the fourth lobe was forced into the wrinkled old crone’s mouth, the soldier forced his victim’s jaws shut. With the woman’s mouth full of her own womenfolk’s ears, the soldier looked to Jostan for his order. Jostan gave a nonchalant nod, and the hag’s throat had been slit. On a whim, he ordered the daughter and granddaughter to be slaughtered too. It seemed like the right thing to do.Now he stood before the shocked villagers and their captors.‘Repent,’ he said. ‘Or share in your deranged, misguided kin’s fate.’
September 26, 2019
Tomorrow is the Big Day!
The big day is nearly here. Tomorrow I will reveal the cover of King of the Republic, the second book in the Silrith series! Check back here to see the epic new design created by the very talented Oliver Bennett at More Visual Ltd!More soon!Peter
September 25, 2019
Check Out My Recent Interview at MegaBunnyReads!
Hi all,I hope you are having a great week. Recently I was lucky enough to be asked for an interview at MegaBunnyReads. You can read it here.Thank you so much to Megan at MegaBunnyReads for arranging this!Don't forget to look out for my big King of the Republic cover reveal on Friday!All the best,Peter
Only Two More Days!
There are only two more days until I reveal the cover of King of the Republic, the second book in the Silrith series! Check back here on September 27th to see the epic new design created by the very talented Oliver Bennett at More Visual Ltd!More soon!Peter
September 16, 2019
Author Interview - Thomas Kane
Hello all,As a follow up to last week's author spotlight, I am very grateful to say that fantasy and non-fiction author Thomas Kane has very kindly agreed to speak to us here at pjbermanbooks.com!PB: So, Tom, welcome to pjbermanbooks.com. Tell us a bit about your background.TK: I grew up in the woods of Maine, in the US. In the early 1990s, I wrote supplements for role-playing games, notably AD&D, Shadowrun, Ars Magica and Cyberpunk. I then moved to the UK and spent eighteen years teaching strategic studies and international relations at the University of Hull. In 2016-17, I returned to Maine, and to writing.PB: What made you decide to become an author?TK: Lots of things set the stage for my decision. Having wonderful parents who appreciated writing was the most important factor at all. But nothing external prompted my final decision. One day, an adult asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I answered “a writer” and realized that it was true.PB: When did you first start writing?TK: Do handwritten storybooks with crayon illustrations count? When I was six or seven, I published a poem about dinosaurs in Jack and Jill.PB: What was the first story that you can remember writing?TK: The key word is “remember.” At perhaps twelve or thirteen, I wrote a story about a UFO sighting. At the climax of the story, it was revealed that the MC was a Martian, and the UFO was a probe sent from earth. That wasn’t the first story I ever wrote, but it is the first one which I can still recount.PB: Tell us about your upcoming novel, The Witches of Crannock Dale.TK: When an enemy army threatens eleven-year old Mara’s home, she makes up her mind to save her family, one way or another. But when the knights protecting her village arrest her favorite aunt for witchcraft, she discovers that the difference between friend and foe may not be as obvious as she once thought.This is a story of war and espionage, set in a low fantasy world. It is also about a child getting to know her mother and father in a new way.I plan to release Witches in October 2019. For updates, watch my Facebook page @thomasmkaneauthor or follow me on Twitter at thomasmkane11.Witches is Book I of the Mara Chronicles series. Later novels will follow Mara’s adventures from her teenage years to her fifties, as the conflicts shaking her world become increasingly perilous.PB: What inspires you?TK: My characters’ perspectives on things that are important to them.PB: Of all your achievements, which are you most proud of?TK: Making friends with a very shy cat named Gracie.PB: What is your favorite fiction genre and why?TK: Fantasy. The most important reason why I like fantasy worlds is that I feel at home in them. This is partially a matter of personal taste, but I think it also reflects the fact that many of the most influential fantasy writers (Tolkien, Le Guin) have written eloquently about such themes as friendship, kindness, everyday comforts and earthy good sense. The world needs more of that.PB: What are your long-term ambitions career-wise?TK: I am planning four books in the Mara Chronicles series. A fifth novel set in the same world, Sleep of Reason, explores what happens when a serving-girl makes a breakthrough discovery about magic. After that, I’m planning one or more books centered on a secondary character from Mara’s story, the spy-hunter Euclid Fisher. Farther down the line, I’m planning a near-future novel about an American intelligence contractor stranded in Britain during the outbreak of a third world war. After that may come a contemporary fantasy about a sorceress who decides to take the fate of twenty-first century earth into her hands.And at some point, I hope to come back to Mara’s world again. It will always have a special place in my heart.PB: If you weren’t an author, what career would you be in?TK: When I was sixteen, I planned to become a pharmacist. I even studied chemistry at university. I met a great writer friend that way. Her name is Louy Castonguay – she writes fantastic mysteries.PB: If you could meet any character from your work, who would you meet, and what would you say to them?TK: If I could meet a character from Witches of Crannock Dale, it might be Mara's aunt Lila. I'd ask her how she got interested in the goddess Nurneth, and perhaps also why she ever thought marrying Tate Crannock was a good idea.PB: What’s the next target for you?TK: My most immediate target is to release The Witches of Crannock Dale. Meanwhile, I am about ¾ of the way through writing the second book in Mara’s series, tentatively titled The Rebels of Caer City. I hope to bring it out about three months after Witches.PB: And finally, tell us a random fact about yourself.TK: I have flown over an erupting volcano in a helicopter.Well, thank you so much Tom for speaking to us today. Just to remind you all, Tom's upcoming novel, The Witches of Crannock Dale, will be out in October, and will be available on Amazon.In the meantime, you can find out more about Tom and his work here:
Facebook: Thomas KaneAuthor PageTwitter: @thomaskane11Official Website: www.thomaskane.comGoodreads: Thomas Kane Goodreads PageKBoardsUntil the next time,All the best,Peter
