Steven A. McKay's Blog, page 20
March 5, 2019
The Druid Location – Duntocher Roman Fort
In The Druid, Bellicus starts off in modern-day Milton, West Dunbartonshire, and heads up along the A82 (roughly!) through Duntocher. I was working here today and knew there was an old fort located in the park, so I nipped in and took a few photos. To be honest, there’s practically nothing to see of the old fort, or the Antonine Wall which it was part of. A few stones – that’s about all there is to see of the ancient remains, even though there was also a bath-house here as well. However, I hope the photos give you some idea of what a great vantage point this was, and why the Romans would have built a fort here. You can see for miles around and, to be honest, it’s a little bit deceptive – I’ve worked around here loads of times over the years and, until I walked to this part of the park today, I had no idea it had such great views.
So, starting at the top, you can actually see the site of the next fort in the line – Castlehill, which I visited just a couple of months ago as that plays a bigger part in The Druid (read about that visit, and see the pics HERE).
[image error]
Close up of Castlehill Fort on the horizon
[image error]
And this is that location from much closer up, from my earlier visit.
[image error]
So, back to Duntocher, and the local council have erected this rather nice fence about the remains. I have no idea what the Latin means, and Google Translate makes no sense, but there’s an information board to tell us a bit about this place.
[image error]
[image error]
Again, the remains are disappointing but, for me, that’s not the point. The site is worth a visit if you’re in the area simply because it provides an invaluable link to the past, and an insight into how the Antonine Wall was formed and the direction it took.
[image error]
The war memorial (the big Celtic cross) is the site of the old bath-house. The building to the left is a Christian church, and I actually used to read the gas meter in that building every month, yet I had no idea it was built on such an amazing site. It’s incredible to think how close we sometimes are to places that saw so much in the past, without ever realising it!
[image error]
[image error]
There we go then. Apologies if you were hoping for something more spectacular than a few stones! Maybe one day the site will be properly excavated and more will be found? I hope so. For now, here’s the official Antonine Wall website’s page for Duntocher – LINK.
If you’d like to find out more about Bellicus’s adventures through Duntocher, right down to the Saxon Shore and beyond, here’s some links (the book is back at number 1 in the UK “Celtic, English & Welsh Myths and Legends” chart, ahead of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander novels as I write this!):
UK Kindle edition (free on Kindle Unlimited)
USA Kindle edition (also free on Kindle Unlimited)
February 15, 2019
My soundtrack for historical fiction writing – number 6 is BRUTAL (but 10 is beautiful)!
A few years ago I wrote a guest post for fellow author Roz Morris, where I listed a few of the songs I like to listen to while writing my books. It was mostly just death and black metal with a bit of Jethro Tull, so I thought I would do an updated version featuring some of the bands that helped me write Lucia and The Druid. Yes, I know my time would be better spent working on the next book but it’s hard to do that when there’s a 5-year-old behind me watching SuperZings videos on Youtube and saying “Dad” every ten seconds.
Before I start listing songs, I should say I’m a guitarist, and I can play a tiny bit of mandolin, flute, drums, bass, and sing a little too. I am pretty fanatical about music, I just love it, which is one reason why I own about a dozen electric guitars. This is relevant, because it means I can’t write to music with a cool melody, big singalong chorus, or a funky beat – in my study I’m surrounded by guitars and my Marshall amp literally sits beside my writing desk, so, if a song filled with hooks comes on – say, “Pour Some Sugar On Me” by Def Leppard, or “More Than A Feeling” by Boston, I’ll want to pick up the Ibanez, Gibson or Jackson guitar next to me and jam along. I can’t help it.
[image error]None more black. I should really be endorsed by Jackson – this is only the tip of the (blackened) iceberg!
What I need while writing, or even reading, a book, is almost a white noise effect. Something with little melody, drumming that’s too crazy to tap your feet along to, and vocals that don’t make you want to do your best Freddie Mercury impression. And that means PROG ROCK, so here’s some YES, Genesis and Camel videos for you all!
Nah, not really, I’m talking, of course, about black metal. Most music fans think black metal is just noise, and they’d be right, pretty much. That’s why it’s perfect to write to. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a fan of this music, there IS melody, there is a huge amount of skill involved in playing and writing this stuff, and some of it is quite beautiful. But if I concentrate on my writing, and tune out the background noise, these songs are inspiring to me, and just perfect for my creativity to bloom.
This blog post is simply a bit of fun – I expect 99% of people who stumble across it will ignore it, or, if they DO click one of the songs, turn it off within the first ten seconds and leave my site thinking I’m a weirdo. That’s cool. I listen to loads of bands, from folk rock like Tull and Fairport Convention, very occasionally pop along the lines of ABBA and Madonna, techno by The Shamen or The Time Frequency (great old Scottish dance band there!), rock with Dire Straits and Rush, and various forms of metal with Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Pantera, WASP etc being favourites. But this is about the music I listen to while writing.
It would be cool if you gave each song a good listen, or even added some of the albums to your playlists on Amazon Music, Spotify or whatever and tried playing them while you read your current book. It’s not all heavy, all the time – some of them have soft acoustic guitar parts, even flutes and occasionally clean vocals instead of screaming. The likes of Enslaved are clearly inspired by Viking culture, as a lot of this genre is nowadays.
[image error]Inpsired by batshit crazy black metal
So – on with the songs! I won’t really explain why I like a particular track because it’s pointless in regards to this. I normally put on a whole album, or even a whole discography by these bands and get down to writing. These here are just some of my favourite tracks by each band. The Winterfylleth tracks are NOT black metal, although they are a black metal band – it’s an all acoustic folk type album they did and might be of more interest to most of you than the screaming and blastbeats.
DISCLAIMER – many black metal bands have/had some batshit crazy ideologies, I don’t follow any of them, I just like the music. Also, sorry about the clickbait title of this post lol
Akercocke – not really black metal but I write a LOT to these guys, they’re like prog-rock turned up to eleven. On speed.
Behemoth. All of my books have been written while listening to loads of Behemoth, particularly their really early, true black metal stuff. My favourite extreme metal band.
This Winterfylleth album is great for writing AND sending you off to sleep.
Fancy a FREE ebook? Just click the red button to register and you’ll get “The Rescue” – a Forest Lord tale – completely FREE, sent directly to your inbox :
February 13, 2019
Dunadd Hill Fort and The Druid
When writing my previous Forest Lord novels I was working a full time job, and, as a father of small children, it wasn’t really possible to travel south to research the locations I was writing about. But my new Warrior Druid of Britain series, although it still includes many parts of England as settings, sees our characters visiting some places closer to my home in Scotland. A few weeks ago I went to Castlehill Fort (see the pics HERE), and, for my birthday last weekend, I travelled to Dunadd Hill Fort.
Dunadd was the seat of power for the kings of Dalriada, which is modern day Argyll. Much like Dun Breatann (Dumbarton Rock), it rises above the surrounding landscape, offering fantastic views for miles around, and was an obvious place to build a mighty fortress.
I wanted to see Dunadd because its king, Loarn mac Eirc, visits Dun Breatann in the sequel to The Druid, titled Song of the Centurion. In a rather odd synchronicity, it seemed like the owners of the hotel we stayed at had some inkling of this, as the single framed picture outside our rooms showed…Dumbarton Castle!
[image error]
So we travelled from our home in the Dumbarton area to Dunadd, mirroring Loarn mac Eirc’s journey, and were greeted with a picture of Dumbarton Castle. Yeah, yeah, nothing but mere coincidence, but I always believe these things are a sign from the gods to show us we are on the right path. (Check out the really weird LUCIA synchronicity I wrote about a while ago HERE – that one was genuinely freaky).
[image error]Cairnbaan Hotel. Great food!
[image error]
Dunadd itself is not impressive in the slightest if you’re looking for medieval fortifications, battlements, great stone walls, a portcullis etc – go to Edinburgh or Stirling for that, because here there is practically nothing left of the ancient fortress. BUT, it’s still a wonderful place to visit because, as you can see from my photos, it is a beautiful site with amazing views. It’s easy to imagine yourself on the summit, surrounded by your fellow warriors, safe behind sturdy wooden walls as an enemy army approaches, knowing they’ll never be able to take the place.
[image error]
[image error]
[image error]I loved this ledge. I could just see a couple of warriors sitting here with a jug of ale, watching the land below. The pic isn’t very clear, but there’s a fair drop beneath, and a great view facing out. It also looks rather like a fish.
[image error]
[image error]
[image error]The king is grumpy today. As usual.
[image error]Only a size 6 eh? You know what they say about men with small feet. Bellicus wears a size 12, has to have them specially made…
At the top of the hill is a flat stone with various markings. The kings would be crowned here, in a ritual that involved placing their foot into a carved depression which is apparently only an adult UK size 6. Those ancient rulers must have been quite small but, placing my own boot into the slot, I felt the power of aeons flowing through me and my inner Celt came to the fore! FREEDOM! (Not really, I was just being a bit of a tit). This has obvious parallels with the Arthurian legend for me, with the stone – symbolizing the land/people – conferring power on the one who fits their foot in the depression/ draws the sword. It’s an interesting thought eh?
[image error]Made me think of an album cover by Winterfylleth which, funnily enough, has been the soundtrack to some of the new book
[image error]
My visit was thoroughly enjoyable, partly because my daughter was with me and she’s great company, but Dunadd is just a fantastic, inspiring place. It’s even more appealing to Scottish tourists since it’s free to enter!
[image error]My daughter, wearing my hoodie
Song of the Centurion is now roughly half finished so I’m hoping to have it ready to publish around summer this year. Hopefully you all like it as much as The Druid which, as I write this, has 94 reviews on Amazon UK even though it’s only been out for a little over 3 months! Thank you all for that, and remember, as Bellicus says – “Everyone dies, especially those who never truly lived when they had the chance.”
Fancy a FREE ebook? Just click the red button to register and you’ll get “The Rescue” – a Forest Lord tale – completely FREE, sent directly to your inbox :
February 7, 2019
Audiobook reviews for February 2019
Amazingly, my brand new, standalone novel, Lucia, about a Roman slave in Britain, has been bought by Audible who will produce it in their own studios and publish it EXCLUSIVELY. It won’t be available anywhere else other than from Audible for a year, and then I’ll put out the Kindle and paperback editions. And do you know what? I’m over the moon, because I LOVE listening to Audible! The audio version of Rebecca and Jane Eyre in particular inspired me to write Lucia, a book completely different to anything else I’ve ever written so, with that in mind, here are some reviews of the audiobooks I’ve been listening to recently.
[image error]
The Rendezvous and Other Stories
By: Daphne du Maurier
Narrated by: Edward De Souza
Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 06-12-11
Language: English
Publisher: Audible Studios
I think Rebecca du Maurier might be my new favourite author. I love her writing (as these reviews will show). This is a collection of her short stories and they’re a little different, to me anyway, as most of them don’t really have any kind of ending, and certainly not a twist as I would expect. They are often just narratives of someone’s day or week or whatever. It sounds boring but du Maurier was such a good writer that this is a brilliant listen. The narrator helps, as he’s excellent. I particularly liked the almost Lovecraftian story about a ghost ship which I listened to out at work in the dark one night, and the final one, “Split Second” which is a kind of timeslip thing and really had me questioning what the hell had happened! I still don’t know!
The more I read (listen) to du Maurier’s stuff I wonder if she had a pretty crappy time of it, as a central theme in much of it is women (and sometimes men) escaping from their humdrum lives, but it certainly makes for some good tale-telling. Well worth a monthly credit!
RATING – 4/5
[image error]
The Scapegoat
By: Daphne du Maurier
Narrated by: Paul Shelley
Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 05-11-11
Language: English
Publisher: Audible Studios
Another by du Maurier! This is a strange one again. It’s about a guy who meets his doppelganger in a bar and takes over his double’s life. You have to suspend your disbelief because I’m pretty sure in real life the guy’s mother, wife and daughter would realise pretty quickly they were dealing with an imposter but that never happens here. If you think about it, this seems like a pretty ludicrous idea for a full novel – a short story, perhaps, but how could this premise be strung out over a novel? In the hands of du Maurier, very well as it turns out!
This is an excellent book. I think the key to her writing may be that it’s all quite open ended – it allows the reader to fill in a lot of gaps and come up with their own scenarios for endings and so on, and this is a prime example of that. We like the main character, dislike his doppelganger, and enjoy all the strange, blind interactions between everyone throughout the entire story. It’s a strangely uplifting tale and, for some reason, that mad foundation it’s all built upon – of a stranger wandering into and taking over someone else’s family – is never an issue.
It’s not as good as Jamaica Inn or Rebecca but it’s a great listen, with another great narrator.
RATING – 5/5
[image error]
Julius
By: Daphne Du Maurier
Narrated by: Michael Maloney
Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 31-03-09
Language: English
Publisher: Audible Studios
Huh, I didn’t actually realise I’d been listening to so much du Maurier until I sat down to compile these reviews (I have specifically bought the new Bernard Cornwell one this month just for something different!). This one, Julius, I must admit I didn’t enjoy as much as the others. Don’t get me wrong, it’s as well written as My Cousin Rachel for example, but the whole book is centred around a main character who is, well, for lack of a better word, a dick. He is selfish, grasping, manipulative….It’s really interesting at the start when Julius is a child and the hard times he has to go through but, to be honest, I never really felt much sympathy for him. He was a horrible twat the whole way through the book and it was hard to get into the story as a result. Horrible child, horrible husband, horrible father – he’s really just a twat of a man but never gets his comeuppance and, although I generally like an open ending, I really wanted Julius to suffer at some point, and he never does.
Du Maurier writes so well that I never once wanted to stop listening, I always had to hear what was coming next, so it’s very much worth a listen, but it’s a bleak and unpleasant book, rather like Wuthering Heights.
RATING – 3/5
TRY AUDIBLE FOR FREE WITH MY BOOKS! Download Wolf’s Head, book 1 in the Forest Lord series, without spending a single penny using the links below for a month’s FREE trial:
Coming next time, reviews of Bernard Cornwell’s War of the Wolf, and Tolkien’s The Two Towers.
January 31, 2019
LUCIA – an Audible exclusive!
At last, I’m so excited to announce my news – the standalone novel I’ve been writing about a Roman slave has been signed up by Audible! It will be an exclusive title for them, which means it will ONLY appear as an audiobook which they will produce in their studios, you won’t be able to “read” it anywhere else. Don’t worry though, if you don’t listen to audiobooks (why not? they rule!) you will be able to buy the ebook/print version of the novel a year down the line.
[image error]
I can’t tell you how proud I am of this, and also how excited! I have previously sold a novella to a publisher (The Abbey of Death to Amazon Publishing) but this will be the first full-length novel someone has picked up. And on top of that, it will be produced by Audible who do an amazing job with these things.
I am honestly over the moon and it’s a little strange because I actually wrote Lucia after listening to the Audible productions of Jane Eyre (read my review HERE) and Rebecca (review HERE). They inspired me to try my hand at writing a standalone novel about a female protagonist, rather than an all-out action, boys-own type thing like all my other books. So, for Audible to then sign-up Lucia to make it into a production of their own….It’s pretty overwhelming!
[image error]“Lucia” is mostly set somewhere like this…
In terms of the book – like the novels that inspired it, it is completely different to what I usually read/write. I don’t want to give anything away yet, but I’m very proud of it and I think my usual readers will enjoy it along with, hopefully, a new audience who wouldn’t pick up, for example, The Druid. I’m certain Audible’s production will do it justice and I can’t wait to hear it!
Hopefully this inspires a few of my readers to try audiobooks if they haven’t already, and don’t forget, Song of the Centurion, the sequel to The Druid will be out sometime this year so there will be plenty to keep you going…
[image error]My Forest Lord stories are also available as audiobooks!
As always, I want to thank every one of you who has read and reviewed my books, and supported me on social media or whatever – none of this could happen if it wasn’t for you, and I hugely appreciate it.
For a FREE short story, “The Rescue”, and to keep up to date with my new books please join my mailing list. You’ll also get exclusive VIP content, giveaways and freebies you can’t get anywhere else!
Just click the red button to register and you’ll get “The Rescue” ebook completely FREE :
January 14, 2019
And the award goes to…
Book of the Year for THE DRUID? Why thank you sir (even if the honour is shared)! Check out Speesh’s favourite reads of 2018.
It has been, for me anyway, another excellent reading year. According to my lists here, I got through 70 books in 2018. As always, these are the books I read in 2018, that doesn’t necessarily mean they were published in 2018 (though some were), they’re just the books I read last year, and here they are in the order I read them.
*Clicking on each cover, will take you to the relevant review on Speesh Reads. In the review, there will be a link to buy the book, should you wish. I’m just short the bottom line at the time of writing, I’ll update the links as I get the review done
Best is just so subjective, don’t you find? But that’s what most people think when you single one out from a whole year’s worth of reading. I’m going with choosing the book that has impressed me, for whatever…
View original post 501 more words
January 13, 2019
Why I’m working on two separate books – Song of the Centurion & Lucia
I find it really hard to switch between writing projects because I like to get right inside the heads of my characters and the period each novel is set in. Yet, right now, I’m working on the sequel to The Druid, called Song of the Centurion, and also a standalone novel about a young girl taken to Britannia to be a slave for a Roman tribune.
Why?! Why confuse myself like that?
Well, two reasons really. First, my agent tried for months to sell The Druid to big publishers and, at the start of 2018, I still had no idea what would happen to the book. Would a publisher buy it? If so, surely they would have their own ideas which direction any sequels should go in, and that put me off writing Song of the Centurion. I started it, and got about a third finished, and then along came Lucia.
[image error] Matthew Harffy – it’s all his fault
I had a Facebook conversation with the fantastic author Matthew Harffy about standalone novels one afternoon and, having just listened to things like Jane Eyre, Rebecca, and My Cousin Rachel, I realised many books we regard as classics are not part of a larger series. And it got me thinking about maybe doing something like that myself.
The very next day, in a sudden, lightning strike of inspiration, the idea for a standalone novel about a slave in Roman Britain came to me pretty much fully-formed. It was incredible, and I was so excited about it that I knew I had to start working on it immediately.
[image error]Some background for Lucia
The timing was perfect really. Rather than writing a sequel to The Druid which might need drastically changed, I was able to spend a few months crafting Lucia. I am very, very happy with how it turned out. As I’ve been saying all along, it’s like nothing I’ve written before, but, in fact, it doesn’t seem to be anything like any other book out there. I truly hope it will be read and enjoyed by my usual readers, but also find a wider audience who wouldn’t normally read my “brutal, bloody” action adventure style novels.
I am now in a little bit of a dilemma though: A publisher has shown an interest in Lucia, but, as we all know, publishers work slowly, and I’m having to bide my time to see what, if anything happens with it. Maybe nothing, and I’ll just self-publish it! But, in the meantime, I’m still in the mindset of Roman Britain, not POST-Roman Britain, so it’s holding up work on Song of the Centurion.
To me, it feels like I’m wasting years, but, of course, it’s only been a few weeks and, since The Druid spent over a year in the publishing wilderness and STILL found an audience, I don’t know why I’m fretting so much. You’d think I’d just relax and play a bit more guitar!
[image error] Over 2 months after publication and still at number 1 in the UK “Celtic Myths” chart!
Hopefully I find out the fate of Lucia within the next few days, but, in the meantime I’m re-immersing myself in the world of Bellicus and Duro. With any luck 2019 will see two new full-length novels from me.
And that’s before I’ve even mentioned the OTHER project I should be starting work on soon…More on that in a few months though!
January 1, 2019
Researching The Druid
A short guest post I did for Tony Riches’s website about researching The Druid.
“What did they wear? What did they eat, drink, do for fun?”
Check it out here:
https://tonyriches.blogspot.com/2019/01/guest-post-by-steven-mckay-researching.html
December 31, 2018
Happy New Year all!
2018 has been a great year for my writing – the last quarter in particular. I published The Druid two months ago and it’s stayed high in the Amazon charts in both the UK and the USA ever since, garnering dozens of fantastic reviews along the way. Thank you to all who bought it and left their thoughts on Amazon, Goodreads etc, it has been hugely inspiring. I can’t wait to finish the sequel, Song of the Centurion now that I know I have thousands of readers eager to read it!
On that sequel, I have a little confession to make. I haven’t been working on Song of the Centurion recently because I had to finish off my standalone Roman slave novel, Lucia. That is complete now (first draft anyway) and I had every intention of just self-publishing it and simply moving on. But then I sent it off to someone in the publishing industry and they were hugely enthusiastic about it. It’s a busy time of year though, so I need to wait until the holidays are over before I find out one way or another what might happen with it. In the meantime I’ve been editing and revising, readying it for publication in whatever form that might take.
The problem is – when I’m writing a book in one time period I can’t just switch to another. I have to really immerse myself in the world and characters I’m creating. So that’s meant I haven’t been able to just knock out a few thousand words of Song of the Centurion, because I’ve been lost in the world of Lucia. So the next druid book has been on hold as a result although, thankfully, I’d already written a third of it so it should still be finished and out there to buy around Summer next year.
However! I was also contacted by someone (big time!) who wants me to do some writing for them and I’ll be travelling to discuss it in January, so who knows what that might entail? I’m really excited about it, it’s a very cool project. Perhaps 2019 will be the year I finally become a full-time writer in order to devote all my attention to so many writing projects? I can dream!
For now, I want to thank you all again for your amazing support not just in 2018 but since Wolf’s Head came out in 2013. It’s been quite a journey.
Have a great night everyone as we see in the new year, and don’t drink TOO much…
[image error]
Cheers!
Steven
[image error]
December 17, 2018
Io Saturnalia!
“You lot have been enjoying Saturnalia, haven’t you? Drinking and fornicating and acting like bloody idiots for days on end.” There was, predictably, no reply to her tirade and she went on inexorably. “But you took it too far last night, up until all hours, drunk and making the freedman, Tiro, serve you as if he was lowborn scum!”
Lucia eyed Sennianus who stood, downcast and silent, and a thrill of fear ran down her back.
This was about Tiro.
[image error]
Io Saturnalia! Today is the first day of the Roman festival of Saturnalia and that was an extract from my forthcoming standalone novel “Lucia”. I might have some huge news on that in the new year, I’m REALLY excited for it. Apparently it’s a “wonderful story”, and it’s not just my mum saying that!
But back to Saturnalia – Here’s a blog post from an author I follow on Twitter, Adam A. Haviaras, it’s a good read on the ancient Roman celebrations if you’re interested.
CHECK IT OUT HERE
[image error]getbook.at/TheDruid
