Beginning of Book Three

In the midst of all the activity surrounding the release of my first novel and the editing of my second for publication, I have also begun writing the third Ossian Chronicles book this week.

The books of this series are all to be based loosely on Shakespearean plays, and the third novel (tentatively titled The Pride of Blood and Empire) is no different. It will follow many of the events in Henry V, though as with the first novel, it will also carry some parallels to English history.

As an undergraduate history major, I fell in love with the Anglo-Saxon period. "Fell in love" may be too strong a phrase for a people who were little better than the barbarian Vikings who invaded in the ninth through eleventh century, but I have for a long time made a close study of the period prior to the Norman invasion. The first novel of The Ossian Chronicles was inspired by Macbeth, but I went to the events surrounding the reign of Alfred the Great to flesh out a rather sparse plot. In much the same way, I will be relying on the events of the year 1066 to flesh out the plot for The Pride of Blood and Empire.

At this point, as the second novel in the series has not yet been published, I will withhold any detailed information about the story. Suffice it to say, whereas The Wrath of Kings and Princes takes place twenty years after Wars, Pride will take place only five years after Wrath and will once again involve King Ayern's son Cern.

Things have progressed in the kingdoms of Osland, Vistgard, Tirros, and the Nezzian Empire in the twenty-five years since Kjar Kolrig's invasion in Wars. The "blood" in the title refers to the blood of lineage and to the blood of ethnicity, as this will be a book studying the interactions of people from different nations who have been forced together by the empire of the title. Once you have read Wrath, you will understand just what empire I'm talking about (but no spoilers now!).

Suffice to say, I am excited to be kicking into third gear, as it were. I compose quickly (about 1,500 words an hour), so I currently plan to release The Pride of Blood and Empire in July. My plans thereafter are to take a break from The Ossian Chronicles to write another trilogy that has been keeping me awake at nights for eight months now. After that, some time next year I hope, I plan to return to Osland for another book or two. Watch this space…