Gosh, two updates in one year, what’s going on here. Three things.

1: Once again, I’ve a need of beta readers

In Hare and Adder (Book One, Alsaldic Lands Trilogy) Hegrea is denied the granary she’d been promised as a child and which, as she later discovers, is hers by right of inheritance. Now, a thousand years on, Detah, daughter of the present granary family, has no desire to be a granary-keeper. She wants to travel and be a trader.

The story of Alsalda Bear follows Detah’s reaction to the arrival of people from overseas bringing their enemies with them. The inevitable changes they bring will ultimately allow her to grasp the future she believes is denied her – if she has the courage to stand against her family and leave them behind. Meanwhile there’s a mystery to be solved.

If you’re interested in reading and answering a few simple questions, contact me here.

2: I thought you’d like to know that I do take notice of beta readers’ comments.

I am currently working on Hare and Adder, making amendments, addressing issues raised by beta readers and polishing and tidying. It will almost certainly be ready to publish before Christmas, but I’m holding it back. I plan to publish it together with Alsalda Bear next summer (2023).

These two books, and a third, will form the Alsaldic Lands Trilogy which covers the rise in Late Neolithic of the Alsaldic Trading Granaries, and their eventual fall to the first whispers of iron.

Although not part of the Spinner’s Game series, several of the semi-immortal characters first met with in those books appear in this trilogy to battle out ancient grudges, irrespective of the harm inflicted on the humans manipulated and caught in their conflicts.

3: My fellow tweeter and writer, Cheryl Burman, has just published this month’s newsletter… and it carries an interview with yours truly (see below).

Australian by birth, Cheryl Burman lives in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, UK, after spending a few years in Switzerland and Surrey. She loves it there. The Forest has inspired writers, including Tolkien, for generations. It’s still doing so.

Cheryl likes to switch focus from time to time so brands herself a multi-genre author, that is, she writes what she feels like. She began with fantasy for the middle graders (books the mums, dads, grannies etc also enjoy) moved to historical fiction with her novel Keepers, and her historical fantasy novel, River Witch was released on 9th September 2022. You can find all her books here.

The greatest pleasure she receives from her writing is when people tell her: ‘I loved your book.’ It gets even better if they leave a review saying so!

(Taken from her website )

Cheryl introduced me to her readers thus:

Crispina Kemp has a most vivid imagination, and the ability to transfer her thoughts to paper.  Some pure fantasy, some historical fantasy, her books follow the intrigues and dramas of richly complex characters (including a lovesick dragon) in fantastical settings. I’m not done with her Spinner’s Game series yet, but am part way through her latest, Roots of Rookeri, and learning a whole new language as I go. Have a read of my interview with Crispina to discover how and where she gets her inspiration.

The Interview

My October guest, Crispina Kemp, is a writer whose work is mind-bendingly imaginative, with Norse gods, love-sick dragons and prehistoric-style peoples with complex cultures. She is also prolific with a six book series published, a recent release, and a three book series to be launched next year. Welcome, Crispina.

Tell us where you live and what a typical day might look like for you

A typical day might begin with a short walk to the beach with my camera to photograph the sunrise; it might close with a short walk to the estuary for the sunset. [Ed note: Crispina shares her gorgeous images on Twitter each day as @ineebrown51 – they are lovely to see.] For a passionate nature photographer, I live in an enviable position on a spit of land betwixt sea and river (Great Yarmouth). And when not writing and clicking, I’m gardening.

What kind of writing do you do and what led you to that?

Mythic fantasy is my passion. What led me there? The Space Programme. Failing to find a place “to boldly go” I turned my vision inwards to a study of psychology and exploration of spirituality. This encouraged an outward journey to explore this wonderful world, its past, its peoples and their beliefs. From that exploration I returned with the core of my writing.

In the early days of writing, were there authors whom you consciously modelled yourself on?

I’m not sure I’d say consciously modelled but certainly Julian May and Orson Scott Card between them were a liberating factor in that both used telepathic characters. Also, both are fantasy writers with series that stretch across vast chasms of time and space. Oh, snap, ditto.

How does writing begin for you? Is it an idea, a conversation, a title or an image?

Often it’s a song sets me off. Riders On The Storm (The Doors) became The Spinner’s Game. Kula Shaker’s music helped to form the ideas and settings in Roots of Rookeri. Coincidence the lead singer shares my name. Also, I listen to Pagan Rock; those drums influence me and take me back to tribal days!

Are some characters more fun or more challenging for you to write?

In Learning To Fly, Raesan was so much fun to write, though I’m told he’s least liked by the readers. The same is true in Roots of Rookeri. I delighted in writing the drug-addicted psychopathic Kalamite. More difficult are the protagonists, maybe because, with exception of Neve in Learning To Fly, they are the most unlike me.

What is your most recent book about? What inspired this particular story?

I’ve already mentioned Kula Shaker’s music as an influence for my most recently published book, Roots of Rookeri. I’ll add Shakespeare’s comedies to that, especially the early ones. And to complete it my long years as an anti-materialistic aging hippy and interest in the history of astrology.

Link to my Amazon page and all books available

A Key, A Tree, A Prophecy

A violation of the mysterious Wood Tower at the heart of Citadel Lecheni has Kalamite, head of the quasi-religious Runman Order, in a panic, for that’s where he has hidden his mother, his queen – for her protection. Planetary alignments foretell an invasion from the south, so when Eshe arrives in Lecheni from southern Raselstad, Kalamite moves into action. He insists a spy is sent to Eshe’s hometown. The heiress Sifadis jumps at the opportunity to be that spy, to pursue a project of her own and to delay further marriage arrangements.

In Raselstad, Sifadis meets her antithesis, Boody with his abhorrence of everything northern. Yet they share a love for ancient books and Daabian plants. They also share an ancient connection, which on meeting neither expects.

All in all, it’s a tangle of mistaken identities in true Shakespearean form.

What do you want your readers to feel when they have closed the last page of your book?

I have to say I’d like them to feel satisfied. And with this book I hope also to raise a little chuckle. With the Spinner’s books, I hope I might stir sufficient curiosity that the reader will explore some the concepts woven into these stories. For example, the lesser-known mythologies, concepts of altered reality as found in shamanism, the Otherworld Web which connects all of life, quantum-wise.

What do you like to read yourself?

I used to read fantasy and sci-fi, almost exclusively. But these days I’m as inclined to read historical fiction, cosy whodunits, and (occasionally) contemporary women’s fiction. A sign of my age, perhaps. I also consume piles of non-fiction.

If you could tell your younger writer (no matter how recently that might be) anything, what would it be?

Talent might be innate, but craft is not. It is important to learn the rules, particularly of structure. It’s useful too to understand why people listen to or read stories. Are stories merely entertainment? Or is there a deeper hunger and need? Knowing the answer can make a difference to how and what we write.

What are your future writing plans and especially, when can we expect a new book from you?

I am currently working on The Alsaldic Lands Trilogy. Book 1 has been to betas etc, and now awaits a final tidy. Book 2 is about to go to betas. Book 3 I am in process of converting from multiple first person POV to third person POV. I expect to publish books 1 and 2 next summer (2023). Fingers crossed I might manage book 3 at the same time.

The three books cover the rise and fall of the Alsaldic Trading Granaries, beginning with Late Neolithic, progressing to Bronze Age and ending with the first whisper of iron. Several of the semi-immortal characters first seen in The Spinner’s Game make an appearance as they battle out ancient grudges, negligent of humans manipulated and caught in the conflicts.

Books of the Spinner’s Game Series

Biography

Born on the rural side of Norwich a few years ahead of the Space Programme, as far as jobs were concerned Crispina meandered through her younger years until in her 40s she found a job that required her to write – by way of marketing as an integral part of events and theatre management. She retired early due to ill-health and has written full-time ever since.

Link to my Amazon page and all books available