INTRODUCTION This series covers part of the history of England - and of its neighbours - during a period of terrible turmoil following the fall of the great Roman Empire. Many of the characters in this series actually existed, although I have allowed myself liberties in describing their personalities and some of their activities which were not recorded by my principal sources, Gregory of Tours and Bede of Jarrow. There is still so much about this period which is unknown but I have made some reasonable conjectures about what might have happened. The first episode in this sequence is called Forgotten Prophecies and is available from this site as a free download; I have attempted to make it available on all currently known eBook formats. An HTML version is reproduced in full on its own page, together with a short extract from its sequel, Where the Guardian Rests. Where the Guardian Rests was actually written first. I started it one summer, many years ago, and based much of my material from my research notes when preparing my academic thesis. I had been on a holiday on the Isle of Wight with my family and, on our penultimate day, I had fractured my skull whilst climbing around Carisbrooke Castle. I had a persistent headache for a couple of days afterwards, and went to the hospital for an X-ray. As soon as the fracture was diagnosed, I was off work for three weeks. Whilst recuperating, I occupied my time with the first draft of the opening chapters of Guardian although, in those days, its working title was The Founder's Grave. Everything was handwritten, then put straight on to my trusty manual typewriter, an Olivetti Lexicon 80. Shortly after I'd finished the work, in its fourth or fifth draft, I reckoned it was ready to present to a couple of publishers who had expressed interest. Fate intervened: my employers wanted to move me from London to Oxfordshire, and my writing life went into abeyance. Other obligations took up much of my spare time, although I wrote other odd pieces in the intervening years and stored everything away until my retirement in 2011. With the advent of the Kindle and similar devices, I decided it was time to dust down my manuscript. Changes were made, but there was still something missing, I thought; I wanted to add an extra chapter at the beginning of the piece, to establish the setting. That chapter, I decided, would do better as a stand-alone short story which people could read before starting Where The Guardian Rests, to see whether they thought they might enjoy it. So Forgotten Prophecies emerged as a separate prelude. Whilst writing, the characters in Guardian were screaming out at me to be given separate space to tell their own stories. Thus, the series emerged. At the time of writing, the next title after Where The Guardian Rests is in preparation: it is the story of Oswith, before she meets Eldred at the farm in the Meon Valley. You may rest assured that there is much, much more to Oswith which will follow in a later work, as well as several of the other characters active in the first two titles. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thank you. |
