Whereas I had tremendous fun with Marketing earlier on this year, it seemed more appropriate to be serious now that the full trilogy will be up and running in the next few days. Apologies to those who have read previous posts on the subject, this is for visitors and potential readers

Currently available on Kindle. Free from 27th October to 31st October

Will be on Kindle in the coming week. (No thanks to Amazon’s unhelpful ‘error’ message on cover…sorted by human effort)…Free from 27th October to 31st October.

Overview

Fantasy. Not in the style of George R R Martin or Joe Abercrombie. By Fantasy standards- overall theme ‘Lite’ . Complex interplays, adventure, battles, some graphic violence, snatches of satire, some comic interludes, romance ( with adult themes). Warning for those who read Fantasy: overall up-beat theme throughout, to repeat you’ve been warned; don’t moan to me if you read them and don’t find them ‘gritty’ enough.

Introductions 

The trilogy charts the progress of three women caught up in a series of events which are part of the long history of The Oakhostian Empire; this has lasted not because of the iron grip of one family, or a dreaded back ground administration, but for the simple reason no one has come up with a workable alternative. There are agencies which keep the whole thing running with the usual smatterings of rivalries aided or sometimes encumbered by the composite of princedoms and city states. There is religion which at this stage is usually nodded to but generally not very influential in the ruling process.

What everyone does pay attention to is The Stommigheid or Ethereal or Astatheia, depending which agency or preference you work for. This is an elemental which manifests itself in various ways, physical, mental or spiritual by a combination of these it has given rise to Realms which are linked to The World Physical and thus can be utilised as a means of travel. Those who have managed to gain some deeper knowledge of this enigmatic manifestation appreciate no one has control over its potentials at best only having an accommodation; there is dispute over whether it influences people or the other way around. How or when this arrived upon The World no one is wholly sure of, there are records of great disruptions and the appearance of the demonic apparitions The Lords of The Land and the Lords of The Deeper; later The Lords of The Air, collectively called The Zerstorung.

Against this backdrop the three major characters move:

Trelli (later known as Trelyvana Waywanderer). Once satisfied to be a dutiful and responsible housemaid with an eye on becoming a Housekeeper to a general respectable merchant family. However thanks to the meddling in the The Stommigheid by the younger son Wigran, she has been inadvertently suffused with some of its abilities; the process and manifestation making her a source of interest amongst various folk. She has to struggle with keeping a perspective and responsibility with this ‘new gift’

Arketre Beritt  Initially a medician (medic) in the military  LifeGuard. A state within a state in The Oakhostian, charged with security and specific military actions. Beritt is chosen as part of a file (unit) charged with seeking out Trelli. Seemingly easy going, friendly and skilled at her task, Beritt has a mixed at times roguish past, while can be chillingly brutal against foes, either physically or mentally.

Karlyn Nahtinee Seeming to have originated from Elinid a city of dubious reputation and possessed of a peripatetic mind. Karlyn discourses with animals and plants, has a singular sense of smell and direction which includes the Stommigheid, a talent for arson and an acrobatic prowess. Despite all evidence to the contrary she is initially recruited by a Custodian (think Inquisitor) to seek out Trelli. At the onset her true background is a mystery, even to her.    

Volume One: Of Patchwork Warriors (As spoiler free as possible)

This introduces the three major characters and something of the world(s) they inhabit. Karlyn and Arketre as part of separate missions to find out ‘what is going’ in a port town (The ‘what’ being Trelli). The ‘what’ has attracted others. In the confusion it is Karlyn and Arketre who find themselves responsible for Trelli. They start to bond, Arketre begins to have doubts over handing Trelli over to her LifeGuard commanders. Karlyn, literally sniffs out other issues and leads the party off track on what she sees as more important a cause. In another realm they have their first conflict with The Zerstorung and an inefficient group known as The Obsidian Council.  It is here the three start to demonstrate their differing potentials . This volume also brings in other characters and groupings relevant to the whole narrative and sets the backdrop for complexities in the following volumes.

Volume Two: Our Skirmishers of Lace, Steel and Fire

In this volume more is written of Elinid and its crime family The Silcs, The LifeGuard, The Devoteds, the once legendary and assumed powerful race of The Shadow Lords and the Oakhostian. Karlyn learns more of her previous life, Arketre faces the conflicted demands of her medician training and her instinct to take on the harder role and demands of battle, Trelli’s relationship and skill with The Ethereal grows as she begins to appreciate the full and possibly dangerous potential.     

Following on from the events in ‘Of Patchwork Warriors’. Karlyn and Arketre are in the North East of the Oakhostian in the Princedom of Terasonia, content with being snatched there and have an opportunity to explore their love. However they are despatched by the LifeGuard to investigate a rebellion by the local Grand Dukes against their prince. Trelli is in the South under the care of  The Devoteds, an ambitious member Coltello  wishes to utilise Trelli’s abilities to ‘harvest’ a source of Ethereal in a nearby land. Through the bond the three had forged in the previous volume, their paths cross. Karlyn assisting Trelli, leaving Arketre to be the Officer on the Ground trying to broker between Prince and Grand Dukes. The situation is complicated by an incursion from the domain of a Shadow Lords Prince with ideas of starting his own empire. The theme of conflict is based on the history of many a seemingly superior force being bested by a local opposition familiar with the terrain, particularly when the sophisticated weaponry of the former is found wanting. Again there is the presence of the Zerstorung in manifold forms.

Volume Three: Daughters of Circumstances. Arbiters of Consequences.

This is the volume where the full potentials of the three women are realised in various and some unexpected ways. And here is the book blurb:

Nothing is simple in the aftermath of Our Skirmishers of Lace, Steel and Fire. Wars, conflicting agendas, calls to fealties. All these range across The Oakhostian empire and the Realms beyond the World Physical. Ever present the enigma known as The Ethereal, Stommigheid,  or Astatheia  is no one’s to control, though maybe the opposite is so.  As Officer of one small LifeGuard outpost Arketre Beritt’s initial attention is on the invasion of her jurisdiction, Valeneg, by neighbouring Krenderenberg’s opportunistic prince. Trelli, is drawn to investigating the  possibility of dangerous and nefarious activities by the Silc Clan in their home city of Elinid. Both women however are swept up by concerns of Karlyn Nahintee, spouse of the former, best friend of the latter and assumed to be of Custodian rank by most, she believes all troubles can be laid at the feet of one of the Zerstorung demonics The Lords of The Air. A surprise request to aid in a rescue of a previous opponent enthuses her belief  to the point of dragging (in Arketre’s case, literally) the other two off to confront these Lords. This pitches the trio into or back again across the complex relationships between groups within the Oakhostian empire and those dwelling beyond the World Physical. The three women must face, individually, in pairs or together conflicts, avoiding conflicts and demands of duty while struggling to hold fast to their own personal ties. Seemingly ever fated never to start anything but constantly to be drawn in; their skills, judgements and courage are constantly tested at a juncture which threatens to tear beyond one empire into other entireties, as some dare to believe they can control not only events but the evasive elements of The Ethereal. Conceits which neither Arketre, Karlyn or Trelli subscribe to, nor intend to leave flourish.

(Not blurb just additional information: The Battle for Yermetz takes some of its influences from German/Italian/Romanian/Hungarian conflict with the USSR at The Battle of Stalingrad in 1942/43)

That’s it folks