Political intrique in fantasy fiction ~Guest post by L. Blankenship, author of the Disciple series

Today I'm very pleased to welcome L. Blankenship back sharing about her new release, Disciple: Part V.

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Disciple is a six-part, gritty fantasy romance -- the fifth part of the series has just hit the electronic bookshelves. Kate Carpenter is a peasant girl determined to serve her homeland as a healer in wartime. She never thought the crown prince and a ne'er-do-well knight would notice her along the way.

Disciple, Part V involves some political intrigue: one of my main characters, Kiefan, desperately needs to negotiate an alliance with the queen of the neighboring kingdom but she will not even talk to him at the beginning of the story. The queen is wrestling with problems of her own. Writing political intrigue is a delicate balancing act, though.

1. There's a lot of background to lay out. Every writer knows how difficult info-dumps can be, and they're impossible to avoid when you need to explain how the situation got to this point. Or when you need the reader to have an idea of how many subtle influences the characters need to keep in their heads.

2. Closely tied to the background are the characters' motivations in the situation. Motivations need to be clear and reasonable, but that can lead to long internal monologues which are just as bad as info-dumps.

3. In order to maintain story tension, there need to be visible consequences for failure. So while political intrigue tends to take the form of conversations and info-dumps, there does still need to be action as the game plays out. Things still need to get worse before they get better.

Even with four previous parts of Disciple, it was challenging to write. I wasn't entirely sure Kiefan could manage it, to be honest -- but with war looming on the horizon again, he had to do whatever was necessary.

Back cover

Kate faces winter with a broken heart: betrayed by one lover, the other lost to her.

Kiefan will not give up on the alliance his kingdom desperately needs — even though the Caer queen refuses to speak to him.

Anders, alone and despairing, faces the Empress’s seductive offers of power and privilege.

Each of them must carry the ongoing war in their own way, whether cold, alone, or backed into a corner. Each must patch together a broken heart as best they can. Duty will throw them together soon enough and they must be ready.

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Read Disciple, Part I for FREE

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Disciple, Part VI

ends the series early next year!

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Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy and fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. Read her ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS for adventurous, epic fantasy romance. Or enjoy a magical realism tale of a haunted yoga studio with SHADOWS OF SERENITY. For a FREE ebook sample of her writing, read her historic fantasy short story, LE CIRQUE DE MAGIE, available at Amazon and Smashwords.

Nobles in the fantasy world of Disciple ~guest post by L. Blankenship

Today, I'm happy to have L. Blankenship return with a guest post about the nobles in her fantasy world of Disciple. Enjoy her post and be sure to check out her new release.

Nobles

Throw a rock in a fantasy story and you're bound to hit someone with noble blood. Every society has its "upper crust" where the money and power collect to create a group of people with something unusual in a pre-industrial world: spare time. Time they can devote to education, warfare, or politics.

Its a more or less universal arrangement: a concentration of money and power that's inherited within the structure of a family, or transferred by way of marriage. Whether it's a duke, a thane, or a daimyo, these are the land-owners, the power-mongers and the rich. They can seduce humbly-born young women and break their hearts as they please. 

In most worlds.

What's different about Disciple?

In Disciple's world, the highest power in the land is held by a saint: someone who has ascended to ultimate mastery of kir-magic and taken ownership of a fount, one of the few sources of magical "fuel." All nobility and even royalty will answer to a saint, since they are so rare and powerful.

Nobility in Kate's homeland, Wodenberg, are chosen for their ability to lead in the battlefield, primarily. They must prove themselves ready, willing and able to defend the kingdom and its saints. Their kinship to the ancient noble houses is taken into account, but it's quite possible for a title to skip an eldest son or daughter if the saints are not impressed with them.

This applies even to the king of Wodenberg, who is held to a high standard of knightly honor and leadership. So when the crown prince falls in love with Kate, he puts his entire future at risk. The prince's marriage has already been arranged to seal an alliance against the invading Arceal Empire -- the kingdom's lead saint will not take kindly to objections and his temper is well known.

Back cover of Disciple, Part IV

Kate can’t avoid the simple truth any longer; as much as she loves Kiefan, he’s now the king and his duties leave him precious little time for her and their newborn son. Kate’s husband Anders, the ne’er-do-well knight, is the one who kisses her cheek every morning and soothes the baby to sleep on his shoulder.

Kiefan’s protective jealousy still casts a shadow over her life. He would gladly throw Anders to the wolves if it will keep alliance negotiations from collapsing. Their homeland desperately needs these allies against the invading Empire. The kingdom barely survived the first wave of the enemy’s monstrous army and more is to come.

But Kate can’t stand by and let Anders become a victim — or let Kiefan suspect she’s falling in love with her husband.

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New to Disciple?

The Half-Omnibus collects the first three parts into one meaty ebook.

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Or try Disciple, Part I for only 99 cents!

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Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. Read her ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS for adventurous, epic fantasy romance. For a FREE ebook sample of her writing, read her historic fantasy short story, LE CIRQUE DE MAGIE, available at Amazon and Smashwords.

Altered roles of nobility in Disciple ~guest post by fantasy author L. Blankenship

Today, I'm pleased to have fantasy author L. Blankenship here as my guest. She's talking about the altered roles of nobility in her book Disciple. Check out her book and also her great contest at the bottom of this post.

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Nobles 

by L. Blankenship

Throw a rock in a fantasy story and you're bound to hit someone with noble blood. Every society has its "upper crust" where the money and power collect to create a group of people with something unusual in a pre-industrial world: spare time. Time they can devote to education, warfare, or politics.

Its a more or less universal arrangement: a concentration of money and power that's inherited within the structure of a family, or transferred by way of marriage. Whether it's a duke, a thane, or a daimyo, these are the land-owners, the power-mongers and the rich. They can seduce humbly-born young women and break their hearts as they please. 

In most worlds.

What's different about Disciple?

In Disciple's world, the highest power in the land is held by a saint: someone who has ascended to ultimate mastery of kir-magic and taken ownership of a fount, one of the few sources of magical "fuel." All nobility and even royalty will answer to a saint, since they are so rare and powerful.

Nobility in Kate's homeland are chosen for their ability to lead in the battlefield, primarily. They must prove themselves ready, willing and able to defend the kingdom and its saints. Their kinship to the ancient noble houses is taken into account, but it's quite possible for a title to skip an eldest son or daughter if the saints are not impressed with them.

This applies even to the king, who is held to a high standard of knightly honor and leadership. So when the crown prince falls in love with Kate, he puts his entire future at risk. The prince's marriage has already been arranged to seal an alliance against the invading empire -- the kingdom's lead saint will not take kindly to objections and his temper is well known.

Disciple Half-Omnibus

War is coming. Kate Carpenter is only a peasant girl, but she’s determined to help defend the kingdom and its bound saints against the invading empire. Her healing magic earned her a coveted apprenticeship with the master healer; now she must prove herself ready to stand in the front lines and save lives.

She’s not ready for the attentions of a ne’er-do-well knight and the kingdom’s only prince, though. This is no time to be distracted by romance — the empire’s monstrous army will tear through anyone standing between them and the kingdom’s magical founts. All disciples must put aside their tangled feelings and stand in the homeland’s defense.

The Half-Omnibus collects the first three parts of Disciple.

Available at

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Disciple, Part IV on sale March 10th! Get a reminder!

Download Part I for free!

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Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. Read her ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS for adventurous, epic fantasy romance. For a FREE ebook sample of her writing, read her historic fantasy short story, LE CIRQUE DE MAGIE, available at Amazon and Smashwords.

Patching up your injured characters in a pre-industrial fantasy world ~guest post by L. Blankenship

Today, I'm pleased to bring you a fascinating guest post by L. Blankenship. Be sure to check out her new release, Disciple, Part III.

Primitive First Aid
by L. Blankenship
 

Let's say you're building a fantasy world with a pre-industrial level of technology. Let's say you don't want to rely on healing magic to patch your characters up when they get into trouble. This post aims to help get your brain burbling about what your characters will need.

What do people in your fantasy world know about medicine? What misconceptions are they carrying around? That's up to you. There are, however a number of things which it's quite reasonable for even primitive people to know about when it comes to treating injuries.

Cleanliness and health

General cleanliness is one of the easiest ways to improve one's health -- and one of the most variable aspects of a pre-industrial world. Is being clean considered important, in that culture? Do most people have access to soap and water? How long does it take to heat water, or must they settle for cold baths? Are they healthy enough to not catch a fever from taking cold baths?

Do most people get enough to eat? Is it fairly nutritionally balanced? Where can they get vitamins when fruit and veggies are out of season? 

First aid kit

What's reasonable to put in a pre-industrial first aid kit?

•   Clean bandages, whether rags, hemmed fabric, or custom-woven. Two or three inches wide and maybe two feet long.

•   Curved needles and suturing thread. The thread can be any number of things. Catgut (made from sheep intestines, actually) has been used since antiquity as a naturally absorbing (though it may also be scar-producing) suture. Silk was also popular, where it was available. Wool can be used, too. Those stitches will need to be removed later, though.

•   Scissors/shears. Primitive scissors tend to look more like shears.

•   Scalpel. The smallest, finest blade that blacksmiths can manage.

•   Tweezers. How fine-nosed they are will depend on the smiths.

•   Person should know how to set a bone, pop a joint back in, lance an abscess, and stitch wounds.

•   Also include a wound-cleaning method (see next point)

Simple ways to clean a wound

Whether your people even realize a wound needs cleaning is an entirely different argument. But assuming you've worked that out, bear in mind that none of these are as effective as modern topical antibiotic creams, rubbing alcohol or iodine, but they will increase the survivability of a wound. Which of these is most appropriate for your characters to have at hand depends on technology, environment, and cost.

•   Soap and water

•   Vinegar

•   Distilled alcohol

•   Witch hazel

Not Helpful

Should we pour boiling wine on the wound? Let's look at this logically: modern table wine is up to 14% alcohol, so it's 86% water. Alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water does, so by the time wine starts to boil the alcohol content has already dropped. So then you pour this boiling liquid onto an open wound and add a burn to your list of problems. You've now definitely killed the tissue around your wound, making it more hospitable to invading bacteria -- and giving your body more healing to do. Great idea.

Which does not mean that people won't do this, of course. There's a long history of medical practices that did at least as much harm as good, out there. But the writer should know the truth, as much as possible.

There's magical healing in my series Disciple, but when the magic runs out they fall back on primitive medical techniques to keep their patients alive. Kate is a physician, so she is right in the thick of the stitching and bone-setting, but all the gore she sees is because she's there to help. 

Back cover of Disciple, Part III

Kate fought for her place as a healer in the war’s front lines. Serving her homeland has been her goal since her magical gifts earned her a coveted apprenticeship with the kingdom’s greatest healer. She believes she’s prepared.

But nothing’s simple when defending a besieged capital city — or her heart.

She loves the prince, who means to protect her even though his duties as a knight keep him on the battlements, fighting the enemy’s monstrous army.

Kate’s husband is the one who checks on her, lingers over dinner, and slowly but surely charms her. She’s all too aware that her beloved prince threatened to kill him if he touches her.

As the enemy thunders against the city walls, the kingdom needs more from Kate than just her healing magic. All disciples must put aside their tangled feelings and stand in the homeland’s defense.

Kate believed she's ready for a war. She isn't.

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Author Biography

L. Blankenship started writing animal stories as a kid and it's just gotten completely out of hand since then. Now she's out publishing her gritty fantasy and hard science fiction adventures. L grew up in New Hampshire but currently lives near Washington, DC.

~ ~ ~ Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. Read her ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS for adventurous epic fantasy romance: Book One, SEEKING A SCRIBE, Book Two, HERITAGE AVENGED, Book Three, LOST VOLUMES, and Book Four, STAUROLITE. For a FREE ebook download, read her historic fantasy, LE CIRQUE DE MAGIE, available at Amazon and Smashwords.