The Boar King’s Honor Trilogy
A wizard’s misplaced trust
A king wrongly blamed
A bloodline cursed until they clear the king’s name.
Book 3: The King’s Champion
Caught up in the desperate evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from France in the summer of 1940, photojournalist Kate Shaw witnesses death and destruction that trigger disturbing visions. She doesn’t believe in magic and tries to pass them off as survivor guilt or an overactive imagination, but the increasingly intense visions force her to accept that she is not only magically Gifted but a seer.
In Dover, she meets her distant cousin Sebastian Mainwaring, Earl of Hawkstowe and an officer in the British Army. He’s also a seer and is desperate to recruit her rare Gift for the war effort. The fall of France leaves Britain standing alone as the full weight of Nazi military might threatens. Kate’s untrained Gift flares out of control, forcing her to accept Sebastian’s help in conquering it as her ethics compel her to use her ability for the cause that is right.
As this fledgling wizard comes into her own, her visions warn of an impending German invasion, Operation Sealion, which British intelligence confirms. At the same time, desire to help Sebastian, who’s doomed by a family curse arising from a centuries-old murder, leads Kate to a shadowy afterworld between life and death and the trapped, fading souls who are the roots of her family’s story. From the bloody battlefields of France to the salons of London, Kate and Sebastian race against time to free his family’s cursed souls and to stop an invasion that could doom the Allied cause.
The King’s Champion concludes Nancy’s Northcott’s exciting Boar King’s Honor Trilogy.
Publisher: Falstaff Books
Page Length: 378
Genre: Historical fantasy with romantic elements
Writing Interview questions.
Why did you choose to write your book in this era?
I’ve always been drawn to the summer of 1940, the Dunkirk evacuation, and the Battle of Britain. The high stakes and the uncertainty of the outcome make a perfect backdrop for a story. There’s also space to fit in magic, which is important because this book is historical fantasy.
Did you find researching this era particularly difficult? What was the hardest thing to find out, and did you come across anything particularly surprising?
The biggest difficulty about researching this era is that there’s so much information. Sorting through it to find what I needed and then distilling all of that so it fit into the story instead of taking it over was a challenge.
I had particular difficulty in finding the details of Operation Sealion, the planned German invasion of Britain. Most of the books I found described it in very general terms. Since my characters want to sabotage it, though, I needed to know in which ports the fleet was gathered and how those ports were laid out. I did finally find a book that contained detailed information on the ports along with writerly gold in the form of maps.
Can you share something about the book that isn’t covered in the blurb?
A shift in Sebastian and Kate’s relationship occurs because of the sinking of the S.S. Arandora Star, a ship transporting interned Italians and German prisoners of war to Canada. A U-boat sank her off the coast of Ireland with heavy loss of life. I don’t want to say exactly how this changes things because that would be a spoiler.
If you had to describe your protagonist(s), in three words, what would those three words be and why?
Kate – persistent, smart, insightful
Sebastian – thoughtful, quick-thinking, resolute
What was the most challenging part about writing your book?
Depicting daily life in London during 1940 accurately. There’s a lot of material, but sorting through it was more a matter of picking and choosing what to include than of distilling it. Even so, there were a great many topics to cover—fashion, restaurants, language patterns, slang, laundry processes, the Underground lines of the time, radio programs, forms of address, military ranks and insignia, and rationing, just to name a few. I spent a lot of time on rationing to be sure I had it right, and I never did find out for sure when the hot water ration of five inches per person per week in bathtubs began.
Was there anything that you edited out of this book that would have drastically affected the story, should it be left in?
No, nothing.
What are you currently working on?
I’m writing the last of four historical fantasy mystery/suspense novellas for Falstaff Books, publisher of the Boar King’s Honor trilogy. This new series, The Merlin Club, is set in the world of the trilogy, but the stories occur during various periods in history. This last one is another World War II adventure.
What would you tell an aspiring author who had some doubts about their writing abilities?
There’s no easy answer to that question because taste in stories is so subjective. Fiction writing is a learned skill. If you can tell an engaging story out loud, even if you’re shy about doing so outside a small group of family or friends, you can learn to tell it on paper.
Personal Interview questions.
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
Read fiction or history, walk the dog, or hang out with my family.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A fashion designer until I found out how much chemistry that curriculum required.
What’s for dinner tonight? What would you rather be eating?
A turkey sandwich and potato salad. I’m fine with that, so there’s nothing I would rather be eating.
What would be a perfect day?
Sunny and warm but not hot or muggy, with time to read, write, or go for a walk.
What is the best part of your day?
Any part that lets me hang out with my family.
Either or!
Tea or coffee: Coffee first thing in the morning and tea the rest of the time
Hot or cold: Cold, because I can always pile on more sweaters or blankets
Movie or book: Book because it draws me more deeply into the story
Morning person or Night owl: Night owl without a doubt
City or country: City
Social Media or book: Book because I like the escape it offers.
Paperback or ebook: Paperback by preference but mostly ebooks in practice because of shelf space shortages.
Nancy Northcott’s childhood ambition was to grow up and become Wonder Woman. Around fourth grade, she realized it was too late to acquire Amazon genes, but she still loved comic books, science fiction, fantasy, history, and romance.
Nancy earned her undergraduate degree in history and particularly enjoyed a summer spent studying Tudor and Stuart England at the University of Oxford. She has given presentations on the Wars of the Roses and Richard III to university classes studying Shakespeare’s play about that king. In addition, she has taught college courses on science fiction, fantasy, and society.
The Boar King’s Honor historical fantasy trilogy combines Nancy’s love of history and magic with her interest in Richard III. She also writes traditional romantic suspense, romantic spy adventures, and two other speculative fiction series, the Light Mage Wars paranormal romances and, with Jeanne Adams, the Outcast Station space mystery series.
Thank you so much for hosting Nancy Northcott today. What a fabulous interview!
ReplyDeleteCathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club