The History and Mythology Behind Forbidden Road
When my husband read through my final draft of Forbidden Road to do the technical editing, he remarked that when it comes to Arthurian legends, I seem to be extremely knowledgeable, but my Scottish history and mythology was a mess. At the time, places and people had random Celtic names and inconsistent origins across both Scotland and Ireland.
So I did my research. That night, I discovered Fergus Mór.
It was love at first sight. The guy was a gold mine of inspiration!
Fergus Mór was king of Dalriada, or Dál Riata, which spread from southwest Scotland to Northern Ireland (including some of my favorite hiking spots).
He is thought to be the founder of Scotland and an ancestor of past and current Scottish rulers. He even claimed lineage to the legendary King Arthur—not something I included in my books, but it did fit perfectly with the correspondence I had written between him and Arthur’s father, Uther Pendragon, in Merlin’s Creed, the second book of this trilogy.
He ruled until his death at AD 501.
Many legends describe him in contradictory ways, including being exiled to Scandinavia by the Romans, and dying in battle against the Picts.
I chose Domangart Réti as the name for his son, which fit best with the occurrences in Forbidden Road. In historic documents, there were different accounts on who was his successor, including Domangart Réti, Dúngal, and Eugenius.
I also looked up the name Áedán, an old Celtic Scottish name, which I had chosen for Kim’s father in Forbidden Road. I discovered that one of the later kings of Dalriada was also called Áedán—Áedán mac Gabráin. A fascinating fellow who was notorious for pestering northern Scottish and northern Irish kings, and his army’s “exploration” went as far as Orkney and the Isle of Man.
I’m glad I got challenged. The depth that these legends gave to the trilogy, not to mention to my own experience of writing it, is fantastic. I enjoyed walking into the mysteries of the past and adding a setting of myth and legend to my books.
To me, this was magic.
There was, however, one place where I decided to leave facts and research outside the realm of my story and take artistic liberty: when it came to castles, especially Fergus Mór’s.
I’ve always dreamed of beautiful fantasy buildings like the ones depicted in modern adaptations of Arthurian legends or in Disney fairy tales. So, I let my imagination run freely, and in this book, you will find Fergus Mór living in a grander castle than what would be historically accurate.
If you are curious what sort of home he did have, I encourage you to look up Dunadd Fort, an archeological dwelling attributed to him.
Bryanmackinnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
And while we are here…
The Second Edition: Why I Reshaped the First Chapters
You know that nagging feeling that something just isn’t right? And you can’t stop thinking about it?
Forbidden Road is my favorite book, my first baby, the love child. And I thought I should have a go at reading it after so many books in the series have launched.
It was great, really, I enjoyed myself, except… there was that feeling.
I was on vacation. And it kept bothering me.
Until I realized what it was: my book didn’t start with Kim. It started with Seth and the marriage treaty. And that was in the past (romantasy) timeline instead of the present (college) timeline.
It was how I had dreamed it when the idea first came to me in that summer all those years ago. But that was then. And now, I want it to get a powerful start, I want to show who Kim really is right from the beginning. And yes, I’m still in love with Seth, nothing ever changes that…
So I made the changes and wrote a group of authors asking for a book doctor who could check that I didn’t ruin everything.
I still love both versions. But the reader experience is far better now, diving right into the story.
I hope you like it.
Reut
