Next month Gol my first fantasy epic will feature as a Goodreads Giveaway. I will be mailing 10 copies to the winners, and with that in mind I thought I’d trawl back and spend a few minutes explaining the passion and drive I had writing this sizeable novel. Gol can either be read as a stand alone tale or as Book’s 1&2 of my ongoing Legends of Ansu series (I’m currently writing The Glass Throne – Legend 4.) Gol was originally published as Fall of Gol in two books, but I shortened the title added content and made it one big volume. So what’s on offer is a chunky tome. Gol packs a powerful punch, it’s pitched toward the middle ground betwixt Tolkien’s LOTR and Martin’s GOT. Fused and lit as a potent martini of tight tense action, nefarious villany, vivid colours and evocative, magical scenes that will leave you, my reader, reeling and giddy. Gol also features bespoke Illustrations and maps by Tolkien Artist Roger Garland, making this a very special book.
I always loved the mystical scenes in some of the earliest fantasies I’ve read like Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter and E.R.R. Eddison’s The Worm Ouroborous – both quirky inspirational sources for Tolkien and many other 20th Century fantasy writers. If you haven’t read these worthy tomes do give them a try, they are marvelous stories that still stand the test of time. For me the essence of good story telling is showing the tale not telling it, giving you -the reader- the magic key to unlock that invisible door leading to a another world. A dark place where surreal embraces real, a mosaic of danger and magic, of mystery and wonderment. I like to think Gol provides this escape, and yet also introduces characters that are as gritty and three-dimensional as any found currently in the fantasy arena. But of course that is for you, my reader, to decide 🙂
People often ask me which book to start with – The Shattered Crown or Gol? And incidentally both feature Sensuata (Sea God) above – another of Roger’s brilliant sketches. The answer is either. Gol is a prequel set a 1000 years prior to Corin an Fol arriving on scene in The Shattered Crown, and was written much later, its purpose to filter light on the mythology and shadowy past comprising Ansu.
It is a darker tale than the other legends (which mainly feature the ale drinking, sword whacking, anti-hero Corin an Fol) and more complex in content, as the others are mostly sequencial and therefore the world building developes brick on brick as each book moves forward – much like David Eddings’s Belgariad introduced new realms and characters with each new volume – the story grows slowly allowing the reader greet the new batch when she is already comfortable with the regular crew. But Gol had to achieve this in one barnstorming volume, the passion and violence and harrowing content within it’s 500 plus pages sow the seeds of what to come whilst sealing the wounds of what has been. I think it’s good – but I will let you, my dearest reader, decide.
Gol will feature as a giveaway Feb 1 through Feb26 Please take a look and let me know what you think … J.W.Webb
