Book 6 Author Interview / Book 6 on Kindle Unlimited / King Arthur Basics
Greetings lovely ones—
So much going on I can’t even make one blog post about one thing! In the interest of your time, here are the links, then we’ll have more detail below.
Book 6 author interview – on the Children of Arthur blog
Book 6 is on Kindle Unlimited – Read it for free if you’re on KU
King Arthur Basics article – A new article for the total newbie to King Arthur
And now more detail:
Book 6 author interview
First and most exciting is an interview focusing on Book 6 with fellow Arthurian author Tyler Tichelaar. This is a good and very in-depth interview that gets into the nuts and bolts of interpreting the centuries-old legend while maintaining fidelity. Here’s a sample:
Tyler: Do you ever feel too constricted or limited in your writing by having to stick so closely to the legend? Does it become somewhat tedious to write as a result, or do you feel you have enough leniency to deviate and make up your own interpretations?
Scott: Actually, I love it! That has been the gift that keeps on giving, because the original Arthurian legends stand up to it and continue to reveal new depths as you investigate further. It also makes it interesting and like a puzzle for me to look at what we know and don’t know and think of a way to make it work.
For example, all we know about Ulfius is that he was Uther’s friend and ended up arranging Uther’s marriage to Arthur’s mother Igraine, and that later he accuses Igraine of being false. So, it becomes a game to think of what his character might be like, based on the few things we know and what kind of story might make sense and feel honest between the plot points. So, I have to create a character that will work within those strictures, and that is a fun challenge.
The downside is, as people say, “we all know the plot,” and knowing that if I am sticking to the legend, a certain number of people will know what is coming. That hinders the amount of surprise I can offer, but on the other hand, I also think about new readers who do not know the Arthurian legend and might discover it through my books. So, they may have heard about the sword in the stone, for instance, but don’t know the entire story that brought us to that point. So far, each novel has presented its own challenges and has its own focus and tone, so that keeps me interested. It is far from tedious, for sure!
Book 6 is on Kindle Unlimited
If you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read Book 6 for free. If one of your friends you have been trying to start the series has Kindle Unlimited, they can read for free. There are few on ramps to the series since it is so dense and based on accumulated history, so I am advising people that they can start at Book 6 with relative ease, since it begins the story of Arthur’s reign, makes a pretty good self-contained adventure, and there won’t be too much confusion for those new to the series.
Find Book 6 on Kindle Unlimited > > >
King Arthur: The Basics article
I am in the process of sprucing up the website for The Swithen, which is in pretty desperate need of some loving attention. I am going to re-organize it to focus more on resources for readers of the novels, like character lists and insights about the books and Arthurian legend, and one of the first things to do is revamp some of the stale articles. This one is a basic orientation to King Arthur for the total newbie, which can still be interesting to read if you already know it all.
Read King Arthur: The Basics > > >
Thanks so much for supporting the book series! Feel free to let me know anything else you’d like to see.
Book 6 out Wednesday!
Greetings delightful people! I’m quite excited because the next book in the Swithen series will be released this Wednesday, August 28th. And the reason I’m excited is because I think this one is pretty good! This is where the King Arthur story begins for most people, and it has lots of magic and battles and action and intrigue.
You can order the ebook here.
Here’s a video where I take you through the main points of what to expect and, in short, why it’s awesome.
I thought the book was pretty good, but you know how you lose perspective as the author, so I was thrilled when my proofreader, who has read them all, said: [edited for spoilers:]
“Scott, I’ve gotta say I think this book is my favorite so far. I love Arthur’s progression, his range of emotion in having to deal with everything happening to him both externally and internally… Those extremes would make any person go a little nuts. His [scene] with Merlin at the end was so valid and real.
I also like how you handled Arthur and Guinevere’s first encounter over those few days after the battle. You managed to capture that funny teenage awkwardness without making it seem icky, if you know what I mean. I’m excited to see Guinevere become more fleshed out as the books progress.”
Yay! I am already fairly far into Book 7 because I’m so into the continuing story right now and basically, from now on we have continuously evolving stories that will just keep going all the way for 19 more novels!
You can order the ebook here.
New article: Merlin’s Legendary Origins
Greetings good samaritans,
Wondering about Merlin? How he developed? Where his figure originated and how it evolved through various rounds of storytelling over hundreds of years and through the work of several different authors? Wonder no more! Because my new article Who is Merlin? His Legendary Origins is here.
I have had an article on my website since the early days, but it was entirely inadequate, so I gave it a huge revamp and included a lot more information and background to make it a worthy entry. Now it has a lot more detail about where the first figure of Merlin originated in legend and how each version iterated on his myth, and when he was added to the Arthurian legend… because he wasn’t always at Arthur’s side! I find it fascinating to follow the various iterations and permutations these characters that we all think we “know” went through before they became the characters we are familiar with.
The piece now also talks about how Merlin appears in my Swithen novels, where I decided I had to take seriously the idea that he is the son of the devil and can’t just drop that little detail and move on like it never happened! And it’s all waiting for you in:
Who is Merlin? His Legendary Origins
Speaking of Merlin, the forthcoming Book 6 is where Merlin and Arthur are finally together and having to learn to work side by side, which may not be the smoothest pairing at first. I’m super-psyched about Book 6 because I think it’s really good and it’s only a buck if you pre-order it for Kindle (or the free Kindle app that lets you read on any device). The price will go up once it’s released. It’s also a great place to join the series if you don’t want to fuss with all that messy backstory. So why not pre-order now?????
Book 6 is ready for Pre-Order!
Greetings everyone, I’m very excited because Book 6 of The Swithen Arthurian novel series, called Gifts With Hard Swords, is now available for pre-order! I am doing the last look-over now before sending it to my proofreader and I’m getting really eager to have it out there!
This one begins where Sir Thomas Malory began his Le Morte D’Arthur, which means that all of the stuff in the previous books was incorporated from another early Arthurian source or my own invention. Here we begin the very first years of King Arthur’s reign, his first battles, his meeting with Guinevere, his learning to deal with Merlin, etc. For this reason, this is not a bad place to start the series if you were curious. You’ll be able to understand what’s going on, but if you want the additional background on each of the characters and how they got here, the first five books are always waiting out there.
That said, this book is where–if it works!–the promise of this series begins to play out. For one, readers who have been following the series will have a whole bunch of additional history and resonance for all these characters as they see them come together for the first time, so they will have a huge additional sense of meaning. In this book we start to have material from the longer Arthurian sources than were covered in Le Morte D’Arthur, so if you have only read Malory, there is a fair amount here that is from the pre-1485 material, but will be new to you.
I wrote a piece on my website offering a glimpse at what to expect in the new book, and you can delve into it here:
You can also pre-order a Kindle copy here for just 0.99… the price will go up once it’s released. The free Kindle app makes it possible to read on any phone or tablet you have. Paperbacks will follow after release.
Pre-Order The Swithen Book 6: Gifts With Hard Swords
And that’s about it! Thanks for reading and I hope you like the new book!
Scott Telek’s new Substack newsletter: Writer of Arthur!
Greetings delightful people…
I have just launched a new Substack. What is a substack? It is a newsletter where an author you like [in this case, me] writes about what they want.
In my case, I will write about the Arthurian Legend, about my book series The Swithen, about the process of writing itself and indie publishing, and also about books, music, movies and culture in general.
There will be discussion of tech, but I promise, NO POLITICS! I want to keep it fun and a refuge from all that.
It will also be FREE (for now, at least). Most substacks are paid subscriptions, but I want this to be a place to get word out about my books, so if you like something there, please share it!
There are four posts up now that will give you a sense of what to expect.
Go there now!
The Swithen 