24 Nov Marian L Thorpe Empire’s Legacy Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour #HistoricalFantasy #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub @marianlthorpe @maryanneyaryde

FEATURED AUTHOR: MARIAN L. THORPE

It is my pleasure to feature a guest post by Marian L. Thorpe as part of The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held from November 8th  – November 19th, 2021. Marian L. Thorpe is the author of the Historical Fantasy, Empire’s Heir (Empire’s Legacy, Book VI), which was released by Arboretum Press on 30th August 2021 (438 pages). 

The guest post provides the inspiration behind writing Empire’s Heir. Following the guest post are highlights of Empire’s Heir and Marian L. Thorpe’s author bio.

To follow the blog tour, CLICK Tour Schedule Page

GUEST POST BY MARIAN L. THROPE

The Inspiration Behind Empire’s Heir

Empire’s Heir is the sixth book in a series, so it’s hard to talk about the inspiration behind it without giving some background to the series as a whole. I began writing Empire’s Daughter, the first book, with the experience of my mother and two aunts in World War II in mind.  Britain drafted women into the forces or other war work, and both my mother and my Aunt Catherine saw active service with the Royal Corps of Signals, serving in France with SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied European Forces) HQ. My Aunt Mary, who had married a Dane and was living in Denmark, became part of the Danish resistance. They had been young women in their twenties when war threatened and began; their lives were disrupted beyond imagining, and they were required to serve, a new experience for women in Britain. I took that scenario, that mix of fear and perceived duty and their determination to help defeat an enemy, and moved it to a world reminiscent of early medieval Britain. But the inciting incident, the beginning of the story, is the same challenge: a general telling the women of his land that they must help defend their land against imminent invasion or face almost-certain defeat. The men alone cannot win this war.

That was the story of the first trilogy: the fifth and sixth books, Oraiáphon and Empire’s Reckoning, look at the aftermath of war: the price paid, whether in victory or defeat, in terms of human lives, changes in society, the loss of independence, political and personal – and the possibility of quiet rebellion.

Empire’s Heir, which takes place twenty-two years after the beginning of the series, and moves the narration partially into the next generation, remains thematically true to the story, in that it looks at the sacrifices people are willing to make for the love of their country and their families. But the inspiration for how that’s presented came from two sources: the life of Queen Victoria, and the bride shows of Byzantium.

Gwenna, one of the title heirs, is eighteen. She is heir to her country’s leadership, although unlikely to inherit for many years. Long before the television series Victoria, I’d read biographies of the British queen, the quietly brought-up heir to an empire who succeeded at eighteen. I would have been about eighteen myself when I read Elizabeth Longford’s biography: Victoria: Born to Succeed; I remember wondering how she could have taken on that role at such a young age, of course comparing myself to her.

Queen Victoria By Franz Seraph Hanfstaengl (1804-1877), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Victoria was expected to marry, to produce heirs, and her choice of consorts was limited. Gwenna isn’t quite in that position, but inevitably, in the early-medieval world of my books, she is a piece in the marriage games of alliances and power. Ésparias, Gwenna’s land, is a client state of the Eastern Empire, and, as Gwenna herself puts it, she has been summoned to Casil, the capital city of the Empire,

“…to witness the investiture of Alekos, son of the abdicating Empress Eudekia, as the Emperor of the East. Alekos was twenty-one, and unmarried, and the invitation had been specific. I, heir to the leadership of Ésparias, must be present.”

I hadn’t needed six years of diplomatic training to decipher that message. Alekos needed a bride, and the Empress thought that bride might well be me.”

I came across the bride shows of Byzantium when I was researching the empresses who helped me shape Eudekia, the Empress of my books. In the eighth and ninth centuries, young women from Byzantium’s empire were brought to the city to compete for the hand of the young man who would become, or already was, Emperor. Usually, this was arranged by the man’s mother.

Bride Show By Val Cameron Prinsep (1838-1904) New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Public Domain 

The chance to be chosen as the Emperor’s bride was a chance to gain power and influence, both for yourself and for your province or city-state – even possibly to become Empress in your own right after the death of your husband. Historically, the Empresses chose brides for their sons to meet political purposes: my Empress is no different.  Gwenna can see the political advantage in marrying Alekos, if she is chosen, and there is something far more personal at stake: her father’s life. But, of course, there are complications, or there wouldn’t be a story.

An advantage – for me – of writing historical fantasy, or second-world historical fiction, as I prefer to call it, as fantasy suggests magic to many people – is that after fifty years of reading history, my head is full of scenarios and events and concepts which I can adapt to my world and my story. So an eighteen-year-old princess in 19^th century Britain and a practice from 9^th century Byzantium both can be an inspiration for a story taking place in a setting based on 4^th century Rome!

HIGHLIGHTS: EMPIRE’S HEIR

Empire’s Heir

(Empire’s Legacy, Book VI)

By Marian L Thorpe

Some games are played for mortal stakes.

Gwenna, heir to Ésparias, is summoned by the Empress of Casil to compete for the hand of her son. Offered power and influence far beyond what her own small land can give her, Gwenna’s strategy seems clear – except she loves someone else.

Nineteen years earlier, the Empress outplayed Cillian in diplomacy and intrigue. Alone, his only living daughter has little chance to counter the Empress’s experience and skill. Aging and torn by grief and worry, Cillian insists on accompanying Gwenna to Casil.

Risking a charge of treason, faced with a choice he does not want to make, Cillian must convince Gwenna her future is more important than his – while Gwenna plans her moves to keep her father safe. Both are playing a dangerous game. Which one will concede – or sacrifice?

Trigger Warnings:

Death, rape.

Buy Links:

Available on Kindle Unlimited.

Universal Link  ♠  Amazon UK   ♠  Amazon US    ♠  Amazon CA   ♠  Amazon AU

AUTHOR BIO: MARIAN L. THORPE

Essays, poetry, short stories, peer-reviewed scientific papers, curriculum documents, technical guides, grant applications, press releases – if it has words, it’s likely Marian L Thorpe has written it, somewhere along the line. But nothing has given her more satisfaction than her novels. Combining her love of landscape and history, set in a world reminiscent of Europe after the decline of Rome, her books arise from a lifetime of reading and walking and wondering ‘what if?’ Pre-pandemic, Marian divided her time between Canada and the UK, and hopes she may again, but until then, she resides in a small, very bookish, city in Canada, with her husband Brian and Pye-Cat.

Social Media Links:

Website  ♠  Twitter  ♠  Facebook   ♠  US Amazon Author Page  ♠  UK Amazon Author Page  ♠  Goodreads 

Instagram: @coffeepotbookclub

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