Meet my character – it’s a blog tour! (+ win an e-book)

Sophie Masson kindly invited me to take part in the “Meet my Character: book blog tour.   I first met Sophie many years ago at Grail Quest, a very successful Arthurian convention, after which the Arthurian Association of Australia was formed. Since then we’ve shared a friendship along with a mutual passion for Arthur and his knights, a passion that has informed much of our work. Sophie is the highly successful and award-winning author of numerous novels for children and adults, on such diverse topics as Ned Kelly, Shakespeare, Marie of France (and other novels set in France and drawing on Sophie’s French heritage) as well as her latest series, Trinity, set in Russia (#1 The Koldun Code.)   Read more about Sophie’s work on her author site: www.sophiemasson.org and blog: www.firebirdfeathers.com.

Now it’s my turn to tag two new authors, below – I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading about Serene and Jan, and also checking out their blogs once they’re up!

 Serene Conneeley: My friendship with Serene began after I read, enjoyed and admired her first book, Seven Sacred Sites, a work of non-fiction. Serene published several non-fiction books after that, including The Book of Faery Magic, Mermaid Magic and Witchy Magic (to which I was honoured to be asked to contribute a small piece.) Since then Serene has embarked on a YA trilogy tapping into her love and knowledge of myths and magic, with Into the Mists and Into the Dark already published, and a new book in the pipeline. You can find out more about Serene on: www.sereneconneeley.com.

Jan Latta: I first met Jan through my association with the Children’s Book Council of Australia. Jan is an author, wildlife photographer and publisher, and has travelled the world, including such diverse countries as China, Africa, India, Sri Lanka and Borneo, to write about and photograph endangered animals in their natural habitat – so I guarantee any ‘character’ she writes about will be both unexpected and charming!  Read more about Jan on www.truetolifebooks.com.au.

About my character – Morgana:

What is her name?  Morgana, also called Morgan le Fay (‘the fairy’) in Arthurian legend.

Is she a fictional/historical character? It depends on whether or not you believe King Arthur really existed in the past!  To me, she is a legendary character, who has been much traduced through the ages.

When/where is the story set? I’ve set I, Morgana in a quasi-medieval ‘otherworld’ scenario very similar to our own, and have used the place names (in the UK) normally associated with Arthurian legend – eg Tintagel, Glastonbury and ‘Camelot’. Rather than going with the currently popular scenario of Arthur as a dark age dux bellorum (who may or may not have existed but who probably inspired the later stories about King Arthur) I chose a ‘medieval’ setting because that’s when the first coherent narratives began to be written, giving rise to the legend as we now know it.

What should we know about her? The character of Morgana has always fascinated me. Throughout the legend she’s portrayed as a wicked, scheming ‘witch’, bent on Arthur’s destruction, and yet it is said that after the Battle of Camlann she took Arthur by boat to the sacred Isle of Avalon to be healed of his wounds – which seems such a loving act, and completely out of character after what has gone before. And so I set out to understand why she does what she does in the legend, and I, Morgana is the result: the story of a proud, ambitious and passionate woman, bent on revenge, and who is ruled by her heart and not her head, a flaw that lies at the heart of this story.

What is the main conflict? What messes up her life? Morgana is the first born child of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, and Igraine, his wife. But her father is killed in battle, and through the trickery of Merlin the hated High King, Uther Pendragon, takes his place. Schooled in magic by Merlin, and promised a kingdom, Morgana is usurped by her half-brother Arthur, and is betrayed by everyone she’s ever loved and trusted. Bent on reclaiming what is rightfully hers, Morgana’s schemes for revenge will bring down a kingdom and break her heart. The question is: can she learn the lessons from the past in time to save the future – both hers AND ours?

Who is the publisher, and where can we read more about the book? I, Morgana is published by Momentum Books (Pan Macmillan) both in e-book and print format. www.momentumbooks.com.au/books/i-morgana.  You can read more about the book on my website: www.felicitypulman.com.au.

There are three copies of I, Morgana (in ebook format) to be won if you first leave a comment on my blog and then email me via my website requesting a copy: www.felicitypulman.com.au.  I’ll contact the first three people to email me with the code to redeem your book.