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For Throwback Thursday, we are revisiting the first chapter of an author’s career with Moon Lord: The Fall of King Arthur – The Ruin of Stonehenge by J.P. Reedman.
Mary Anne: What first inspired you to imagine a prehistoric Britain as the setting for this saga, and to place Stonehenge at the heart of the story?
Janet: I have had an interest in stone circles going back years, and was always a little disappointed that there wasn't more fiction about Stonehenge. The novels I encountered tended to be almost ALL about the building, which I found dull—I was more interested in the human element. The few I read that were character-based often had the people of the time depicted poorly in my opinion—one made them more Neanderthal than Neolithic, and the other had the Greeks coming over to show the barbarians how to build their monument....
Mary Anne: When you began writing what became Stone Lord and Moon Lord, did you already envision this as a sweeping saga, or did the scale grow as the story developed?
Janet: I knew that it was going to be quite a hefty tome because my angle was to make the MC a prehistoric 'King Arthur', which meant untangling threads from a very large extant mythos.
Mary Anne: Ardhu Pendraec’s rise and fall as Stone Lord is central to the narrative. How did you approach shaping such a powerful and tragic leadership arc?
Janet: Life in the early Bronze Age was short and at times, probably violent. I didn't want to pull any punches. There was no happy ending, just as there wasn't one in the Arthurian cycle (except of course for the folklore about Arthur returning some day when needed.)
Mary Anne: The novel blends political intrigue, family betrayal and mythic destiny. Which of these elements proved the most challenging to weave together?
Janet: The mythic part, definitely. Trying to blend that in without the story becoming a purely fantasy novel was quite difficult at times. I would call The Stonehenge Saga 'historical fantasy', but really there is very little in the way of actual magic—everything that seems magical can be explained away but the Bronze Age belief in the otherworld and in ritual and omens.
Mary Anne: Morigau, Fynavir and Mordraed all play pivotal roles in Ardhu’s downfall. How important was it for you to explore betrayal from within the family itself?
Janet: I hope I managed to give them human and realistic reasons for their actions and did not portray them as all 'eeeviiilll' or fickle, as do some of the Arthurian legends that they were based on. Guinevere often get a bad rep in books, even though Lancelot is just as guilt as she is in the betrayal of Arthur.
Mary Anne: You place Arthurian myth into a prehistoric context. What drew you to reimagine these legendary themes so far back in time?
Janet: My original inspiration came from an interview with Richard Carpenter, writer of the TV series Robin of Sherwood. He was musing about writing a TV show set at Stonehenge, in the Bronze Age, with the stones being the Round Table. He never wrote it and his ideas, other than the Arthurian theme, were very different from mine, which went deep into material culture and anthropology, but when I first read the article, I thought, “That's amazing! I could really imagine the Arthurian legends set in an much earlier time.” Of course in the actual Arthurian mythos, Stonehenge DOES in fact play a part—Merlin brought it from Ireland, using, NOT magic, but 'ingenious devices'. It also is mentioned as being a burial site of Britons killed by treachery—which shows that medieval writers were aware that the 300 burial mounds in the vicinity of the monument contained human remains.
Mary Anne: The relationship between the King and the Land is a recurring idea in the story. How did this concept influence the way you shaped the plot and its turning points?
Janet: The concept of the Divine King, tied to the land, is a very old one indeed and found in many cultures. Some have suggested that certain bog bodies, such as Old Croghan man,discovered in Ireland, were sacrificial kings, killed when they grew old or weak, and then placed in liminal areas such as a community's land boundary as offerings to the gods and perhaps also to be spirit guardians. Stonehenge itself has a very unusual burial from c2300 BC of a young man of around 24 who was shot through the back by arrows, at close range. He was placed, very deliberately, at the ditch terminal of the entrance, between the worlds of the living and the Ancestors.
Mary Anne: Looking back now, what do you think this saga taught you about writing epic, multi-generational storytelling?
Janet: It was a great learning curve, and set the stage for me to write ongoing series about real people. I had been nervous about attempting that before.
Mary Anne: If you were revisiting this story today, is there any aspect of the world, characters or mythology you would explore further?
Janet: I fully intend to write more prehistoric-based fiction in the future, but probably more novella length than huge epics. Again, my aim will be to highlight the people of the era, rather than the building of their monuments.
Mary Anne: Finally, as you reflect on The Stonehenge Saga and its place in your career, what does this work represent to you as a writer?
Janet: Well, it certainly was a massive stepping Stone! It was my first venture into indie publishing although I had written fantasy for years and had submitted shorter works to small press publishers in the 80's. I used a hybrid publisher as I knew nothing of how anything worked back then in 2012 and it was all Scary Techy Stuff! I know some people are leery of hybrids, but the lady who ran my one was an author herself, and it was a fair deal, especially since a number of paperbacks were included. I sold them all to a local history group and went into the black almost immediately. Later, I struck out on my own, having learn the ropes. Still learning of course!
Thank you to J.P. Reedman for chatting with us about Moon Lord: The Fall of King Arthur – The Ruin of Stonehenge and the story that began it all. It’s been wonderful revisiting the first steps of a writing career that continues to captivate readers.
Check out the blurb:
Amazon UK
Really enjoyed reading this! It’s always so interesting to hear how a story like Moon Lord first came together. I love the idea of exploring Arthurian legend from such an early, prehistoric angle — it makes it feel fresh and different. The insight into Ardhu’s world and the inspiration behind it was especially fascinating. Thanks for sharing this behind-the-scenes look!”
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