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My guest today is author Simon Rose, who has published twenty-one novels for children and young adults, eight guides for writers, more than a hundred nonfiction books, and many articles on a wide variety of topics. Today, we’re looking at his historical fantasy series, The Stone of the Seer.

Nina: What’s the series all about?

Simon: The Stone of the Seer is an exciting historical fantasy series of adventure novels for young adults, primarily set in the turbulent period of the English Civil War.

The Stone of the Seer, book one in the series, features the Vikings, Leonardo da Vinci, and the political turmoil of the 1640s. At Habingdon House, Lady Elizabeth Usborne, Kate, and Tom encounter a magical black stone, mysterious ancient manuscripts, and the incredible time viewing device known as the tempus inpectoris, all while under constant threat from the murderous witchfinder, Daniel Tombes.

In Royal Blood, book two in the series, Lady Elizabeth, Kate, and Tom, along with the tempus inspectoris and the mysterious black Viking stone, are in the heart of London in early 1649, as King Charles prepares to face his accusers at his trial in Westminster Hall, while Elizabeth, Kate, and Tom desperately attempt to evade capture by Daniel Tombes, the witchfinder.

Much of the story in Revenge of the Witchfinder, book three in the series, takes place in the present day, featuring weird dreams, disturbing visions, parallel lives, and a bewildering identity crisis, as Thomas and Katie discover to their horror that not even the passage of centuries can prevent a bloodthirsty witchfinder from the 1640s from seeking his deadly revenge.

Nina: What’s the story behind the story?

Simon: The story, main characters, and some of the settings in the series are fictional but are based on true events and the story features real historical characters, such as King Charles I. The English Civil War was a series of conflicts in England, Scotland, and Ireland in the 1640s and early 1650s. The war originated in the struggle between Charles I and Parliament regarding how the country should be governed.

The king’s defeat in the civil war led to his trial and execution in January 1649. The monarchy was abolished and replaced first by the Commonwealth of England and then the Protectorate, before the monarchy was restored in 1660. However, the defeat of Charles I confirmed that an English monarch could not rule the country without the consent of Parliament, although this wasn’t legally established until the Glorious Revolution in 1688.

Nina: You must have done quite a lot of historical research for this series.

Simon: I did. These are links on my website at www.simon-rose.com to online sources where you can learn more about the historical events, settings, and leading characters from the English Civil War, some of the leading characters during the conflict, historical locations that are mentioned in the text, life in the seventeenth century, and details from other historical periods that are featured in the stories.

Nina: What are you currently working on?

Simon: I always have a few current projects and right now I’m working more books in the same genre as my previously published paranormal Flashback series, as well as a fantasy series, and a historical fiction novel. I also continue to work on the adaptations of my Shadowzone series into screenplays for movies and TV shows, some other scripts, as well as teaching writing courses at the University of Calgary.

Anyone interested in keeping up to date with the projects that I’m working on is always welcome to subscribe to my monthly newsletter, which you can do at www.simon-rose.com.

Nina: You work with other authors as well as on a variety of projects related to writing and publishing, don’t you?

Simon: Yes, I offer coaching, editing, consulting, and mentoring services for writers of novels, short stories, fiction, nonfiction, biographies, and in many other genres, plus do work with writers of scripts and screenplays. I’m also a writing instructor and mentor at the University of Calgary and served as the Writer-in-Residence with the Canadian Authors Association. You can find details of some of the projects I’ve worked on with other authors, along with some references and recommendations, at www.simon-rose.com.

Nina: Where can people buy The Stone of the Seer series?

Simon: The books can be purchased at most of the usual places and there are details on my website at  www.simon-rose.com

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Thanks Simon, for being my guest here today and the very best of luck with The Stone of the Seer series.

You can learn more about Simon and his work on his website at www.simon-rose.com, where you can also link to him on social media and at other locations online.

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