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One of the most interesting races in the world of Kastania are the Bragalese, a people so different from those around them that it has caused so much conflict. At the beginning of Empire of Avarice the empire is locked in a pitiless war with the Bragalese revolt, and there is no quarter given. The Bragalese are a warlike race and the women and children readily fight. Although it is a warlike culture and the men naturally dominate that aspect of Bragalese life, it is the women who actually rule the roost at home, and that is because they are promiscuous and their sexual proclivity results in many children and the women demand the men perform. If they don't, the woman can divorce the man, the ultimate insult in Bragalese culture. Everyone knows why.

Here in this scene, a Bragalese girl is undergoing what is called 'growing through', in which in the space of an hour or two, she transforms from a child into a fully aware woman with her appetite. She will awake and instantly need to couple, aggressively, multiple times. Therefore the one who tends her through this short space of her life is always male, of her age (sixteen or so) and physically prepared. ... See MoreSee Less

In Siren, Katie Long soon learned how to manipulate situations to her advantage. This is a scene early on in Sirensong, book2, where she has been caught speeding and pulled over by the cops. The year is 1985, by the way. Katie, though, quickly turns the situation to her advantage by unzipping the top of her jacket, displaying her charms a little more than she could, and she was recognised by the policeman as being a rock star. She therefore didn't get booked and in fact the policeman asked her for her autograph which she readily provided with a beaming smile. ... See MoreSee Less

The thing with writing a series of novels about a fantasy empire and its course through the years is to develop the ruling dynasty from the moment it takes power. I try to develop each character from childhood to adult life, and seek to describe how a family can sometimes unravel when in power. Here I show the four offspring of Jorqel and Sannia just before they go their separate ways. This is in book 9 Eyes of Diligence, and they are in the fort town of Adnea. Emperor Jorqel is about to leave for the capital, and he's leaving behind his son Amsel who here is 16, and he's keeping his 18 year old sister Krista with him to serve in his court. Oldest sibling Merza, stood by the fire, is 19 and she's desperate to marry the love of her life but is being kept on hold by her father. She will leave with her parents for the capital, along with 17 year old Zora, seated wearing the yellow dress. Zora is the most complex of the characters and has a wicked sense of humour as you might gather from her expression. ... See MoreSee Less

During the course of the story of Siren, they get to play in Central Park, New York, in 2002. The story of it is contained within the pages of the fourth book in the series, Siren's Return, and a lot of it covers their American tour that year. Suffice to say, this concert was one of the biggest they ever did, but I won't spoil it by telling you why they played there and what happened in the lead-up to it. You'll have to read the story yourself Here I've managed to recreate that concert in New York's Central Park. ... See MoreSee Less

One of the most interesting characters in my Kastania novels is Amal, a Bragalese girl orphaned in the first book and forced into servitude by her conquerors. She is made to serve one of the imperial dynasty and through that has a very fascinating rise though the ranks of society. Due to necessity in saving a life, she is transformed by a witch into one herself and with her new powers gains the throne of her home province. She has a difficult relationship with the Kastanian empire, having to balance reality with her passions and wishes. Here she is on the throne of Bragal in witch form. She appears consistently in all my Kastania novels. ... See MoreSee Less

Part of my research on Siren involved me picking up a guitar and learning the basics. It got to the point where a song that Paul Cepek, a good friend of mine, and myself collaborated in composing a song together and along with Gareth Beck and a now sadly departed young lady we recorded the song in a local studio here in Bristol. It gave me such an insight on how songs were created and recorded. I have here Katie in her recording studio laying down a guitar track on one of Siren's songs, Coming Back, the very same song that we recorded in Bristol. ... See MoreSee Less

In my Kastania novels the army sizes are fairly small and it has been asked why. The fact is getting an army into the field is very expensive and in the past historians at the time exaggerated army sizes for whatever agenda and reasons they had. Modern historians have used good evidence to reduce the army sizes to a more realistic number. In Kastania, this world is not hugely rich so empires and kingdoms cannot put large armies into the field for long. Here you see Prince Jorqel's army on the march through the province of Lodria en route to besiege the fort-town of Slenna. This is at the beginning of Empire of Avarice. You can see some of the troops dropping out to rest or tend blisters and so on, something that was quite common in medieval times. ... See MoreSee Less

The Siren series is a lot of fun writing and the adventures the characters get up to.... in book 3 (Katie) Katie comes into a lot of money and buys a Porsche, this one, and takes her bestie Caroline, pictured here, for a spin... at a very illegal speed racing some boy racers down a by-pass. ... See MoreSee Less

Empire of Avarice, my first book in the Kastania series, has many different story threads but one is of Princess Amne's mission to try to secure an alliance with a neighbouring kingdom. She starts off as a spoiled brat but gradually her experiences in the wild changes her, not least her forbidden love for the hunter who is put in charge of her for the journey, Lalaas. I picture here Lalaas building the first camp fire for the group on the shores of the Balq Sea. For more details of this scene and their journey, see chapter 13, page 91 onwards. ... See MoreSee Less

Not forgetting the main character of the Siren book series, one certain Katherine Long, whose life story is told through the novels from the age of 15 onwards, how she deals with allergies, being bullied, taken advantage of, all the time she keeps on going through adversity in her quest to realise her dream of becoming a rock star. Thanks to Lisa Ravenscroft for finishing off what I started but couldn't finish here with her image. ... See MoreSee Less