True confession time. I cannot stand where my high fantasy series is heading. I always knew it would go there. I just did not know how bad it would be. Or how much I would loathe it.
Sometimes I wrestle with my own reluctance to keep putting words on the page.
And it’s only going to grow worse. I know how it ends and it’s not good. But there is still light and hope. I will explain in a bit. That light is what keeps me writing right now.
I’m in the middle of working on Stoneslayer: Book Nine Broken. This is a new generation pitted against an entirely new depth of depravity that shows no mercy and wants all power for itself.
In DUNE, the Kwisatz Haderach was the male Bene Gesserit capable of seeing past the limited precognition of the female members of the order. I see my entire story right now from that same place of near omni-prescience.
It horrifies me.
Too many of the characters are only too willing to do the bidding of evil just to obtain crumbs of power and money. As if power and money are the only things that matter.
I guess they are to these characters, and my heart breaks for their soulless, loveless existence. And for the rest of the characters caught up in their power-mongering, blood-drenched dramas.
At times, I would love to wring some of their necks, but my job is not judge, jury, and executioner. I simply chronicle their tale. They are the ones whose (mis)deeds tell it for me.
As Azgard’s circumstances grow worse, the “good” characters face multiple moral dilemmas. What are they willing to do to stop the rot? How far will they behave like evil to fight it? What parts of themselves are they afraid to examine too closely? Why are they afraid?
The very fact that they even have quandaries is where hope lies. They have not given up their humanity or their determination. They still care. They want to make things right and whole again in Azgard.
Can they transform it without yet more bloodshed and injustice?
I do not yet know the answers to any of those questions, and they do not, either. I will stay tuned, keep writing, and find out. When I do, you will know more when you read each book.
And, finally, when a story grows darker, does that draw you in? Or does malevolence make you hesitate? Feel free to contact me through my website and tell me.
Candace Lynn Talmadge is the author of Stoneslayer, a dark high fantasy series of political intrigue, demonic warfare, and spiritual awakening inspired by her past lives. Get a free excerpt from Stoneslayer: Book One Scandal when you sign up for her free author newsletter on her Substack channel, Wider Realities.
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