Song of the Elves

Epic fantasy novels and short stories by David Charles Shepherd

Mastering Fantasy

Terry Pratchett once wrote that if you are attempting to write fantasy, one of the most important things to do is to make sure that you do not just read fantasy as your literary diet.

The theory goes that no matter how fantastical your world, the laws that govern all elements of that world and the characters within it need to be believable.  I couldn’t agree more.  You will find moments from the war reporting of the Afghan conflict popping up in A Shadow Falls, and some of the political concepts in the series have been transposed from my studies of Medieval History.

Yet I also struggle to stay away from the genre as a source of relaxation.  Although I enjoy crime fiction,  it is to fantasy that as a reader I am continually drawn.  I’m getting my fix at the moment rather belatedly from George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones.  Having resisted the urge to dive into this story during the recent TV broadcast, I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about.  Now I know – what a stunning narrative.  As always, settling down with the book is infinitely more rewarding than following a TV script, though I have to say the series had me gripped too!

As for SOTE, this week I’m doing a final check on the trade paperback version of A Shadow Falls – looks lovely by the way and will be ready for you to purchase during October half term.  I’m also editing the final three chapters of Sins of the Father.  More to follow on the progress of Book Three next week.

Until next time, up the elves


About The Author

Writing has been my main form of escape since a child. Before teaching, I earned a living on a little known national newspaper, before discovering I also had a calling for the classroom. The first embryonic scribbles for Song of the Elves emerged in 2000. I began writing the first trilogy as one continuous manuscript entitled The Summerlands, which I finally completed in the Winter of 2007. In the intervening years, I've been transforming this first draft into three distinct instalments of the saga. "A Shadow Falls" and "The King's Blades" have already seen the light of day. "Sins of the Father" will follow shortly. There will be a second trilogy to complete the saga, which I intend to commence work on in 2012. Book four is entitled "The Lost, The Lonely and the Damned". I have also written a series of short tales entitled The Wolves of Winter, set in Rhoderica before the elves invaded the continent. This is now available through lulu.com as a paperback and via amazon kindle as an e-book.. My second, 'Tale of Rhoderica' will be a fantasy version of the great John Ford western - The Searchers. Entitled, To the Ends of the Earth', the novel will be out for Spring 2016. I am also half-way through a manuscript for a science fiction novel, entitled The Mirror of His Soul. Time and health permitting, these will all eventually see the light of day.

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