God(s), faith and religion play a major role in God Tokens. My characters often discuss these topics. Then: 16 Gods For a long time, the people of Talacharn believed in 16 gods and goddesses. They were mostly nature gods (fire, water, ice, mountains, etc.) or represented phenomena (the change of seasons, the cycle of life, etc.).… Continue reading God Tokens – Meet the Characters, Part 2
The book I’m currently working on is called God Tokens. It’s a fantasy series set in the fictional Kingdom of Talacharn. The story features multiple points of view, a low-key fantasy vibe (with the magic gradually picking up speed later), and a character-driven narrative. (I want to say: think Robin Hobb—hoping that’s not too presumptuous!)… Continue reading God Tokens – Meet the Characters, Part 1
Without further ado, I give you part 2 of ‘The 11th Code in Quotes’. If you haven’t read the first part yet, check it out here. The one place I haven’t travelled to with my little quotes is Tyrol castle, as it’s pretty far from where I live. But a few of my favourite scenes… Continue reading ‘The 11th Code‘ in Quotes – Part 2
The nice thing about writing historical fiction is that you can visit many of the locations where the story takes place. So one hot summer day in July, I decided to return to the origin of my novel and revisit the spots in the Black Forest that inspired me in the first place. In my… Continue reading ‘The 11th Code‘ in Quotes – Part 1
(Image copyright: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay) The first thing I did when I started to work on ‘The 11th Code’ was a timeline of all the events in Martin Malterer’s life. I went hunting down dates and filled in gaps, feeling a bit like Indiana Jones when he solves one puzzle that leads him to the… Continue reading The 11th Code – A Timeline
(Image copyright: Wikipedia. Schedelsche Weltchronik Struktur des Reiches) Our hero Martin Malterer was born in the year 1347 in the city of Freiburg in the area we now call the Black Forest. We find ourselves in the Late Middle Ages then, just a few years before radical new ideas would herald in the era of… Continue reading Politics in the 14th Century – Friends & Feuds
(Image copyright: Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, Ms. A 5, p. 994; ca. 1483) https://doi.org/10.7891/e-manuscripta-87065 (PDF-page: 1061), Public Domain) At the core of ‘The 11th Code’ lies the question whether or not Martin Malterer can – should – live a life accepting himself as the person he is, or if he should abide by the Laws, Doctrines and Codes he… Continue reading Homosexuality in the Middle Ages
No matter what sort of art we create – be it novels, paintings, songs, poems, or sculptures – we all need one thing: inspiration. Sometimes, this can be something as mundane as a weathered statue of a knight along the path to a small castle ruin. But often we turn to those masters who have… Continue reading Inspiration appreciation
(Image copyright: by PantaRhei , CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72803673) As you can imagine, lands, estates, and castles were of utmost importance to the noble families in the late Middle Ages. The more estates they owned, the more income they generated for the knights, dukes, counts, and earls. The centre of every nobleman’s power was his… Continue reading Where they lived
Martin Malterer Martin was born to Johannes and Gisela Malterer. The year he was born in is unknown (or at least, I have not been able to uncover it in my research). In fact, not a lot is known about Martin in general. It had been his father who had risen to become this seemingly… Continue reading Meet the fam!
