Hi Everyone, Today I have a very special guest post from the lovely Bex Hogan, author of the best fantasy of the year – Viper, Isles of Storm and Sorrow Book 1. If you missed my review – find it here. From my countless tweets and fangirling review of this amazing book, you can tell I love it. One the most important and impressionable things when it comes to Fantasy is the world-building and I fell in love with Bex’s. So today Bex had dropped the anchor on this blog to tell you all about the Inspiration of the Twelves Isles of Viper.
But just before that and just remind you of the amazing book!
He will make me a killer.
Or he will have me killed.
That is my destiny.
Seventeen-year-old Marianne is fated to one day become the Viper, defender of the Twelve Isles.But the reigning Viper stands in her way. Corrupt and merciless, he prowls the seas in his warship, killing with impunity, leaving only pain and suffering in his wake.
He’s the most dangerous man on the ocean . . . and he is Marianne’s father.
She was born to protect the islands. But can she fight for them if it means losing her family, her home, the boy she loves – and perhaps even her life?
A brave heroine. An impossible dilemma. An epic new fantasy trilogy set on the high seas.
THE TWELVE ISLES INSPIRATION
One of my absolute favourite things about writing fantasy is the world building. There’s something so wonderfully freeing about casting aside the social constructs we live in and creating your own countries and history – it’s a daydreamer’s. . .well, dream!
But all fictional places are inspired by the world we live in. Tolkien’s Middle Earth has much to thank the rural English countryside for, and George RR Martin has drawn heavily on Britain and its history for his Game of Thrones series.
The Twelve Isles are no different. I grew up in Cornwall, near the sea, and the rugged landscapes are as familiar to me as the garden I played in. I spent a lot of my childhood on beaches, digging sandcastles, collecting shells, lost in my own imagination. But I rarely went in the water. Occasionally, I might paddle. Up to my ankles. But no more. The ocean has always been something I revered, worshipped for its staggering beauty and power, but also feared for the same reasons. Like Marianne, I am afraid of the water, and most definitely prefer the land to the sea. And yet, I love to be close to it, to hear the gentle lapping of waves, and breath in the heady scent of brine, seaweed and mystery.
All the six Eastern Isles owe a lot to the Cornish countryside in one way or another. The Sixth Isle and all its mining industry is a nod to the tin mining industry that once thrived in the county. The Second Isle, with its rambling moorlands and black brambles are a nod to childhood treks on the moors, scratching my legs to ribbons on gorse bushes. The Fourth Isle, covered in flower meadows, was inspired by the daffodil fields I used to drive past every day, that made the world come alive every spring.
The ship in Viper, ‘The Maiden’s Revenge’, or ‘the Maiden’ as she’s affectionately known, was largely born from my own imagination, but I think it’s fair to say the Tall Ships Regatta that occasionally took place close to where I lived had some influence on her, and a recent visit to the ships at Charlestown harbour gave me a feel for how it really felt aboard, including how claustrophobic the space was.
But possibly the biggest influence on the world of the Twelve Isles were the childhood holidays we had on the Isles of Scilly. Despite my fear of the sea, I found something so incredibly magical about this cluster of islands of varying sizes, where you had to hop on a boat to get from one to another. All the islands felt different from the others, and I really wanted to capture this sense of unique identity for the Twelve Isles. On one of my trips, we visited Samson, an uninhabited island, and we had to walk the plank from the boat on to the beach; I think from that moment on I wanted to live in my own pirate world.
And now, with Viper slithering into the wild, you can visit the pirate world of my dreams too!
Thank you so much Bex. Viper is OUT NOW and I would highly recommend buying it.
