It was brought to my attention that I should take a moment to talk
to the readers and fans of The Cedric Series.
I wish to share my inspirations for writing this story. This will
explain a lot on how I came about creating these amazing ideas,
characters, creatures, and events as a fictional work with heavy
fantasy and romance elements in the mix. If one really wanted to drag
out all its genres, I could label this a historical fiction, mythology, or
even occult and paranormal. So far, Fantasy Romance has done this
work the most justice for my readers’ expectations.
Historical fiction can be applied to several parts throughout the
series, whether it’s a scene, event, or even a reflection of a character
and their on-goings. What do I mean by this? Well a lot of you might
get the Vladimir Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler references, but it dove
deeper than that. King Frederic was the First King of Germans, the
lepers in those times did indeed have to ring bells and seek refuge in
colonies, Cerdanya was a real trade town, and so on. There are a ton
of subtle hints here and there because I wanted to bring the unseen,
untold side of the history during Medieval Times to a tangible state.
As far as the Mythology side of this series, I wanted to teach you
all my version of forgotten lores, legends, and mythology. I did my
best to not use anything that was newer than the 12th Century as I dug
deep. Some of the concepts weaved in with my own perception was
hard to obtain and justify. There was a lot of book buying, digging
through a Medieval-age bestiary, and though I scoured the internet, it
failed me often in my journey for research. As I created and
developed each character, I did my best to tie them into one or more
myths so that I may weave a wondrous story without limits. At the
same time, I wanted some of you to get caught in a conversation or
sitting in class and have that moment of, “Oh! I know how this myth
goes!”
Let me enlighten you all on some of the tales, history, legends and
myths stitched into some of these amazing characters you have
experienced so far:
Cedric takes after a very forgotten and neglected epic legend from
Medieval Times of the Russian Knight Hero, Ilya Muromets. Search
him, check it out and feel free to compare what you unknowingly
learned about this amazing legend. You’ll be excited to see a red
haired knight on a black horse as one of the images in the mix.
Included in this was some really obscure Romanian beliefs involving
early vampire-like stories. The off-shoots involving the strigoi showed
less of fear towards these vampire creatures, but held a tone of sorrow
and remorse. People who became these creatures had not finished
living their lives (Including not ever getting married) and met the
insane stipulations to come back as one of the undying. Truly
interesting, and I can only hope to capture that same empathetic tone I
had discovered in my digging.
Barushka combines a few tales as well, starting with his name
drawn from the Russian Knight Hero tales. Other than that, I focused
heavily on the Shag Foal lores. I was intrigued by the first few
variants I stumbled on and found that the internet proved void of
information. Amazingly, the hairy phantom horse tales started so long
ago, there was no exact date as to when they began. The folklore was
mysteriously always there. Adding to my wonder about this lore was
the fact I stumbled on a 1927 Naturalist journal that devoted a section
to them. Even this far forward, it was believed it may be an
undiscovered species of horse! Despite that, the one thing I saw
reflected in all the writing was that a shag foal approaches lone
travelers and scares them so much that they run off to their deaths.
Never once did the research say the horse actively killed someone.
Morrighan, Badbh, and Nemaine were derived from the tales
involving the evil sorcerer Calatin. This was the older tale involving
them that did not mix the three as one entity. There are no words to
describe my frustration and disappointment at how many times that
Badbh and Nemaine were labeled as alternative names for Morrighan.
Especially when the story of the Legendary Cuchulainn made it clear
that they were three sisters each with unique powers. Seeing that
Badbh and Morrighan had earned the title of Goddess at some point
through the passing of time, I felt the need to give Nemaine her own
placement as a Goddess as well.
Romasanta is the most complex of all my characters. His name is
taken from a man in history that is not as common as it once was,
Manuel Blanco Romasanta. He was the first serial killer to be trailed
and as you read book two of the Cedric Series you will see a lot of
that history drawn upon. Feeding off the tragic aura, I pulled in both
werewolf and wolf-related myths and lores, wanting to show a more
accurate flow through a single entity. It was my intentions to bring in
familiar aspects and add in the historically forgotten complications
that modern book culture has failed to take into account. Those wellversed
in mythology will be able to pick out elements on their own,
but the amount of lore here is wide. Tales of Apollo and Daphne, Pan
and Pitip, Fenrir, versipellis, Romanian beliefs of vampires were
caused by a werewolf, Wolf of the Cemetery from Haiti, Romulus and
Remus, and so on. There are deep seeds that I only give you teasers to
the mythology that is mentioned here.
As for the monsters, you can say thank you to the Medieval
Bestiaries. There are so many wild and crazy creatures in these that
are no longer touched that I wanted to bring them to life again. Orms,
Jidra, and Aitvaras were a few of the frightening things that travelers
spoke of and warned each other about in their explorations. I can only
imagine what they may have been based on, but there is a great sense
of pride I take in including such monsters into my story. Granted, I
have not followed their descriptions exactly and have embellished
them with my own imagination, but I hope they make my stories more
memorable.
In the end, I encourage my thirsty readers to explore what you’ve
read in my Cedric Series. Search the names, look deeper in the scenes,
places, events and discover these in more detail. My goal is to
introduce you to the forgotten lores and history while adding my own
perspective and imagination into the mix. May this tale make its mark
in your heart and open your world to the legacy our ancestors once
talked about over the dinner table so long ago!
Happy reading and discovery!
Valerie Willis
