This is part 4 of my posts on how/why I came to write my modern fantasy, The Lords of the Summer Season (check the book out at Amazon link: https://amzn.to/2QcFhwQ ). Other installments will follow.
No fantasy story is complete without a vengeful villain or, in this case, two vengeful villains without morality. They oppose the (somewhat) moral Bradan at every turn – one of my story’s conceits is that Bradan and the villains are almost immortal, so it’s really a dual through history. Bradan crossed them in 6th century Britain and they haven’t forgotten, and now they’re pursuing him during San Francisco’s psychedelic period in the mid-1960s.
In The Lords of the Summer Season, the main antagonist, Van Newman, is a modern incarnation of Mordred, or, using the Welsh spelling as I do in the novel, Medraut. He’s variously described as Arthur’s bastard son and his killer at the battle of Camlann, but there are as many descriptions of him as there are Arthurian stories in the Early and High Medieval periods. To me, he seemed to have the amorality, ability to manipulate, and drive that would serve him well in the modern political arena and that’s how he appears in The Lords of the Summer Season. Readers interested in learning more about Arthurian legends are encouraged to start with Christopher Hibbert’s King Arthur. And for a wonderful travelogue visiting important British Dark Ages sites, Max Adams’s In the Land of Giants is recommended.
The story’s second villain is Gwyn ap Nudd, Welsh king of the Faerie Otherworld, Medraut’s sponsor, and leader of the Wild Hunt. Like Medraut, his role and character are variously described by sources, but he definitely wasn’t someone to get on the wrong side of since he wrenched out the souls of individuals who fell afoul of him. His henchmen, the Wild Hunt, were atavistic savagery incarnate, vision colliding with reality. Peter Nicolai Arbo’s painting The Wild Hunt of Odin, portrays the hunt luridly (see image above). Though Odin leads it in Arbo’s image, other legends say this is Gwyn’s pack. In my novel, the Wild Hunt is led by Gwyn and, among other things, serves as a metaphor for unbounded creativity run amok.
(painting above by Peter Nicolai Arbo, ‘The Wild Hunt of Odin’)
I write modern fantasy novels that are hopefully both exciting and literate. These novels include an on-going series about a near-immortal magician who grew up in Camelot and grew famous in San Francisco's 'Summer of Love'. He's still having adventures to this day described in The Lords of the Summer Season, The Lords of Powder, and The Lords of Oblivion. The books can be read in any order.
As author S Alessandro Martinez has stated about the series:
"Lords of Oblivion
A 1500-year-old wizard. A pair of savage druids raised from the dead. Modern day San Francisco. A wolf that takes no gruff. Blaisdell creates a fascinating world in this magical realism novel with smart writing, complex characters, and clever use of history and mythology. I was sucked in from the very beginning. I look forward to more of Bradan and Tintagel's mystical adventures.
Lords of Powder
Merlin's former apprentice, Bradan, is back! The 1500-year-old wizard, who is sometimes too smart for his own good, returns for another exciting adventure, this time in 70s Miami as he takes on the criminal world of drug trafficking. Blaisdell's smart, fast-paced writing and use of fascinating history and mythology keeps you on the edge of your seat as Bradan uses his wits, charm, and illusions to navigate the modern era and get himself into plenty of trouble.
Lords of the Summer Season
Being Merlin's former apprentice and living for 1500 years is bound to make you a few enemies. Travel back to the 60s with Bradan the wizard and his otherworldly wolf Tintagel. As Bradan juggles careers as a professor and musician, he must defend himself from his greatest threat yet: a literal god. Blaisdell continues with his clever, skillful, and imaginative writing that will keep readers eagerly turning the next page. My favorite of the Bradan books, Blaisdell dives deeper into the Arthur mythology, and brings the reader even more elements of magic and folklore, all the while weaving an entertaining tale of gods, wizards, ghosts, and 60s acid rock. Thoroughly enjoyable!"
Besides the literary side of my life, my background includes membership on a scientific advisory board for a non-profit professional organization promoting the biomedical and digital health business community in the greater Los Angeles area.
I’ve authored both basic research publications and business management articles focusing on the bio/pharma industry. My Ph.D. is in Biochemistry from the University of Minnesota where I also conducted post-doctoral research in microbiology. And my BS is from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) with a double major in chemistry and cell biology.
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Blaisdell Literary Enterprises 