Ask the Author: P.J. Ashton
Answered Questions (7)
P.J. Ashton
Thanks, if you read it, I hope you enjoy it. I should warn you that it's dark fantasy though, not epic fantasy. I don't shy away from violence. If you want to know more, I'll be happy to answer your questions.
P.J. Ashton
Hi Jana,
Thank you for your question. To be honest with you. I've taken inspiration from numerous sources. I am from the UK and in the past, the UK was invaded many times, from the Romans, the Saxons, Vikings, Normans etc etc. For the orcs, I took inspiration from the Vikings and their rampages across Northern England. I am a great lover of Tolkien too and one of the many questions I had was the orcs cross Middle Earth, yet one thing we didn't see or hear about in the books was what was happening in their march from Mordor to the battlefields. Did they come across villages and towns? or did they just bypass them? So, I found myself asking the question, what if the orcs raided villages and towns? What if they were the Vikings?
I then looked at the religious aspects of a pagan religion and gave my own slant on it, using current themes surrounding age. There is a whole community on Youtube that hold these views and I thought they would be interesting to explore in fantasy, from an extreme perspective of course.
And that brings me to the elves. What would they be like if they were immortal and living in a pagan society? So I tried to explore that idea too.
Hope this helps, thanks for the question. You were actually my first question, so I appreciate it. I am glad you enjoyed the book.
PJ.
Thank you for your question. To be honest with you. I've taken inspiration from numerous sources. I am from the UK and in the past, the UK was invaded many times, from the Romans, the Saxons, Vikings, Normans etc etc. For the orcs, I took inspiration from the Vikings and their rampages across Northern England. I am a great lover of Tolkien too and one of the many questions I had was the orcs cross Middle Earth, yet one thing we didn't see or hear about in the books was what was happening in their march from Mordor to the battlefields. Did they come across villages and towns? or did they just bypass them? So, I found myself asking the question, what if the orcs raided villages and towns? What if they were the Vikings?
I then looked at the religious aspects of a pagan religion and gave my own slant on it, using current themes surrounding age. There is a whole community on Youtube that hold these views and I thought they would be interesting to explore in fantasy, from an extreme perspective of course.
And that brings me to the elves. What would they be like if they were immortal and living in a pagan society? So I tried to explore that idea too.
Hope this helps, thanks for the question. You were actually my first question, so I appreciate it. I am glad you enjoyed the book.
PJ.
P.J. Ashton
The powerful, abusing their position to take advantage of those who have no-one. This is the worst kind of horror.
P.J. Ashton
I'm rereading Malazan. I try to do this once a year. I'm also rereading The Witcher series of books.
P.J. Ashton
This answer contains spoilers…
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P.J. Ashton
The sequel to my first book: The Eternal's Chosen. I am fifteen chapters in, about 68,000 words so far.
P.J. Ashton
I just keep writing. I think about the characters and I ask questions and that usually gives me the answer.
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