Samuel DenHartog's Blog: The Road to 1,440 - Posts Tagged "israel"

This story began as a retelling, but quickly became something more personal—a reimagined journey through ancient Egypt that gave voice to characters who have stayed with me long after the final chapter. It’s a story of faith, fear, loyalty, and what happens when personal conviction collides with sacred tradition.

At the heart of the narrative are three unlikely companions: a foreign-born prince-turned-slave, the son of a powerful Egyptian priest, and a fierce protector who refuses to let danger define her limits. What starts as a quiet life in a priest’s household takes a sudden, irreversible turn when the accidental death of a sacred animal sets off a chain of events none of them could have foreseen. In a society where religious law governs all, the consequences of one mistake are swift and unforgiving.

Writing this book gave me the opportunity to explore how individuals make sense of justice when justice seems bound to a system they can’t control. I was especially interested in how friendships form across boundaries—cultural, social, even spiritual—and how those bonds are tested when survival depends on trust. Semira’s role, in particular, grew into something that surprised me. Her strength, insight, and presence shaped the journey in ways I didn’t expect at the start.

“Killing A Sacred Cat” is ultimately a story about finding courage—not the kind that shouts, but the kind that endures. If you’ve ever wondered how far you’d go to protect a friend, or how deeply belief can bind or break a society, I think you’ll find something meaningful in these pages. Thanks for reading—and if you do pick it up, I’d love to hear what parts linger with you.

When I first read the original story, “Winning His Spurs: A Tale of the Crusades by G. A. Henty,” that inspired me to write this book, I was struck by the power of the setting and the spirit of adventure—but I kept wondering what the tale would feel like if the central figure were someone the world never expected to see in armor. That simple shift, from a traditional squire to a young woman born into the same code of chivalry, opened the door to a deeper exploration of identity, conviction, and the meaning of honor. The time period didn’t change. The battles didn’t soften. What changed was who stood in the middle of it all, shaping the story through her presence.

The heroine at the center of this retelling, Gweneth de Lance, doesn’t wear a disguise or pretend to be anything other than who she is. That felt important to me. Too often, historical stories force women to prove themselves by denying themselves, but Gweneth simply is—a knight, a warrior, a person of conscience in a brutal and uncertain time. Writing her journey meant balancing ferocity with introspection, loyalty with doubt, and always pushing her forward in a world that accepted her role without question but still demanded everything of her.

I didn’t want this to be a story about rebellion or exception. I wanted it to be about legacy, about living fully within a tradition and reshaping it not through resistance, but by embodying its truest form. The Crusades were a time of great conflict, but also of profound cultural encounters and moral complexity. That context gave me room to tell a story that respects the gravity of history while centering a character whose presence brings new resonance to old themes.

This book became a way for me to ask, “What does it really mean to be a knight?” and then follow that question into battlefields, desert marches, and the quiet moments in between. Whether you come for the swords and sieges or the character and conviction, I hope you find something that stays with you long after the final page of "The Ideal Knight".