"Jacob shot upright in his boat, desperately breathing and grasping around, choking for breath. He felt as if he had been dragged from the water moments before drowning."
This is where the story begins; a murder which greets our protaganist Hraki on entering the Kingdom of Aer. He comes in search of answers but he will soon find out what trials he must face before finding them.
The Frozen Codex is a Fantasy Novel I have been working on and off for the past five years. It actually started as a short story about Hraki, a man who traveled into a frozen plain to fight a Frost Giant. It was my take on the classic stories from Norse Mythology about Thor who travelled deep into the country of the Trolls and Giants to do battle there.
I had this idea that I could mix prose poetry with verse to create a mythological tale similar to those that have survived from these old religions such as the Norse and the Celts. I loved the idea of having a story which was gritty and realistic but fantastical at the same time. I hope that's something I captured in the story.
The actual story itself has been refined many times over since then to the book it is today, but the same themes stay true. Ice, the cold, something mystical that you can't quite place, all mixed with a deathly eeriness that you can only feel in the bitter frost of a snowstorm.
As per the Map I put a lot of thought trying to create a realistic environment for the story. It's somewhere around the Middle/Dark Ages but in a fantasy universe. It took some time to research -- in fact a lot more time than I'd expected. All the stories I'm creating are now being aligned to this kingdom and it's great to see how the world is shaping up.
You can expect to see more stories in the Kingdom of Aer and another two sequels for the Frozen Codex in the Pipeline. There will be many more characters to come but I shall make sure that the ones from The Frozen Codex will be present, including the return of Hraki.
I also poured a lot of time into creating Hraki, as something bigger than a man. The mystery surrounding his origins, exacerbated by his terse nature and an intense ability to act made him a great character to write about.
I loved being able to throw him into the thick of the action - There was no conflict to fierce for Hraki! Yet there was always something more to him - something which he shared in common with the others who heard the "whispered words", which drew him inexplicably to the West.
Idal was another enjoyable character to get into the mind of. He is a very human character at a base level. There's no grandoise in his actions and no motives outside of the desire to do his duty. Yet while this could have led down a cliched path of the classic story of the Prince who leaves on a quest to fulfill his destiny, I found great pleasure in thinking, what about his protector? Where does he fit into the story when the naive Prince has left him? Getting into the mind of a man who when his bond of duty is broken was most interesting.
The final piece of the Trinity of characters is Cairan. An assassin who is utterly ruthless in his pursuit of personal ambition. Cairan presented the perfect opportunity to add a little darkness to the story. Keep it menacing enough that nobody escaped the filth that lay around their feet.
I hope you enjoyed this little insight into The Frozen Codex - If you have a copy I'd like to take this chance to thank you for your support. If not, there is a link below which will take you to Lulu.com where you can buy either a Paper bound copy or an eBook.
~Fraser
http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=The+Frozen+Codex&type=Not+Service&sitesearch=lulu.com&q=
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