The Crystal Crux series is a ten-day medieval tale.  The first book in the series – Betrayal – is the first day.

So how did I stretch one day into a 300 page book?  Backstory and flashbacks.  Now I’ve read a lot of experts who tell writers “DON’T DO IT!  DON’T USE TOO MANY FLASHBACKS!”  Personally, I don’t know where they get off telling us this.  Have they read any books?  The books I like reading are always flashing back – some even right away.  If it’s written well, it won’t be confusing.  Hopefully my book is not confusing. (Smiley Face)

The spine of the series is ten days in August in Italy in the year 1198.  Recently, I contemplated changing the name of the series to ‘Ten Days In August’ until I found that a book called ‘Ten Days In August’ was just published in 2014.  For twenty plus years, I had called the story “The Crystal Crux” – so I had no problem keeping the title.

All the power emanates from the High Court in Parthenope (Naples) through the Fabbro family.  This region of Italy was settled by Normans, so I engineered them this way.  Gherardus Fabbro is the Lord of Parthenope while his sons, Rugerius and Talento, aid him in various ways.

The protagonist of the tale, Pero de Alava, is a Spanish caballero stationed at Capua under Imperial orders.  When Henry VI dies, Pero loses the support of the Emperor’s throne and feels abandoned, alone.  He, of course, is not alone.  He has staunch allies at Capua with him, chiefly his Estate Steward and champion knight, Francis Whitehall of England.  You will learn a lot about Francis in the first book including how these two became best of friends, brothers.

Anthea Manikos, a brown-haired beauty from Greece, is Pero’s intended.  Their soon-to-be wedding stands in jeopardy as unexpected orders arrive for the already troubled Spanish knight.  Not to give too much a way at this time, but Pero had a run in with Rugerius Fabbro and the gravity of that incident is burdening him.  He’s a bit paranoid now, expecting retaliation.

I wanted to infuse a little bit of several different European cultures into the story.  The last character I will mention is one who doesn’t appear a lot in the first book but will be very prominent in the books to come, and that is Sinibaldus.  He is a giant Frenchman (or at least from a mountainous region in Gaul), who possesses the Bellerophon Crystal.

Bellerophon Crystal?  What is that?  Ahhh … You’ll have to read the book to learn that.