Beyond a Vision

I decided to write at age 18, and decided simultaneously, to paint the images as well - it took another 10 years to put it all together.

Wars of Light and Shadow began with the seed of an idea - reversing the usual "light / dark " prejudice in our society - and grew and grew. A documentary film made on the Battle of Culloden ripped my eyes open - I had just finished eight centuries' worth of research into military weapons and battles so I could do the scenes in Wars of Light and Shadows series properly, mixing periods as must happen in a world ruled by the Compact - and the horror of the truth of war slammed me like a brick wall. I walked out enraged at our history, our entertainment, our society's "mores", and particularly at fantasy, where the war "makes right" the wrong.

Never does. Never will. Pretending and inculcating our children to the belief that suffering accomplishes anything, killing fixes anything is a violation. Right never won, only superior numbers, superior tactics, and brutality. Period.

The hindsight, after that veil was ripped off, was a harsh and saddening awakening. I decided to unsubscribe to that thought, that killing wins anything, then and there.

I swore then, I would write a saga that would attempt to expose that most cruel presumption we are taught, attempt to make a difference in the world - would show the way of suffering we know, then go far, far beyond that. I am still learning. I am still discovering. The books are as they are - as Peril's Gate reaches the next stage in completion of a project of far ranging scope, I can hope that a story and its characters hold the power to reach out and attain that vision - to touch the heart of another human being one on one, and engender thoughtful change.

This saga had to be a fantasy - if it had been written in "real world" settings, based upon actual prejudices and hatreds - I could not have expressed these hot issues with the gloves off, nor could the characters' insights have been made with the freedom that allows the ideas their requisite state of clarity.

Thanks for sharing in my story and my vision.

Best - Janny Wurts