Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell
Quercus / Jo Fletcher
Books
ISBN-13: 978-1623658090
On-sale: July 15, 2014
Price: $26.99
In his debut novel, TRAITOR’S BLADE (July 15, 2014; Jo Fletcher Books/Quercus;
Hardcover; $26.99), Sebastien de Castell has created a fantastic swashbuckling
adventure reminiscent of Alexandre Dumas’s The
Three Musketeers with a touch of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones.
Stirred to
write a novel about fallen heroes in a world where concepts such as justice and
honour have become corrupted, de Castell created the character of
Falcio
val Mond, First Cantor of the
Greatcoats.
Falcio had it all: serving as a beacon of
justice for the people, two best friends and brothers in arms, fantastic skill
with a sword, and a King set on righting the wrong in the world—until it all
came crashing down one day.
After the
King’s untimely demise, Tristia is on the verge of collapse as each Ducal house
vies for supremacy. As chaos descends
upon the land, Falcio and the rest of the King’s magistrates, also known as the
Greatcoats, are forced to disband and are labeled traitors by the Dukes.
All Falcio has
left are his two best friends, Brasti and Kent, the ridicule of the people he
once protected, and a mysterious mission left by his beloved King. With his
mission as his only solace, Falcio is willing to do anything to see it through—even
if it means reuniting the Greatcoats and taking the Dukes head-on.
Says de Castell of the experience of
writing TRAITOR’S BLADE, which has already drawn numerous rave reviews from
bestselling authors and media outlets months before publication:
“I think that, as
with most writers, every experience becomes a tool
you can use in your storytelling. My degree is in archaeology and that inspired
me to want to show Falcio’s own buried history inside Traitor’s Blade - so that events in the present are informed by the
little pieces of evidence from his past.
The fight scenes are inspired in part by my experience as a sword
choreographer for the theatre. Those jobs taught me that every fight has to be
a story in and of itself, and every moment within the fight needs to be as specific
to the character as their lines of dialogue.”
Sebastien de Castell
has created a spectacular tale of hope, betrayal, love, and loss that keeps the
reader on edge till the very last chapter… because in Tristia every noble is a
tyrant, every knight is a thug, and the only thing you can really trust is a
traitor’s blade.
About the author:
Sebastien de Castell had
just finished a degree in Archaeology when he started work on his first job. Four
hours later he realized how much he hated archaeology and left to pursue a very very focused career as a musician, ombudsman,
interaction designer, fight choreographer, teacher, project manager, actor, and
product strategist. He lives in Vancouver with his wife, where he is director
of strategic program development at the Vancouver Film School.
Author Interview
Sebastien: I’m thrilled to be on the site - thanks for having me!
I think I’m like most fantasy readers - my favorite books shape my
internal world and fill me with a desire to find that same sense of wonder in
everyday life. That hunger for enchantment has led me on an odd career path. I
studied archaeology in university, toured as a full-time musician,
choreographed sword fights for the theatre, acted in films, been an ombudsman,
an interaction designer, a teacher, a strategist, and done one job so strange
that I’m taking it with me to the grave.
Why should Traitor’s Blade be the next book everyone
reads?
If you’re like me and you love swashbuckling adventure but want it
spiked with dark fantasy and gritty political intrigue then you’ll enjoy
Traitor’s Blade. When my friends in the film industry ask me what it’s like I
tell them it’s The Three Musketeers meets Game of Thrones.
Who is your inspiration for the character of Falcio?
Falcio is what would happen if you took the kind of person so many of
us wanted to be as kids but dumped them in a place where ideals of valour and
heroism have utterly failed. He’s a man desperate to stay true to those beliefs
even though he’s discovered that they don’t work anymore. Traitor’s Blade is
the story of what happens to him next.
Which character from Traitor’s Blade do you most
identify with?
Falcio - not so much because of his strengths but because of his
insecurities. He sees himself as surrounded by people who are better than he is
- Kest is a better swordsman, Brasti is more charming, the King was more
intelligent. Falcio never feels as if he’s mastered anything. I can relate.
He’s also never sure if he’s made the right decision or if he’s ruined the
lives of the people he cares for, which I think is something we all struggle
with these days.
Which character was the most difficult/easiest to write and why?
King Paelis, who we only see in flashbacks, was the easiest to write.
We know of him only through Falcio’s memories - through the eyes of a young man
who very much idealized this visionary King. This allowed me to make Paelis not
so much larger than life but a better, more decent man than we expect to find
in a ruler.
The most difficult character to write was, believe it or not, the
horse. Making her work was definitely threading a very fine needle.
What are you currently reading and what is in your to-read pile?
I’m reading Jorge Luis Borjes collection of short stories Labyrinth
right now (thank goodness you asked this when I was reading something that
makes me sound sophisticated!) I’m also reading James Elroy’s Blood on the
Moon.
Traitor’s Blade is the
first book in the Greatcoats series, and Greatcoat’s Lament is
the follow up novel, what direction will you be taking the series and how many
novels are planned?
There are four novels in the Greatcoats Quartet, each one forcing the
central characters deeper into the conflicts between their own beliefs and the
reality of the world around them. At the heart of the series is a single
question, for which the answer gradually unfolds: did the King really have a
plan to save the country from itself? Or was he simply a deluded idealist who
has led Falcio and all those who follow him into despair and, ultimately,
death.
Although I’m very excited about how readers will react to the ultimate
completion of the series, I’m also determined to ensure that each book is
complete in and of itself - a tale with a beginning middle and end that doesn’t
force the reader to wait a year to reach a satisfying conclusion.
What authors/works have most influenced you and what type of influence
(e.g. good/awful) were they?
I have a bit of an odd mix of influences. Reviewers bring up The Three
Musketeers quite often (so much so that I’ve taken to describing the book that
way too!) But when it comes to adventure stories I’m equally influenced by C. S.
Forester’s Horatio Hornblower stories - especially the way Hornblower
approached every situation and battle as a sort of puzzle that needed to be
solved.
From a prose standpoint, I admire the economy of writing from some of
the noir authors like Raymond Chandler and, in the modern context, Dennis
Lehane.
For dialogue, I learned a great deal from watching Aaron Sorkin shows
- his sense of timing is just brilliant. I’m also a big comics fan and I’m a
big fan of the way Brian Michael Bendis grounds super-heroic characters in
personal relationships just as much as he does in massive plot events.
In the fantasy realm, Roger Zelazny’s Nine Princes in Amber had a big
effect on me - particularly the way he could show you the story purely through
the eyes of his main character without having to describe every aspect of the
world. Finally, Steven Brust was the first author whose work showed me you
could have fantasy characters who didn’t speak in fake old-timey dialects.
What is the most satisfying aspect to writing?
If you’re reading this and you’ve always wanted
to write a novel, do it. Write your book. Finishing a novel, regardless of what
you do with it next, is an incredible feeling. The first book I ever wrote, a a mystery that wasn’t particularly good, still represents a huge
milestone in my life - the difference between trudging from one day to the next
and actually having accomplished something that I will forever value.
But the most satisfying feeling? That’s when you read your own book
after not having looked at it for a year and realize you wrote the story you
most wanted to read.
Excerpted from Chapter
3 of Traitor’s Blade
By Sebastien de Castell
The
fall from the second-floor window of the inn played against my strength. Kest
was inhumanly coordinated; he could probably fall from the top of a tower
without hurting himself. Brasti was unbelievably lucky and managed to hit a
wide awning above the rear entrance. He slid down to the cobblestone courtyard.
I was neither agile nor lucky, so I just kind of fell. Hard.
As I rose to my feet I saw eight men arrayed
in front of us, all armed with pikes. I hate pikes almost as much as I hate
magic. Twelve feet long with a sturdy wooden shaft and a wicked iron spearhead,
properly grounded, a pike had enough stopping power to take down a Knight
charging in on an armored warhorse. At the same time, it was a simple enough
weapon that even an amateur could wield it effectively in battle. And the more
men you had with pikes, the easier it was to take out a group of swordsmen,
regardless of their skill.
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