It’s Sunday evening and I’ve been busy all day so the tea part of @bibliophilicwitch’s Sunday tomes and tea has morphed into a gin & tonic. My literary accompaniment is the rather pretty Barnes & Noble version of Howard Pyle’s The Story of King Arthur and his Knights.
Hey guys, book-lovers, and others. Don’t know how many of you have heard of Swoon Reads, but it’s this awesome website where authors can upload their manuscripts and people can read and give feedback.
It’s an awesome way for readers to find new books and for authors to get good feedback on their new novels. Also, it’s free for anyone.
I uploaded my new book The Once and Future Queen, and it would be awesome to get some support. It’s LGBTQ, feminist, fantasy with a mix of horror and history.
Growing up, even as a guy, I felt that women are treated very poorly in the fantasy genre. As an adult, I researched why women suffer so much from the genre, and a big contributor is the Arthurian legend. You have Guinevere ostracized and condemned for adultery, Morgana condemned as a villain because of her magical abilities, and so many other women villainized for their actions. They suffer from sexism and misogynism. Many authors have tried to reverse it, but I took it a step further with my book.
One of the biggest problems is Guinevere is essentially a love interest. Instead of making her one, I took some heavy liberties with the story (since there are no original sources anyway) and made Guinevere Arthur’s twin sister. Furthermore, I made her be the one who actually pulls Excalibur from the Stone. Arthur is enraged, and using his own magician and riled up men, takes the kingdom from her. The story revolves around her getting Camelot back.
The journey of Guinevere is seen through the eyes of a teenage boy named Liam. Liam is a Latino teen who is accidentally summoned from the 21st century to 6th century Romanized Wales. His classmate Tristan is also taken back in time. In the story, Liam has to learn how to deal with the violent and gruesome time period. He also begins to explore and actually struggle with his sexuality.
Because it’s a story where the protagonist is a bisexual, Mexican teenager and the hero is a woman, getting it published is going to be kind of tough. That’s why I need all the support possible!
Like I said, you can sign up and read for free and you can help out not only me but other authors. Just read and rate. I appreciate all the support you guys gave me with my novella The Prince and the Magician! It means a lot.
Yes, absolutely! Gwen Rowley’s books are not related to each others and each one of them is actually an independent story. I only read Lancelot and Gawain and I don’t remember of any connection a part from the arthurian settings and some guest characters who were the same.
Hello @arsnovacadenza! Sadly there are not a lot of books on Galahad and even less about them both! I think only two books (that I know of) truly qualifies:
“Galahad: Enough of His Life to Explain His Reputation” by Erskine which is about Guinevere raising Galahad and also about the relationship between Galahad and Lancelot. In general, it is actually a good book which I truly need to reread.
“Blessed Bastard: A Novel of Sir Galahad“ by Lehmann. This is a lovely book. When I think of Galahad I think of this book a lot.
But there are some more that have a little bit:
a bit of a cheating one, but Carol Ann Douglas’ “Lancelot her story” (and the sequel) focuses a lot (especially the sequel) on Galahad and her father Gawain (sorry, not Lancelot). I actually think that the best moments of this series were the ones about the relationship between Gawain and daughter
“The Book of Galahad” by Susan Cook. This is mostly about Galahad and has some parts where Galahad wants revenge against his father Lancelot, but admittedly, their interactions still manage to be quite cold (as in, flat? I expected more anger/feelings)
“The Book of Mordred“ by Peter Hanratty. Mordred is the main character, but Galahad and his father Lancelot leave on a journey with him
Arthurian Legends 