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Author's notes

A large part of the fun in writing this story is that I got to tell one of my favorite story types (what I call “comfort food heroic fantasy” about strangers becoming buddies and going adventuring) in standard (male-centric) mode—but then subvert that story by examining how the much-neglected spear carriers see things. When I first began writing the story as a teenager, nearly 40 years ago (!), I always knew that the main female supporting character had her own story to tell, and though I hinted at that in the original drafts, those hints failed to come through in the final manuscript. It took many years of living with and loving strong and interesting women before I felt confident writing about her; teenage me had no clue, so the novel lay in the proverbial trunk for decades.

Standard disclaimer applies: You won’t recognize any of the women I’ve known and loved in Margrethe, nor is Margrethe intended to represent any particular female archetype. She kind of grew on me over the years, and I hope you like her as much as I do. Indeed, Margrethe was originally “Alison”, named after a high school crush, and I liked her so much I named my daughter after her. When I finally gained the courage to tell her side of the story, I decided it would be inappropriate to preserve that older name. Hence, “Margrethe”.

My original concept for changing this from a classic “trunk novel” into something stronger originated with Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead—though that specific model wouldn’t have worked for this novel. Margrethe kept whispering to me that she had a better idea. Eventually, I listened. One of the parts I like best about this story is how the perfectly plausible story told by the male narrators can be seen in a very different light from Margrethe’s perspective. It doesn’t change the essence of the story, but provides very different insights into how the characters see their world and into some of the unquestioned assumptions of standard sword and sorcery.
Also to be perfectly clear, my brother and I had a normal sibling rivalry, me being the older brother. I still love my brother, and I think he’s largely forgiven me for my teenage sins. Daggers and beatings never entered the picture, nor do they seem likely to do so. You can only read so much into a fiction.

There are some aspects of this story that may not seem right to you. Mostly, those are intentional. For example, there are no gods, for reasons that will be explored in the sequel (Jester) and a final book in the trilogy, with the working title Ambassador. There’s also an idiosyncratic mixture of low and high tech, based on the story world’s history. In summary, as the text hints, the humans in this story fell under some catastrophe in their old world and fled to this new world on little notice, bearing with them what they could carry openly or smuggle. Some things (the most important ones) were preserved, such as a late-medieval/early Renaissance level of medical knowledge, whereas others were lost or deprecated, such as the lack of siege towers in this story. (Ladders and ropes were rarely successful tools for storming a city.)

Things I might not have done successfully (you be the judge): Where Bram and Gareth describe different things, or things that differ from Margrethe’s account, that’s because they’re unreliable narrators. Not because they’re deliberately lying in an effort to make themselves look better, but rather because we’re all unreliable narrators of our own stories. People see things differently and remember different details, and details blur over time and diverge between observers. Moreover, our inner self isn’t always the person we try to persuade people to see on the outside. Bram is probably most “what you see is what you get”, as he’s pretty close internally to what we see from the outside, but inner Gareth is much subtler and more insightful and far less tough—and more eloquent—than outer Gareth. Margrethe is… Margrethe.

After reading this story, you might plausibly wonder whether this is an unsubtle allegory about Europeans invading North America and exterminating the original inhabitants. More recent events might suggest that this is an allegory about the West’s struggle with Islam. It deliberately isn’t either of these things. I have no doubt they shaped my mind-space to some extent while I wrote the original story, then revised it many decades later, but in no way was this a deliberate allegory. Rather, I chose a western continent for the site of the story solely because Elves have always traditionally lived in the west, and I liked that resonance as a very minor note in the larger symphony. I also think I’ve also done something relatively new with Goblins, but you’ll have to read book two in this story world (Jester) to learn their story.

Want to build on this story?

If you liked the characters or setting and want to use them in your own fiction, please do; the dialog between authors enhances the value of fiction. However, please add a suitably amended version of the following statement at the start of your story:

"The characters and setting in this story originated in [story name and URL/link], by Geoff Hart. Although Geoff encouraged adaptation of his original work, he has not reviewed my story, and the original story remains copyrighted in his name."

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