About ‘The Rescuists’

How the story came about is explained in the foreword to the book itself.  Suffice to say here that the notion of a nitwit trying to rescue a princess buzzed around in my head for a number of hours until something had to be committed to MS Word.  There are only so many ideas I can hold in my head at one time and while somewhat paranoid that I might forget them if I don’t start typing, I am also bothered by a worse idea: that I might not simply forget the idea, but forget that I even had one, blissfully attending to my duties with no recollection that something I thought was worthwhile at the time has passed through my mind and is now perhaps, lost forever.  I wonder how many times that has happened already?

On that particular Sunday morning in November (at about 05:00), I started writing with a fairly well-formed notion of the whole plot and only a vague idea about characters.  Pretty soon, I found that the characters began writing themselves.  I don’t quite know where they all came from, though as they revealed themselves, their images became very clear and I’ve been delighted with them all ever since.  

So what happens in the story?  Well, unlike most theatrical trailers for movies these days, I have no intention of spoiling the whole thing here but instead will focus on some of the building blocks.  Good King Wenceslas was a real person, and very generous too, though not an actual king.  In The Rescuists, he certainly was a King and has left behind his son and heir, ‘Bad’ King Wenceslas.  Good King Wenceslas’s granddaughter, the remarkable Princess Petra is something of an enigma, though her beauty is legendary.  Being unexpectedly absent at a Viennese wedding, four intrepid young royals from various parts of the world set off to the Wenceslas home in Prague in search of her.  

However, things don’t go according to plan (do they ever?) and matters take some unusual turns as the four take independent paths to Petra’s door.  Not knowing whether she is at home or even alive is one problem.  Another is the fabled castle dragon.  Prague and its surroundings is as famous for dragons as Wales!  BTW, that last sentence is funnier if read aloud.

Swords are unsheathed, disguises are worn, some people find love while others get very uppity.  One thing I’ll concede though is that it has a happy ending.  Isn’t that what we hope for more than anything?

Though set many hundreds of years ago, some liberties have been taken and some staunch and inflexible historians might find that the setting, as well as how the Realm of Prague functions, is in some aspects contrary to other history books they have read prior.  Where differences exist, The Rescuists ought to be your new guide and so we will learn (among other things) that electric guitars existed long before electricity and Praguers have a penchant for vegetarian sausage rolls.  

One more thing: The Rescuists is also ‘inclusive’ in the modern sense and in more than one way.

And that, is all I’m going to say.  To learn anymore, you’ll just have to read it.

Or wait for the audiobook.

Or have someone read it to you, though for reasons of safety, I will just add three final words of warning: Beware of Dragon!