Hi. My name is Christopher Mitchell, and I live in Scotland with my wife and four children. I have wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember, and dabbled with plots and story outlines throughout my teens. I wrote a couple of (rubbish) books in my later teens/early twenties, then gave up for a long while. I lived abroad for a few years, in Greece and the Middle East, then came back to Scotland. I credit my wife with persuading me to try writing again after so long – she gently pushed me into it, for which I will be eternally grateful. To be able to write full time is a dream come true.

I left my job in IT in September 2020 to become a full time writer, so my day job now consists of writing, as well and planning and editing my books.

I think Tolkien is one of the greatest writers in the English language. He was the master of all strains of writing, from hobbit-talk to the high grandeur of the Silmarillion (and everything in between). I also greatly admire the writing styles of Robin Hobb, Joe Abercrombie and Mark Lawrence. Since I started writing the Magelands, I have found it very difficult to try to read any other works of fiction, as my brain can’t stop analysing the sentences and plot, which completely ruins the experience; but I still read a lot of non-fiction, especially history.

I try to focus above all on the characters, and the relationships between them. My aim is to make the reader feel something, and therefore the whole plot is character-driven. I also aim for readability, and try to keep the writing flowing in a clear manner, with as few distractions as possible.

I had gone down the route of self-publishing for the ten books of my first series (Magelands Epic), and didn’t alter that approach for the Eternal Siege series, of which The Mortal Blade is the first book.

From a writing aspect, the great advantage of self-publishing is being in control of the whole process, from planning and drafting, up to the final stages of publication. Having experienced the freedom of self-publishing, I wouldn’t like to hand over any of that control to someone else.

I suppose that depends on what each author feels they need. In my case, I can’t think of anything I’m missing by being self-published, but you can’t miss what you’ve never experienced! My wife handles all aspects of publishing, promotion, ads etc. which leaves me free to concentrate on the writing.

I was a bit hesitant to enter the SPFBO this year. I entered in 2019 with The Queen’s Executioner, and it didn’t make the semi-finals, and I presumed that The Mortal Blade would be destined for the same fate. In the end, I thought “what the hell”, and entered anyway.

I’d fall off my chair in shock.

In a world overrun by demonic greenhides, a single City stands alone. In it, a group of misfits, outcasts and exiles fight not only the enemy beyond the walls, but the cruel gods who have governed the City for millennia.

I had long wanted to write a story about a city that had been under siege for hundreds or even thousands of years. I planned out the series in December 2019, and wrote The Mortal Blade in April 2020, after I had completed the last book of the Magelands Epic series. The link between the two series is that a character (Corthie Holdfast) is abducted from the world of Epic, and dropped into the world of Eternal Siege, where, because of his fighting ability, he is sent out to battle the greenhides.

Claustrophobic, violent and funny (others may disagree!)

Is it part of the series or a standalone? If series, how many books have you planned for it?

The Mortal Blade is book one of a sixteen-part series called Eternal Siege (twenty-six books if Magelands Epic, which comes chronologically before Eternal Siege, but is set in the same universe, is also included). The Mortal Blade was designed to be a new entry point into the world of the Magelands, and Eternal Siege can be read on its own without having read Epic. As of the end of October 2021, nine books of Eternal Siege have been released. Just seven to go!

Every book in Epic and Eternal Siege has to have a character from the Holdfast family somewhere in it – in the case of The Mortal Blade, this is Corthie Holdfast, the youngest of four siblings. In Epic, he was a thirteen year old boy, but in The Mortal Blade he is now a renowned warrior, employed by the City to fight the enemy beyond the walls. He gets his unique fighting ability from his parents, who were both mages, though of different types. Mortals with these powers are unknown in the world of the City, and the people there love him and fear him in equal measure.

I have spent (wasted?) many days ruminating on the names of the characters, and try to create differing systems for the separate peoples etc. that inhabit the books.

There are six different flavours of ‘magic’ or mage powers within the books – life/healing/death; fire; stone; water and ‘vision’, which runs on a scale from ‘battle-vision’ (the ability to fight well) up to inner-vision (the ability to read people’s minds). The sixth power is the rarest – ‘dream’ powers, which encompass vision powers as well as the ability to manipulate people’s thoughts, and occasionally catch a glimpse of future events.

The cover star of The Mortal Blade is Aila – a demigod protagonist who has a double life as a sneaky assassin. She has the vision-related ability to make people think she looks like someone else (like a shape-shifter, except she doesn’t physically change, she only makes people think she has, as an illusion). I think the cover captures the moody atmosphere of the book, and the subdued browns reflect the strange light that permeates the world.

Which question about the book do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!

‘Who was really behind the attempted assassination of Corthie Holdfast?’

I can’t answer that here, as it would be a spoiler! (The culprit is finally revealed in book nine…)

I opened the book at random, and found this:

All six books ear-marked for 2021 have been released. Books ten to twelve of Eternal Siege will be released in the first half of 2022, and books thirteen to sixteen will come out late 2022/ early 2023.

I would like to say how surprised and happy I am that The Mortal Blade has reached the final of SPFBO 2021; it’s a great honour to have been selected. Writing can be a lonely business, and positive responses from readers to my work is what makes it all worthwhile. A single good review can bolster my spirits and maintain my motivation for days, so I’d like to say thank you to the readers for everything.