Caryl Say will celebrate the fourth āMerlin in Moabā book, āWinds of Change,ā at an event at the library on December 6
King Arthur of Camelot is back, but not as youād expect: In Moab local Caryl Sayās fourth book in her āMerlin in Moabā series, Arthur is reborn in the twenty-first century as the son of Merlin, and he will grow to adulthood in five years, āready to complete the goal heād failed to achieve in the fifth century,ā according to the book blurb. But challenges meet him and Merlin at every turn, namely caused by Merlinās ancient nemesis.
The book, called āThe Winds of Change,ā was published on November 13. Five days after it was published, the book was ranked #38 of the Top 100 Bestsellers in Arthurian Fantasy on AmazonāSay will celebrate with an event at the Grand County Public Library on December 6 at 7 p.m.Ā
āItās been a very exciting road for me, to bring it to life and have people like my books,ā Say said. āItās just amazing.ā
Say started writing the Merlin in Moab series in 2013, just after she finished watching the BBC series, āMerlin,ā which ran from 2008 to 2012. She had always thought of Moab as a magical place, and wondered: What would happen if Merlin came to Moab? Even more so, what would happen if Merlin came to Moab in the 21st century?
Writing had never flowed perfectly for Sayāin her bio on her website, she said when she had urges to write, she ācouldnāt seem to write any more than a few paragraphs before I would give up.ā But the Merlin in Moab books were different: soon after after she decided to write a story about Merlin coming to Moab, she booked a trip to England, returned home, and finished the book.Ā
āI am now semi-retired after thirty-odd years of full-time employment and I write as much as possible,ā her bio reads.
Her first book, āThe Heart of Magic,ā was published in 2015, followed by āGod of Magic, Child of Lightā in 2016, and āThe Shape of Time,ā in 2020. She started writing āThe Winds of Changeā when editing the third book, she saidāand she already has nearly 120 pages written for a fifth book in the series.
Her retellings of Merlin are ācompletely new,ā she said, but she weaves in elements of the original stories of the character. Sheās made many trips to Great Britain, England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland; sheās also descended from King James V of Scotland, who ruled from 1513 to 1542.
āIāve always felt really connected to Merlin and the British Isles,ā Say said.
Her writing pulls inspiration from her trips abroad and from books sheās readāshe cited Mary Stewartās āMerlin Trilogy,ā published in the 1970s, as a huge inspiration. While the publishing process can sometimes feel slow, she saidāself-publishing comes with a few challenges, like self-editingāher writing just flows.
āTo be perfectly honest, I donāt make an outline ahead of time on the bookāI just start writing, and the characters take me there,ā Say said. āI have a good imagination.ā
āThe Winds of Change,ā and other books in the Merlin in Moab series, are available on Amazon. The book event at the library will take place on Dec. 6 at 7 p.m.
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