She and Chastity are the warring parts of me: one intellectually driven but fascinated by the intangible fluidity of the occult; the other all too willing to throw herself into the pleasures of life without considering the practicalities. It is fair to say that the concept of writing this story first occurred at a very difficult time for me, but this novel has kept my spirits going when my body and mind were exhausted by everyday cares and concerns.
Wotton Basset is now Wootton Bassett, a place that is home to me in real life, and Awbery (Avebury) is my spiritual home, a place of indescribable beauty and endless fascination, a place where magick becomes manifest, where myth becomes reality and where the breath of the gods is ever present, reaching out to embrace, guide and reassure.
I originally thought to write solely about the witch mania and religious intolerance of the 17th century, subjects very close to my heart, but the issue of crop circles – another passion of mine – kept rearing its head as I was writing, so I wove them into the fabric for good measure. Being surrounded by dozens of them every summer certainly keeps them in the forefront of your mind, and my own belief is that they have been around as long as humanity has been there to witness them, so I thought it would be interesting to speculate as to how rampantly bigoted Puritans would have coped with such curious and inexplicable manifestations.
The appearance of the infamous Lord Rochester is also critical to the writing of this story, and I could not have contemplated writing it without him in it. His poetry, his wit and his earthy presence have previously guided me through the writing of a few bawdy poems in his unique style which can be found elsewhere on this site, but apportioning him a role in my novel seemed even more fitting a tribute somehow. I hope he would have been pleased at how I intend to involve him in my story.
[15th June 2002]
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Dramatis Personae
