Snow in April!

Just when you thought spring was here in Massachusetts, you wake up to snow in April. Not the most pleasant thing to see first thing on a Spring morning (I’d prefer some warm sunshine), but what a perfect day to curl up somewhere warm and read Island of Stone! Sorry for the tactless plug, but if you’re stuck inside anyway, be it by weather or this damned Covid-19, I could think of far less favorable things to do than read a book full of mystery and the paranormal.

I will be writing as always. I’ve already made my coffee (a nice Peruvian Roast, yum), and I’m sitting in my living room watching the snowfall. I bemoan the weather, but it’s perfect really. The spring of 1241 in Hungary was also a time of unseasonable snow. I’m editing a part in Slaying of the Bull (the next book I will release and the first in a series) where the Mongolian and Hungarian armies meet for the first time in battle within a snowy mountain pass. At this point, Hungary knew the Mongolians were coming. Much of the Kingdom of Poland had fallen, and the Verecke Pass in the Carpathian mountains was the perfect crossing point into the lush and fertile fields of Hungary. King Bela IV hastily built defenses across this pass in the hopes it would slow the Mongolian advance. Still, in March 1241, during a nighttime snowstorm, the Count Palantine led his army from the protection of these flimsy defenses and into the snowy fields in the hopes of surprising the Mongolians. It would prove a terrible mistake, and one of hubris. Hungary still believed this dark force was no match for a tried and tested Christian army, but the first meeting between these armies was a disaster for the Christian kingdom. It would be a foretelling of what was to come.

I want to instill the importance of this moment in history and how our world could have been very different if certain mysterious events were not in play. In the 13th century, Hungary had the strongest and most advanced army in Christendom, and this being during the tail-end of the Crusades when Christian forces were indeed vast and formidable, this was saying something. They had fought in the deserts of the holy land with some potency, pushing back the Muslim Caliphates, a very strong adversary. Power projection like that is nothing to laugh at, but the Christians (and the Muslims) had little idea of the threat the Mongolians posed. The mobile armies comprised of expert marksmen just encircled the slow knights in heavy plate and decimated them. These were not just military victories. These were massacres that would lead to more than 500,000 deaths in Hungary alone. This is 25% of their entire population.

This tension of a dark horde sweeping into Europe is the great moment that makes the Slaying of the Bull a worthy story to tell. But I know not everyone is interested in dirty and bloody battles of yore. Luckily, these battles just add the atmosphere to the story. At its core, it is the tale of young Isa and his struggle to find his place during such times. It is a story of friendship and sacrifice, tenets that appeal to us all. It’s coming soon, so be ready!

Cheers!