Brooke Shaffer

Just to clarify right off the bat, this has nothing to do with the media as we understand it to be the news.  This has to do with media meaning music, TV, and especially movies.  The fun media that we like to consume in some fashion.

I actually thought about this with any seriousness last December when I was interviewing for the Author Next Door (National Writers' Series).  She was asking about how far the series was going to go and this and that.  And then, with the release of Of Saints and Sinners, I actually considered that I am building a universe, and that such things are becoming more and more common.

When I say a media universe, the first thing you may think of is the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Avengers, Black Panther, Doctor Stranger, and so on.  Ten years, dozens of movies.  Even if you don't watch it, chances are, you've heard of it.  What makes it a universe is that each story is (typically) independent of each other, yet it follows a (loose) general timeline (Captain America comes after Iron Man but they aren't direct sequels).  And every so often, characters will cross over.

In the book world, my favorite example of this is The Books of History Chronicles by Ted Dekker.  You've got The Circle series, the Showdown series, and others.  Each series is independent, but they all revolve around the Books of History.

The Timekeeper Chronicles is very similar to this, though it's only just begun to blossom.  The Chivalrous Welshman will remain the backbone of events and can be read without the aid of other series.  Likewise, other series can be read by themselves and have a distinct beginning, middle, and conclusion.  Of Saints and Sinners is able to be read by itself, though it is much more fun to tie it into the rest of the universe.  In the future, there will be more series to read: The Hands of Time, Akari-Bearer, and at least one more single, just to name a few.

But I was thinking the other day, why do it?  It's a lot of time, both to write and to read, and it can also add up monetarily.  Why do we like media universes?  What is the goal?

I think the answer is both simple and complex (yeah, yeah, I know, good going, very insightful).  But when we break it down into basic elements, it makes the bigger picture easier to understand.

Why do people write books?
This is the first question.  Why write at all?  Non-fiction aside,most people write fiction simply to entertain, to escape.  And the basic elements of a book is a beginning, middle, and end to a plot.  This can come in a variety of forms, the hero's journey, the three act sequence, or something totally off the wall.  We meet characters and follow them on adventures.  Sometimes, books are written to e serials, that is, independent books that feature the same characters and may follow a typical plot structure but can be read in any order.  Examples might be the Doctor Who novels, or many children's books like Clifford the Big Red Dog.  The Chronicles of Narnia may be a series or a serial because, although it follows a loose linear timeline, the books can generally be read in any order.

When does a book become a series?
A book becomes a series when there is more action to be had beyond a simple beginning, middle, and end, that can't be contained by three to five hundred pages, or whatever it is.  That's when arcing becomes important.

Perhaps the most common and easiest to explain example is almost any TV show.  I'll use the ninth season of Doctor Who as an example.  Each episode was its own thing, with a bad guy to be defeated or puzzles to solve or whatever, but the overarching theme was figuring out the identity of Bad Wolf.  At the very end of the season, viewers discover that it is, in fact, Rose. (Sorry, but Season 9 was so long ago, if you don't know that by now, then too bad.)

Many series, whether visual or written, have an overarching plot involving the protagonist and antagonist and an ongoing conflict between them.  The series typically ends when the bad guy is defeated, whether through political maneuvering that takes more than four hundred pages to detail, or a physical confrontation that requires more time to make it believable and impactful on the reader.

When does a series become a universe?
I'd say a series becomes a universe when there are multiple series revolving around the same overarching plot or theme.  In the case of The Timekeeper Chronicles, the overarching theme is Timekeeping, the Akari, and a number of considerations when it comes to its impact on humanity socially, culturally, religiously, politically, and so on.  Each book contributes to this with its own plot adding into a larger plot theme for the series which connects with other series in the universe.

Why write a universe versus a series?
The first question should be why write a series, other than extending a particular plotline?  Often this has to do with emotional involvement, getting to know the characters in such a way that they become real people.  It's an investment.  You become friends or enemies with certain characters and want to see them succeed or fail.  With a series, you spend more time with the characters than you would with a single book, which is why a TV show might run for a bazinga—I mean, a bazillion seasons, but a movie might get only one or two sequels.  You'll spend hours upon hours upon days with a TV show character, versus only a few hours with a movie character.

A universe can allow for similar expansion and investment in more characters.  The Chivalrous Welshman centers around Tommen's viewpoint, although Stopwatch did detour from this quite a bit.  But with the added series opening up more viewpoints, like Walter in Of Saints and Sinners, it allows for, not only the development of themes, but greater depth of character and plot.  Future series will address various viewpoints of the Dispersal, something only alluded to in TKC.  And it provides character perspective from different walks of life.  Rifun and Cassius come from very different cultures with very different practices, different worldviews which a Westerner would consider bizarre and even foolish.  But to them, it's life.  Micah and Micaiah had a very unusual childhood and certain events absolutely defined them.

A novel may skim the surface of the water on a jet ski, maybe go snorkeling a little and see some interesting things, but a series takes you beneath the waves, to see and touch and swim with the fishes.  Universes may take you to multiple locations to see new things, or see old things in a new way.

So this all brings us back to the question of why universes are becoming so popular.  While I do believe that Marvel brought it front and center, I think the real reason is simply escape.  We want to become invested in something, in other people, in other people's problems, but without actually getting involved physically.  We want to explore all these great places and read about these people, but we don't want to actually get physically sucked in.  We want to know what happens, but we don't necessarily want to help.  And anyway, the end has already been written.  Something is going to happen.  We just get to read about it.

Yes, it's a cynical perspective, but one look at social media or the evening news would tell you why.  People suck, and because it's real, we are involved in some way.  But a book, a whole new universe where we just read about the problems, know that everything turns out all right in the end, that's what we want.  Maybe we don't want a stereotypical John Wayne plot, maybe we like Game of Thrones where no one is safe and everything is usually up in the air to some degree, but whatever the case, it's not ours.  The universe doesn't exist, not really.  The people don't exist.  The problems are fictional.  So we get extensive character development, multiple prolonged plots, and plenty of emotional investment from a variety of perspectives.  And none of it is real.

On the other hand, what if it was?

-Brooke Shaffer

The last (or second to last, possibly) coup that we're going to cover, is the infamous Gunpowder Plot.  Not familiar with it?  Well, is this familiar to you?

Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot

The Gunpowder Plot can trace back to the mid sixteenth century, when King Henry VIII took control of the Church.  With the monarchy proclaiming itself the head of the Church, and the rise of the Protestant Church, English Catholics struggled to maintain their freedom.  Henry's successor, Elizabeth I, furthered the divide with her decree that anyone appointed to public or church office should swear fealty to the throne as head of the Church.

King James I was far more moderate, even tolerant, toward Catholics, and promised not to persecute any who would be quiet, mind their own business, and not cause trouble for the law.  He was also more in favor of exile than execution.  Nevertheless, King James was anxious about a Catholic assassination.

Regardless of his more moderate attitude, James did not completely eradicate Catholic persecution, and several assassination plots were uncovered before the Gunpowder Plot.  One of these was the Bye Plot.  It was crafted by Catholics, but also revealed by Catholics, and this was the only reason that James did not take a harder line with Catholics following the incident.

In 1604, James discovered that a rosary had been sent to his wife, Queen Anne.  Displeased, he ordered all Jesuits and Catholics out of the country.  On March 19, he gave a speech in which he reiterated his desire for peace, but only by profession of the true religion, that is, the Church of England.  The Catholics were to remain quiet and not increase in number within the country.  This set off another string of persecution against Catholics, sometimes violent.

The idea behind the Gunpowder Plot was to kill King James I and many of those on the Privy Council, in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as various judges and other nobles.  The conspirators would also kidnap his daughter Elizabeth.  The fate of his sons, Henry and Charles, would have to be improvised.

The plotters were Robert Catesby, John and Christopher Wright, Robert and Thomas Wintour, Thomas Percy, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby and Francis Tresham.  The first meeting, of only five of them, took place on May 20, 1604.  They thought they were going to finalize their plans and be ready by February 1605.

On June 9, Thomas Percy was appointed to a troop of bodyguards for the king.  He used this appointment to set up shop in London, with Guy Fawkes, under the pseudonym John Johnson, pretending to be his servant.  Parliament adjourned in July.

Through the fall, the conspirators rowed their stored gunpowder across the Thames from Catesby's residence in Lambeth.

On December 24, it was announced that Parliament would not be in session like normal over concerns of the plague.  It was reopened on October 3, 1605.

The delay between the opening of Parliament and the plot is mythologically attributed to the plotters digging a tunnel under the House of Commons.  No evidence has ever been found for such a tunnel, the prosecution for the later trial never presented any evidence for a tunnel, and conspirator confession to this tunnel came after only multiple torture sessions.

In June, Jesuit priest Oswald Tesimond told Father Henry Garnet that he had taken a confession from Catesby and thereby learned of the Gunpowder Plot.  They determined that the confession fell under the seal of the confessional, which meant it could not be repeated.

In July, Parliament was again delayed opening because of fears of plague, and the new date was set to be November 5.

36 barrels of gunpowder were brought into the undercroft beneath the House of Commons in July, but by August, it was discovered that it had decayed.  More barrels were brought over at the last minute.

Guy Fawkes was designated the one to light the fuses and escape across the Thames, while revolt in the streets would ensure the capture of James' daughter Elizabeth.

The problem came from the wives of the conspirators.  It is unclear that they were part of the conspiracy, but there is evidence to suggest that they had a good idea of what was going to happen.

Other concerns came up over other Catholics, and the conspirators came up with various measures to keep certain members out of Parliament the day of the explosion.  One of these was Lord Monteagle, who was also Francis Tresham's brother-in-law.  On October 26, Monteagle received an anonymous letter.

My Lord, out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care of your preservation. Therefore I would advise you, as you tender your life, to devise some excuse to shift your attendance at this parliament; for God and man hath concurred to punish the wickedness of this time. And think not slightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into your country where you may expect the event in safety. For though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow this Parliament; and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This counsel is not to be condemned because it may do you good and can do you no harm; for the danger is passed as soon as you have burnt the letter. And I hope God will give you the grace to make good use of it, to whose holy protection I commend you.

Monteagle did not discern the letter's meaning immediately and went to several advisors for interpretation.  Word got back to Catesby of possible betrayal.  Because of Monteagle's relation to Tresham, the conspirators confronted Tresham.  The man convinced them that he did not write the letter, but urged them to abandon the plot anyway.  They refused.

On November 1, the letter was shown to the king who immediately became convinced that it referenced fire or an explosion of some form.  The Privy Council declared that a search of Parliament would be conducted both above and below.

Two accounts of the search exist.  The king's version states that the first search was conducted on November 4.  They discovered Fawkes in the undercroft with the gunpowder, disguised as a massive pile of firewood.  Still acting as John Johnson, he stated that the firewood belonged to his master, Percy.  The search party reported their findings to the king.  Percy was already known as a potential Catholic agitator and, at his name, James ordered a more thorough search of the building.

The search party returned to the undercroft late that night.  Guy Fawkes was there in a cloak and hat.  He was discovered with a pocketwatch, several slow matches, and touchwood.  The barrels of gunpowder were also discovered.  He was arrested and taken to the king on November 5.  He maintained his identity as John Johnson.

As news of John Johnson's arrest spread through London, the other conspirators took the hint and scattered.  An arrest warrant was issued for Percy as well.

A letter addressed to Guy Fawkes was found on his person, but "John Johnson" maintained that it was simply one of his aliases and he acted alone.  His steadfastness impressed even the king who likened it to a Roman resolution.

Questioning of other servants and noblemen revealed Catesby, Rookwood, Keyes, Wynter, John and Christopher Wright, and Grant as co-conspirators.  Fawkes, still acting as Johnson, stubbornly insisted that he acted alone.  The king ordered him taken to the Tower of London and tortured.  The details are sketchy, but he was for sure subjected to the rack.  On November 7, Fawkes' resolve broke and he confessed everything.

Only two confessions were recorded in full, Fawkes' and Wintour's.

In his confession, Thomas Bates also implicated Father Tesimond in the conspiracy.  He stated that he had also visited Father Garnet on November 7 to tell both priests of the plot's failure.  Garnet, Tesimond, and another priest, Gerard, were implicated as wanted men.  Tesimond and Gerard managed to escape the country and lived out their days in freedom.  Garnet, however, was captured.

At the trial, Attorney General Edward Coke declared the plot invented by the Jesuits, citing Catesby's confession to Father Garnet and Oswald Tesimond.  Each of the condemned, said Coke, would be drawn backwards to his death, by a horse, his head near the ground. He was to be "put to death halfway between heaven and earth as unworthy of both". His genitals would be cut off and burnt before his eyes, and his bowels and heart then removed. Then he would be decapitated, and the dismembered parts of his body displayed so that they might become "prey for the fowls of the air".

Father Garnet was questioned on nearly two dozen occasions.  When threatened with torture, he merely responded, "threats are only for boys."  While speaking to another prisoner, he let slip that he had spoken to Tesimond who had told him of Catesby's confession.  He was charged with high treason and executed.

Digby, Wintour, Rookwood, and Keyes, along with three other prisoners, were all hanged, then cut down before they died.  While still conscious, they were castrated, disemboweled, and drawn and quartered.  Fawkes was to suffer the same fate, but instead jumped from the gallows and broke his neck, saving himself the agony of the remainder of the sentence.

So, kids, that's today's fun history lesson.  Yeah, it's May, but remember, remember, the fifth of November.

-Brooke Shaffer

So, this is a list of things that are going on or that I am currently working on, in no particular order.

• Stopwatch is due out June 7.  Yes, I know, the pre-orders are a tad late.  That's my fault, but stuff was going on and life got in the way, as it usually does.  With any luck, pre-orders should be available by the end of the week.
• On that note, I am trying to work out a system where pre-orders can be submitted earlier than just 30 days ahead of time.  That's the current going rate at Amazon for me, which I think is kind of lame.  I want to be able to push it to at least 90 days.  If I can get that accomplished in the next couple weeks, you should be able to pre-order Of Saints and Sinners as Stopwatch is coming hot off the press.  I think that would be kind of neat.  No promises, but I will keep you all in the loop.
• I am also working on filling in some of the information on the TKC website.  Information and fun stuff is a little slower in coming there, I know, I'm guilty.  Still working on the interactive map (Europe has a lot of countries).  With the release of Stopwatch, there will also be a Timekeeper Timeline for you to browse through as well.  It will provide a little perspective when talking about this thing or that date or such and such an event.  With the Timekeeper universe beginning to expand, it should help to organize a few things for you.
• And to that end, for the studious among you, the timeline should provide a few interesting tidbits and trivia, a few minute spoilers for upcoming books.  Nothing huge or essential to plots or anything, but something to maybe change the way you perceive certain characters.  Also, keep in mind that information on the TKC is cumulative, so if you start to fall behind, you can either choose to keep up vaguely, or...avoid at all costs.

And that's that.  I think.  Let's see...pre-orders, OSaS, information on TKC, the timeline...yeah, I think that's about it.  I don't think I'm forgetting anything.  Ah well, if I am, I'm sure I can announce it later, such as when the Stopwatch pre-orders are available.

-Brooke Shaffer

Continuing the series on famous coups in history, let's look at one which may have actually contributed to the start of World War I.

Serbia gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in the Serbian Revolution, beginning in 1804 with bloody clashes that would last more than a decade until a ceasefire was reached in 1817.  Serbia was officially recognized as a state in 1830, and the first Constitution was drafted in 1835.  Serbia actually became suzerain, that is, Serbia became a tributary or vassal state to the Ottomans.

Serbia's monarchy was split primarily between two dynasties, the Obrenović and the Karađordević, as well as their various supporting houses and political factions.  These dynasties were supported by very different foreign interests.  The Obrenović were pro-Austrian, and the Karađordević were pro-Russian.

In 1868, Prince Mihailo Obrenović was assassinated, and his cousin Milan was named the new prince.  Milan was a very unpopular ruler and not liked by the people.  His popularity declined even more when he declared himself king in 1882, and further after a series of humiliating military defeats.  Furthermore, he favored Austrian sponsorship, while his wife was pro-Russian.  Milan was also an unfaithful husband, and the king and queen finally separated, even divorcing though it was declared illegal.

On March 6, 1889, Milan suddenly abdicated the throne to his son, Alexander.  No satisfactory reason was ever given, and Milan retired to Paris.

With Alexander too young to rule, a Regency was installed.  These regents set up a radical, pro-Russia government.  In 1891, King Alexander and Tsar Alexander III met to secure an alliance, Russia promising to look out for Serbian interests in Old Serbia and Macedonia.

Soon after, with the death of one of the ruling regents, discord came about in the Regency as control was shifted from the Radical Party to the Liberal Party.  Fights broke out until King Alexander simply had all of the regents imprisoned.  He then invited his father, ex-King Milan, back to Serbia.  This angered the Radicals and they moved into opposition.

King Alexander discarded the Constitution of 1888 and instead reverted to the Constitution of 1869.  He then took a trip to Vienna to attempt to keep friendship with Austria.  This did not go over well with the Serbian people.

In 1897, Milan was named Supreme Commander of the Active Army.  Attempts were also made to find a suitable princess for Alexander to wed, though he had secretly been having an affair with his mother's lady-in-waiting, Draga.

In 1899, with the government encroaching more and more in daily Serbian life, as well as increasingly unpopular policies from the throne, an assassination attempt was made on Milan.  Milan struck back at the Radicals behind the assassination attempt.  But the attempt provided an opportunity for Alexander to get his father out of the way, and he sent Milan and the Prime Minister to foreign lands, one to discuss a contract with Austria-Hungary, and one to allegedly arrange a marriage with the German princess.  Once the two were gone, Alexander announced his engagement to Draga, his mother's former lady-in-waiting.  This did not go over well with anyone, as Draga was not only 12 years older than Alexander, but she was a commoner.  Milan especially disapproved of the marriage and never returned to Serbia, dying in Vienna in 1901.  The wedding took place in 1900, with Tsar Nicholas Romanov of Russia as the best man.

After the death of Milan, Alexander, as a gesture of good will, pardoned all political prisoners.  He drafted a new constitution which made Serbia's government bicameral and included representatives from all the major parties, most notably the Radical Party and the Liberal Party.  Alexander also started a rumor that his queen was pregnant, though numerous other rumors proclaimed her to be sterile.

Russia greatly disapproved of the new government and constitution, and the major political parties also disapproved of it.  When it was discovered that the queen was not pregnant, many also complained that the king was only hurting the international reputation of Serbia.

Seven army officers, known in history as Black Hand, made a plot to assassinate the king and queen.  Their first attempt was a knife dipped in potassium cyanide, but the royal couple never showed up to the party where the attempt was to take place.  Details were made known, and the officers decided to bring in other political allies to aid them.  Messages were sent, officers and politicians looking for a replacement for the throne.  Neither Austria nor Russia were willing to get involved, for fear of retaliation from the other.

Prince Mirko of Montenegro was one candidate for the throne, but it was discovered that Peter Karađordević could be installed instead with no obstacles.  Peter was unwilling to go along with the plot and suggested that the couple be forced to abdicate and go into exile.  The officers disagreed, saying that it could trigger a civil war.

After a second failed attempt, it was decided that the killing should take place at the palace itself, and more officers, including the Palace Royal Guard, got involved.  Details of the plan leaked, but Alexander dismissed them as fantasy.

On the night of May 28, all the conspirators arrived in Belgrade, separating into five groups to innocuously enjoy themselves at various pubs around town.  The head of the Royal Guard sent word to the assassins once the royal couple had fallen asleep.  Several of the groups surrounded the Prime Minster's house, as well as the houses of other groups loyal to the king.

The gates to the palace were unlocked at 0200 on May 29.  While some of the royal guard were involved, most were not, and secrecy was paramount.  Even so, after two hours of searching, the assassins still hadn't found the king and queen.  The head of the conspirators, Apis, saw someone running down a flight of stairs.  Thinking it to be the king, he gave chase alone.  In the ensuing gunfight, it was discovered that the man was one of the king's loyal guardsmen.  Apis was shot three times and left to die, though he did survive.

Another conspirator was also captured and ordered to speak under threat of being killed.  He was given ten minutes, and he waited that ten minutes in silence.

The rest of the group believed the attempt had failed.  According to one version of events, they again entered the royal bed chamber where one of the officers discovered a hidden door, behind which the royal couple was hiding.  According to another version, they were hiding in the queen's vast closet.  A third version states they were hiding in a secret passage that led directly to the Russian embassy.

The king and queen were brutally murdered, their bodies mutilated and tossed from a second-story window into a pile of manure.

It was the thirty-fifth anniversary of the assassination of Prince Mihailo.

Peter Karađordević was named King of Serbia in 1903, as Peter I.  Members of the conspiracy and assassination were appointed to various positions in the government.  Austria and Russia both condemned the assassinations, and even allied to diplomatically boycott Serbia, while a number of nations imposed sanctions.  This prompted Peter I to remove the conspirators from court, though he gave them grand positions elsewhere.

Life in Serbia returned to normal.  Not wishing to oppose the Black Hand which got him into power, Peter I was a king of minimal influence in politics.

It is believed that members of Black Hand were responsible for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, thus setting off World War I.  Assassination attempts against Black Hand members were made, though they were taken to trial.  Some were executed.  Others, like Apis, who had taken three bullets, remained in prison but were eventually released after World War II.