I’m delighted to be interviewing Anne M. Beggs this month, author of Archer’s Grace, first in the Dahlquin series set in Medieval Ireland. This is an action-packed adventure novel with a kick-ass heroine. When she isn’t writing, Anne manages a horse boarding ranch, Equisance, in Watsonville, California, with eight horses and seven cats.

MC: I’ve heard you say these were stories you told your family before they became a book. Tell readers about that experience—both the family aspect and the writing down of an oral storytelling tradition.

AB: On long car trips, I couldn’t read to our children, eight and five, so I shared my stories – violence and romance toned WAY down for a young audience. The kids and my husband laughed and cried, and asked me to change a few things, but the stories stood: people die, animals die, life really was and is brutal for many. Next, they insisted I write it all down, and publish them. That launched me on a new obsession. I wonder if they regret encouraging me down this path? It really did change our lives.
Like most families, it was fun to hear my parents and relatives tell stories of their experiences. Farm life in South Dakota during the Great Depression. The War Years in San Leandro, California. My Great Grandmother taking my mom to San Francisco. Oh, to be able to speak with them now, and ask adult questions about their existence.

MC: How did you come up with the battle scenes?

AB: My first two editors demanded battle scenes. I was interested in the characters, their relationships, growth, development, and HORSES. I would lead up to a battle with all the characters’ trepidation and preparation, then write “they fought” and start another chapter post battle. Apparently, that is a cheat to readers who want to see what happened. That meant research. Some readers complain of the brutality and carnage yet say those are memorable and important scenes. The editors and readers have spoken, I write battle scenes.

In partnership with that question of battle scenes is:

MC: The hand-to hand and close combat was especially brutal in this book. How did you research that, and how did it make you feel to write such vicious material?

AB: I’ll break that down. I had to research battles and combat. Serendipitously, our family was taking martial arts and our Sensei was accomplished in so many techniques. He loved weapons and had quite a collection. That time at the dojo was sacred, and we all learned much about life, philosophy, humanity, healing arts, and of course how kill people. Hawaiian Ju Jitsu is phenomenally brutal. Sensei was a great resource for swordsmanship, daggers, knives, staff, spears, and we got to practice.

MC: How does it make you feel to write those scenes?

AB: Queasy. I question my sanity. Why am I writing something so awful? Couldn’t I just stick with the romance and the horsemanship? My characters are facing those life and death moments and I dig in and try to capture each gasping breath, pounding heart, and loss of life’s blood. Those are frightening moments. Mari, I think you capture such moment extremely well yourself. Yikes!

MC: You do a fair mix of the religious with the spiritual in this book—the church versus the gods of the Ancients. How difficult was that balance to keep?

AB: Finding balance is always a challenge, but the religious and spiritual fit well with the politics and the male/female dynamic in the story. This theme carries through the series. Eloise is on a spiritual quest of understanding. The dogma she is taught and the love, light and spiritualty she experiences do not mesh. She seeks understanding. My characters’ stories often lead me into trouble, research reveals things I must work with, yet Eloise is driven to explore and find meaning as well as purpose. The story I thought I was writing – a book about horses, and my fantasy to get “boinked” in a castle or cathedral – has become something much deeper, taking me on a writers’ journey along with the challenges my characters face.

MC: It’s a dangerous choice for an author to set up a cliffhanger ending. What made you decide to make this into more than one book?

AB: It was originally one 700 plus page tome of gobbledygook. It was horrible. Bless my family and friends for loving it and encouraging me to keep writing. I had to learn how to write a novel: Classes, writers’ groups, books, research, and brilliant editors. It was obvious I had to break it down into several books. Archer’s Grace’s had a beginning, middle and end, the cliff hanger was a good place to stop and set up Book Two. I plan to publish Book Two before the end of 2024, then start revising the rest.