THE KING WHO DISAPPEARED Fantasy Satire Author Hank Quense
A long time ago, at the beginning of this fantasy adventure, Bohan was a king. But that was before the sleep spell. Now that he’s awake again, it’s time for a quest to get revenge. Fantasy humor doesn’t better than this.
How much does reading influence your writing and who are your favorite authors and why?
Hank Quense
When I first started writing fiction, my stories had no genre specific focus. Instead I was just rambling. Then I read Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and I knew what I wanted to write: satiric sci-fi. Later on, I expanded it to include satiric fantasy after reading a few books by Terry Pratchett
Another book that influence my writing was Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. After reading it a few times, I noticed the structure of the book. In the beginning, it is around 90% humor/satire and 10% horror. In the middle, it’s 50-50 and in the end 10-90. I’ve used this structure in several novels while not specifically dealing with satire and horror.
In fact, The King Who Disappears uses this structure. At the beginning of Part 2, Jerado, the antagonist, is completely in charge while the protagonist, Bohan has little power or prospects. By the middle of the book, Jerado is still in command but he’s worried and Bohan’s prospects are looking up as is his confidence. At the end, the situation is reversed.
Story, By Robert McKee, had a major effect on my writing. In the book, McKee talks about designing a scene and insists that every scene must have an emotional change in it and the emotional changes from scene to scene must form a continuous emotional arc. As soon as I read that, I knew why my stories seemed anemic: no emotional arc. McKee also states that one can’t write effective satire unless the writer is dealing with a topic that makes him angry. The angrier the writer is, the sharper the satire will be.
Right now, my favorite author is Bernard Cornwell. Why? Because he writes great adventure stories. I think I’ve read ever one of his novels and I’m always sad when the story ends. Another author I love to read is Tom Holt. Holt’s books have the most convoluted, off-the-wall plots I’ve ever read. And that’s besides being funny and satiric.
Disappeared. Bohan determines to go to the capital, Dun Hythe, and gain revenge. Leticia promises to go with him to find out what happened to her father who was arrested and disappeared.
Jerado learns that Bohan is still alive and headed to confront him. He tells Lithgow, his son, and Flavia, his daughter about Bohan.
They hate each other and each plans to succeed their father when he retires.
Jerado orders Lithgow to use his soldiers to block and kill Bohan. Flavia, who also has troops, decides to kill Bohan before Lithgow can. Bohan and his guards, all heroes, brush past Flavia’s soldiers and route Lithgow’s. Jerado now orders Lithgow’s troops to seal all the city’s gates and search everyone entering the city.
Meanwhile the citizens in Dun Hythe are suffering from Jerado’s rule and from Flavia’s imposition of lower wages to raise profits for the many businesses she controls. The wage restrictions impact on the Godmother’s bottom line. She is the head of a crime family who controls all vice in the city. She is also the head of the two largest and most powerful labor guilds, the teamsters and the dock workers. With Flavia’s wage restrictions in place the citizenry does have any money to have fun in the Godmother’s saloons or gambling halls. Also the workers don’t make enough money to feed their families.
Jerado’s Treasurer, Maurice, learns a few of Jerado’s family secrets. He knows how Flavia embezzles vast amounts of money from the contracts she gives out. Maurice learns about Bohan and the attempts to kill him. These and a few other secrets ensure his early death if Jerado ever finds out what he knows. Maurice meets with the Godmother and they agree to help each other for their mutual protection.
Now close to Dun Hythe, Leticia agrees to enter the city and scout it out. Hopefully, she can find a way for Bohan to enter the city. She also wants to meet with the Godmother because her father was once a high-ranking official in the dock workers guild. Leticia hopes the Godmother can find out where her father is.
Within the city, rumors swirl about the reappearance of the King Who Disappeared. The Godmother ignores the rumors and is
Bohan and his mates enter the city by boat in the middle of the night and meet with the Godmother and Maurice who tells Bohan the layout of the palace and how to sneak into it. To make a distraction,
Bohan and Ansgar sneak into the palace at night with Maurice in the lead. Leaving Maurice behind, they advance into the living quarters and confront Jerado. A confusing battle ensues as the two wizards throw spells at each other. Using Ansgar’s spell as a distraction, Bohan gets close enough to Jerado to use his sword on the wizard thus gaining revenge.
With Jerado out of the way, Bohan arrests Lithgow and Flavia, proclaims himself king and agrees to work with the Godmother, orders a wage increase for all the workers.
Everyone is happy except Jerado’s children who must perform menial work for the rest of their lives.
19 books and 50 short stories along with dozens of articles.
He often lectures on fiction writing and publishing and has a series of guides covering the basics on each subject.
He and his wife, Pat, usually vacation in another galaxy or parallel universe.
They also time travel occasionally when Hank is searching for new story ideas.
Hank’s Amazon Author Page:https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002BM76IE
Natalie Aguirre
April 8, 2019 @ 08:22
Congrats to Hank on his new book. It’s hard enough to write a fantasy with all the plot, character development, and world building. Sounds like Hank adds another dimension to his story with satire.
hank quense
April 8, 2019 @ 11:40
the thing is, Natalie, the story has to be designed with the satire built in form the start. It can’t be added later on. That doesn’t work at all.
Hank Quense
April 8, 2019 @ 06:57
Hey Juneta, thanks for posting about my new book. I had a lot of fun writing it. I think Terry Prachett would have approved of it.
admin2
April 8, 2019 @ 11:43
You are very welcome. I always enjoy hosting you. Congrats on the release. I like Terry Prachett too.
Mason Canyon
April 8, 2019 @ 06:50
It’s interesting learning about some of the authors an author enjoys reading and who influences their writing. Juneta, thanks for being a part of this tour and sharing this information.
admin2
April 8, 2019 @ 11:44
I was happy to be part of it. Look forward to the next one he releases.