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True Epic Fantasy Readers
Cold Sanctuary centers on a pair on the run after they are accused of a crime they did not commit, as they separate: one joins forces with a highwayman, and the other seeks refuge among pacifist monks. What is the most rewarding aspect of writing a series?
Well, the Jake and Emilya threads are only two of ten, so Cold Sanctuary far from focuses on just those two characters. That said, Jake and Emilya are definitely the two most-loved characters amongst readers – but the storylines of the other eight characters are every bit as important, and I know that a number of readers are already excited as they are seeing signs of storylines converging – which a handful do before the end of this series. However, it is in the sequel to The Nessemiah that many threads will converge!
As to the most rewarding aspect of writing a series, it has to be the reward for patience and discipline. You have to get the pace right from beginning to end. Never rush. Slowly build the story, build your characters, build the authenticity of their world and their homes, and above all, make people love your cast, hate them, and even weep for them. If you do this, readers will genuinely miss your characters and pine for them when the book or series is finished. Other authors have certainly done that to me, and people have told me that The Nessemiah books have had the same effect on them, too.
I must also mention that written praise is rewarding, as well. It is a wonderful moment when all of your hard work is endorsed by the comments that you receive, especially when from true epic fantasy readers. There is no feeling to match someone praising the depth of your characters or the authenticity of your world-building; or, indeed, referring to you as “a master storyteller” as Literary Titan has here – and as have a number of others, too, for which I am deeply honoured.
Jake and Emilya spend much of the novel apart, moving through very different environments. Why was it important to separate them physically in this installment?
If you put yourself into the position of the hunted, it just makes sense to split them up. The move has the effect of drawing away Prince Magnus from Emilya and Elyse – and I must confess, it gave me the opportunity to have some fun with the roguish Harry Black and his two sidekicks, Swede and Turnip! Of course, what starts off as high jinks soon becomes much more serious.
And then on the other hand, the Emilya side of the story significantly brings on her relationship with her surrogate mother, Elyse, and that still remains the favourite relationship that I have built in The Nessemiah. It also presented the opportunity to put them both into the apparently peaceful setting at Kifsel Place Monastery – but with a permanent undertone of something being not quite right about it – culminating in the shocking ending to Cold Sanctuary, which I know has deeply affected a number of readers!
The looming presence of Nessemi creates a sense of inevitability. Did you think of it as a war, a prophecy, or something more existential?
I agree that Nessemi creates a sense of inevitability; that was always its intention, and that is why it is deliberately brought out into the open (for the reader) around three-quarters of the way through Book One (The Strains of Malice). Interestingly, there is an element of prophecy about Nessemi that comes later in the series – as in it was foretold – but there is certainly no element of war! And clearly, a two-mile-wide asteroid on an unavoidable collision course with Planet Thera is indeed rather existential!
Of course, by the end of Book Two, the general public of Thera are not yet aware of their approaching doom – that comes towards the end of Book Three – at which point, every human story that readers are invested in takes a completely different turn, as people react in very different ways; all culminating in a spectacular end to Book Four and the perfect conclusion towards everything that I have been slowly building towards. But who will live and who will die?
Finally, for those who haven’t worked it out yet, Nessemi is an anagram of Nemesis – the Greek goddess of divine retribution!
As the series progresses, do you find the world surprising you, or is the long arc already mapped in detail?
There are a few occasional surprises, where storylines take you down routes you weren’t expecting. And that is always a joy. But overall, I mapped everything out right at the beginning when I started writing this series six years ago!
I actually share how I went about this process in the companion book to the series, which was released last month – called Decoding the Hidden World of Thera. The book obviously reveals all of the series’ secrets as well – this after a Goodreads reader spotted that Thera was an anagram of Earth and the supercontinent Epanaga was an anagram of Pangaea! But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Every placename and coastline is a mirror of somewhere on Earth, whilst numerous characters are based on famous historical people – all revealed in Decoding the Hidden World of Thera!
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Is anywhere on Thera safe from Nessemi? Or the hell that lies beyond?
“I’m afraid there are good and bad everywhere, Emilya. It’s a fact of life that wherever you look, there are strains of malice.”
Emilya and Jake have separated to increase their chances of avoiding capture and execution for a crime they have not committed. While Jake and infamous highwayman, Harry Black, lead Prince Magnus a merry dance across Glennad, Emilya has landed in even greater peril at Kifsel Place Monastery, where amongst the peace-loving monks, there are others with sinister motives.
Meanwhile, unaware that their governments are preparing for deadly Nessemi, matters deteriorate for our other northern islanders at the hands of murderous smugglers, scorned exes, and ruthless Abolitionists. Four hundred leagues south, the Theran Empire is also preparing for Nessemi – by rolling out diversions on a massive and brutal scale. As well as the demographic cleansing that is Expurgatio, Emperor Calidius is also driving the deaths of thousands in Liatia’s fighting pits – where former Demonacian general, Draxaelen, battles to stay alive. But little does Drax know that time is running out for his revenge; in fact, time is running out for everyone.
Cold Sanctuary
Jake and Emilya are on the run, accused of a crime they did not commit. To stay ahead of Prince Magnus, Jake joins forces with the highwayman Harry Black and flees across Glennad. Emilya, meanwhile, seeks refuge at Kifsel Place Monastery among pacifist monks. Yet even there, danger waits. At the same time, the Theran Empire prepares for Nessemi, a conflict that now feels unavoidable. Emperor Calidius continues to preside over death in the Liatia fighting pits, where Draxaelon, the former Demonacian general, has been cast into peril. With threats closing in from every direction and Nessemi looming over all, survival is far from certain.
Cold Sanctuary, by Andrew Beardmore, is the second book in the Nessemiah series. It occupies a compelling space between fantasy, science fiction, and historical fiction, with echoes of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and Frank Herbert’s Dune. The result is ambitious, layered, and expansive.
Readers can grasp the broad shape of the story without having read the first installment, but beginning with book one is strongly recommended. This is a sweeping epic filled with multiple central characters, intricate political currents, and a vast supporting cast. Context matters. Names, loyalties, histories, and conflicts carry weight, and the experience is richer when entered from the beginning.
Beardmore excels at weaving numerous plot threads into a cohesive and absorbing narrative. The world he has created is immersive and impressive in nearly every respect. Many writers build elaborate settings; fewer make those settings feel as though they are recording real events rather than inventing them. Beardmore achieves that rare effect. His characters are richly drawn, their choices shaped by complicated motives, shifting loyalties, and moments of genuine surprise. One of the novel’s greatest pleasures is its unpredictability. The reader is rarely allowed to settle too comfortably, and that uncertainty gives the story much of its force.
The danger is palpable. The shadow of Nessemi is pervasive. The themes feel broad, resonant, and timeless. It is easy to be drawn into this world, and easier still to trust that the story is in the hands of a master storyteller. The only difficult part is waiting for the next chapter in a series that grows grander, stranger, and more elaborate with each return.
Pages: 555 | ASIN : B0F1Z4N1J7
Geographical Quirks
The Strains of Malice follows a 15-year-old girl baker’s daughter in Ghantiss, who is pursued by authorities after rescuing an ill-fated dog from a bloodsport ring. Where did the idea for this novel come from?
Emilya (the baker’s daughter) is just one of many character threads, which cover royalty, miners, druids, astronomers, gladiators, naval captains – and a baker’s daughter! I wanted to start the story with Emilya so that it begins grounded in ordinary folk – but who soon have the misfortune to cross paths with the entitled elite.
As for the idea for the novel, I sat down in December 2019 and designed my world first. Next came an outline of what was originally intended to be a five-book series, with a catastrophic event right at the end. Alongside this, I began creating the characters, and that was when Emilya and her pathway through the book was established. I even created timelines for my main ten POV characters, all mapped together a bit like a Gantt chart!
I then started designing the secrets of the world of Thera – and which will be revealed in a book called Decoding the Hidden World of Thera, which I plan to release at around the same time that Books Three and Four in The Nessemiah series are released. Only two other people know about these secrets, and they are bursting with impatience for the cat to be let out of the bag!
Finally, just to clarify, The Nessemiah is now a four-book series that only covers what was originally intended to occur in Books One and Two of the five-book series I planned back in 2019! The final three volumes of that story will now form the sequel series to The Nessemiah!
As the opening book of a series, what did you most want readers to understand about this world in the first installment?
It was important that the world of Thera itself should be slowly revealed in Book One, along with the pending catastrophe that ultimately ends the series. Thera is a world of some ancient mystery and interesting geographical quirks that I loved creating and slowly begin to reveal in Book One. Indeed, one reviewer who was being very generous about the depth of my human characters declared that Thera itself is almost a character in its own right. That said, there is nothing fantastical about Thera. There are no dragons, elves, magical powers or thousand-year-old prophecies waiting to be revealed/fulfilled. It is a hard, gritty world, for which the publisher uses the strapline, “Poldark meets Gladiator…on another world.” That is very apt.
The strapline refers to the temperate polar islands which resemble British regency times, and the brutal Theran Empire further south, which is a throwback to Ancient Rome. These are two cultures which are destined to collide, but which are currently kept apart by one of my favourite geographical quirks!
It is also worth adding that many reviewers have picked up on the depth and quality of my world-building, given the book is front-loaded with detailed maps, layouts of monasteries, explanations of geographical features, temperature charts, the daily and monthly cycles, and even Thera’s solar system. This is all important information that is going to come significantly into play as the four-book story unfolds.
Where did you get the inspiration for Prince Magnus’s traits and dialogue?
Every book needs at least one villain. Mine has several – hence The Strains of Malice. But Magnus does seem to be everyone’s favourite. I guess he must be a little bit of every nasty villain I’ve ever read about myself, from several thousand novels. Of course, his traits and dialogue have been dictated by his privileged upbringing: entitled, never been disciplined, and can do whatsoever he pleases with whomsoever he pleases. And, of course, he does!
I can tell you that he was an absolute joy to write! I suppose if I were to be pushed on an inspiration, it would have to be A Song of Ice and Fire. There have been review comparisons to Prince Joffrey, but as one wise reviewer pointed out recently, Joffrey was still boy, albeit an incredibly cruel one; Prince Magnus is very much a man – and far darker than Joffrey. Maybe there’s a bit of Cersei in him as well, if that makes sense? But not Jaime Lannister; there is absolutely no good in my Prince Magnus!
As for the dialogue, I guess he is very British. But again, he isn’t cliché’d. As one reviewer recently said, “He does not monologue. He does not twirl his cape. He is simply a man who has never once in his life been told that his desires have consequences.”
I suppose that if there is one character from literature for whom there is perhaps a fair likeness to Prince Magnus, it would be a certain character from my childhood called Count Grendel of Gracht – and you would have to go all the way back to 1978 to find out who he is! I hated him, back in the day, and I think he must have hidden in my subconscious for over forty years before covertly embedding himself into The Strains of Malice!
Can you give readers a glimpse inside Book 2 of The Nessemiah?
Book Two of The Nessemiah, Cold Sanctuary, is essentially a continuation of the various plights of all of the POV characters introduced in Book One, but with the threat of Nessemi becoming ever-more real as their storylines progress and The Event draws nearer. I also significantly ramp up events in the supercontinent of Epanaga, with brutal gladiatorial fighting pits taking centre stage alongside Emperor Calidius’ Expurgatio – a cruel and callous purge of various demographics of Theran society in preparation for the arrival of Nessemi.
Pretty much every reviewer has stated that Cold Sanctuary is better, deeper and darker than The Strains of Malice, and reviews so far have been out of this world – with most reviewers desperate for Books Three and Four. Happily, they will both be released shortly.
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Is anywhere on Thera safe from Nessemi? Or the hell that lies beyond?
“I’m afraid there are good and bad everywhere, Emilya. It’s a fact of life that wherever you look, there are strains of malice.”
Fifteen-year-old baker’s daughter, Emilya Luca, is in serious trouble with the Glennadian Crown. Her crime: to prevent a small dog from being torn apart by hounds belonging to the callous Prince Magnus. Having been rescued by former naval captain, Jake Oscom, the unlikely pair become fugitives, hunted across Glennad – initially for cruel sport but latterly after Oscom is framed for a heinous crime committed by Magnus himself.
Elsewhere, in a world with unusual geographical quirks and subtle energy lines, hardships endure for a close-knit community of miners and unimaginable foul play befalls a Glennadian princess – but these trials pale into insignificance compared to what northern astronomers have just discovered. Four hundred leagues south, in the ancient city of Thera, the cruel eyes of Calidius Antoninus Dominius have seen the same thing – but to him it merely expedites his imperial ambitions and presents a justified opportunity to brutally murder thousands of his subjects.
The Strains of Malice: Book One of The Nessemiah
The Strains of Malice, the first novel in Andrew Beardmore’s Nessemiah series, offers assured, character-led storytelling in a vividly imagined setting. Clear maps and a welcoming introduction make the world easy to step into from the outset.
Set in a pre-industrial society with strong late–eighteenth-century European echoes, the story centers on fifteen-year-old Emilya, a baker’s daughter in the port city of Ghantiss. Her compassion is not performative. It’s defiant. When she pulls a dog from Prince Magnus’s brutal bloodsport ring, she challenges the one person no one is meant to challenge. Magnus responds with predictable entitlement and very real menace. Protected by royal privilege, he decides she will pay.
Former naval captain Jake disrupts Magnus’s retaliation long enough to give Emilya a chance to run. The escape becomes a life. It also becomes a binding. Later, Elyse, a perceptive healer with sharp instincts, joins them on the road. The trio turns fugitive. Necessity hardens into trust. Trust turns into affection, earned in breathless flight and in the quiet gaps between threats.
A strong supporting cast adds weight and texture. Freya, Emilya’s childhood friend, carries her own scars from Magnus’s cruelty. Magnus’s sister offers a gentler counterpoint and a tragic lens on a fractured royal household. And Magnus himself? Chilling. A narcissist with a talent for performance and a taste for control. His depravity feels calculated rather than chaotic, which makes him far more unsettling.
The novel grips from its opening pages. Emilya is immediately sympathetic and never simplistic. Magnus’s amused coldness lands like a warning bell. Action scenes arrive with momentum and stay readable. Tension builds cleanly. Sensory detail does a lot of heavy lifting, keeping each sequence sharp and immediate.
Graphic violence and mature themes appear with intent. They underline abuses of power. They raise the stakes. They also shape the book’s central idea, the “strains” of malice that seep into institutions, families, and ordinary lives. The intensity will not suit every reader, yet the darkness is consistently counterbalanced. Loyalty surfaces. Love persists. Compassion refuses to be extinguished.
The Strains of Malice stands out for immersive worldbuilding, well-timed twists, and a cast that is vivid and easy to root for. The opening volume introduces its setting with care, blending the fantastical with the uncomfortably familiar and grounding imaginative elements in a plausible social reality. The historical texture adds depth and authenticity. As a series opener, it’s gripping and confident. Epic-fantasy scope meets the brisk punch of pulp adventure. Beardmore’s novel is best suited to readers who want their fantasy darker, sharper, and unafraid to look directly at cruelty, without losing sight of warmth.
Pages: 548 | ASIN : B0DYZ5T653
