Welcome back to the author commentary on A Circle of Shadows. As always, SPOILER WARNING ahead. Especially going forward in this commentary!
Starting…… NOW.
No waste allowed.
The Heads of Cerberus. Their return was something I had in my back pocket for quite some time. I owe it to the research done during the scripting of The Consultant. While putting together the story of Russell Kerr and his confrontation with Heracles, I discovered that the lore behind Cerberus has been adapted throughout the ages.
As we know it now, Cerberus is a three-headed dog. It’s been seen this way countless times. Try and tell me Fluffy from Harry Potter isn’t your first thought when you think of Cerberus. Go ahead, try it!
(Liar)
Okay, so prior to this belief in only three heads, the lore behind Cerberus mentioned a creature with hundreds of heads. A guard dog without limit, eyes and ears everywhere to keep the gates of Hell barred against those locked within.
I couldn’t let that go. I refused to allow something so cool as that slip through my fingers.
A detail about The Medusa Coin
The initial draft of The Medusa Coin, prior to the published novel, was a shoddy little comic book script I cobbled together back in 2009. I wrote the scene where Soriya confronts Henry Erikson in his classroom after hours and during the scene two hellhounds pounce at Soriya; summoned by their master during his quest for immortality.
It made no sense. But the image remained. Probably thanks to my undying love of Supernatural. Probably.
These hellhounds were my first attempt to land on the Charon that eventually found its way into the story. Something about that visceral image stayed with me though and I kept circling around to it as the series went on.
Pop ’em in a mixer and put it together.
Those two pieces led to the return of the Heads of Cerberus. Those two little discoveries along the way of forming these novels shaped the threat of A Circle of Shadows.
Lately, I’ve pondered what would have happened if I never researched The Consultant as fully. Or if I never revisited my old script for The Medusa Coin. Would A Circle of Shadows be the same book?
Definitely not.
It’s funny how things work out.
Why the Heads of Cerberus? Why here and now?
The same questions asked by Soriya upon discovering their return were asked by myself during the outlining phase.
The truth behind their involvement came from a need to overwhelm not only Soriya but Portents. I wanted to show what happens when you beat back the shadows for so long, how they come back twice as vicious.
It was a way to snap the city from the delusion of security, that the police handled the badness and everything was sane. Hardly. Not in Portents anyway.
Beyond that, there has never been a threat where I couldn’t see a way out for Soriya. A myth or legend that when all was said and done Soriya, with the power of her Greystone, couldn’t vanquish given the opportunity.
I wanted the unbeatable villain this time. The single greatest threat to our heroes imaginable.
The Heads of Cerberus fit the bill.
Perfectly.
