MYRE Series, Book Tour

Conflict, discovery, and shifting ideas shape the world of The Lonely Knight by Bruce Clayton, the opening story in the completed MYRE series. Blending medieval fantasy adventure with science, mathematics, engineering, martial arts, linguistics, and history, the series explores a world where understanding itself can become a form of power.

MYRE Series

The Lonely Knight: A Fantasy Adventure with Real Science (MYRE Book 1)

by Bruce D. Clayton

Synopsis 

Kingdoms already weakened by war are being pushed closer to collapse as ruthless leaders fight to maintain control over fractured lands. When Torch Thorvald rescues a young girl from a brutal warlord, he unknowingly steps into a conflict far larger than survival alone. Hunted across dangerous territory and cut off from any safe refuge, Torch is driven toward the hidden island called the Myre, a place surrounded by secrecy and fear.

There, a man named Mizar has begun quietly teaching knowledge capable of transforming the world itself. He does not rely on ancient prophecy or traditional magic. Instead, he reveals ways of understanding the world that challenge everything kingdoms have built their authority upon. As word of these discoveries spreads, powerful forces begin closing in, desperate either to claim that knowledge or destroy it before it can spread further. With armies advancing and tensions rising, Torch finds himself trapped between violence, discovery, and truths that cannot be ignored once they are seen.

 

Author Interview

What’s a detail, theme, or clue in your book that most readers might miss on the first read but you secretly hope someone notices?

MYRE is a reality-based medieval adventure (hard science fiction). It presents events that possibly could have given rise to many of our later legends and fairytales.  For instance, our wizard puts a castle to sleep to rescue an unconscious woman. At another point, he shows his students how to turn silver coins into gold ones (using metallurgy and nitric acid), giving rise to the legend of “wizard gold.” At another point he casts thousands of teeth into a forest and makes an army materialize from the darkness.  

 

When did this story or idea “click” into place for you—was there a single moment you knew you had to write it?

I read National Lampoon’s Bored of the Rings in 1985, and was taken by their wizard, “Goodgulf,” who cheated at cards. I wondered how far I could take that idea– of a man who pretended to be a wizard. What miracles would natural science let him perform? The whole saga (5000 kindle pages) unfolded in my mind. I sat down and started to write. Thirty-eight years later, I finished. 

 

Which character or real-life person surprised you the most while writing this book, and why?

The most surprising characters were Lamia, matriarch of the Rovdjur family of assassins, and her psychopathic son, Glyss. They started as one-note villains, but Lamia grew senile and Glyss had to intervene to keep her safe from herself– an experience many people have had with aging relatives. Even bad people have families. The villains developed human depth as they grew.  

 

What’s one belief, question, or emotional truth you hope readers carry with them long after they finish your book?

That’s in the foreword of each volume…

Fantasy fans who love spells and potions must know they are surrounded by both. Engineering has spells that let us fly. Chemistry is all potions. Mathematics is divination. We have the most advanced healing magic in history… probably in the universe. Our farmers can breed any kind of plant or animal we want to have. Astronomy lets us look deeply into the past and forecast the future. Paleontology shows us worlds of fantastic beasts. Microbiology lets us plunge into an alternative universe. Geology is a map to buried treasure. Writing is time travel and telepathy. We can link minds with people who have been dead for centuries, and send our own thoughts into the future.

The world is all magical, and we can master it. We can be wizards, not just read about them.

 

Tell us about a moment during the writing process when the story (or message) took an unexpected turn.

MYRE is an epic, and epics often have a timeline problem. The initial cast fragments and follows multiple paths to the same ultimate destination.  Sometimes one group gets out of sync with the others and has to fill a few days with an unplanned adventure. I was surprised that these diversions turned out to be so exciting and enjoyable!  

 

If your protagonist (or central figure) could give the reader one piece of advice, what would it be?

Mizar advises us to question our assumptions. People who do not are incapable of rational thought.  

 

What real-world place, object, or memory helped shape a key element in your series?

MYRE is strongly rooted in real history and geography. The ruins of the Dolaucothi gold mine in Wales shaped one of the episodes. Portchester Castle at Portsmouth Harbor framed another. One volume occurs in Gdansk, Poland, where colorful medieval houses line every street. The MYRE characters even visited Gough’s cave in Cheddar, Somerset, the original site of Gollum’s underground lake.  

 

What’s something you had to research, learn, or experience to write this book that genuinely surprised you?

I did constant research for 35 years, and was surprised at how many significant scientific discoveries have occurred by accident– and might have occurred much sooner if anyone had been prepared to notice them.  Black gunpowder came from ancient China, but modern nitrocellulose gunpowder was discovered by a Swiss chemist who accidentally blew up his kitchen in 1846! That accident could have happened at any time in the previous thousand years– and probably did multiple times. The Swiss chemist was just the first to survive the discovery! 

 

If your book were invited to join a shelf with three other titles, which ones would make you happiest—and what would that shelf say about your story?

1. The Swiss Family Robinson by Jonathan Wyss.  The father in that story had the same encyclopedia knowledge of natural science shown by Mizar, the wizard in our story. The story also shows children and adults contributing equally to a grand adventure, a theme of MYRE.
2. Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein.  A magnificent adventure featuring a man who had been there and done that over a vast stretch of history. The book is full of practical wisdom and insights into human character. 
3. The Odyssey by Homer. An epic journey of a man who overcomes every obstacle using strength, wits, and skill instead of fanciful magic spells.   

 

About the author:

Bruce D. Clayton is an award-winning author, scientist, historian, and professor emeritus of martial arts. With a PhD in the sciences and decades of experience studying history, engineering, and human behavior, his work bridges the gap between imagination and reality.

He is the author of the MYRE series, an 18-book epic written over 38 years, blending medieval adventure with real-world science, strategy, and survival. His nonfiction works, including Life After Doomsday and Shotokan’s Secret, have earned international recognition in their respective fields.

Clayton lives in California and continues to explore the intersection of knowledge, storytelling, and the idea that the world around us is far more “magical” than it first appears.

 

Amazon: https://bit.ly/4ukzvqU

Goodreads: https://tinyurl.com/myreseries

 

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