In my new novel Ice Forged, a medieval
post-apocalyptic story, I find that women of every circumstance play a very
important role in what happens after the world “ends.”
Blaine McFadden, my main character, sacrifices his
title, lands and fortune to protect his sister and aunt from Blaine’s abusive
father. He’s sent to a prison colony in
the arctic, There, he meets women from every class and circumstance whose ill
fortune caused them to be exiled. One of
those fellow prisoners, Kestel Falke, is a courtesan, spy and assassin who
becomes part of Blaine’s inner circle.
Among the prisoners who have survived long enough to become colonists,
the women are shopkeepers and merchants, trades people and seers, farmers and
trollops. They play an important role in
the economy of the self-sufficient colony, and emerge among the leaders when a
devastating war cuts the colony off from the supplies and oversight provided by
the kingdom.
Regardless of their previous social class or the
circumstances that caused their imprisonment, the older women colonists emerge
as the “wise women”, an important force in the social cohesion of the
colony. Far from the land of their
birth, torn from their families and loved ones, these “wise women” preside over
the births, marriages and deaths, and keep the customs and culture of their
homeland alive through the celebration of religious and seasonal holidays. The magics of vision, foresight and prophecy
seem to fall more often on women than men, giving women with these gifts status
and standing among their fellow colonists.
When war destroys the kingdom that exiled Blaine and
his fellow colonists, the after-effects of war fall especially heavy on the women
who survive the devastation. With a
generation of men lost to the battlefront, and many of the surviving men either
too old, too young or too injured from the war, it falls to the women to piece
together a subsistence living from the wreckage, harvest and plant the crops,
gather the scattered livestock, and patch up their damaged dwellings. Since the Cataclysm also destroyed the
kingdoms’ trading partners, the survivors are on their own for the necessities
of life. And since magic was one of the
casualties of war, those who survived the conflict must shoulder the burden of
rebuilding without magical help.
Blaine’s Aunt Judith, his sister Mari and his former
fiancé, Carensa, each find a different path to survive in the harsh new
reality. Without the strictures and
conventions of class and in the midst of a society torn asunder, they have the
opportunity to make decisions for themselves and step into leadership roles in
ways that would not have been possible under old norms.
I found it very interesting to think about the
tension that the power vacuum creates after the apocalypse. Some of the women
survivors will seize the moment to assume roles for which they are qualified
but which social pressures would have denied them before the breakdown of
society. Others will attempt to regain a
sense of control and normalcy by attempting to replace familiar cultural,
social and family roles and take consolation in the familiar.
I’ve had a lot of fun getting to know the women of
the apocalypse in Ice Forged and as I work on the sequel. And I’m looking forward to seeing more of
them as future stories come together. I
hope you’ll join me for the adventure.
Gail Z. Martin’s newest book, Ice Forged: Book One
in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga (Orbit Books), launched in January 2013. Gail is also the author of the Chronicles of
the Necromancer series (Solaris Books) and The Fallen Kings Cycle (Orbit
Books). For more about Gail’s books and
short stories, visit www.AscendantKingdoms.com. Be sure to “like” Gail’s Winter
Kingdoms Facebook page, follow her on Twitter @GailZMartin, and join her for
frequent discussions on Goodreads.
