Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post courtesy of David Hair, author of the Talmont series – book two of which, The Drowning Sea, is published in the UK by Arcadia in hardback and ebook. To help celebrate the release of The Drowning Sea, David has very kindly written this post discussing the themes and inspiration behind the Talmont series, in particular the influence of climate change on this story. If you like your fantasy on the Epic side and you’re on the lookout for a new series, this is well worth checking out!
With that said, over to David…
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David Hair: The world’s weird enough that sometimes writing fantasy seems redundant. Just an observation, not my main point. I’m actually here to talk about my latest fantasy series, called Talmont. It’s inspired by the concept of climate change, something that’s gone from a nebulous “someday” worry to a clear and present danger to global stability.
During the 2010s, I remember dinner table debates centred on whether climate change was a real thing, or part of some natural fire/ice-age cycle that the planet goes through anyway (and therefore we should just carry on industrialising at full tilt, because when the cycle flips we’ll wonder why we ever thought there was a problem). Prevention of this potential disaster felt possible, but the collective will to do so hadn’t been found.
Result: it now seems inevitable we’ll go through some pretty horrendous upheavals.
Now – the mid-2020s – the dynamic has become something like “we’re all screwed, so forget prevention: how do we get through?”. Democracies are electing governments that are abandoning all pretence of meeting climate goals, exchanging collective action for self-interest, during a surge in authoritarian rule – and autocratic rulers never gave a toss about the climate anyway, because they have no ideology beyond maintaining power and oppressing any threats to their rule. “Look after yourself, so you’re best placed to survive and exploit the new dynamic” is the new ideology, generally dressed up in nationalism and xenophobia, because looking after yourself includes keeping others out. We’ve settled for hunkering down to ride it out.
The role of religion always interests me in all matters, as I grew up around organised religion then moved away from it. (One of) The (nonsensical) thing(s) about religion is that it subordinates the importance of this life – the only one we’ll get – in favour of a supposed afterlife. Therefore, although organised religion will make a few noises about saving the planet, that’s totally secondary to lecturing us on how to behave (meekly accepting the status quo as “God’s Will”), and how much we donate to their coffers. Yes, the Pope and his equivalents in other sects will make the odd speech against global warming, but they’re all more concerned with their brand than preventing it. They all have a prophecy for the world ending they want to see happen.
Meanwhile, the younger generations who’ll inherit this mess are mocked if they dare protest against the “inevitable” (got any good Greta Thunberg memes, folks?), or they become nihilistic and throw themselves into whatever distracts them from the unfolding tragedy of self-induced societal collapse, seeking refuge in TikTok, the MCU, or whatever spins their wheels. Or they just put their heads down, trudge on and try to make do, hoping they can meekly inherit a world that’s inhabitable.
I was thinking about all of that when I came up with Talmont, a fantasy series set in a world where the dominant form of magic that upholds the powers-that-be is also destroying the world. In Book One, The Burning Land, our protagonists – the Falcons, a few men and women who use that magic power – realise that they’re part of the problem and decide to act. They are ostracised, vilified and forced to run for their lives, while trying to work out what’s going on and what they stand for.
Book two, The Drowning Sea, was released in February 2025. By now in the story, the question has moved from “is this really happening?” to “what do we do about it?”. Meanwhile the forces arrayed against the Falcons are rallying to their “cause”. They know the crisis is real and millions will perish, but they also know they’ll survive and thrive – as long as they can prevent those pesky Falcons from spoiling their End of the World party. The real powers begin to show their faces – glamorous, alluring, heartless, rich, immortal and seemingly invincible. What chance does anyone have against them? Better to just bow down in worship and accept your fate.
That all sounds pretty grim, I hear you say. Well, at times it might seem so – but there’s optimism, courage and indomitability.
But is there hope? Emphatically, Yes!
Is it epic yet intimate? Is it a wild ride? Do heroes do heroic things? Is there humour, pathos, wonder, romance, shocking revelations and vivid action? Uh-huh. All of that, I promise you. This might be a series with a message, but I like having fun too.
But do we – humanity – make it through? Well, this is only Book Two. The apocalypse arrives in Book Three, The Falling Sky, and all bets are off.
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David Hair lives in New Zealand, which is a long way away, but thanks to globalisation, he’ll be as f**cked as you when the sea rises and swallows the land . To distract himself from impending doom he obsesses over Leeds United, old vampire movies and new indie music (current faves are Gabriels, Fontaines DC and Sam Fender).
Find out more on David’s website.
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Thanks very much to David for contributing this great article, and also to Ayo at Arcadia for organising everything. If this has got you interested in reading the Talmont series, books one and two – The Burning Land and The Drowning Sea – are out now from Arcadia.
Check out the link below to order* The Drowning Sea:
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