The Seven Thunders: An Alternate History Adventure (The Annals of Zebulon)

The Seven Thunders: An Alternate History Adventure (The Annals of Zebulon)

Epic battles. Sweeping romance. Thrilling intrigue. THE SEVEN THUNDERS has it all! In this alternate-history adventure set in a fictionalized 13th-century Australia, the Kingdom of Wil'iah comes under threat of invasion by the unstoppable forces of Kublai Khan. The small country's brave Prince Tamino dares to assemble an alliance of free nations to resist the Mongols, but in the shadows, an ancient enemy is stirring. Wil'iah's nemesis, the Frouzean Empire, led by the devious Frouzee Delilah, also rises to face the Mongol threat -- but by launching its own wave of conquest. Surrounded on all sides by implacable foes, will Wil'iah survive? I was inspired to write this book based on an imaginary country a group of friends and I created as five-year-olds. While I started with our basic premise of an imaginary nation in medieval Australia, I extensively worked to build this fictional world while inserting it into real historical events. Wil'iah, the setting of this story, is a well-developed, lifelike country with realistic political systems and technology, its own language, and distinctive culture. I worked to include actual Aboriginal Australian culture into this story as well. The main conflict of this story revolves around the real-world conquests of Kublai Khan in the 13th century. I wanted to explore how our imaginary country might respond to these real-world events, such as the invasions of China, Dai Viet, Champa, and Singhasari. While the other main villain of this story, Frouzee Delilah, is deliberately outrageous, she has real-world analogues such as Cleopatra, Empress Wu Zetian of China, and Empress Theodora of the Byzantine Empire. Wil'iah has hundreds of years of imagined history, and I'm looking forward to exploring more of it in future books! William Whittenbury is an author, illustrator, and aerospace engineer with a passion for history. He is also involved in efforts to save the critically-endangered vaquita porpoise.