My favorite period in history is the European Early Middle Ages, formerly known as the "Dark Ages". Back when I was in school, I remember when it came time to cover the Dark Ages in history class. We covered the period in less than one day. Pretty much the only thing I learned was that Charlemagne became the first Holy Roman Emperor, and that Vikings raided coasts. That was it!? Nothing else happened for 500 years? The U.S. has existed only half as long, yet we had a whole year of classes to cover it. There was no coverage of the Saxon invasion of Britain, no mention of the Franks or Merovingians, nothing about the Huns, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Lombards, or Burgundians. The battles of Chalons, Lechfeld, and Tours were forgotten. We learned nothing about the Danelaw or Alfred the Great. I think Byzantium may have been covered only to the point of being mentioned as the new name of Constantinople. In short, we skipped it. Later in life, I discovered the dark ages through novels. The first book I read was Stephen Lawhead's Byzantium. From then on, I was hooked. One of the problems I have though is that there is a lack of fiction about this era. Once you skip past all of the trash romance novels and medieval fantasies, there is really only a handful of authors who write realistic stories that take place during those times. As a result, I thought I'd try my hand as writing just such a story. Vortigern is the story of the first king of Britain after the Romans left. He was almost certainly a real person and is best known for making the dreadful mistake of inviting the Saxons to the island. The story is still FAR from finished, but I figure I might as well keep it up so visitors can watch it progress. Click here to read the first chapter