About — The Tattered Skein

About this saga

The Tattered Skein is a four-book historical fantasy by James R. Landers, set on the western seaboard of Scotland and running from the twelfth century to the present day. It follows one bloodline and the Brat an Dùthchas, the Mantle of Heritage, which each generation is bound to keep and none of them asked for.

The history around it is real. Somerled broke Norse control of the western seaboard and died at Renfrew in 1164; his sons divided the Isles between them; Castle Tioram stands on its tidal island in Loch Moidart to this day. Domhnall mac Somhairle is the thread woven through it that the records do not have.

Book one, The Flame Beneath the Heather, is fully outlined — three acts, fifteen beats, sixty-seven chapters. The other three are planned.

About the author

James R. Landers, author of The Tattered Skein

Writer, entrepreneur, artist, and worldbuilder.

I write about the choices that shape us, the secrets that break us, and the courage it takes to stand against the tide.

For more than twenty years I built businesses and led complex work, which taught me to look for the hidden structure beneath a problem. I am retired from the technology world now; my full-time work is writing, making art, and building the worlds those stories need.

My other work, including the Oak & Veil saga and The Riven Reaches, is at jameslanders.com.