Stealing the Holy Grail received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author S.M. Perlow.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Stealing the Holy Grail, published March 25, 2021.
What’s the book’s first line?
Arthur said it would be just like this.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
In 523, in Francia, Princess Cera is desperate to steal the Holy Grail.
Cera’s knightly order moves the grail secretly across Europe, not sharing its healing powers with the starving or the ill in the cities they visit. Instead, they maintain the grail as the mystic goal of a quest for chivalric knights who cater to the needs of well-off lords and ladies.
Cera can’t stand being merely a witness to the hardship around her, and while she’s dangerous with her daggers, she can’t take the grail by herself. Fortunately, Sir Perceval, the youngest of King Arthur’s knights—the one she expects to understand her point of view—is close to finding the grail. But could virtuous Perceval prove both worthy of achieving the Holy Grail and willing to help Cera steal it?
The wizard Merlin and the Lady of the Lake won’t be ignored with the stakes so high. Meanwhile, Roan the Relentless, a pagan Saxon warrior who’s been through hell on earth, sets his own sights on the grail and will stop at nothing to get it.
What is to be the fate of the Holy Grail and those who seek it?
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
The Holy Grail has always fascinated me. I read the old Arthurian tales, I sought out everything else I could find about the grail, and The Last Crusade was my favorite Indiana Jones movie. But in all the stories, something was always missing—the grail and its keepers’ backstory.
In many of the classic stories, written in different centuries by authors from different countries, the reader saw a similar scene unfold: under a mysterious group’s guard, amidst a magnificent procession of important relics, the Holy Grail starred above all else. But that tended to be the extent of it, the glimpse the reader—like the protagonist—finally got.
Yet my mind lingered. What was the group of grail guardians? Who were they and how did they obtain the sacred relic? Why did they have the grail, and all the other relics, and only occasionally present them to select knights?
I never found complete, satisfying answers to those questions, or others, like what the Holy Grail’s earliest history was. Since I couldn’t find those answers, I imagined what they ought to be, and that became the core of Stealing the Holy Grail.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
So many stories are about finding the Holy Grail—discovering what it is and where it has been hidden in the world. In Stealing the Holy Grail, instead of a journey to answer those same old questions, other aspects of the grail can be explored. What is its history? What are its powers? Why do those who protect the grail keep those powers to themselves instead of sharing them with others? Most basically, considering all those who would benefit from the grail, how should it be used?
This book is for readers who want to dig into those questions in a fast-paced dark ages story, alongside a group of kick-ass characters digging in themselves: Princess Cera, King Arthur’s knight Perceval, a pagan Saxon warrior named Roan the Relentless, and others familiar to Arthurian fans.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
Princess Cerise—Cera, she goes by—is dangerous with her daggers. Her beautiful, youthful appearance, preserved by the power of the Holy Grail, hides her true age. And that age has brought wisdom and perspective beyond what her appearance suggests. Yet most distinctive might be the unique circumstances of her life. She is older than she looks, but her life’s been spent as part of the secret order who guards the Holy Grail, not living out in the world of people she wants to help. What is that perspective actually worth? Just how wise is she?
Cera reminds me of Charlize Theron’s character, Andy, from the Netflix movie, The Old Guard.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
The historical fantasy, Stealing the Holy Grail, is my seventh book. I’ve also written an epic fantasy novel, Golden Dragons, Gilded Age, and a five book dark fantasy series, Vampires and the Life of Erin Rose.
My works can be found at smperlow.com, Amazon, Smashwords, and other retailers.