SIDURI

Truth comes at a price.

After her mother’s death, Siduri’s search for her missing father reveals a shocking truth – she belongs to an ancient eldritch race being hunted to extinction.

Forced to flee with a foul-mouthed spirit, her ex and an orphaned ghost boy, Siduri meets treachery at every turn.

With her enemies closing in, can Siduri survive the genocidal crusade?

Siduri is a tale of fate and family secrets in a world where the line between the living and the dead is blurred.

THE MAIN CHARACTERS IN SIDURI

There are many characters in Siduri. Below, in their own words, are some of the main characters.

Alternatively, if you would like to see the full cast, then click here or if you would like to view the landscape of Siduri click here. Finally, if you would like to see the trailer or listen to extracts then click here.

THE ORIGINS OF SIDURI

The novel, Siduri, began as a tale of a girl on a bench waiting for a train. Her boyfriend had vanished, her mother had died, and her father was nowhere to be found.

And that was it. I had no idea what would happen next.

I tinkered with the beginning. I changed it over and over. I added a mysterious woman, running towards the station—only to vanish almost as soon as she’d been seen. After countless revisions, the train finally arrived, and the girl got on. There she encountered a whole slew of characters, most of whom never made the final cut. Once on board, the next bit was straightforward. There was a storm, there was a bridge and there was an almighty crash.

But after that?

After that, I again got stuck. What happens to the girl? Where should the story go? I wanted to write about choice and destiny, but I didn’t know how.

So, I put what I’d written aside and got on with my life.

Then I heard about this bloke called Gilgamesh.

For those unacquainted, Gilgamesh was a Sumerian king of Uruk in Mesopotamia around 4500 years ago. Scholars claim the “Epic of Gilgamesh” to be the “first great composition”. A work that left its mark on literature, even inspiring Homer. I’m not a classical scholar but even I could see the Epic of Gilgamesh asked the same fundamental questions that we’ve been asking ever since. Questions like “Can you outwit death?” and “Should you even try?”

Gilgamesh thought so, but Gilgamesh was also a bit of a dick. Frankly, in classical literature, there are a lot of characters that turn out to be dicks. Still, in Gilgamesh’s story, there’s one character that modern sensibilities deem worthy of praise—Siduri. Although her role in the epic was minor, Siduri is the one who first introduced our procrastinating world to the words “Seize the day!”.

Except that she didn’t.

Siduri’s actual advice was far less Roman, far more Sumerian, and far more fatalistic. Siduri actually said something more like: “Why spend your life striving for the unattainable? Embrace your destiny, make merry, and enjoy the pleasures of life.”

I’m all for pleasure, but my hackles rise when someone calls something “unattainable”. There have been many impossible things that turned out to be quite possible—much to the annoyance of those who deal in absolutes. Certainly, if you use the word “improbable” rather than “impossible,” then you’re at least left with a glimmer of hope. Given the way the world is today, hope is often the only thing left.

Still, Siduri’s response to Gilgamesh gave me an idea. The novel. Siduri, is not a reworking of the “Epic of Gilgamesh.” Others have done that. My Siduri is not an alewife of ancient lore, but instead a young woman waiting on a train. She might live in a world shared with ghosts and hounded by a truly wicked … cult, but otherwise, she’s a very modern girl—albeit one with some serious family issues. I promise I haven’t tried to modernise a text written four thousand years ago.

Well… mostly not.

JJ