Pictured: Left, Derek Armstrong with his horses Skugga and Bjarta, who became Izzy and Wizzy in The Last Troubadour novel (shown right)

"You were full of juicy tarot information," said Leisa ReFalo, host of the popular podcast on tarotconnection.net and professional Tarot Reader. What fun. I chatted with Leisa for an hour about my love of Tarot, and — according to Leisa, anyway — I had "no terrible speech habits. I thought you sounded great." Okay, I feel a little better. I'm not Mr. Radio. There's a reason I became an author.

In that quick hour, Leisa squeezed in a lot of Tarot history, a reading from the novel, a bio of all the characters and how they relate to Tarot card trumps, and a whole lot of funky history. I'll just quote from her page, found at : http://tarotconnection.net/episode-59/ (I guess I'm episode 59!) —

"So, is this a clever gimmick? Just an author who thought one day, Hey, this hasn’t been done before? Does he even own a Tarot deck?I did not undertake The Last Troubadour lightly. The entire trilogy was a journey of some 18 years. Carcassonne and the south of France are my old haunts, where I explored the history in depth. An important history.
Nor is Tarot a passing fancy for me. My first deck was a Pixie, bought with part-timer earnings after school back in 1972. I’m obviously much older now, and I still have my Pixie, and some 112 other decks. Current favorites include Thoth (bought in 1974), Kat Black’s Golden, Place’s Buddha Tarot, Carol Herzer’s Illuminated, and a dozen others. I actually almost always have a deck in my pocket.

Why do I weave the mystical and legend with history? Well, why not? It’s fun, isn’t it? But more important, it’s a way of conveying important events that is entertaining and at the same time “real.” What better way for me to personally explore Tarot cards and archetypes and to convey some of what I’ve learned. The journey of the Fool is my favorite aspect of Tarot. It’s actually the plotline of all great epic fiction.

So, one day, two decades ago, I meditated on The FOOL in my very old Pixie (Rider Waite Smith) deck and he came to life. He became Ramon Troubadour. His journey became a novel-journey through the tarot major arcana. I actually named him Ramon, after researching Doctor Illuminatus, otherwise known as Ramon Lull, author of 320 books written at the time of my novel (the thirteenth century). He even had a character in his most famous book, Blanquerna, name Ramon the Fool. Wow.

All of my books have Tarot themes in them, some dark, some light. The Game, my hit thriller features a humorous “fool” character in the always-joking Alban Bane character. He was so popular, fans demanded a sequel, which comes out spring 08 as MADicine. This series is a blend of satire, comedy and thriller – bloody fun, quite literally.
The Last Troubadour and the other two books of the series, The Last Quest and The Last Stand, are “dripping with Tarot themes.” Most of the early fans are tarot-enthusiasts. Nevara, my Magician character, is my “fictional” inventor of Tarot. Each character is a major arcane archetype. And, of course, the epic journey is the archetypal journey of The Fool. To which, I added real history, substantial satire (targeting in particular the latest craze for Holy Grail themes), comedy and adventure – shaken not stirred.

Next year, with any good fortune, you’ll start to see these characters in Troubadour-style imagery as famed artist Kam Wai Yu illustrates the Troubadour Tarot, a dream of mine, to be published by Kunati. I hope you’ll take the journey with me."
Leisa explored why some characters are disfigured and had me read from the most "tarot-oriented" chapter in the book, a scene with my Magician, Nevara, reading from her invented Tarot cards and using them to help the main character Ramon with her magick. What fun.

Here's the synopsis of the book from Leisa's page:

"Ramon Troubadour returns to his devastated home city of Carcassonne to rescue the holy Dame of the Cathars from the flames of the Inquisition. His famous voice and sense of humor help him make new allies in his quest to prevent a bloody crusade.

Only the Dame knows the secret of the holy relic of Montségur. A king will go to war for the relic. A dying pope will kill for it.

Helped by a nameless one-eyed knight, a fighting damsel, a witch and a circus of colorful entertainers on dancing horses, Ramon must stand against a terrifying army led by Death incarnate, complete with archetypal scythe.
Based on the true history of the Inquisition and the legend of the Tarot, The Last Troubadour assembles a magnificent cast right out of the Tarot deck: the Fool, the Magician, The Emperor, The Pope, Death and even The Devil. Don’t miss this tale of knightly valor, Tarot symbolism, tragic history and exciting quests."

A bit of cool history on her page as well. She put up the original 1980's book trailer — the first trailer ever created, by the famous artist Kam Wai Yu — along side my publisher Kunati's latest version 2007. The original one was more Monty Python — I do so love humor — and the new one is more Tarot. I'd be interested in knowing which one people liked better (drop me an email at my website http://www.lasttroubadour.com).

Check it the podcast at http://tarotconnection.net/episode-59/

"Kudos to Derek Armstrong ... this is a wonderful work of art, and I highly recommend it to all who are interested in the Tarot, in the history of the 13th century, and in a mystery that crosses many boundaries!" Bonnie Cehovet, Aeclectic Tarot Reviewer

Ultimately, I wrote The Last Troubadour out of my thirty-five year passion for all things Medieval, the Cathars -- and the Tarot. Tarot addiction, I call it. Nothing to be ashamed of. I've collected decks since 1972. The Last Troubadour is first and foremost an epic fiction adventure and the quest of the hero. In my opinion, any hero's quest, from The Lord of the Rings to The Iliad the Tarot archetypal Fool's Quest.

Yet I remained nervous of the Tarot community. Nothing inspires more passion than Tarot archetypes amongst those who live and breathe Tarot as I do. Would the community love or hate my fictional epic? A review on Aeclectic, the largest online community of Tarot fans seems to indicate some early approval. The review is by Bonnie Cehovet, a well known personality in the Community and a major book and deck reviewer in her own right. You'll find it here! Thank you Bonnie! I won't reproduce it here due to copyright, other than a little snip I'm rather delighted to quote:

"There is such magic in this book...it combines humor, mystery and history in delightful proportions" Thank you Bonnie! (You can find out more about Bonnie here)

My historical epic historical adventure, three books in the Song of Montségur epic, finally releases this fall from Kunati after 20 years of research, multiple publisher offers and a considerable buzz. Song of Montségur has history, too. Kam Wai Yu invented the animated novel trailer, the first book video (click here to play the eighties original -- then here to play the revised 2007 version!), back in the eighties for this epic adventure. It's a classic!

 Why the buzz? Well, aside from grand adventure, knights templars, Holy relics, holy wars, burning pagans and heretics, genuine acts of heroism and historical treasures, we have — perhaps for the first time in this fun format — a history of the Tarot told through colorful characters and events.

This is an excerpt from the introduction to The Last Troubadour, first of the books in the trilogy:

Song of Montségur recalls the rise of the brutal monastic Inquisition in the South of France, an epic story of heroes and villains of the 13th century. Rather than spin a dark tale of glory and death, I fancifully retell these momentous events with your reading pleasure as my goal: two cups adventure, a pound of real history, a large dollop of humor, a dash of tragedy and hopefully enough mystical juice to create a buzz, roasted over a fire of heretics and witches. Enjoy!

From The Silver Dame of Montségur to the terrible witchhunter Diableteur, all of my larger-than-life characters are drawn from history. Many legends (and half-baked histories) associate the development of the Tarot cards with the Cathar heresies and this period in history. In The Last Troubadour, you will meet my “inventor” of the first tarot deck, Nevara of the Baug Balar “circus” and the characters from history that inspired her deck. Although we know the full decks appeared around this time—the four-suited Turuq came earlier—associating Nevara with major trumps of the Tarot is pure imagination. All major characters and events are historical, fancifully dressed up here with Tarot attributions:

The Magician
Nevara, the albino pagan sorceress of the Baug Balar “circus”

The Priestess
Dame Esclarmonde de Foix, the High Lady of the Cathar Christians

The Empress
Magba, the ever-pregnant mother of the Baug Balar entertainers

The Emperor
Hugh d’Arcis, conquering Viscount of Carcassonne

The Hierophant (Pope)
Cardinal Sinibaldo Fiesco, the future Pope Innocent IV

The Lovers
The Grand Duo, the famous rebels Doré the bastard and Osric the hammer

The Chariot
Arnot, the disenfranchised Templar

Justice
Perce de Mendes, too-loyal squire of the famous Cyclops Seigneur

The Hermit
Guilhem d’Alions, the ancient Perfectus  of the Cathars

Fortune
Adelais, the rebellious daughter of the conquering Viscount of Carcassonne

Strength
Seigneur, the “Cyclops” one-eyed crusader

The Hanged Man
The suicidal Dominican monk, Brother Jaie

Death
The Diableteur, feared witch-hunter

Temperance
Atta and Hatta, the Baug Balar twins 

The Devil
Archbishop Peter Amiel of Narbonne, worldly leader of the crusaders