Duncan Gill

Duncan Gill was born in Hemel Hempstead, England, on 16 July 1987. He grew up on the Welsh coastline of Pembrokeshire before studying Graphic Design at college. He later enrolled on a Graphic Communication course at the University of Glamorgan and Cardiff University, though his studies came to an unexpected end in 2009 following a period of hospitalisation. After a succession of low-paying jobs, Duncan spent several years travelling across Western and Eastern Europe, often living out of a backpack and sleeping rough. Later, he moved to Australia for a year before travelling through Thailand, eventually returning to England and settling in Oxfordshire, at least for the time being.

Ever since the age of sixteen, Duncan has been writing The Ancestral Odyssey. For all the jobs he's worked, the countries he's travelled through and the experiences that have shaped him, this series has remained the constant in his life. As he has grown, so too has the world of Equis. What began as the imagination of a teenager has evolved into a multi-volume epic fantasy saga, accompanied by years of articles exploring its mythology, worldbuilding and creative process.

His goal is simple, though certainly not small: to complete all five Episodes of The Ancestral Odyssey and document that journey through his blog, inviting readers behind the scenes as the world continues to evolve. Readers beginning the series should prepare for a journey. Beneath the charismatic characters, vast landscapes and ancient civilisations lies a story that asks difficult questions about faith, morality, inheritance, civilisation and what people become when their ideals are pushed to breaking point. Duncan hopes it is a world readers can lose themselves in, but also one that leaves them thinking long after they've turned the final page.

Episode One, The Utopian Dream, is only the beginning. It lays the foundations of Equis and introduces the ideas that will shape everything that follows. With each subsequent Episode, the world grows older, the mythology deepens, and the consequences of the past become impossible to escape.

Duncan still considers himself a student of the craft. He knows there is much more to learn, but his ambition has remained unchanged since he first began writing as a teenager: to create an epic fantasy unlike any he has ever read.

If you'll indulge him, he'd like to tell you a story.