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A new Bristol author will celebrate his debut book with an official launch event at Waterstones later this month.

Jonathan Watts penned Bury Me Where They Fall alongside his day-to-day job as a copywriter for Reach PLC, spending seven years on-and-off on the epic fantasy novel.

The 243-page adventure follows the journey of a young rebel warrior named Amiel as she undertakes a deadly mission into unchartered forest lands.

Filled with vivid fights scenes and clever twists and turns, Jonathan's dark debut has already picked up a number of glowing reviews since its release, with a rating of 4.7/5 on Goodreads and 5/5 on Waterstones.

Inspiration for the book

(Image: David Betts Photography)

The Torquay born author, who now lives in Bristol, became fascinated with mythology at a young age and studied Classics to MA level at Newcastle University.

At the age of 13 he read his first David Gemmell novel while travelling to New York and found that the characters, action and emotion all resonated with him - ultimately inspiring him to want to become an author.

Music has also acted as huge inspiration to him, and he wrote the debut while listening to the likes of The Cure, The National, Leonard Cohen and The Afghan Whigs, who he counts among his favourite artists.

"I wanted to marry the surreal, feverish atmosphere of Apocalpyse Now with themes from Norse mythology, but there's also the darker end of Greco Roman mythology in there," said the 31-year-old.

"I was keen to play on the images in the backs of our minds and in our culture that we don't realise are there; I want people to find the themes within the story familiar yet different when they read it.

"At its heart it's based on a military mission so it's meant to be more down in the dirt rather than a world-saving quest.

"The end result is pretty surreal and unsettling but I was really pleased with how it came out."

Fans of Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and other major fantasy series will no doubt find things they enjoy about Bury Me Where They Fall .

Reaction to getting published

(Image: David Betts Photography)

It has been a dream of Jonathan's to get published for the past 15 years, making the day he found out it was to be fulfilled one to savour.

"I was ecstatic when I found out I was getting published after a decade and a half of hard, often discouraging work. It was such a surreal feeling," he added.

"The book then went through a couple of professional edits and I found that each edit actually brought out more of my voice, which was great.

"When I first picked up a copy of the book in Waterstones and held it in my hand it really brought it home that it was actually happening, almost as if I hadn't believed it until that moment.

"It sounds daft but all I really wanted was to get published - I had fixated on that idea for 15 years.

"So I didn't really consider people actually buying the book and reading it, but they have and they seem to be enjoying it, which is awesome."

Launch information

Jonathan said he is already working on the sequel to the novel and is around a tenth of the way through it.

He will launch his debut novel and sign copies at Waterstones in The Galleries on Saturday, February 8, from 7pm onwards.

The event is free but people must register beforehand on Eventbrite's website.