INTRODUCTION
I had several reasons for writing this book. One reason is related to my background of growing up in the heart of the beautiful Carpathian Mountains with fascinating history, involving not only Slavic people, but also other civilizations that lived here and flourished. It was out of my interest in history and love of several locations that played important roles in the past, that I’ve decided to promote them embodied in a fascinating tale of our first known ruler that we, unfortunately, know so little of.
Over critical times, tribes with similar cultural background used to choose a leader that would help them overcome an adverse situation and in this case they made a wise decision and chose a foreigner, a simple arms trader that rose to become an important player in Europe. My goal was to spread the story of emerging peoples that are to this day somehow overlooked by history and arts.
Even though information about Samo and early development of Slavic peoples are scarce, Samo’s accomplishments, taking all the difficulties into account, can be perceived as admirable.
Thanks to leaders like Samo, Slavic peoples rose to become an integral part of European space and historical events. Since information regarding Samo are limited with even fewer facts, I had to write the book from a different perspective and therefore the book is indeed fiction with elements of fantasy.
Curious readers will further research the topic and find out what was merely dreamed up, what most probably was possible and what could be possible. I’ll be most pleased if this book motivates people to be more interested about this corner of the world and maybe see the beauty of it for themselves.
Title of the book is derived from an ancient connection between humans and fire. From early on it was considered as a gift from gods and its mysticity persisted within and not only Indo-European cultures. Its purpose is to insert the reader into a place and time of bygone ages, where humans were driven not only by reason and emotions, but also beliefs, myths and superstitions.
And they couldn’t imagine giving up on their gods.
To summarize it up, this book is about the early Slavic people and their paganism and mythology.
It’s about their achievements in a time when human life could end with just a snap of a finger and people waited for a great individual that would lead them to progress.
I hope you will enjoy it.