Betel Nuts and juice from the nuts

I came to know about these nuts from encountering Orang Asli, the indigenous people of Malaysia, who consume them. Teeth were often stained red. The nuts were known to have drug-like properties…possibly lethargy after sudden stimulation.

In the book, Frygt’s, are birds that manifest when someone lets fear overwhelm them. They create more fear in that person. While searching for a name that could typify this kind of dark bird with a wide wing span, I chose the name Frygt that means 'fear' in Norwegian and Danish. I had no idea that there is an actual bird, a Frygt, that nests on the western coastline of Mexico. While writing Book 2, I encountered some while sitting on a balcony. About 50 of them soared right above me - the very Frygt’s in my book - already written about!

I initially encountered earth villages while in France. Homes built into a hill with natural skylights; completed tunnels that burrowed up through the earth to reach the sky. The earth villages in Book 2 and Book 3 are an adaptation of the ones that I saw.