Writing is hard. Editing is harder! Especially when you have to edit one of your favourite characters out of the book. And alas, this was the fate of poor Brother Oltan.
Brother Oltan was one of those characters that always had a special place in my heart. He was based in no way at all, but was one hundred percent on my granddad (Horace) at the same time.
Oltan was always on the periphery of things, a bit like Horace now that I come to think about it, and even though he was one of the unsung heroes of The Hive Codex, in my eyes, his presence didn’t really impact or develop the story in a meaningful way.
The decision to write him out was a joint decision, by (Murderess) Meagan (lol) and myself. I know the decision is the right one and his removal will allow me a ton of extra words to develop the story even more, but it still doesn’t make clicking the delete key any easier.
The one shining light in this period of grief is that Brother Oltan still remains alive and well in the previous drafts, and who knows, perhaps he will be resurrected in some form or other in one of my subsequent books!
Rest in Peace, Brother Oltan, and I hope to see you soon x
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Cliff Hannan 
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