Victor Kloss
This page is dedicated to my older brother Victor Kloss, who passed away in 2016. He was an incredible person, my best friend and the inspiration for my writing. In my life Vic was always the one who did things first, I guess that’s part of being the oldest brother of four. In this case it applies to writing a successful novel, then a successful series of novels.
He wrote the Royal Institute of Magic series which, inclusive of the audiobook editions and Kindle Unlimited, has been read by over 275,000 happy readers since 2014 when the first book was released.
When Vic was diagnosed with cancer the final book was not yet ready to publish, and so he entrusted the end of this wonderful series to me. Thankfully he had plotted the majority of the chapters and written the first five, but it was still a new challenge to bring his incredible creation to a fitting conclusion.
Victor was born in 1980 in London, England. We lived there as a family until he was five and I four, at which point our parents moved further south to the county of Sussex.
Going to a small private school, Vic was both academic and sporty. He got solid grades in all subjects, played football for school and a local club, tennis, badminton and was very good at golf.
We were also lucky enough to have to the chance to go skiing as kids (thanks to our dad’s generosity) and again, Vic took to this as easily as everything else.
I quite possibly could have been forgiven a touch of jealousy over how much better than me he was at pretty much everything. The truth is, I couldn’t have cared less. Why would I? Vic was the type of person who everyone liked, and I was lucky to have him as my brother.
Victor had many friends, a loving wife and a beautiful daughter. Even though his life was cut short, I firmly believe that in the time he had it was well spent. He is missed every day and I wouldn’t change any of the time I had with him.
THE PROCESS OF FINISHING THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF MAGIC
It was late 2016 when it became apparent Vic wouldn’t make it. Although it was the last thing on his mind, or mine for that matter, I knew what would happen to the series in terms of future sales if it wasn’t finished. No matter how good the books were, the success was unlikely to continue if it had no ending. So I broached the subject with him about the final book.
I’ll be honest, Vic’s first reaction was to leave it unfinished. This is something I understand a lot more now that I have created my own works of fiction, as there is something very personal about writing.
After all, it comes from your own mind. You as the author pull out of thin air entire personalities, worlds, magic, adventure. It is as strange as it is wonderful.
But then, what if some upstart came along and suggested wading into your world, your people, and taking it from you? Not a pleasant thought.
In truth, I don’t believe The Royal Institute of Magic would have ever been completed if it wasn’t for the simple fact that Vic knew how much it would help his wife and daughter. As much as we authors love our stories, they are still just that. Stories. Our family and who we love remain what really matters, and Vic wanted more than anything to leave a legacy for them.
And so he entrusted it to me to make sure the final instalment of The Royal Institute of Magic was true to his creation.
I was, in fact, uniquely positioned to make sure it would be. It wasn’t just that we were best friends and had been our whole lives. It was that as Vic wrote The Royal Institute of Magic, I was there with him all along the way.
When Vic wrote book 1, Elizabeth’s Legacy, it went like so: Vic wrote three chapters, I would read them and give him my feedback. He would adjust as he saw fit and then give me the next three. I then read these, gave him my feedback, and so on all the way through to completion. While he didn’t use me as much in the following books, I was always his Alpha reader. We spent many an hour chatting about various plot points, the name of each book, the artwork. They were good times.
Which is why he entrusted me with the completion of book 6, the final installment of The Royal Institute of Magic. Thankfully he had plotted the majority of the book and even written the first five chapters. This definitely helped me work with a ghost writer to ensure it would be as close to how Vic would have wanted it as possible. The ghost writer was a great help, but in the end I wrote a lot of it myself, working on imbuing the book with as much of my brother’s wit, humour and story-telling style as I could. I know without a doubt if Vic had written the full book himself it would have been better, truer even. I wish he had, but I hope what I oversaw and co-wrote is something he would be proud of.
PERSONAL MESSAGE TO MY READERS
Buy my brothers’ books! Read them yourself, read them to your kids. Of the hundreds of thousands who have bought and read this fantastical series, only a handful have given a below four star review on Amazon, which speaks for itself. And please go ahead and leave your own review to add to the thousands already there.