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In the Balkans on a business trip, public policy analyst Michael Tanner was stunned by the hatred between the Bosnian Muslims and the Orthodox Christian Serbians. The Takoma Park resident began writing fiction as a way to explore the root causes of ethnic violence, and pinpoint and illustrate such difficult-to-grasp emotions.

He enlisted the help of his wife, Ellen Maidman-Tanner, who initially turned down his request to collaborate on a novel. He planned to write a historical fantasy book, which was not a genre she read.

She changed her mind after seeing his outline.

"And so we decided we'd give it a try," Maidman-Tanner explains.

"Days Dark as Night" came out in 2002, and "Nights Lit by Fire" is the just published second book of a projected trilogy. Set in Medieval Europe, the books of "The Adami Chronicles" deal with ongoing religious violence between the people of the fictional lands of Lopathia and Adama.

The protagonists Joet, an Adami woman with mystical healing powers, and Simon, a Lopathian knight, are married and ruling Adama prior to the start of "Nights Lit by Fire." They are charged with staving off civil war and the invasion of a papal army.

Writing the books was a long-held dream of Tanner's.

"It appealed to me creatively," he says.

Tanner says he would turn to his fiction as a respite from the analytical writing his day job requires.

Both Tanner and Maidman-Tanner have extensive writing experience. Tanner has written several non-fiction books on public policy and columns for national newspapers and magazines.

"I've been writing in one way or another all my life," says Maidman-Tanner, who now works in internal communications.

Of the collaboration process, Tanner says he would take the first pass at writing, then turn it over to his wife to fill the plot holes. Maidman-Tanner enjoyed becoming engrossed in what her husband had written and picking up where he left off.

Tanner researched and wrote the historical aspects, the political intrigue and the battle scenes. Maidman-Tanner focused on developing the characters' interpersonal relationships.

Both say they rely heavily on each other.

"I would not ever be doing this on my own," Maidman-Tanner says.

Tanner concurs, noting that without his wife's input,

"the human aspect would get dropped out of it."

The couple spent years reading books and scouring the Internet for Web sites with information on Medieval Europe.

"We tried very, very hard to stay true to the period," Maidman-Tanner says.

Although the island of Adama is fictitious, the authors say their picture of life in Europe in the 1200s is realistic.

Tanner hopes the book illustrates the danger of an oppressive religious authority, and that readers recognize that both sides in religious conflicts have grievances and that "someone, somewhere, sometime has to break the cycle" of hate.

The authors say that writing together has enriched their lives, especially because both know their characters so well.

"It's kind of like having joint friends," Tanner says.

When they wrap up a manuscript, a certain sadness takes over.

"We do go through post-partum when the books are published," Maidman-Tanner says.

With the final book of the trilogy in the works, the authors will have at least one more chance to indulge their creativity.

"Nights Lit by Fire" (PublishAmerica) is available for purchase online at www.daysdarkasnight.com, www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.