Sue Burke moved to Spain in 1999 to learn its language and culture, and eventually she discovered Amadís de Gaula by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, published in 1508. It became Europe’s first best-selling novel and the inspiration for Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. The stories of Amadis and other knights drove Don Quixote mad. It drove Sue to translate the novel from medieval Spanish to modern English a chapter at a time at amadisofgaul.blogspot.com. “The Giants of Galtares” is based on an incidental character in Chapters 11 and 12.