Category: Anglo-Saxon

I’m welcoming Chris Bishop and his new book, Oscar’s Tale, to the blog HistoricalFiction #AngloSaxon #Vikings #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub 

Here’s the blurb

Oscar’s Tale is that of a Saxon boy who sets out to find and rescue his father who has been taken by Viking slavers. 

The story begins in 877, just prior to the Viking attack on Chippenham in which King Alfred was routed. Against this backdrop, Oscar is obliged to set out on his all but impossible quest and quickly becomes embroiled in all that’s going on in Wessex at this turbulent time, culminating in him playing a small but important part in the battle at Edington.

But this is not just a story about blood thirsty battles and fearsome warriors, it’s about a boy struggling to live up to his father’s reputation as a warrior and trying to find his place in a dangerous and uncertain world. For that, he is forced to confront many dangers and earn the respect of others who are far above his station. Along the way he also finds love – albeit at a cost far higher than most would have been willing to pay.

‘For is it not the wish of every man that his son will achieve more in life than he did?’

Buy Link 

https://books2read.com/u/bwQQ99

Meet the author

Chris was born in London in 1951. After a successful career as a Chartered Surveyor, he retired to concentrate on writing, combining this with his lifelong interest in Anglo Saxon history.

His first novel, Blood and Destiny, was published in 2017 and his second, The Warrior with the Pierced Heart, in 2018 followed by The Final Reckoning in 2019 and Bloodlines in 2020.  Together they form a series entitled The Shadow of the Raven, the fifth and final part of which – The Prodigal Son – was published in 2023.

Chris has published numerous blogs about various aspects of Anglo Saxon history and is a member of the Historical Writers’ Association.

Connect with the author

                

Follow the Oscar’s Tale by Chris Bishop blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club

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I’m super excited to announce the special 5th birthday edition of The Last King, available now

Back in 2020, I finally wrote a book I’d wanted to write for a long time – the story of Mercia’s last king, Coelwulf II (although, I think I should have spelt his name as Ceolwulf but hey ho). The book I eventually wrote has spawned my most successful series to date and has also given readers The Eagle of Mercia Chronicles, featuring a younger version of Coelwulf’s very outspoken fellow warrior Icel.

The book I wrote was also very different to how I thought it would be. Indeed, it’s not one book, but a series 10 books long, and featuring a cast of lovable, foul-mouthed rogues who are as loyal to one another as they are to the horses they ride. I’ve spoken before about why the characters are so sweary, and I know not everyone enjoys that element of the books, but hey, these men are who they are. But, thank goodness for Coelwulf’s aunt, who keeps a wary eye on them all and can occasionally make them a little more polite.

The first eight covers for The Last King series by MJ Porter
The Last King/The Mercian Ninth Century

I’ve long wanted to celebrate the occasion of five years since releasing the book, and I’ve had many thoughts about it over the last few years, but when it finally happened, it was very unexpected, and the cover design came from someone I’d asked to work on some sprayed edges to jazz the cover up a little. It is very understated, but I think that makes it all the more special. BookVault can incorporate sprayed edges, a design on the endpapers, super high-quality white printing paper, as well as a ribbon to keep track of your reading. There are also new chapter headings, but at heart, this is The Last King, as it was released on 23rd April 2020, at a time when we were all looking for the means to distract ourselves from the horrors of the Pandemic and distract us we all did, even me. I find writing Coelwulf and his allies (and enemies) enormous fun and also very comforting. I know these characters, and they do live in my head rent-free, and I really don’t mind at all.

The Ninth Century Mercian series covers for all 9 books

So, let’s check out the designs for this special edition, which will only be available directly from me. I don’t plan on releasing it widely, and depending on demand, I will limit it to 100 printed copies.

Image shows a pale blue and grey cover with the words The Last King and a stylised sword on the cover image.
The jacket

The jacket again
Mock-up of the front cover and sprayed edges design
The new chapter heading images
The amended map to fit the endpapers of the book

What it looks like in ‘real’ life

The front cover
The original cover
The inside jacket
Title page
Original map
The prologue with chapter heading images
The sprayed edges
The back cover
The inside back cover jacket
The original cover
Side-by-side comparison with the original hardback version

Each book will be signed by me, and I’ll include some goodies with it as well. But to get a copy, you must order it via my SumUp shop. I will be offering discount codes to readers who order The Last King for The Last Warrior edition, too.

Order Link

SumUp Store

I made a little video, but this was for the proof before I decided to add the map end papers, which is why they’re missing.

Visit The Mercian Ninth Century Series page for all the details about the series, and links to other blog posts.

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I’m delighted to welcome Helen Hollick and her book, Harold The King, to the blog #1066 #BattleOfHastings #NormanConquest #AngloSaxon #EnglishHistory #PublicationSilverAnniversary #BlogTour #BookBlast #TheCoffeePotBookClub 

I’m delighted to welcome Helen Hollick and her book, Harold The King (UK)/ I Am The Chosen King (USA/Canada), to the blog.

Blurb

First published in 2000 – Celebrating a Silver Anniversary!

The events that led to the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 – told from the English point of view.

Two men. One crown.

England, 1044. Harold Godwinesson, a young, respected earl, falls in love with an ordinary but beautiful woman. In Normandy, William, the bastard son of a duke, falls in love with power.

In 1066 England falls vulnerable to the fate of these two men: one, chosen to be a king, the other, determined to take, by force, what he desires. Risking his life to defend his kingdom from foreign invasion, Harold II led his army into the great Battle of Hastings in October 1066 with all the honour and dignity that history remembers of its fallen heroes.

In this beautifully crafted tale, USA Today bestselling author Helen Hollick sets aside the propaganda of the Norman Conquest and brings to life the English version of the story of the man who was the last Anglo-Saxon king, revealing his tender love, determination and proud loyalty, all to be shattered by the desire for a crown – by one who had no right to wear it.

Praise for Helen Hollick

“Helen Hollick has it all! She tells a great story, gets her history right, and writes consistently readable books”

~ Bernard Cornwell

“A novel of enormous emotional power”

~ Elizabeth Chadwick

“Thanks to Hollick’s masterful storytelling, Harold’s nobility and heroism enthral to the point of engendering hope for a different ending…Joggles a cast of characters and a bloody, tangled plot with great skill”

~ Publisher’s Weekly

“Don’t miss Helen Hollick’s colourful recreation of the events leading up to the Norman Conquest.”

~ Daily Mail

“An epic re-telling of the Norman Conquest”

~ The Lady

“If only all historical fiction could be this good”

~ Historical Novel Society Review

Buy Link

Universal Link:

This title is available on #KindleUnlimited, except in US & Canada

Meet the Author

First accepted for traditional publication in 1993, Helen became a USA Today Bestseller with her historical novel, The Forever Queen (titled A Hollow Crown in the UK) with the sequel, Harold the King (US: I Am The Chosen King) being novels that explore the events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Her Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy is a fifth-century version of the Arthurian legend, and she writes a nautical adventure/supernatural series, The Sea Witch Voyages. She has also branched out into the quick read novella, ‘Cosy Mystery’ genre with her Jan Christopher Mysteries, set in the 1970s, with the first in the series, A Mirror Murder incorporating her, often hilarious, memories of working as a library assistant. The fifth in the series, A Memory Of Murder, was published in May 2024.

Her non-fiction books are Pirates: Truth and Tales and Life of A Smuggler. She is currently writing about the ghosts of North Devon, and Jamaica Gold for her Sea Witch Voyages.

Recognised by her stylish hats, Helen tries to attend book-related events as a chance to meet her readers and social-media followers, but her ‘wonky eyesight’ as she describes her condition of Glaucoma, and severe arthritis is now a little prohibitive for travel.

She lives with her family in an eighteenth-century farmhouse in North Devon with their dogs and cats, while on the farm there are showjumper horses, fat Exmoor ponies, an elderly Welsh pony, geese, ducks and hens. And several resident ghosts.

Connect with the Author

Website: Blog: Newsletter:

Follow Harold The King blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club

King Æthelred II, king of England, some thoughts about whether he deserves his title of ‘Unready.’ #histfic #non-fiction #history

Æthelred II, to put it mildly, gets a bad press, the writers of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle have nothing good to say about him, blaming him for the ills that befall the country at the hands of the Scandinavian raiders, and there is an inevitability about the events that unfold from 1009 onwards that culminate in Swein of Denmark claiming the English throne, and following his untimely death, the actions of his younger son, Cnut, to achieve the same honour a few years later.


And, don’t get me wrong, the list of places attacked by the Viking raiders is long, their demands for payment appear huge and their willingness to kill even those who should have been protected, for instance, the Archbishop of Canterbury, callously presented.

What’s in a name?


Yet, his by-name, Unready, is a misinterpretation and also a play on words, his name meaning wise-counsel, and Unræd meaning no-counsel and being changed to ‘the Unready’, a word nothing like no-counsel.


So if we accept that his by-name should be no-counsel and not ‘the unready’ does that make it any more appropriate?
Most assuredly not. Æthelred had his fair share of ealdormen (later the title was changed to earls, from ‘jarls’ under the Scandinavian kings) and the detailed work done by historians has attempted to uncover who they were and what they did.

The Anglo Saxon Chronicle appears to have hidden much from today’s reader, so intent in its desire to paint Æthelred in as unflattering colours as possible, and mentions only some of the ealdormen. My particular favourite, Ealdorman Leofwine of the Hwicce, is mentioned once and yet charter evidence shows that he held his post for many years from 994-c.1023, quite a long time to be ignored by the main source for the period.


Other details show just how powerful the king was; he recalled his coinage about every seven years and reissued it with new images, he collected the gelds used to pay the Viking raiders, he built and provisioned a vast ship army, and he had laws proclaimed in his name. And all of this he must have done with the consent of the Witan, for England, although ruled by a king, was also ruled through the consensus of the greatest men in the land.

England, not long united, was just too big for one man to rule alone, and it was broken down almost into its constituent pre-united kingdoms, Mercia, Northumbria, the East Angles, Kent, Wessex, and the Western provinces sometimes each area having an ealdorman and at other times, ruled by the king’s High Reeve.

Æthelred was surely king over a well-organised and rich country, and no matter what the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle implies, the men of the land were prepared to fight for their king, and they didn’t attempt to dislodge him from his kingship although by about 1000 onwards he had a host of sons old enough and probably strong enough, to govern in his stead.


I think even his usual by-name of Unraed is unwarranted, and certainly, his unreadiness is unwarranted. History plays tricks on how our past kings are viewed, and more often than not, they’re too harsh, too conciliatory, or, in the case of many, they’re totally forgotten about. Perhaps being a king was not all it was cracked up to be!

(Please note this is a historic blog post, which I’ve left rather than deleting as it’s kind of interesting to see what I was thinking in 2014).

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