With the release of Eagle of Mercia, book 4 in the Eagle of Mercia Chronicles, only two weeks away, what better time to snap up book 3, Warrior of Mercia. The ebook is currently reduced to 99p/99c in the UK, Canada and Australia.
Icel is a lone wolf no more…
Oath sworn to Wiglaf, King of Mercia and acknowledged as a member of Ealdorman Ælfstan’s warrior band, Icel continues to forge his own destiny on the path to becoming the Warrior of Mercia.
With King Ecgberht of Wessex defeated and Londonium back under Mercian control, the Wessex invasion of Mercia is over.
But the Wessex king was never Mercia’s only enemy. An unknown danger lurks in the form of merciless Viking raiders, who set their sights on infiltrating the waterways of the traitorous breakaway kingdom of the East Angles, within touching distance of Mercia’s eastern borders.
Icel must journey to the kingdom of the East Angles and unite against a common enemy to ensure Mercia’s hard-won freedom prevails.
If you’ve already read Warrior of Mercia (thank you), then check out book 4, Eagle of Mercia, released on 3rd May 2023 and available to preorder now.
A mercy mission in the heart of Wessex is beset with deadly, bloody dangers.
Tamworth AD831
Icel’s profile continues to rise. Lord of Budworth and warrior of Mercia, he’s acknowledged by King Wiglaf and his comrades to keep Mercia safe from the ravages of Wessex, the king-slayer of the East Angles, and the Viking raiders. But, danger looms. Alongside Spring’s arrival comes the almost certain threat of the Viking raiders return.
When Lord Coenwulf of Kingsholm is apprehended by a Viking and held captive on the Isle of Sheppey in Wessex held Kent, Icel is implored by Lady Cynehild to rescue her husband.
To rescue Lord Coenwulf, Icel and his fellow warriors must risk themselves twice over, for not only must they overpower the Viking raiders, they must also counter the threat of Mercia’s ancient enemy, the kingdom of Wessex as they travel through their lands.
Far from home and threatened on all sides, have Icel and his fellow warriors sworn to carry out an impossible duty?
Today sees the release of book 3 in my series about young Icel, a much-loved character from my The Ninth Century series featuring King Coelwulf, the last king of Mercia. And so, now that Icel as a young man, and Icel as a crotchety older man are both firmly in reader’s minds, I thought I’d share more about the idea for the Eagle of Mercia Chronicles series.
My characters in the Ninth Century series feel like they very much arrived in my head fully formed. Coelwulf was obviously the first, but others quickly followed, and Icel, with his derisive comments about any of their accomplishments, was an early fan favourite, and one of my favourites as well. Surly, and outspoken, while offering little of his life before the period that my characters knew him, he really did speak to me when I was deciding on a new series to write for Boldwood Books. All those little comments he makes. I think the below is our first introduction to his character;
“In the reign of King Wiglaf I first became a man,” he’s fond of saying, although he never explains what act made him a man. Again, I’ve stopped questioning him. Edmund likes to when he’s either drunk too much, or is trying to distract himself from whatever attack we’re about to begin. And of course Rudolf hangs on Icel’s every word. They’re an excellent match for each other, the boy who never runs out of questions, and the man who never answers them.’ (The Last King)
All these hints at what he might really have been like when he was perhaps no older than Rudolf, another firm fan favourite, made me want to tell his story. It did help that Mercia, at the time he would have been a boy was in political turmoil. It also helped that the Viking Raiders were making an appearance in Saxon England as well throughout the 830s. But Icel is a fictional character, and while fictionalising my Saxon characters, the men and women I normally write about did actually exist, even if we only have their names. But Mercia, in the 820s and 830s suffered a series of successive kingships, many of which failed, and so while Icel is fictitious, he does allow me to give a more rounded view of the entirety of events. He will live through these tumultuous times, and that’s important when I wanted to write about these events as well as all the kings.
It also helped that, in my contrary nature as a writer of historical fiction, that I always want to offer something a little different to the oft-taken paths when authors write about Saxon England – the Vikings, the reign of Alfred, Ethelred the Unready and the Norman Conquest, as well as the Golden Age of Northumbria, are often chosen but there is just so much more in these six hundred years to write about. So, no one else was writing about Mercia as it begins to falter in the 820s and 830s, and so I thought, why not:)
I really, really hope you’ll enjoy book 3, Warrior of Mercia, which follows Icel to the kingdom of the East Angles. I can also assure you that Book 4 is well underway as well.
Icel is a lone wolf no more…
Oath sworn to Wiglaf, King of Mercia and acknowledged as a member of Ealdorman Ælfstan’s warrior band, Icel continues to forge his own destiny on the path to becoming the Warrior of Mercia.
With King Ecgberht of Wessex defeated and Londonium back under Mercian control, the Wessex invasion of Mercia is over.
But the Wessex king was never Mercia’s only enemy. An unknown danger lurks in the form of merciless Viking raiders, who set their sights on infiltrating the waterways of the traitorous breakaway kingdom of the East Angles, within touching distance of Mercia’s eastern borders.
Icel must journey to the kingdom of the East Angles and unite against a common enemy to ensure Mercia’s hard-won freedom prevails.
And you can follow the blog tour with Rachel’s Random Resources too. I’ll be updating with links to reviews, and I’d like to say a huge thank you to my blog tour hosts and usual reviewers for going out of their way to make release day so special.
HistoryBookChat over on twitter has organised a monumental weekend of promotions from history writers and publishers over the weekend 27th and 28th November 2021, and I’m taking part too.
As part of the weekend, I will be offering the chance to buy paperbacks directly from me, which I can sign and dedicate as desired. I have a good collection of many of my books – and particularly The Ninth Century and The Erdington Mysteries, as well as Lady Estrid, available. (If you would like a different title, do just send me an email or a tweet and I will see what I have for you.)
I won’t be charging tonnes for these – just enough to cover postage and production costs. If you’re in the UK, every book will be £10.00 including postage – if your order is for more than one book, I will offer a postage discount. If you’re further afield, I will calculate the cheapest and securest way of getting the books to you.
If you don’t want a book, but would like something signed, I also have some postcards, admittedly showing the old Ninth Century covers, which I can pop in the post for minimal cost. (I will accept payments via my Paypal account so nothing too complicated there, and I believe I will be able to send invoices for purchases.)
And now, I’d like to share with my readers, not one new book, but instead two (well one is a short story in a larger collection.)
Firstly, The Automobile Assassination.
If you want to see my inspiration for writing the book, then click here. If you would like to enter a competition to be in with a chance of winning a signed paperback of The Automobile Assassination, then please enter via rafflecopter here.
Erdington, September 1944
As events in Europe begin to turn in favour of the Allies, Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is once more prevailed upon to solve a seemingly impossible case.
Called to the local mortuary where a man’s body lies, shockingly bent double and lacking any form of identification, Mason and O’Rourke find themselves at Castle Bromwich aerodrome seeking answers that seem out of reach to them. The men and women of the royal air force stationed there are their prime suspects. Or are they? Was the man a spy, killed on the orders of some higher authority, or is the place his body was found irrelevant? And why do none of the men and women at the aerodrome recognise the dead man?
Mason, fearing a repeat of the cold case that dogged his career for two decades and that he’s only just solved, is determined to do all he can to uncover the identity of the dead man, and to find out why he was killed and abandoned in such a bizarre way, even as Smythe demands he spends his time solving the counterfeiting case that is leaving local shopkeepers out of pocket.
Join Mason and O’Rourke as they once more attempt to solve the impossible in 1940s Erdington.
You can find The Automobile Assassination on Amazon, here and book 1 in the series, The Custard Corpses, is currently 99p and equivalent if you want to start at the beginning.
And now to my second book, or rather, short story collection, and the perfect way to get a taste of the Aspects of History authors, Iron and Gold, newly released on 25th November in ebook format on Amazon. Do please visit the website to find a whole swathe of author interviews and short stories, as well as book reviews from the Aspects of History authors.
‘A veritable medieval banquet… An array of accomplished authors, covering an array of stories, which should introduce different readerships to each other.’ Richard Foreman
Aspects of History, the new hub for history and historical fiction, are proud to publish Iron & Gold.
The collection covers tales from both the medieval era and the medieval world, written by a number of bestselling authors in the genre – including Theodore Brun, Philip Gooden and Anne O’Brien.
Many of the stories include famous characters from popular series, as well as famous and infamous figures from history including Chaucer, King Edward and the Merovingian dynasty.
Read your favourite authors or be introduced to new ones.
Beware the Storm, by Paul Bernardi
The Tale of Fredegar’s Bane, by Theodore Brun
The Eyrie, by Paula de Fougerolles
The Miracle, by Philip Gooden
The Quality of Mercy, by Anne O’Brien
To be a King, by MJ Porter
Another Blackbird Field, by Peter Sandham
Iron and Gold is currently available as an ebook and can be read free with #KindleUnlimited. The paperback will be released in the coming weeks.
My story, is an Earls of Mercia short, told from a character’s viewpoint I’ve never explored before. I hope you enjoy it.
I hope you enjoy all the links here, and find something new to read. And, do consider signing up for my newsletter if you want to keep up to date with new releases and other developments. Enjoy the rest of History Writers Day and thank you to @Books2cover for organising such a great event.
It’s finally here! The Last Sword is book 5 in the series featuring Coelwulf, and his warriors. (If you’ve not caught up just yet, book 2, The Last Warrior is on special offer for 99p/99c this week only in the UK and US).
Here’s the blurb;
“The three defeated jarls of Grantabridge might be hiding behind the walls of their settlement as winter storms ravage, but the weather is no deterrent for another adversary, and Coelwulf holds a far more personal grudge against Jarl Halfdan.
King Alfred hovers on the border with Wessex, his intentions impossible to determine; his relationship with the Raiders, problematic.
Exposed to the south, in jeopardy from the north; Coelwulf hasn’t fought his last battle yet.”
Taking Coelwulf into the year 875, The Last Sword will reunite my readers with some fan favourites, and not a little peril.
I hope you all enjoy, and thank you to everyone who’s supported the series so far. You’re all loyal Mercians, and he couldn’t do it without you.
(Check out the new covers for the first 4 books in the series).
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(This post contains some Amazon Affiliate links – which means that at no cost to you, Amazon may pay me for referring you to their site).
M J Porter 