Author of Saxon historical fiction, 20th-century historical mysteries, and Saxon historical non-fiction. Book reviewer and blog host.
https://amzn.to/4n5Eqbj (the less sweary version)
There are also special edition hardback formats available directly from me for The Last King and The Last Warrior. Follow this link to discover them.
If you’ve been with Coelwulf, Rudolf, Icel, Edmund and Pybba since the beginning, then you’re probably with me in trying to work out how five years have gone by since the release of The Last Warrior, which from memory has a bit of a shocking ending (but no other spoilers here).
There are now ten books in all, as well as a short story collection, Coelwulf’s Company, and the prequel series featuring a young Icel, the Eagle of Mercia Chronicles (check out the stories featuring young Icel – if you know, you know, and if you don’t yet know, you’re going to want to find out.)
Fans of the series each have their own favourite, from the somewhat difficult Haden (Coelwulf’s horse), to Edmund, young Rudolf and the difficult-to-please Icel, as well as Pybba. I also think many love Edmund’s brother, Hereman, who is someone who thinks after the punches have been thrown:) The Viking raider enemy also have a few fans, and I did very much enjoy recreating these characters.
If you’ve not yet discovered The Mercian Kingdom: The Ninth Century series, then you’re in for a treat, as long as you’re not easily offended by foul language and violence – although if you are, there are Cleaner versions available without quite so much swearing. You’re never going to get away from the violence with this band of miscreants. Follow this link, as they can be a bit tricky to find on Amazon.
The Last King books are available in eBook, paperback, and hardback formats, and in eBook only for the version without the swearing. Or, check out the box set below, which also contains the versions with the language dialled down by a factor or about 450 (yes, I do run a check to ensure my characters have been as foul-mouthed as readers expect). You can hear me discussing the series and the swearing on the Rock, Paper, Swords podcast with Matthew Harffy and Steven A. McKay.
There are also special edition hardback formats available directly from me. Follow this link to discover them.
If you’ve been with Coelwulf, Rudolf, Icel, Edmund and Pybba since the beginning, then you’re probably with me in trying to work out how five years have gone by since the first book’s release. There are now ten books in all, as well as a short story collection, Coelwulf’s Company, and the prequel series featuring a young Icel, the Eagle of Mercia Chronicles (check out the stories featuring a young Icel – if you know, you know, and if you don’t yet know, you’re going to want to find out.)
If you’ve not yet discovered The Mercian Kingdom: The Ninth Century series, then you’re in for a treat, as long as you’re not easily offended by foul language and violence – although if you are, there are Cleaner versions available without quite so much swearing. Follow this link, as they can be a bit tricky to find on Amazon.
The Last King books are available in ebook, paperback and hardback, and The Last King (book 1 ) is also available in audio.
I’ve gained some of the best fans ever by running competitions to win signed copies of my books, and this year is no different, although the prize keeps getting BIGGER.
To enter the competition to win all 10 books signed by me, complete this Google form. (Competition is open until 30th April 2025).
https://forms.gle/meb26JSa5DdVfkk5A
Entries are open to UK-based people only (because postage is very expensive elsewhere), but people outside the UK can still submit their details and receive a FREE copy of a short story collection featuring stories set in The Last King’s world (and check out another fabulous deal below).
These are the less sweary-versions (I am having a bit of moment with hyphenated words so I am going with it for this).
If you’ve been with Coelwulf, Rudolf, Icel, Edmund and Pybba since the beginning, then you’re probably with me in trying to work out how 4 years have gone by since the release of the first book. There are now eight (well really nine and a half, as book 9 is written but not yet released, and book 10 is well underway) books in all, as well as a short story collection, Coelwulf’s Company.
If you’ve not yet discovered The Mercian Kingdom: The Ninth Century series, then you’ve in for a treat, as long as you’re not easily offended by foul language and violence – although if you are, there are Cleaner versions available without quite so much swearing. Follow this link, as they can be a bit tricky to find on Amazon.
Don’t forget to check out the short story collection, Coelwulf’s Company.
If you follow the link, here (to Bookfunnel) you can also download a copy of The New Recruit, a short story I wrote while working on The Last Seven.
The Last King books are available in ebook, paperback and hardback, and The Last King (book 1 ) is also available in audio.
The Last Viking (the most recent release) is currently 99p/99c on Amazon UK/Canada/Australia and reduced in all territories for a limited time only.
The Last King is also available to read with Prime Reading on Amazon UK.
Check out all the details for The Mercian Kingdom: The Ninth Century.
Mercia lies broken but not beaten, her alliance with Wessex in tatters. Coelwulf, a fierce and bloody warrior, hears whispers that Mercia has been betrayed from his home in the west. He fears no man, especially not the Vikings sent to hunt him down.
To discover the truth of the rumours he hears, Coelwulf must travel to the heart of Mercia, and what he finds there will determine the fate of Mercia, as well as his own.
AD874
I taste it on my lips, and over the salt of my sweat.
And I scowl. It’s not a flavour I wish to get used to. All the same, I know what it is without a second thought.
My seax glistens slickly in the dull light, the gleaming claret reminding me more of an exotic wine from the south than the lifeblood it truly is. The double headed-eagle impeccably depicted on the handle seems to wink at me, as the eyes fill with the ruby mixture.
Not that I focus on it for more than the time it takes me to blink.
This horde feels as though it’ll never stop, and I’m determined to end the lives of as many of them as possible. Such slaughter doesn’t bring me joy, but this is my skill. I wield it because I must.
My weapon, so sharp it cuts through byrnies as though they’re no more than spider webs, is busy today.
They come against my force, as small as it is, and they mean to annihilate us. But we will not go without making our sacrifices to their god of war.
My seax sweeps effortlessly along the abruptly exposed throat of my enemy, the realisation of what’s befallen him only reaching his eyes as he falls to the ground. I step over him, already sighting my next enemy.
This one swirls an axe in his left hand, as I reveal my bloodied teeth. His entire body recoils, almost a backward step. Before he can consider his move, I’ve sliced through his belly, the gut threatening to spill at my feet. I dismiss him and move onto the next man.
The ground beneath my feet squelches with each step, slick, more like a flooded river than the solid ground it should be.
It’s awash with the dead and wounded, the long shield wall that tried to defeat us long since disintegrated to small spots of desperate one to one fighting. This is my favourite part of any battle.
I turn, noting the angle of the sun, the brush of the breeze against my slick body, breathing deeply through my nose. This is not my first battle. Far from it.
I hear the cries of those boys who thought themselves men, and equally of those men who’ve found they are but boys when their lives are threatened.
I scorn them. They’re not worthy of my attention.
Quickly, I reach for my weapons belt, keen to know that all is where it should be. My hand brushes over the sharpened edges and deadly blades that make a home there. For now.
Satisfied, I pick my next target, a tight knot of men fighting not five steps away, and move forward.
I don’t hurry. Not this time. Neither, as I’ve seen others do, do I check the weight of my weapon, or test the strength of my arm as I consider my next move. Instinctively I know that all is well.
They’ll not fail me. They haven’t before.
If you’ve not yet discovered The Mercian Kingdom: The Ninth Century series, then you’ve in for a treat, as long as you’re not easily offended by foul language and violence – and if you are, there are Cleaner versions available on Amazon Kindle.
If you’ve been reading the Icel books, then you will find a friend in this series, set in the 870s in a Mercia under assault by the Viking raiders.
And don’t forget to check out the short story collection, Coelwulf’s Company, tales from before The Last King.
The Last King books are available in ebook, paperback and hardback, and The Last King (book 1 ) is also available in audio.
Sign up to my monthly newsletter to learn more about my writing journey, new releases and special offers, and receive a short story collection.
If you’ve been with Coelwulf, Rudolf, Icel, Edmund and Pybba since the beginning, then you’re probably with me in trying to work out how 3 years have gone by since the release of the first book. There are now seven books in all, the most recent, somewhat jokingly called The Last Seven, a name that stuck, as well as a short story collection, Coelwulf’s Company. Book 8, will hopefully, wind its way to you by the end of 2023 – unfortunately, young Icel has somewhat claimed my attention for much of the last 18 months with his own series, The Eagle of Mercia Chronicles.
If you’ve not yet discovered The Mercian Kingdom: The Ninth Century series, then you’ve in for a treat, as long as you’re not easily offended by foul language and violence.
Don’t forget to check out the short story collection, Coelwulf’s Company.
If you follow the link, here (to Bookfunnel) you can also download a copy of The New Recruit, a short story I wrote while working on The Last Seven.
The Last King books are available in ebook, paperback and hardback, and The Last King (book 1 ) is also available in audio.
The Last King is currently 99p/99c on Amazon UK/US for a limited time only.
Check out all the details for The Mercian Kingdom: The Ninth Century.
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.
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.
books2read.com/WarriorofMercia
Available now in ebook, paperback, large print paperback, hardback and audio.
Check out some blog posts I wrote for release day!
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.
If you’ve been with Coelwulf, Rudolf, Icel, Edmund and Pybba since the beginning, then you’re probably with me in trying to work out how 2 years have gone by since the release of the first book.
I thought it worthy of a huge celebration, and so The Last King is on blog tour for today only with a whole swathe of hosts from Rachel’s Random Resources. Check out their posts and blogs, and you really might enjoy those hosts that have an excerpt from the book. When I was choosing them, it reminded me of all the things that drew me these characters, and this book, and made me write it the way that I did. The exuberance is difficult to ignore. (And remember – there are Clean(er) versions of all the books available in ebook format without the more offensive word that rhymes with something that quacks).
I’m going to pop some links here to blog posts I’ve shared in the past.
https://mjporterauthor.sumupstore.com
http://www.nikipreston.com/
https://jessicabelmont.com/
https://ebookaddicts.net
www.davidsbookblurg.co.uk
https://www.instagram.com/chaptersofvicki
https://www.instagram.com/fantasybookcraz_mum
https://nickislifeofcrime.blogspot.co.uk
https://themagicofworlds.wordpress.com/
Bforbookreview.wordpress.com
https://www.thepursuitofbookiness.co.uk/
https://medium.com/@authorbeccamcculloch
https://www.booksblog.co.uk/
http://bookreviewsbyjasmine.blogspot.com
http://www.chezmaximka.blogspot.com
https://ruinsandreading.blogspot.com/
I’m really quite bad at remembering all the publication dates of my books, but The Last King has certainly stuck in my mind. What started quite inauspiciously, with a few die-hard fans preordering the book, has become my most popular series, and most popular book to date.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be so surprised, but I am. The book, a few years in development, burst from me in a flurry of excitement early in 2020, when I opted for a ‘harder’ character, a man who is simply so good at what he does, he doesn’t understand that others can’t do what he can. It’s not arrogance. It’s confidence.
So, why the hesitation? It takes a lot to stomp, and I mean, stomp all over a time period made so famous by another giant of the field – Bernard Cornwell with his Uhtred, or The Last Kingdom books. And yet, I couldn’t move away from the temptation of the little known Coelwulf, and the story of Mercia which has never been told.
Yet, I needed to do it in a different way to BC. I remember handing the first few chapters to my critique partner and editor and saying ‘is this edgier?’, ‘would a warrior speak like this?’ It came back with a ‘yes’ and also some pencil marks and a bit more swearing added in, and a comment that if I was going to cauterise a wound, then I needed to do it properly, gore and all.
I’d previously written what I thought would be an opening scene, while sitting in hospital for an appointment with lots of different bits to it – but while that gave me the characters, it didn’t give me quite what I was looking for. Still, you can read ‘A Meeting of Equals‘ over on my author platform on Aspects of History.
And that was almost it (apart from a dose of my own confidence drawn from watching The Gentlemen by Guy Ritchie – which truly made me think ‘anything goes,’ and gave me the idea for the opening scene – if you’ve read the book you’ll know what I mean.) Coelwulf reared his head, and so too did a cast of characters that are unique, complex, enjoyable to write about, and often a bit pushy.
There’s a sample below – remember, it’s Coelwulf, it’s going to be pretty full-on from the word go. (18 rated)
So thank you to all my readers and reviewers, to my beta readers (you know who you are), and to the people I’ve collaborated with on ensuring the word gets out about Coelwulf.
Here’s to many more such anniversaries.
Ere, what you up to?
Oh, hello, I’m here to interview King Coelwulf about his latest book.
Really, I wouldn’t think he’d do that. He’s make some excuse about having no time, or some such. Oh wait, did Lady Cyneswith set this up?
Yes, she did, and I’ve already spoken to her. But tell me, do you know the king? You seem to know who everyone is.
Of course I do. I’m Rudolf. His old squire, and now member of his warband. Why?
Would you like to talk to us about his latest book?
Well, I suppose I have the time. If you’re quick, and I don’t get caught. I’m supposed to be showing young Hiltiberht the ropes, and Haden can be a real handful.
Tell me, what’s King Coelwulf like? As a warrior?
Bloody lethal. You don’t want to be facing off against him. I’ve never seen anyone kill so quickly. And the moves he can do? I wish I had even half of his skill. I mean, he says I’m a good warrior and all, but I make up for my lack of skill with speed. And he doesn’t have that because he’s so bloody …. Um, because he doesn’t need to do that. Sometimes, I swear the enemy make it look so easy it’s as though they’re falling onto his seax or sword.
He’s quite good then?
Better than good. I’ve never seen anyone fight the way he does. Well, apart from Icel, and Edmund, and maybe Hereman. But, certainly, the Raiders stand no chance against him.
I hear he even camps in the woodlands and forests? It’s not really the sort of thing a king should do, is it?
Now, you see here. He was a warrior long before he was king. King Coelwulf only has one aim, to kill all the Raiders. To drive them from Mercia and make sure they don’t come back. He’s not into all that fancy clothes, and court etiquette, or sleeping in a bed of silk sheets. They’d be too damn cold, anyway. He’s told me. No, the king of Mercia is a damn warrior, and the only man capable of defeating the Raiders, and the Welsh, if it comes to it.
And, have you read the new book?
Got no time for reading. I’m sure King Coelwulf told you that, and he’s right. I’d like a good night’s sleep without interruption more than I’d like to read a book. Maybe a scop could tell the tale. But, that would be Edmund and I’d have to listen to him tell the tale. He’s good, of course he’s good, but he probably wouldn’t mention me as much as I might like.
To all the young lads who do read the book, what would your advice be? How could they get into King Coelwulf’s warband?
Well, they should probably have joined it a while ago, and at the moment, there’s a few squires that need training up, so there’s no room, not for a while. So, I’d tell them to wait, and while they’re waiting, learn a few things, like how to clean saddles and seaxs. It’s a mucky job, but someone’s got to do it. And with King Coelwulf, you’ve got to earn his respect first. And then, well, once you’ve got it, you’ve got to keep it. A hard man, but a great man. Mercians should be pleased with their king. He’ll keep them safe, or he’ll die trying. You didn’t find the old king doing that. Far from it in fact. He’s scuttled off to Rome, or somewhere like that. Gone to pray for his soul. He’s got a lot to need forgiveness for, abandoning his kingdom like that.
Oh, sorry, I’ve got to go.
And there you have it. A few words from Rudolf, King Coelwulf’s old squire. I hear he fights incredibly well, and offers some important advice for any would be members of the king’s warband.
If you haven’t read my earlier interview with King Coelwulf, then you can find it here. And I also interviewed his Aunt, which can be found here.
MJ Porter 