Muskets Are Here

Hi everyone.

I am very pleased to say my next book “The Lord of the Faran Hills” will be available on Amazon Kindle in the next few days (possibly hours).

“When Aulay Fitzgellis allowed himself to be talked into rebellion against his brother the king, it never cross his mind he might not win.

Now the only thing keeping his head on his shoulders is the leader of the mercenaries who defeated him.

Lord Darach of the Faran Hills is willing to save Aulay, but he also has a few other things on his mind, there’s the possibilities of a new weapon called a “musket” and there’s also the problem of stopping the bagpipers from assaulting his ears with their so called music.”

I’ve had a lot of fun writing this, loads of research on muskets and how an army works on the march. I also got to play a wargame while I worked out how a siege. I must thank my lovely husband for the loan of his model castle – yes, -I know I moaned like hell when you monopolised the dining room table while you were building it, but I didn’t know then how useful it was going to be.

If you give the book a try, let me know what you think, I love to hear from readers.

 

Truly, Madly, Musketry

I do love a bit of research and my next book “The Lord of the Faran Hills” required a fair bit of it. Admittedly being married to a military historian does mean a lot of it can be done by shouting “Hey, babe” through the connecting wall and waiting for the answer, but some it has to have a bit more hands on experience…okay, not so much of the hands on, no fool was actually going to allow me to handle a matchlock musket, but I got shown a great deal and not just on You Tube…black powder smells delicious by the way, just like flowers.

But, having said that, here is an excellent film on how it is done. The noise is terrific.

The book is set at a time when armies are beginning to evolve into the sort of fighting units which is more familiar to modern eyes. The pikeman and the bow and the primitive goone will soon give way to the matchlock musket and in time will give way to the flintlock. In the book, as in Europe in the later Middle Ages, mercenaries are first with any new military development, they can afford it, and my Faran Lord will be the first of his kind to acquire muskets.

Below is a picture the type of weapon in the book. To be honest, I have cut out a couple of stages of weapon evolution to get to the more exciting stage, but they are using scouring rods, match cord and putting the ball and the wad down the barrel ( showing off technical knowledge here).

I’d love to hear from anyone also interested in early weaponry, so stick any thoughts you have in the comments.

 

Mercenaries, Muskets and Monkeys.

I will be honest, I added the “monkey” bit because it sounded good, but there is a reason for the mercenaries and the muskets.

NEW BOOK!

Huzzah!

Currently with Dave, my lovely editor and undergoing his rigorous scrutiny is my next offering “The Lord of the Faran Hills”.

This is a bit of a departure for me, because it is fantasy, although fantasy without magic, I reserve magic for the weird stuff like in “A Solemn Curfew”, but it is fantasy and not science fiction.

However, I am returning to a favourite theme…soldiers. I have a soft spot for all things military, having been married to a military historian for quite a few years. Normally my soldiers are regulars, but this time I wanted to explore the world of the soldier of fortune.

Normally these guys get a very bad press and rightly so, but there are many who don’t deserve it. They are men who fight and defend a foreign power in exchange for a salary like The Swiss Guard who look after the Pope and The Gurkhas who serve with the British Army, technically these guys are mercenaries, but their honour and reputation is well established.

The same is true for the ones in my new book.

And then there are the muskets. I’ve has so much fun researching muskets. More of that next post.

The book will be out soon I hope and I hope some of you will find it as fun to read as it was to write.