March 21, 2020

"I love the plot twists and the battle maneuvers. But most of all the characters."- Deborah B.

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With the recent world events, we have been self-isolating and spending a lot of time streaming movies and TV shows. Netflix just released The Letter for The King, so we thought we might give that a shot. It’s based on a Dutch novel written in 1962 and while I’m not familiar with it, some have complained the show takes liberties with the storyline.

Personally I’ve found it entertaining, and if you like your fantasy a little less gruesome, with less sex and violence, then this show might be for you. The cast is engaging and the story is more or less Young Adult in nature, though that genre did not exist back in 1962. We haven’t got to the end yet, so please, no spoilers!

A lot of streaming services are offering up early releases, and we discovered that AcornTV is allowing a one month trial, so we jumped onto it. As a result, Carol and I have been catching up on the more recent episodes of Doc Martin, one of our favourites. Acorn has a number of UK series as well as some Aussie imports, so we’ve made ourselves familiar with a new series starring Lucy Lawless (My Life is Murder), which came as a welcome surprise.

Next up? Who can say, there’s almost too much to pick from. How about you? Have you been streaming anything interesting?

Many of us have had to self-isolate or been laid off in the last few days, causing stress and anxiety. I really want to help out my readers, and I felt the best thing that I could do is to share a book with you.

Simply choose which one of my books listed below you would like to read, and I will send you a digital download link for free. (Please be patient as I have to manually send out the links)

I hope that we all stay healthy and safe throughout this trying time.

Originally, Mercerian Tales: Stories of the Past was conceived to give more background to some of the characters featured in the Heir to the Crown series. In particular, I wanted to explain the relationship between Albreda and Baron Fitzwilliam, and yet, at the same time, I had untold tales of Beverly and Gerald. These stories, along with others, eventually made their way into Mercerian Tales, but I always felt there was more to tell.

Albreda is a crucial figure in the series, and I felt compelled to tell her tale. This led to the creation of The Call of Magic. It doesn’t give away all her secrets, and also has the advantage of leaving room for further tales, but it does go a long way to explain how this ‘Wild Mage’ came to be and allowed me to flesh out her character to a much greater depth.

Beverly and Gerald both owe a lot of their opinions and philosophy to Baron Fitzwilliam, and yet his background was still relatively unexplored. This eventually led me to develop The Making of a Man, which tells the story of a young Richard Fitzwilliam from his birth, to his father’s death, and all the influences he had on his life in between.

Will there be other Mercerian Tales? Most likely, but I’m not sure when as I have a lot on my plate at this point in time. Eventually, I’d like to revisit Fitz, perhaps to show his relationship with his beloved Evelyn, and I’ve yet to explore Albreda unleashing the rest of her powers. I even have a brief outline featuring Urgon and how he became chieftain of the Orcs of the Artisan Hills.

This week has been terribly unproductive compared to most. I didn’t expand on my word count to any significant degree but did manage to finish edits on Defender of the Crown, as well as flesh out some scenes for Fury of the Crown, which I will soon be starting on. The Heir to the Crown series is quite complex, at least as far as the overall story arc. Individually, each book tells its own story, though there are, of course, interlocking storylines that progress as the series advances.

This is more evident in Defender of the Crown, as not every plotline is wrapped up at the end. This also means that Fury can jump right back into the action. In one sense, it’s similar to the relationship between Shadow of the Crown and Fate of the Crown, though Fury still has two more books to wrap up the middle part of the overall series, whereas Fate completed the first part of Heir to the Crown.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, eventually, there will be fifteen main books in the Heir to the Crown series, organized into three overall storylines of five books each. Books one to five tells the story of Anna’s ascension to the Crown of Merceria. Books six to ten will cover…well, you’ll just have to wait and see, I don’t want to spoil the ending. The last group of stories, books eleven to fifteen, will occur sometime after these events, though they will still involve your favourite characters.

By the way, the aforementioned book list does not include any of the Mercerian Tales, so you can look forward to quite a few more stories of Merceria.

Until next time, Happy reading!

Check out these featured books that are free, discounted, or new releases.
These authors are returning the favour by sharing my books with their readers.

While you wait for the release of my next book, here are some great stories for your TBR pile!

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