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Published on September 06, 2021 06:02

Barnet Medieval Festival – 550th anniversary!

In just six days time, all being well, I’ll be reading from and selling my books (and those of other authors) at Barnet Medieval Festival.

!It’s been three years since my last visit (my very first stall at a battle re-enactment), and I can’t wait! It was a fantastic weekend in 2018, and I’m sure this one will be even bigger and better. After all it’s the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Barnet – and after covid delays, I’m sure everyone will be raring to get going!

Do come along and say hello it you’re there – and maybe pre-order your copy of ‘King in Waiting’ – there will be a copy on hand for inspection and a list for pre-orders

Alex Marchant is author of two books telling the story of the real King Richard III for children aged 10+, The Order of the White Boar and The King’s Man, and editor of Grant Me the Carving of My Name and Right Trusty and Well Beloved…, two anthologies of short fiction inspired by the king, sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK).

A third book in the ‘White Boar’ sequence, King in Waiting, is currrently available for pre-order and will be published on 17 September 2021, with the fourth, Sons of York, due out in 2022. Alex has also published a standalone timeslip novel for readers aged 10+, Time out of Time.

Alex’s books can be found on Amazon at:

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Published on September 05, 2021 07:58

‘The Lost King’ – first picture and full details

Over the past few days, I’ve made an exciting announcement of my own (see https://alexmarchantblog.wordpress.com/2021/08/31/king-in-waiting-cover-reveal-and-now-available-for-pre-order/), but today’s via the Richard III Society no doubt tops that!

It brings more news of a film project that has been long awaited by many of us – Steve Coogan’s film about the discovery of King Richard III’s grave by Philippa Langley and her colleagues in the Looking for Richard Project team – John Ashdown-Hill, Annette Carson and David and Wendy Johnson.

I for one can’t wait for the true story to be shown on film, with the light touch of an accomplished film-maker (think Philomena, Stan & Ollie) and the input of Philippa herself – and for King Richard to be presented in a more realistic, and therefore more positive way than has so far been usual.

The following is the press release from the film company involved – and the first official picture from the production.

FIRST LOOK!

“Pathe today released the first image from The Lost King, starring Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winning actress Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water, Blue Jasmine, Happy-Go-Lucky) in the lead role of Philippa Langley.

Joining Sally Hawkins are Steve Coogan (Stan & Ollie, Philomena) in the role of Philippa’s husband John Langley; and Harry Lloyd in the role of Richard III.

The film reunites the Oscar nominated and BAFTA winning creative team behind box office and critical hit, Philomena – director Stephen Frears and writers Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope.

The Lost King tells the remarkable true story of how one ‘ordinary’ woman discovered the long-lost remains of King Richard III. The film recently finished shooting in Edinburgh and Leicester and will be released in cinemas nationwide next year, the 10th anniversary of the discovery.

In 2012, having been lost for over 500 years, the remains of King Richard III were discovered beneath a car park in Leicester. The search had been orchestrated by an amateur historian, Philippa Langley, whose unrelenting research had been met with incomprehension by her friends and family and with scepticism by experts and academics. The Lost King is the life affirming true story of a woman who refused to be ignored and who took on the country’s most eminent historians, forcing them to think again about one of the most infamous kings in England’s history.

The film is produced by Steve Coogan, Christine Langan (The Queen) and Dan Winch (A Very English Scandal) and is a Baby Cow production for Pathe, BBC Film, Ingenious Media and Screen Scotland. Executive Producers are Cameron McCracken and Jenny Borgars for Pathe; Rose Garnett for BBC Film; Andrea Scarso for Ingenious; Jeff Pope and Philippa Langley. The film was co-produced by Wendy Griffin.”

Sally Hawkins and Harry Lloyd in The Lost King

Alex Marchant is author of two books telling the story of the real King Richard III for children aged 10+, The Order of the White Boar and The King’s Man, and editor of Grant Me the Carving of My Name and Right Trusty and Well Beloved…, two anthologies of short fiction inspired by the king, sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK).

A third book in the ‘White Boar’ sequence, King in Waiting, is currrently available for pre-order and will be published on 17 September 2021, with the fourth, Sons of York, due out in 2022. Alex has also published a standalone timeslip novel for readers aged 10+, Time out of Time.

Alex’s books can be found on Amazon at:

Instagram: AlexMarchantAuthor

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Published on September 01, 2021 10:11

‘King in Waiting’ – cover reveal! And now available for pre-order…

I’m delighted to reveal the cover for King in Waiting – at last!

As with the previous books in The Order of the White Boar sequence, this has been designed by the very talented Ollie Bennett of MoreVisual.

I hope it offers an intriguing hint or two as to what may be contained within the novel’s pages… Do let me know what you think!

The full cover will soon be available, but in the meantime, the following blurb will give you a flavour of what the book has in store…

1486

These are dangerous days for the Order of the White Boar

King Richard III has been betrayed and killed

Victorious Henry Tudor sits uneasily on the throne of England

Richard’s loyal friend, Francis Lovell, plots revenge

Alys Langdown, ward of the Queen, awaits an unknown fate

And ever-loyal Matthew Wansford serves his new master, Edward Plantagenet, true King of England – who now must seek his own road …

From exile in Flanders to an uncertain welcome over the sea – what challenges lie ahead for the Order and for the King in Waiting?

Follow Matthew and his friends’ adventures in Book 3 of The Order of the White Boar

‘Evocative and intriguing… brings the uncertain and dangerous times after the Battle of Bosworth to life’ – Wendy Johnson, member of the Looking for Richard Project

‘A wonderful work of historical fiction for both children and adults’ – Ricardian Bulletin of the Richard III Society

I’m also very pleased to say that the ebook is now also available for pre-order on Amazon at:

The ebook will be delivered to your Kindle on publication day – 17 September – which also happens to be the likely date of birth of one of my leading men…

Paperback is also due the same day from Amazon – or please contact me to order copies (signed if you wish): AlexMarchant84@gmail.com or DM me via Facebook or Twitter.

I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of the book!

Alex Marchant is author of two books telling the story of the real King Richard III for children aged 10+, The Order of the White Boar and The King’s Man, and editor of Grant Me the Carving of My Name and Right Trusty and Well Beloved…, two anthologies of short fiction inspired by the king, sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK).

A third book in the ‘White Boar’ sequence, King in Waiting, is currrently available for pre-order and will be published on 17 September 2021, with the fourth, Sons of York, due out in 2022. Alex has also published a standalone timeslip novel for readers aged 10+, Time out of Time.

Alex’s books can be found on Amazon at:

Instagram: AlexMarchantAuthor

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Published on August 31, 2021 02:28

‘It’s a small world’ – or is it? Meeting a fellow ‘Ewellian’!

‘It’s a small world!’

I’ve often said that on my travels, even if I don’t really believe it. It is of course a very large world we live on, and crammed full of fantastic places and people, most of which I will never visit or meet.

But, figuratively speaking, it does sometimes seem rather small. Such as when a friend some years ago was travelling deep in rural Kashmir and bumped into someone who had lived in the room next door-but-one to hers in her hall at university. Or an incident that happened to me this weekend.

I’ve just returned (and am recovering) from a fantastic, if rather hectic weekend at Middleham Castle! Being an English bank holiday weekend in a major tourist area, it was pretty busy – even if some people were no doubt distracted to the Leyburn and Masham shows on Saturday and the town charity football match on the Sunday. Thank you to Gill for once again inviting me to set up my stall (alongside fellow author Marla Skidmore) outside the castle gatehouse, and to everyone who came along and bought (or pre-ordered) my books – I hope you enjoy them and also that you will consider posting a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads if you do (thanks in advance!)

As you can see from the photo (many thanks to Sue English for sharing it), I all but sold out of Time out of Time, as well as selling plenty of my White Boar books, and even collecting pre-orders for King in Waiting (watch out for the cover reveal and details for pre-ordering via Amazon very soon… I’m also taking pre-orders of signed (or unsigned) paperback by email or direct message, of course: AlexMarchant84@gmail.com or (https://www.facebook.com/AlexMarchantAuthor/ and https://twitter.com/AlexMarchant84).

But I’d like to send a special shout-out to the dad of Rory and Emilia, who bought both White Boar books for them yesterday because they know the castle very well – then was compelled to buy Time out of Time when he discovered it was set in Surrey.

‘Where in Surrey?’ he asked.

‘It’s a made-up village named Temperley, as “tempus” is Latin for “time”,’ I said. ‘In the story it lies somewhere around Dorking and Leatherhead (“Downham” and “Weybury” in the book), but it’s mostly based on another village on the edge of the London suburbs.’

‘Which one?’ he asked.

‘A little place called Ewell,’ I replied.

‘That’s where I was born and grew up,’ he said.

So we had a chat about where and what places he might know. And I mentioned the pseudonymous river that flows along Allie’s valley. He even knew about one rather shattering historical event that is related late on in the book.

A packhorse bridge, on the Hogsmill (‘Reedsmill’) in Ewell

So, if you’re reading this, Rory and Emilia’s dad, I hope you’ll let me know if you recognize any more places/events in the book! It would be great to hear from you.

I’ve always felt my writing is rooted in a real sense of place, hence my need always to visit every location in my books – as I once detailed in a blog post for Mary Anne Yarde (https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2019/10/join-historical-fiction-author-alex.html). Even if those locations are fictionalized, as in Time out of Time. In King in Waiting (publishing 17 September 2021) and its sequel, Sons of York (spring 2022), the same holds true. Though it has to be admitted that for one particular location, the pandemic scuppered a return to a place visited by my characters that I hadn’t visited for more than 30 years. I hope it won’t be obvious in the way the scenes are written… but then again, places can change enormously in 500+ years, so hopefully I’ll get away with it!

This wasn’t that place…

How important to you is a sense of place in a book when you’re reading it? And do you have any particular locations you tie in with certain books – and maybe have travelled to specially because of that?

In my case, as a youngster I was especially keen to travel to Snowdonia – Tywyn, Cader Idris, the Dysynni valley, Barmouth – after reading The Grey King, the fourth in Susan Cooper’s marvellous The Dark is Rising sequence. Somehow I knew (before the days of the internet) that they were the only real places that were named in the books (bar some places peripheral to the stories, such as St Austell and Slough), rather than Ms Cooper using fictionalized versions. (I later discovered the villages of Trewissick and Huntercombe were based on Mevagissey in Cornwall and Dorney in Buckinghamshire – thank you, Master Google!)

Now, are there any other ‘Ewellians’ out there reading this?

Alex Marchant is author of two books telling the story of the real King Richard III for children aged 10+, The Order of the White Boar and The King’s Man, and editor of Grant Me the Carving of My Name and Right Trusty and Well Beloved…, two anthologies of short fiction inspired by the king, sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK).

A third book in the ‘White Boar’ sequence, King in Waiting, will be published on 17 September 2021, with the fourth, Sons of York, due out in 2022. Alex has also published a standalone timeslip novel for readers aged 10+, Time out of Time.

Alex’s books can be found on Amazon at:

Instagram: AlexMarchantAuthor

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Published on August 30, 2021 05:13

Future plans: Middleham, Barnet and York

On this day, when the focus of most Ricardians is on the sad events of 536 years ago – when King Richard III and many others lost their lives at the battle that became known as Bosworth – it’s been pleasant to start to turn my attention to other matters.

After eighteen months of being unable to plan far in the future because of the pandemic, it’s good to be lining up a number of events with a real hope of their not being cancelled. Of course, some are down to me alone (mainly the upcoming publication of King in Waiting on 17 September, which shouldn’t be derailed by outside events, only by my not being sufficiently organized…), but others have potentially been at the mercy of changing government arrangements or advice.

The first event of note is a return to Middleham Castle. I know how lucky I’ve been this summer to have been able to visit without difficulty – and this will be my third time there in a matter of weeks. As part of the town’s Bank Holiday weekend event on 28th and 29th August, I will be setting up my stall once again outside the castle to sign books and do readings (do request your favourite if you come along!)

I’m delighted that this time I’ll be joined by fellow author Marla Skidmore, author of the acclaimed Renaissance: Fall and Rise of a King.

Next up I’ll be attending the Barnet Medieval Festival, for the first time since 2018, just after publication of The King’s Man. This year of course is the 550th anniversary of the battle of Barnet, so it’s a very important commemoration. It takes place on 11th and 12th September, and anyone who is intending to come is encouraged to buy tickets in advance to be sure of getting in. It will be nice to attend an event when I can happily cheer on the victorious team!

Barnet 2018

Next of course will be publication of King in Waiting. Watch out for the reveal of the fantastic cover in the next few days and of course details of how to pre-order the ebook. The paperback should also be available from 17 September. No details have been confirmed yet, but I hope to have a little online launch a few days later.

And finally, the actual launch of King in Waiting will take place in the wonderful surroundings of the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall in York, during the members’ day of the Richard III Society. I can think of few better places to launch a book than a building that was in use when King Richard visited York and when Matthew Wansford lived in the city.

I hope to be able to meet you at one or another of these events. Failing that, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a full programme of events around the country next year – with not just one, but two new books to offer…

Alex Marchant is author of two books telling the story of the real King Richard III for children aged 10+, The Order of the White Boar and The King’s Man, and editor of Grant Me the Carving of My Name and Right Trusty and Well Beloved…, two anthologies of short fiction inspired by the king, sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK).

A third book in the ‘White Boar’ sequence, King in Waiting, will be published on 17 September 2021, with the fourth, Sons of York, due out in 2022. Alex has also published a standalone timeslip novel for readers aged 10+, Time out of Time.

Alex’s books can be found on Amazon at:

Instagram: AlexMarchantAuthor

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Published on August 22, 2021 09:16

Remembering Richard III

22 August 1485

Remember before God Richard III, King of England, and those who fell at Bosworth Field having kept faith.

Requiescat in Pace

Loyaulte me lie

Alex Marchant is author of two books telling the story of the real King Richard III for children aged 10+, The Order of the White Boar and The King’s Man, and editor of Grant Me the Carving of My Name and Right Trusty and Well Beloved…, two anthologies of short fiction inspired by the king, sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK). A third book in the ‘White Boar’ sequence, King in Waiting, will be published 17 September 2021. Alex has also published a standalone timeslip novel for readers aged 10+, Time out of Time.

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Published on August 22, 2021 03:43

Publication date for ‘King in Waiting’ … and another announcement!

Two weeks ago I made a couple of big announcements at the Indy Author Virtual Summer book fair on Facebook.

You may have seen them – or perhaps not… It was a lovely summer weekend (at least where I was) and not everyone will have been glued to their PC or bothered to scroll through all my or my fellow authors’ posts.

So in case you missed them…. here they are again!

I’m delighted to announce the publication date for the third book in the ‘Order of the White Boar’ sequence.

King in Waiting, long-awaited by some of you, will be published in ebook and paperback on 17th September 2021.

Three years in the writing (I’m not the speediest author around), the book continues the story of Matthew Wansford and his friends, Alys Langdown and Roger de Kynton, in the period after the fateful battle of Bosworth in August 1485, when the usurper Henry Tudor was attempting to consolidate his rule and found his famous dynasty. What will happen to these three loyal members of the Order of the White Boar in the ‘twilight between the golden sun of Yorkist rule and the dark unknown of the Tudor future’?

Sign up to my blog at https://alexmarchantblog.wordpress.com and/or follow my Facebook author page at https://www.facebook.com/AlexMarchantAuthor/ to see the fabulous cover of ‘King in Waiting’ as soon as it’s revealed, and also to read the blurb and discover how to pre-order once details are available.

And my other special announcement?

Only that a fourth book in the sequence will also be available before long. Full details of the provisionally titled ‘Sons of York’ will be available in due course on all my social media.

Alex Marchant is author of two books telling the story of the real King Richard III for children aged 10+, The Order of the White Boar and The King’s Man, and editor of Grant Me the Carving of My Name and Right Trusty and Well Beloved…, two anthologies of short fiction inspired by the king, sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK). A third book in the ‘White Boar’ sequence, King in Waiting, will be published 17 September 2021. Alex has also published a standalone timeslip novel for readers aged 10+, Time out of Time.

Alex’s books can be found on Amazon at:

Instagram: AlexMarchantAuthor

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Published on August 13, 2021 07:01

Haworth Launch for ‘Time out of Time’, 2pm, Saturday 14 August

I’m delighted to say that the official ‘bricks and mortar’ launch of Time out of Time will take place next Saturday, 14th August, from 2 pm at Haworth’s popular independent bookshop, Wave of Nostalgia.

Located on Main Street in Haworth, West Yorkshire, just a stone’s throw from Haworth Parsonage where the Bronte sisters lived, Wave of Nostalgia prides itself on supporting strong and inspiring women, and owner Diane Park focuses on fiction and non-fiction books by women and topics such as Suffragettes, Feminism, LGBT, Wellbeing and the Environment. The shop also sells handmade clothes and gifts designed by inspiring women, some local, all in the UK.

Given the environmental themes of Time out of Time (and the sheer amount of nostalgia within its pages!), I doubt there could be a better venue for launching it!

Overall I’m very proud that all three of my three books have been added to their ever-growing collection and am very much looking forward to meeting you at the launch if you can make it!

Sign up for the event at https://www.facebook.com/events/251868056764030/ – or just come along on the day!

Alex Marchant is author of two books telling the story of the real King Richard III for children aged 10+, The Order of the White Boar and The King’s Man, and editor of Grant Me the Carving of My Name and Right Trusty and Well Beloved…, two anthologies of short fiction inspired by the king, sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK). A third book in the ‘White Boar’ sequence, King in Waiting, will be published 17 September 2021. Alex has also published a standalone timeslip novel for readers aged 10+, Time out of Time.

Alex’s books can be found on Amazon at:

Instagram: AlexMarchantAuthor

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Published on August 07, 2021 05:18

Join me at the Indie Author Virtual Summer Fayre!

Have you signed up yet for this coming weekend’s Indie Author Virtual Summer Fayre?

I’ll be kicking things off at 12 noon on Saturday 31 July with my virtual launch of Time out of Time at https://www.facebook.com/groups/summerbookfayre/

And I’ll also be making a big announcement – one that many of you have been waiting for…

If you’ve already read Time out of Time, why not come along to tell everyone else about it (and about my other books, of course)? And, if not, then come along and join us to discover more about it and for your chance to win a copy of this ‘wonderful timeslip adventure’ and ‘marvellous read’, ideal for the long hot summer holidays!

18 other authors will be joining me over the weekend for competitions, giveaways, chat and more:

Be sure to ‘book’ your place at the fayre by visiting and joining the group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/summerbookfayre/

I look forward to seeing you there!

Alex Marchant is author of two books telling the story of the real King Richard III for children aged 10+, The Order of the White Boar and The King’s Man, and editor of Grant Me the Carving of My Name and Right Trusty and Well Beloved…, two anthologies of short fiction inspired by the king, sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK). A third book in the ‘White Boar’ sequence, King in Waiting, will be published in 2021. Alex has also published a standalone timeslip novel for readers aged 10+, Time out of Time.

Alex’s books can be found on Amazon at:

Instagram: AlexMarchantAuthor