Alex Marchant's Blog, page 26
October 2, 2018
Happy Birthday to King #RichardIII – & a celebration #Kindle #Countdown for mybook.to/TheKingsMan
Today it’s King Richard III’s 566th birthday – and also the first anniversary of publication of The Order of the White Boar.
I’m lucky enough to be spending the day at the King’s primary home in the north of England, at Middleham Castle, where his banner will be flying proudly in honour of the day and cake will be cut.
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I will also be celebrating the day with a special promotion for The King’s Man, sequel to The Order. Described as “a book full of action, heart, fire and hope”, The King’s Man picks up Matthew Wansford’s story just days after the end of The Order and follows Richard Plantagenet in the days, months and years after his brother King Edward IV’s death.
The King’s Man will be on a Kindle Countdown deal, with the ebook available for several days at a discount, starting at 99p / 99c. Time to grab a copy for yourself and/or let your friends know.
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But it is in The Order of the White Boar that we celebrate Richard’s birthday with him. And it’s a big birthday…
“His Grace’s thirtieth birthday…
The day began with a special Mass and sermon from Sir William in the village church, giving thanks for preserving the Duke through this his thirtieth year. It was attended by local noble families, the mayor of York, and other dignitaries from the city and surrounding towns.
All at the castle were given another holiday to celebrate along with the villagers. This time it involved sports and competitions, in archery and feats of arms, followed by feasting and entertainments. A dancing bear was brought from York especially for the evening. Then the ladies and gentlemen also danced, and music continued late into the night.
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As the torches began to splutter out, but before we were left with just the dark red glow of the fire to cast shadows into the rafters of the great hall, the Duke rose.
After a few words of thanks to those who were still awake, he bowed deeply. Then, taking the hand of his wife, he led her from the hall into their private chambers. Edward, blinking rapidly and almost tripping over his feet in his tiredness, followed them. The dying light of the torches glinted off the brand new cloth-of-gold tunic he had been given by his father to mark the occasion.
Before long the rest of the company also retired. Within seconds of us reaching our mattresses, Roger’s gentle snores began to break the darkness and the deep breathing of our fellow pages slowed as one by one they too fell asleep. But I lay awake a little longer, turning over in my fingers the gold coin the Duke had presented to each of us in celebration of his special day. I offered up silent thanks for having been a part of it – and also for our being excused Mass and morning lessons the next day….”
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Happy birthday Your Grace!
*Of course the coin depicted is a coin of King Richard himself – not the one given out at his thirtieth birthday celebrations… that would involve a space/time paradox worthy of Dr Who and with no place in a historical novel!
October 1, 2018
On the eve of His Grace #RichardIII’s birthday… a reminder
I’m heading back to the fifteenth century tomorrow.
It’s been too long since I’ve been there – with all the calls on my time in the twenty-first century – family, day-job, harvesting and dealing with the goodies from our garden and the hedgerows round about. What a year it’s been for apples on our trees – lots of mincemeat and spiced apple & cider jelly made, and the wonderful warm aroma of the ripe apples enveloping me as I type. (I just hope that doesn’t mean the ones we’re planning to store are already on the turn!)
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Some of the crop from our James Grieve apple tree
But tomorrow I’ll be forgetting about all of that as I drive up through north Yorkshire to King Richard’s beloved Middleham Castle in Wensleydale.
The manager at the castle, Gill Savage, and her team are celebrating King Richard’s 566th birthday tomorrow with a cake, and the now-traditional flying of his standard (provided by the Richard III Society) from the tallest tower. And they’ve very kindly invited me to join them to cut the cake on His Grace’s behalf.
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I’m delighted to be asked, as you can imagine – to have an excuse to visit Middleham on such a special day – and also hopefully to have the chance to eat some cake!
All this means that I will be away from social media for the day (the phone signal is at best intermittent at the castle) and unless I can figure out how to time some posts very quickly(!), I won’t have a chance to remind you that The King’s Man begins an Amazon Kindle countdown promotion tomorrow in celebration of His Grace’s happy anniversary.
The promo will run for a few days, but the best deal is to be had on the first day: the second book of Matthew Wansford’s adventures – called “a brilliant, gripping, heart-wrenching sequel” – will be on sale for just 99p or 99c. An ideal time to grab an ebook for yourself or recommend it to a friend!
And in the next couple of days I’ll also be making a small announcement that may be of interest to anyone who enjoys Ricardian-inspired fiction….
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September 30, 2018
Richard III
In the week in which we celebrate King Richard’s 566th birthday, here’s a great review of the latest biography of the King by Matthew Lewis.
I’m very much looking forward to reading it myself. It sounds a refreshing change (as expected) from the usual ‘biographies’ that rely so heavily on the later, bias-laden reports from More and later Tudor writers.
Richard III by Matthew Lewis
Another biography on Richard III I hear you say? Well I can tell you that this is not just any other book on Richard III! While books in the past have focused primarily on the last few years of Richard’s life, specifically during his Kingship and ultimate death, Matthew Lewis focuses on Richard’s whole life, from birth, through his formative years to the events leading up to his time as King.
Lewis focuses a great deal of attention on Richard’s youth and time growing up during the turbulent Wars of the Roses. It is often assumed that Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the future Richard III, was a man during the period of the famous Wars of the Roses – however Lewis points out that this is clearly not the case. Born in 1452 Richard was a boy and then a teenager when Henry VI lost…
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September 28, 2018
Celebrating King #RichardIII’s birthday in style!
Where will you be on Tuesday 2nd October to celebrate King Richard’s 566th birthday?
If you’re close enough, it would be lovely if you could join me at his beloved Middleham Castle from around 10 am. His Grace’s standard will be flying from the topmost tower to mark the special day.
And I’m told there will be cake 
In fact, I’ve kindly been asked to cut the cake on His Grace’s behalf. I wonder whether there will be a sword handy to do it with…
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Thank you so much to Gill and Steph at the Castle for the invitation (and the cake!) 
And don’t forget, to mark this special day, The King’s Man ebook will be on a special Amazon Kindle countdown deal.
Loyaulte me lie!
https://www.facebook.com/middlehamcastle/
myBook.to/WhiteBoar and mybook.to/TheKingsMan
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September 27, 2018
Flash sale! #KindleCountdown deal on #Amazon.co.uk – today only!
FLASH SALE!!!
5* “The best historical fiction I’ve read in years”
‘The Order of the White Boar’ ebook is on a UK Kindle Countdown promotion today for just a few hours more!
King Richard III as you’ve never seen him before!
Grab yourself a copy – tell all your friends!
From 99p.
And from Tuesday 2 October, the sequel ‘The King’s Man’ will also be on a #KindleCountdown deal in the UK and USA to celebrate King Richard’s birthday. Pop the date in your diary!
myBook.to/WhiteBoar and mybook.to/TheKingsMan
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September 25, 2018
‘The Order of the White Boar’ on #KindleCountdown #promo – one day only!
Just a quick heads up…
‘The Order of the White Boar’ will be on a Kindle ebook Countdown promotion later this week – for one day only!
Starting at 12 am on Thursday 27th September, it will be available through Amazon.co.uk for just 99p for 12 hours, then at £1.99 for a further 12 hours.*
So please do share this post and tell all your friends and acquaintances (and relevant Facebook and other groups!) who you think may be interested. A chance for them to grab a bargain!
Coming soon – details of a countdown deal for ‘The King’s Man’ to celebrate King Richard’s birthday….
Loyaulte me lie!
*Amazon’s obscure rules means that’s all I can offer at the moment….
#RichardIII #AmazonCountdown #KindleBargain
myBook.to/WhiteBoar and mybook.to/TheKingsMan
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September 21, 2018
The Castle Gardens at Middleham
https://www.facebook.com/middlehamcastle/photos/a.894187890592041/2188023057875178/?type=3&theater
The gardens at Middleham are featured from time to time in The Order of the White Boar, once at Easter, when a sloping lawn is used for the annual Easter egg roll…
“Then, after the solemn Good Friday unveiling of the Cross and the Easter vigil, we pages begged eggs from the kitchens’ stockpiles, stored since Ash Wednesday. We boiled them hard in onion-skin dyes to roll them down the slopes in the Duchess’s pleasure gardens.
The squires looked on, with good humour or disdain, too old now for such childish pastimes. But, to my surprise, and to the laughter of the ladies who gathered to watch us, not only Masters Lovell, Ratcliffe and Kendall, and various other gentlemen, but Duke Richard himself joined us.
Each of the gentlemen had brought his own egg, except it seemed the Duke.
For a moment, there was disappointment on his face. Sir Francis declared, ‘Then this year I have a chance of winning.’
But the Duke called Alys forward from where she was waiting with the other ladies.
Her dimples showing, she stepped up to him, bringing from behind her back a small casket. As she lifted the lid, there, nestled in black velvet, was the largest egg I had ever seen. It was intricately painted with swirls of red, blue, green, gold, putting our home-dyed hens’ eggs to shame.
‘The swans of Pontefract obliged me,’ said the Duke, picking it up with a flourish.
He beckoned to his son, who had been fidgeting next to me as the scene played out and now leapt forward with sparkling eyes.
‘Come, Ed – help me. It is such a fine egg – we shall roll it together.’
So the Duke and his son swept all before them, not only racing the smaller eggs to the bottom of the slope, but surviving without so much as a hair’s crack.”
myBook.to/WhiteBoar
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September 16, 2018
Another cracking 5* #AmazonReview for ‘The Order of the White Boar’
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
5.0 out of 5 stars Young Adult fiction for everyone
15 September 2018
Matt is a youngster, small for his age, who is sent to Middleham Castle to train in the knightly arts. He’s looked down upon by the other boys who see him as merely a merchant’s son but his gift for singing makes him a favourite of Richard, the man who will be King Richard III. He makes a few friends, including Richard’s delicate son Edward, and with them forms The Order of the White Boar. He also makes some powerful enemies.
This is told from the point of view of the boy and is intended as Young Adult fiction but there’s a good story here which even an oldie like me can appreciate. There’s enough description to place the reader in the draughty halls of a Yorkshire castle, or the heart of the forest on a wild boar hunt, without it becoming tedious. I enjoy historical fiction and this one really hit the spot for me. I shall read the next in the series as soon as I have the chance.”
Thank you Ignite!
myBook.to/WhiteBoar
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September 14, 2018
‘The Beast of Middleham Moor’ -Ricardian short story still raising funds for #SAUK
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Andrew DarlingtoWe Love The Yorkshire Dales
17 hrs: captioned: ‘Looking across Wensleydale from Middleham High Moor this morning as the rain swept down the valley’
Of course, the beautiful landscape of Wensleydale features throughout The Order of the White Boar and is fleetingly glimpsed in The King’s Man, but of course the story Julie means is the revealingly titled ‘The Beast of Middleham Moor’.
So it seemed a very good time to remind everyone that ‘The Beast’ is still available to order as a pdf in return for a small donation (min. £1) to Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK), the charity that supports people with scoliosis and their families. The link for the fundraiser is:
https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AlexMarchant
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Every donation is gratefully received! Thank you
September 13, 2018
Jenny Alexander – guest post on #AuthorsElectric
Fellow children’s author Jenny Alexander kindly agreed to an interview for my regular Authors Electric blog spot.
My first thought on seeing details of her new books was ‘If only Matthew Wansford had had access to them when he first met a certain Hugh Soulsby….’
With so many children making the transition from primary school to the big, new wide world of senior school this month, it’s a very timely re-publication of these books.
https://authorselectric.blogspot.com/2018/09/self-publishing-your-out-of-print.html
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