Steven A. McKay's Blog, page 3

Winter Novella: The Heretic of Haltemprice Priory Released!

THE HERETIC OF HALTEMPRICE PRIORY is out NOW! I’m sure you all know by now that I like to publish a winter novella/novelette every year starring my Forest Lord characters Tuck, John, and Will Scaflock. Sometimes I end up writing something even longer, like I did with Sworn to God and I’ve done it again with this new one which is more of a short novel at 47,000 words and, when you include last year’s tale The Christmas Hunt in the package you’re got more than 60,000 words of reading!

People seem to be enjoying it so far and, as you can see, the cover art looks incredible. I had asked my designers to include the little robin on the front originally but I felt it just didn’t quite fit with the story. I liked it too much to get completely rid of it though, so there it is on the back and I really love it. The bird does make an appearance in the tale, just as it did way back in the first of these winter stories, Friar Tuck and the Christmas Devil. It might be a cliché, but hey, it’s Christmas and everyone loves a robin, right?! It also has some extra significance as anyone who’s finished the book will know by now. I hope you liked that twist – I’m kind of terrified about it now!

Anyway, please do buy the book HERE and if you enjoy it leave a 5 star rating. If you’d like to buy a signed copy please let me know. A nice Xmas gift for someone who likes to read? Or just for yourself! Free Rock, Paper, Swords bookmark with each purchase! 

Writing a Winter Novella: Inspiration from Kilwinning Abbey

As you probably know, my 2024 winter novella is The Heretic of Haltemprice Priory. Haltemprice was once a real medieval priory but it’s long gone nowadays so I thought I’d just drive to somewhere similar near Glasgow. There’s a few places that might fit the bill, but Kilwinning Abbey looked great in pictures and I knew it was a nice road to get there, one I was quite familiar with from my days installing data loggers on gas meters.

It’s quite difficult writing and researching books about medieval buildings because there’s certain things not mentioned in books, and obviously many of them, including Kilwinning, are now ruins or even include modern building work on top of the older parts. Much of my new novella takes place in the priory undercroft for example, but there was no mention of one at Kilwinning, and I was surprised by one of the panels that said the Warming Room was the only place the monks were allowed a fire, when there was a very obvious fireplace in a different part of the complex. Still, walking around, just looking at the sheer scale of the buildings and how impressive they were really gave me a feel for what life must have been like for the monks. Imagine living in such a place in the dead of winter, wind whistling through gaps in the doors, only a little candlelight to brighten things as you were woken at midnight or 3AM to go and sing your prayers in the freezing cold church…Perfect setting for a spooky winter tale, eh?!

One thing that really caught my eye was a grand tomb with carved skulls and Latin inscriptions. These could easily be used on a heavy metal album cover, they were incredible and, again, really creepy!

Kilwinning Abbey is not staffed and free to walk around. Well worth a visit in my opinion, especially since there’s a lovely restaurant just a minute’s walk away, The Corner House, where we had a hearty Scottish breakfast before heading home.

On with the photos, and please do pre-order The Heretic of Haltemprice Priory HERE to see how Tuck, John, and Will enjoyed their time (or not) in a similar building, filled with Gregorian chants and strange happenings!

Remember you must die! Death hastens! Time Flies! Judgement is coming!

COVER REVEAL & Pre-order – The Heretic of Haltemprice Priory

If you’re a fan of my winter novellas (the ones where Tuck, John, and Will Scaflock spend the Christmas period solving mysteries and having adventures) you probably weren’t happy that I didn’t publish one last year. Well, I did, but The Christmas Hunt was only available for readers on my Email List. Praise Santa, because this year I’m publishing TWO winter tales on November 15th! The Heretic of Haltemprice Priory is available to pre-order NOW and it comes with The Christmas Hunt as an added bonus so it’s a good value package I think. There’s also a very exciting (and scary for me) twist at the end of Heretic which I hope you all really enjoy!

—>>>Pre-order the book HERE worldwide.<<

Here’s the artwork and, as always, my cover designers at More Visual have outdone themselves. I love it! What do you think? The paperback edition will hopefully be available to order around the same time as the Kindle edition publishes on November 15th.

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TWO EXCITING WINTER TALES IN ONE COLLECTION!

England, c. AD 1330
Winter fast approaches in East Yorkshire and the dark, cold nights have brought more than just frost to the newly founded Haltemprice Priory. An oppressive pall hangs over the area like a smothering blanket, prompting one of the anxious monks to seek help from an old friend.
Robert Stafford, a friar from nearby Wakefield, has some experience in dealing with strange mysteries, having helped solve a number over the past few years. As he settles into Haltemprice however, things begin to escalate and the friar fears he might have bitten off far more than he can chew this time. Calling on his friends Will Scaflock and the bailiff John Little to work with him it seems they may face more than just earthly enemies as they battle the gloom crushing the spirit, and perhaps the very life, from the inhabitants of the priory.
One monk with a library of eldritch books seems to know much about the progressively more deadly troubles afflicting windswept, frostbitten Haltemprice, but is he a lunatic, a heretic, a murderer, or perhaps something even more terrifying?

The Heretic of Haltemprice is the ideal story for a stormy winter evening beside the fire, but if that’s not enough, this collection also includes a second, bonus tale, The Christmas Hunt!
Will Scaflock has gone missing after chasing outlaws off his property and, as the day draws to a close with no sign of his return two old friends arm themselves and set out in the midst of a blizzard to find him. There’s sure to be a Christmas miracle in this fast-paced, snowy adventure, but it might not be what John Little and his friends expected!

New Release: _The Vengeance of Merlin_ Is Here!

Two years after I published Wrath of the Picts – Bellicus, Duro, and Cai are back! Today The Vengeance of Merlin is released and you can buy it/ read it free with Kindle Unlimited at the link below!

https://mybook.to/VengeanceOfMerlin

I had a lot of fun writing this novel. It was really good to be back in Dun Breatann with the warrior druid and his companions, even if there’s some pretty nasty stuff going on and some horrible people. Some of them might finally get what they deserve but you’ll need to read the book to find out who!

It’s always a nerve-racking experience when your new book comes out and you wait to see if people like it or not. Thankfully Vengeance of Merlin has already had a fantastic review from David’s Book Blurg, so I know at least one person enjoyed it! “Has your heart in your throat from the first page to last…the emotion pours off the page affecting the reader as much as those within the tale”, says David – check out his fantastic full review HERE.

You may also notice one of the biggest names in historical fiction has endorsed the book too. I first spoke with Griff Hosker when we interviewed him on our podcast Rock, Paper, Swords and his work ethic is so inspiring. He doesn’t just write FAST, he writes great stuff, so I was overjoyed when he read The Vengeance of Merlin and left a great review for it on Goodreads.

I love the cover art!

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THANK YOU very much if you’ve already pre-ordered or bought TVOM. I really hope you enjoy it as much as the previous Warrior Druid of Britain novels! If you do, PLEASE leave a 5 star review on Amazon and/or Goodreads if you can, it truly is a great help and very much appreciated.

Next up will be a new winter novella starring Tuck, John, and Scarlet. You can find out the title of that if you check the “Also By Steven A. McKay” section at the back of The Vengeance of Merlin. Look out for it publishing sometime in November!

Cheers all!

Steven

Meeting Literary Legends: My HNS Conference Experience

Being a full-time author for the past couple of years I don’t get out the house as much as I used to so it was quite an adventure for me to travel all the way to Devon for this year’s Historical Novel Society Conference 2024 which was held on September 6-8. I was there with Matthew Harffy and Rock, Paper, Swords! as the official podcast partner, access all areas! Heading down on the train from Glasgow I first went to Matthew’s house on the Thursday where we visited a Saxon church and a medieval tithe barn near his house (meeting an artist called Robbie Murdoch, check his work out on Instagram under robbiemurdoch.co.uk) made sure we had our equipment all working, had a beer, and he thrashed me at FIFA on the Playstation.

Matthew did not enjoy it when someone commented on me being taller than him so every other photo after this one he stood on tiptoes or even a step in one case!

On Friday we drove to Dartington Hall in Devon but on the way we stopped to visit one of Wessex’s huge white horses (as featured on the cover of my forthcoming novel King of Wessex), went to Wells Cathedral where we recorded us walking around and talking about it only to discover Matthew hadn’t turned on the mics! Doh! Had lunch in Exeter at the Ship Inn and then Matthew almost crashed on a roundabout before we arrived safely at the conference and found our way to our accommodation.

Who recognises this staircase in Wells Cathedral? Robin Hood connection! Chained books in the cathedral library! A normal sized door with a hobbit in front of it.

As you can see, the accommodation wasn’t fancy – a bed, desk, shared toilets and shower room, but it was clean and comfy and did everything we needed. Michael Jecks was in the same accommodation – we’d interviewed him on the podcast before so it was great to see a familiar face. We had a few beers with him on the Friday night (and the Saturday night!) and he was great company.

We’d been invited by Sharon Bennett Connolly and Derek Birks (hosts of the Slice of Medieval podcast) to have dinner in the White Hart pub on the Friday. It was a great end to the first day and we were really looking forward to starting our interviews on the Saturday!

And just look who we chatted to after his keynote speech – Bernard Cornwell! We met him when he first arrived and he actually recognised us which was nice. We never got to talk to him for long because he’d delivered his speech then signed a ton of books for people then had to head off, but it was fantastic to meet our hero in person and he was as kind and friendly as he’d been when we interviewed him ages ago on the podcast. He even found it funny when we forgot to remove his lapel microphone and Matthew had to chase after him to get it back (something which also happened with Elizabeth Chadwick and I spent ages hunting all over for her before finding her in the same building we were in originally)!

“‘Oi, give us back our mic, Bernard!”

Matthew was on a panel with Sharon BC, Derek B, Elizabeth Chadwick, and David Gilman on the Saturday afternoon before they signed copies of their books for readers. The double doors to the right in the pic above are where we were conducting our interviews, off in the library, nice and secluded.

Chatting to David Gilman, friend of the show and lovely guy!

We interviewed quite a few people on the Saturday (I’ll list them all at the end with links to listen or watch the videos) and then it was time for the gala dinner in Dartington’s great hall. The food was great, as was the company as we were at a table with AD Rhine, MJ Porter, and Kate Quinn. Historian Ian Mortimer delivered a fun speech and then there was some music from the Sea Gals singing sea shanties.

We had a good night on the Saturday again, sharing drinks with some of the other authors as well as Craig Lye, one of the editors at Canelo who was also in our accommodation!

On the Sunday we interviewed Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander series! She was staying in Dartington so we were able to talk to her for a good quarter of an hour in our library studio and she was just lovely. She told us she listens to DWARF METAL when she writes her books which we thought was brilliant – the band’s called Wind Rose, check them out it’s fun stuff.

The Conference was finally over on Sunday afternoon and we gathered up our equipment, said our goodbyes to everyone (sharing a drink with David Gilman) and then headed back to Matthew’s house where I spent the night again before catching the first of 4 trains back to Glasgow!

I believe he’s actually wearing his wife’s high heels in this photo.

My 9 hour train journey home was a bit of nightmare with late and crowded trains and the Carlisle – Glasgow service cancelled! This guy with his Wolf’s Head livened things up though.

I have to say, I had an absolutely FANTASTIC time at the Historical Novel Society Conference. It was amazing to be surrounded by so many people who are interested in, and write about, the same things I do. The setting was beautiful (I regret not taking a ton more photos of the grounds but we were busy pretty much the whole time), the attendees were friendly, the food was good, and the drinks were flowing. I honestly spent most of the time there just laughing, it was brilliant.

I’d like to thank Matthew and his wife for putting me up twice and making things nice for me at their place. HUGE thanks also to Conference organiser Tracey Warr for inviting us, and also to Richard Lee, founder and chairman of the HNS, for being a great host. I’ve been Facebook friends with him since Wolf’s Head and he’s been helpful and kind that whole time so it was good to meet him at last. If you were ever wondering if you should go along to an HNS Conference – DO IT! You will have the best time and meet a ton of lovely people. You can find out more about the Historical Novel Society and become a member HERE.

If you haven’t already listened to/watched all our interviews we recorded below is a list of them all with links to the Rock, Paper, Swords! podcast feed and also a YouTube playlist with them all handily gathered together.

YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaX8sVJntF4BHO8nT9a94wZGdi9wujpYG

Ian Mortimer – historian and novelist. Time Traveller’s Guides!

Bernard Cornwell – HUGE NEWS about Uhtred and the Last Kingdom?!

MJ Porter, prolific histfic author!

David Gilman – master of war!

Elizabeth Chadwick!

Jane Johnson – George RR Martin, LoTR movies, and novelist!

3 Roman ladies – Kate Quinn, Alison Morton, Ruth Downie!

Diana Gabaldon – Outlander, Red Ant’s Head, Dwarf metal!

Roving interviews 1 – A.D. Rhine, C.C. Humphrey’s, Tracey Warr

Roving interviews 2 – Michael Jecks, Christopher M. Cevasco, Kelly Urgan, Victoria Hopkins

Roving interviews 3 – Patricia Bracewell, Elizabeth R. Andersen, Jan Foster

You thought I was lying about him standing on a step didn’t you?

Next up for me, The Vengeance of Merlin will be published on October 7th! Pre-order your copy HERE, and get ready for another exciting adventure with Bellicus, Duro, and Cai!

HNS Conference interview with Matthew Harffy and yours truly

Conference Interview: Rock, Paper, Swords! Podcast with Matthew Harffy & Steven A. McKay

The Vengeance of Merlin – PRE-ORDER NOW!

Hi everyone! You can now pre-order the Kindle edition of my brand new Warrior Druid of Britain novel, The Vengeance of Merlin! You will be able to read it on October 7th but I’d really, really appreciate it if you pre-order as that helps it move up Amazon’s charts and that in turn lets other readers see it.

LINK —>>https://mybook.to/VengeanceOfMerlin

There will, of course, be a paperback version but that’s not quite ready to go yet. Hopefully you’ll be able to buy it at the same time as the ebook is released. I will be doing signed copies as I always do, just email me (or message me on Facebook or X) and let me know you want one and I’ll add you to my list.

There’s no rest for the wicked so I’m now going to start writing another Tuck/John/Scarlet winter novella – if you enjoy my books there’ll be plenty for you to read in the coming months! THANK YOU ALL for your continued support, I truly appreciate it.

WARRIOR DRUID BOOK 6 – title AND cover reveal!

It’s been a couple of years now since I last published one of my Warrior Druid of Britain novels but the wait is finally over! Well, it should be come early October which is when I’m hoping to publish the sixth instalment titled The Vengeance of Merlin. The cover has been created as always by the excellent people at More Visual – check them out if you need some fantastic artwork. I hope you’ll agree with me that this cover is one of the best of the series so far, it’s very eye-catching and atmospheric!

As I say, I’m hoping to publish the book in October with the pre-order going live a few weeks before then. At the moment the book is with my editor and, while I await her instructions, I’ve started book 7 so there won’t be another two year gap between Druid novels! On top of that, I’m also expecting to publish TWO Forest Lord winter novellas this November/December – a brand new one that hasn’t been written yet, and The Christmas Hunt which I gave away for free to my email list subscribers (join HERE if you haven’t already). Both will come out in the one Kindle/paperback package, all being well, so you won’t be expected to pay twice for them, don’t worry.

I only have a rough blurb for The Vengeance of Merlin so far, it’ll probably be tweaked in the coming weeks but, for now, here it is!

The BRAND NEW instalment in the thrilling Warrior Druid of Britain Chronicles sees Bellicus of Dun Breatann facing not only bloodthirsty enemies, but also the biggest decision of his life…

AD 434 – Caer Legion, Western Britain

A heinous crime is perpetrated against the druids of Britain and a grief-stricken Bellicus suddenly finds his world changing in ways he never expected. Before he can begin to make sense of things the terrible news that the Picts have allied with the Saxons and now march on Dun Breatann together spurs the warrior-druid into action, and soon he and his companions are racing homewards.

Horsa, fearsome leader of the sea-wolves, promises to use any tactic – including torture and dark magic –  against Bellicus’s terrified Damnonii people who are being slaughtered and dragged from their burnt out villages to please the Saxons’ brutal gods.

Bellicus, his friend Duro, and the great war-dog Cai will need all their bravery, experience, and cunning to stand against the insane cruelty of the raiders which even shocks their own allies in the Pictish army.

Many will fall as the fighting rages, but can bonds of loyalty, friendship, and family be enough to save Queen Narina and the people of Dun Breatann from the grim fate their enemies have planned for them?

This new Warrior Druid of Britain adventure is sure to delight lovers of fast-paced historical fiction, especially readers of Peter Gibbons, Griff Hosker and Bernard Cornwell.

Saxons and Picts come together to conquer Northern Britain, but when the war is over they must face the vengeance of Merlin!

Don’t forget THE DRUID is just 99p in the UK this August so grab that now if you haven’t read it yet. Free worldwide if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber! Also, my latest novel Sword of the Saxons is on special offer at £1.99 in the UK so, again, grab it now while it’s cheap.

Superb new review for Sword of the Saxons!

Book Corner: Sword of the Saxons by Steven A. McKay

Sword of the Saxons is out NOW!

SWORD OF THE SAXONS is out today! 

I had a great time writing this one – Alfred the Great had such an interesting life and so many exciting things happened in Wessex at that time so it made my job much easier than it might have been. If you enjoyed The Heathen Horde I think you’ll love this one. Please do buy a copy on ebook or paperback HERE and, as ever, leave a review wherever you can if you enjoy the read!

If you would like to read a review of the novel before you dive in, you can find an absolutely stunning one from David’s Book Blurg HERE – “To say it’s a 5* read is an understatement so lets go ahead for a David’s Book Blurg first and say its a 5* PLUS read!..it just ticks so many boxes and is so beautifully executed.”

I’ll take that! 

I hope you will check out the book today, and perhaps even share my social media posts about it? Shares and reviews are always a MASSIVE boost, so thank you in advance to anyone who can help me out! Thank you too if you pre-ordered the book, it’s very much appreciated.

Cheers!

Steven