Steven A. McKay's Blog, page 6

The Heathen Horde cover reveal and pre-order links!

My new book, the first in a trilogy about Alfred the Great, has a title (The Heathen Horde) and a cover, and you can pre-order it already although it won’t be published until October 26th!

Isn’t it just stunning? The water is so lifelike, it’s as if you’re swimming in it! I’m really happy with that artwork and hope it’ll attract readers. My publisher, Canelo, have done a fantastic job. You can pre-order it HERE on various formats, and below is the blurb. I can’t wait for you all to read this one. Alfred’s life was incredible and it’s been so much fun writing and researching it.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Northumbria, AD 864. Viking warlord Ragnar Lothbrok is captured and killed in brutal fashion, an event that will shape the future of the nation for decades to come.

Mercia, AD 868. Alfred, son of Wessex and heir to the throne, draws his first blood on the battlefield. It will not be his last.

A devastating scourge from the north is coming to Britain, one that will bring armies and entire kingdoms to their knees. Travelling along the whale road in their feared longships, the Great Heathen Army move fast, striking with a savagery unmatched, in a seemingly unstoppable tide of blood and iron.

One inexperienced warrior will prove the difference, a young man who will lead from the front and, in time, aspire to become the saviour of the Saxons… Alfred the Great.

A totally enrapturing historical adventure following the life of one of Britain’s most important ever kings, perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell and Simon Scarrow.

Jethro Tull – RökFlöte album review – Vikings!

This is something different for me! I’ve posted the odd book review over the years on here, but I don’t think I’ve ever written an album review for the site. Well, there’s a good reason for this one! As you may know, especially if you listen to Rock, Paper, Swords!, the podcast I co-host with Matthew Harffy, I am a HUGE fan of Jethro Tull. I even have a massive hand-drawn picture of singer/flautist/guitarist Ian Anderson on my study wall. So, when the band’s publicist sent us an advance copy of the brand new album, RökFlöte, I knew we’d have to deal with it properly – so I’ll post a review here, Matthew will post one on his own website, and we’re going to record one together as a bonus episode of the podcast. Why would Tull let us have an advance copy of their album, you ask? Well, Ian has very kindly agreed to come on Rock, Paper, Swords! Yep, Ian Anderson, the musical genius behind Tull – who have 60 MILLION ALBUM SALES – is coming on our podcast to chat about RökFlöte! Since the album has a Viking/Norse religion/mythology theme it seems absolutely perfect for us to interview him, as my new book is about Alfred the Great facing the Great Heathen Army, and Matthew’s latest series is about the first Viking invasion of England in AD 793. Rock, Paper, Swords! and Tull, a match made in, heaven Valhalla!

Ian (and the AC/DC boys) inspire me every day in my study!

I’ve decided to look at each track of RökFlöte individually, with a summing up at the end, so here we go. I’ve edited this from notes I took while listening to the album so please forgive the choppy style. I would work on it more but I’m supposed to be editing my new book right now, and I also have to edit the podcast episode to go out tomorrow!

Intro -Voluspo – This first track starts atmospherically with loud breathing (reminds me a bit of the heartbeat starting Tull’s unfairly maligned album A Passion Play), then spoken word by a volva, also puts me in mind of the Enslaved song “Fenris” which kicks off with a “Viking” spoken word section as well. Great flute melody here, then Ian Anderson speaks the lyrics. Driving drums, bass and guitar. Lovely flute solo which intertwines with a guitar lead. This is portentous and really sets the scene for the journey to come! The volva is an interesting addition for me, as I’ve used these characters in my Warrior Druid of Britain series. They were kind of “wise women”, something similar to the druids of Britain, and appear frequently in ancient Norse writings.

Ginnungagap – Again, flute kicks things off. This track has a real classic Tull style, with guitar and hi-hat building up in the background until…Another brilliant flute melody! This one would fit on the Roots to Branches album IMO. Good use of John O’Hara’s keyboards to enhance the main flute melody here, and some interweaving guitar and flute in between stop-start parts.

Allfather – Considering this song is about Odin it has a strangely jaunty melody to start and reminds me of the very early Tull stuff. Some really robust guitar riffing here with the flute over the top of it, some nice bass too. The lighter vocal sections work well with the meatier instrumental parts although it never completely takes off.

Feathered Consort – Flute starts again (see a theme here?!). There’s a strident beat, almost marching, for this song about Frigg/Freya. All the instruments are working well together, then it gives way to the verse with some keyboards doing most of the backing. This seems more like something from an Ian Anderson solo album to me.

Hammer on Hammer – Unsurprisingly, flute starts! There’s a gentle verse section which builds up and gets heavier, and the guitar is more to the front here with some tasty licks thrown in and a fantastic full-on solo from Joe Parrish-James that even has some harmonised parts (incidentally, the guitar tones are superb all through the album). This song is a fine, fitting tribute to Thor!

Wolf Unchained – We have a repeating flute motif to start this time, before heading straight into a rock beat, no messing. Fat guitar stabs here and there, with everything driving along nicely at a good pace. There’s a very, very nice instrumental/solo section on this track, with each instrument working together in a very satisfying way. This is not an old man’s album, this is really cooking now! Then there’s a second instrumental section, ending with a wolf howling. Wow, this is a superb song!

The Perfect One – nice doubled flute to start. More of an emphasis on the lyrics/vocal here I feel, nothing to distract from the verse. Goes into a nice bit of flute that somehow reminds me of the Rock Island album. Then guitar/keyboard/flute all come together to play a cool melody in harmony before another verse leads into an instrumental section again. This is all very interesting!

Trickster (and the Mistletoe) – We have a classic Tull folky melody here, and, to me there’s a real Stormwatch (1979 Tull album) vibe going on in the music. The verses are almost like a National Anthem style, before we’re back into that fantastic accordion/flute motif. There’s some nice drumming from Scott Hammond propelling things along here, with some really good fills. Like the rest of the album there’s not a lot of keyboard at the forefront but what is here is perfect, just adding the odd flourish or point of interest. Another absolute highlight of the album for me.

Cornucopia – Beautiful flute and piano here, reminds me of “And Further On” from the A album. Every Tull fan will love this I think, and I’m left wondering how does Ian still come up with these wonderful melodies on the flute after so many decades? Ian’s voice also sounds good here. It’s a lovely change of pace and feel at this stage of the album, although it speeds up at the end as we head into…

The Navigators – another doubled flute riff starts things before a pumping bassline from David Goodier pulls us into an upbeat rock song. The main rhythm guitar on the right channel with little stabs in the left which I found really interesting, before the flute goes off again and the guitar spirals behind it. There’s a classic Tull “start-stop” kind of section before the vocals come in again and that driving rhythm section is back. If anyone was thinking this would be a tired album, this is one song that proves them wrong. It rocks. Cool video too.

Guardian’s Watch – It’s hard for me to describe the feeling I get with this one – there’s a very “English Country Garden” flute melody here backed with similarly “English” organ. Do you get what I mean? It’s like a very pleasant summer garden party set to music. And then? Another hard rocking drum beat with lots of hi-hat drags us in! This is almost metal, and could be if the guitar was more in your face. The drums really shine here, and we’ve even got glockenspiel too I think! Eventually we get some acoustic guitar arpeggios backing the flute and, again, this is classic Tull and one of the best tunes on the album.

Ithavoli – unusual melody on flute to start, puts me in mind of something electronic band The Shamen might have done years ago. There’s some simple drums and guitar riffing here to back another Norse/Icelandic spoken word section. That’s a technique a lot of black metal bands have used but this is very much a Tull song. There’s a nice keyboard section in the left channel before the flute takes over in the centre. It all comes to a conclusion as the volva’s voice and Ian’s heavy breathing return so the album ends much as it started! 4/5

Ian rocking out with Tull in the 70’s

Overall thoughts? I’ve been a Tull fan for years, seen them twice live, and my favourites of their albums are the mid 70’s ones, but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised with just how rock oriented this album is. How GOOD it is. Ian is stretching his musical and song-writing muscles here, and this is not a collection of simple three chord rock songs hastily cobbled together. It’s meticulously crafted and definitely more on the “prog” side than something like their earlier albums Catfish Rising or Rock Island. There’s not much acoustic guitar, something which Ian always excels at, but the album doesn’t suffer for that. There’s a LOT of simple melodies repeated throughout the songs – simple, but not simplistic, and they’re played in interesting ways with guitar and flute sharing a lot of the lead parts. I like the keyboard sounds better than the ones Tull were using when Andy Giddings was in the band, and the solos (on any instrument) are not overly flashy, they fit the songs perfectly and add plenty of interest to the recurring flute melodies. And that flute…Ian is really on it here, with some truly inspired and lovely playing – considering he suffers from COPD (a lung disease that affects breathing) it’s incredible that he’s still able to do what he does to such a high standard. Inspirational, really. I am the biggest fan of Martin Barre who was Tull’s longest serving guitarist, but even I have to admit the addition of Joe Parrish-James – an Iron Maiden fan! – has worked tremendously here. His lead playing in particular is very tasteful.

I would rate this 4.5/5 – it’s a modern classic Tull record hot on the heels of the Zealot Gene which came out last year and had some great songs on it but wasn’t as consistent as RökFlöte. Apparently Ian Anderson has already started work on another new album which he plans to release in 2024. 3 albums in 3 years? How the hell does he do it? That’s the kind of creativity/productivity that bands like Tull, Judas Priest and AC/DC managed in the 70’s but is unheard of nowadays!

RökFlöte comes out on April 21st. Find out more here – https://jethrotull.com/new-jethro-tull-album-rokflote/

We are hoping to interview Ian for Rock, Paper, Swords! in a couple of weeks so please look out for that episode appearing around the start/middle of May.

Huge thanks to Inside Out Music, Jethro Tull/Ian Anderson, and The Publicity Connection for the ARC of the album.

Matthew, my RPS co-host, has posted his review of RökFlöte, find it HERE. It’s a nice companion to mine, as he’s less of an uber-fan than I am!

Two books in deals this month!

Good news for my readers in the USA, as Amazon have included WOLF’S HEAD in their Prime Reading list for the next three months! That means it’s FREE if you have Prime, and also if you have Kindle Unlimited, so check it out now. Wolf’s Head was my debut novel and kicked off the Forest Lord series with a bang, so give it a look if you’ve not read it yet.

Get it HERE – https://www.amazon.com/Wolfs-Head-Forest-Lord-ebook/dp/B00DSCDZFY

Next, for UK readers, my newest Warrior Druid of Britain novel, WRATH OF THE PICTS, is only 99p during March! That’s a massive saving so again, if you’ve not read it yet, I guess now is the time to do it! Buy it HERE. Make sure you’ve read the first four books in the series though, oh, and Over The Wall too. Speaking of Over The Wall, I recently tried my hand at narrating that novelette and you can find it on loads of places at a bargain price. Spotify, Apple, Google, and loads more outlets have it so please check it out if you want to hear my authentic (!) Scottish accent trying to do Bellicus’s voice justice!

If you’re after a professionally narrated audiobook, well, The Bear of Britain is now available on Audible, read by Nick Denton like the previous novels. Check it out HERE! Have a great March everyone.

My new series – the big announcement is here!

You may recall I posted a few months ago about some big news I had, but I wasn’t allowed to share it at the time. Well, now I can!

Yep, I’ve signed a three-book deal with the publisher Canelo to write a series about ALFRED THE GREAT! I’ll be honest, I wasn’t at all familiar with Alfred, other than some of the backstory included in Bernard Cornwell’s Last Kingdom TV series and the books about Uhtred, but when I started to research the king’s life I was blown away by how action-packed and eventful it was! I mean, you have Vikings for a start! From Canelo’s website: “The series will chart the life of Alfred the Great, from the challenges of becoming king at such an early age after the death of his brothers, through to his final years, all the while in a desperate struggle to combat the continual Viking onslaught on the kingdom of Wessex and the wider British Isles. In doing so, the series will shed light on the Vikings themselves, displaying their piety and loyalty in addition to their ferocious strength in battle.”

Book 1 (untitled so far) is just about finished and will be published in January 2024. I’ve greatly enjoyed researching and writing it and I hope my readers will love it. Finally you’ll be able to find my books in high street bookstores! I’ve loved self-publishing my own books, and that will continue with more adventures of Bellicus to come, but Canelo really impressed me with their enthusiasm and way they go about things. I’m proud to be one of their authors! To read Canelo’s full blog post about our deal GO HERE or click the pic below!

Over The Wall is now a cheap audiobook!

Yep, it’s so cheap. Why? Well, I narrated it myself!

A few months go I thought I’d try narrating one of my stories. I chose “Over The Wall”, because it was short! I eventually got around to editing it all and trying to make it listenable and now it’s available as an actual audiobook on a ton of outlets including Spotify, Google, Apple, and more.
Since it’s a short tale, and I’m not a professional narrator, I’ve set the price a LOT cheaper than the host website suggested. So you can get it for just 99p if you want, which isn’t bad for a 45 minute story. I doubt I’ll ever do this again, but it was a cool learning experience and hopefully worth the low price!
If you like it please, as ever, leave a review. Here’s the Google Play link, but you can find it wherever you usually get your audiobooks, except Audible, it’s not on there.
https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Steven_A_McKay_OVER_THE_WALL?id=AQAAAEAisCnwGM

February update!

Just an update since I haven’t posted much on here lately.

First, The Druid and The Northern Throne are on special offer AGAIN in the UK! Just 99p for the Kindle editions, grab these now while they’re cheap. You can find them, and the others in the series, RIGHT HERE. And, just to clarify things as some readers seem unsure: There WILL be more books in the Druid series. I’m not sure when, but Bellicus’s adventures are not over yet!

Next, the podcast I host with Matthew Harffy has had some amazing guests on recently including our first musician, Dr Mark Deeks from metal bands Winterfylleth and Ard, and the legendary Simon Scarrow joined us in the latest episode. Simon’s writing has been a source of great enjoyment and inspiration for me over the past 20 or so years, so it was incredible to get him on the podcast. Check out all our episodes HERE, and please subscribe and leave us a 5 star rating if you can! Maybe tell your friends?

Finally, my latest book – the first in a brand new series! – is almost finished. I’m really excited about this and looking forward to sharing big news about it around the end of this month… Look out for the announcement!

So, roll on 2023, and as ever, thank you all for reading my books and leaving such great reviews. I do enjoy reading your comments on Amazon/Goodreads and they really do help other readers find them.

Cheers!

Steven

Happy New Year readers! And another Kindle bargain!

It’s 2023! I really hope you all have an amazing new year and follow your dreams. That’s what I did in 2022 when I quit the dayjob I’d had for 18 years and decided to become a full-time author. It’s going well so far and just shows what you can do if you set a goal and strive to reach it. Aim high, my friends!

To celebrate the brand new year, Amazon UK have put Song of the Centurion in their Monthly Deals. It’s just 99p on Kindle so if you’ve not read it, give it a go HERE. If you’re in the USA or elsewhere outside the UK, I’m sorry, I have nothing to do with the deals Amazon choose to run – hopefully they pick a few of my books in 2023 to be part of their promotions. Until then, Kindle Unlimited is a bargain as you can pay for one month’s membership and binge read ALL of my books for just that one payment! Worth a look if you’ve got a new Kindle to load up or even just a tablet or phone you can download the FREE Kindle app for….In terms of what’s next from me, well, you’ll have to wait for a bit to find out. But I’ve almost finished the first book in a brand new trilogy and I’m hoping I’ll be able to get started on the sixth Warrior Druid novel IF I can find the time.

Have an amazing New Year’s Day, and an even better 2023, and THANK YOU ALL so much for reading and reviewing my books! Hey, I just realised – Wolf’s Head was published in July 2013 so this year also marks my tenth year as an author! What a ride…

Cheers to you!

Steven

99p!

FREE book from Santa (well, me)!

It’s Christmas Eve and I have some good news! Santa came a day early and left a gift for you: A FREE copy of my Forest Lord novel Sworn to God on Kindle! Yep, you can download the book for free over today, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day, so make sure you check it out if you haven’t already read it. It’s PERFECT for Christmas reading as you can probably guess from the snowy cover art…

UK LINK

WORLDWIDE LINK

Don’t forget, Sworn to God is actually part of a series of mostly short winter tales so take a look at them too if you’ve not read them yet. The newest one is The Pedlar’s Promise which just came out this month and has lots of great reviews so far. They follow on from my main Forest Lord series of four novels, please do have a look and tell your friends about Sworn to God being free!

If you have read any of my winter tales PLEASE do leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads just to let others know what you thought. It’s honestly a huge help and would be a great Xmas gift to me.

THANK YOU ALL for reading and reviewing my books in 2022, I truly appreciate it. Have a fantastic Christmas day, and God bless us, everyone!

Steven

Yorkshire, AD 1329
A new religious group moves into an abandoned church just north of the village of Altofts, but when men start dying under strange and suspicious circumstances the local bailiff decides to investigate.

The Disciples of God and their charismatic leader, Lady Alice de Staynton, appear truly holy, but something sinister seems to be going on within the walls of the newly refurbished St Joseph’s. Certainly the bailiff, John Little, has his suspicions about some of the warrior-like male acolytes, but are his fears justified? Infiltrating the group seems to be the best course of action, although the volatile Will Scaflock is none too happy about being nominated for the job by Friar Tuck…
Following on from 2019’s Faces of Darkness, this standalone story sees three legendary heroes battling invisible ‘Black Lords’ and far more dangerous earthly foes, but can they figure out what’s really going on in St Joseph’s before anyone else dies? With twists and turns aplenty, and based on real events, historical fiction fans are sure to enjoy this medieval thriller as much as they did the author’s previous bestsellers The Druid, Lucia and Wolf’s Head.

New book and some Christmas bargains!

Merry December 1st everyone, I hope you’re having a great day and it’s starting to feel nice and festive as we move into Advent.

My brand new winter novelette, The Pedlar’s Promise is out TODAY on Kindle, and there’s even a slim paperback edition for those who simply don’t do ebooks. You can find both HERE. I really hope you enjoy it and it gets you into the Christmas spirit.

And speaking of Xmas – everyone loves a bargain around this time, right? Well, if you’re in the UK you can buy The Druid and The Northern Throne on Kindle for just 99p! Both are part of Amazon’s special December promotions so if you’ve not read those ones yet, now is the ideal time.

Look out for more news from me as Christmas day approaches…Until then, stay safe, and wrap up warm!

Book Corner: The Pedlar’s Promise by Steven A. McKay

Ho, ho, yes! First review for The Pedlar’s Promise! “The Pedlar’s Promise by Steven A. McKay is well worth a read!” Find out more at Sharon’s blog.

History... the interesting bits!

Medieval England, December

A pedlar has been sent to Wakefield with an unexpected and apparently quite valuable Christmas gift for John Little and his friend Will Scaflock. Unfortunately, the pedlar likes his ale a little too much and somehow gets lost and ends up in the wrong town. With no other work to do, or any strange mysteries to solve for a change, the pair of bored former outlaws decide to ride out and track down their gift. Of course, things don’t quite go as smoothly as hoped and they experience a series of hair-raising adventures on the snowy roads and villages of Yorkshire before their quest finally ends with a surprise…

Will our heroes ever find their quarry? What is the mysterious gift their friend Robert Stafford has sent to them from Brandesburton? And who the hell thought it was a good idea to go riding around northern England…

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