Stories written with swords and quill.
(ES) Historias escritas con pluma y espada.
The Talhoffer Society (by Michael Edelson)
“He came to stop it, she came to win it. The tournament will change their lives forever. If they survive.
If you readily frighten, you should never learn fencing.
– Liechtenauer’s Verses, Von Danzig Fechtbuch – 1452
As a champion longsword fencer, Jack Fischer receives many invitations to tournaments, but none like this: few details, no return address and thousands of dollars in cash that is his to keep whether he accepts or not. He wants nothing to do with it until a multi-national task force recruits him to help bring down the organizers, a society of modern duelists who fight to the death for the gratification of wealthy patrons.
Surrounded by opulence, glamour and the respect of powerful benefactors, Jack finds himself fighting the desire to prove himself in combat and vindicate his life’s work. His loyalties are further strained when he meets Frederica, a woman whose skill with a sword rivals his own. Struggling with a disease that is ravaging her body, she has come to the tournament to win the means to pay for her treatment or to die trying.
But underneath the pomp, the lofty ideals and promised wealth, neither the tournament nor its organizers are what they seem, and Jack is forced to face an impossible choice between love, self preservation and honor in a place where the only truth worth finding may lie in a pool of his own blood.”
There are not many books dealing in depth with Historical European Martial Arts, but this is one of those rare jewels, so if you are looking for an amazing read that explores the real historical fencing techniques developed by the old swordmasters (Johannes Liechtenauer, Hans Talhoffer, Peter Von Danzig, Fiore dei Liberi, Achille Marozzo, among others), you will certainly love this book.
Author’s Site
http://www.michaeledelson.net/
The Weaving Shadows series (by Frank Dorrian)
King Aenwald, a murderous tyrant determined to continue his twenty-year rule, will suffer no man that lusts for power. But those who came long before the Kings of Caermark stir once again, after a hundred years of silence, and even Aenwald’s iron fist may struggle to hold them and the chaos they bring.
The mercenary lord, Arnulf, dreams of greater things than a life of bloodshed and murder. Robbed of his birthright and denied justice by King Aenwald, those very dreams may carry their price in blood for his loyal band of men, as he strives to see them made real.
The young warrior, Harlin, haunted by the atrocities he suffered as a child, struggles to come to terms with the past. Consumed by hate and obsessed by revenge, how far is he willing to go to see it done, as the horrors within his mind run unchecked and unchained?
Language: English
Author’s website:
https://frankdorrian.wordpress.com/
Tales of the Black Shield Dogs series (by Frank Dorrian)
Many faces, many names, have passed through the ranks of the Blackshield Dogs. But few of them ever surpassed the bloody reputation of the man known and feared on Caermark’s battlefields as Red Harry.
But before he was Red Harry, before he was anything, he was Harruvard of Werrewood, a man-at-arms sworn in service to Lord Gadrin Strael.
Injured and left for dead during a bitter conflict along Lord Gadrin’s borders, his life was saved by the kindness of a stranger. But as Harruvard’s past refused to let him go, that same kindness soon would be stained red.
In the deep of winter, beneath creeping snows and biting ice, the black seeds of the monster Harruvard would become were sown by the hands of men, and nurtured by their cruelty.
Language: English
Author’s website:
https://frankdorrian.wordpress.com/
La extraordinaria historia de Juan Barreto (Carlos Roncero)
(ES) “Este libro narra la historia extraordinaria de Juan Barreto, maestro de escuela en un pequeño pueblo de Almería. Por avatares ajenos a su voluntad, ha de huir del pueblo si quiere salvar su vida. Hallándose en el siglo XVIII, su destino no tardará en estar ligado a un famoso pirata de las costas mediterráneas bajo cuya influencia vivirá una serie de fortunios e infortunios, desde caer en manos de una secta satánica, proteger a una bella aspirante a actriz en su camino a Madrid, o introducirse en la mismísima Corte de Carlos III y recibir del rey un encargo de insospechadas y extraordinarias consecuencias.”
Sitio del autor:
http://carlosroncero.blogspot.pe/
Kindred of the Sea (by C.J. Adrien)
A Viking Age historical fiction series.
France, 799 A.D.
Northmen sacked the monastery at dawn before anyone had awakened. They burned the village and slaughtered all who stood in their path. The relics of Saint Philbert were lost and the island was abandoned by those who once dwelled there.
Sixteen years later, a monk named Abriel who had survived the attack as a boy is sent to recover the relics to help restore the reputation and legitimacy of Saint Philbert. What he discovers on his journey changes his life forever.
Northmen had colonized the island in the absence of the monks. They hold the key to finding the relics, but they have greater plans for Abriel, plans that will take him to the North to find his destiny.
France, 822 A.D.
Abriel Haraldsson is prey on the run.
He was injured in combat and taken by his men to the nearby monastery of Saint Philbert to be healed. With the best of intentions, the monks faked his death and took him away to a far-off island to be reconverted to their faith.
Believing the king to be dead, suitors from the north descended upon the island of Herius with the intent to marry Queen Kenna whose small kingdom had grown wealthy from its salt trade. The powerful warlord Turgeis—known for his prowess in battle and lust for blood—set his sights upon the queen.
When a messenger from afar returned with news that Abriel had survived his injuries, the warlord set to sea to ensure the king would never return.
Thus began the hunt.
AuroSwords 