The King is Dead by Al Burke - Book Tour + Giveaway
The King Is Dead
by Al Burke
Genre:
Epic Fantasy
Epic Fantasy
Etruvia has known peace for twenty years. But this time of peace has brought
corruption and greed. The nobility has taken control, and the
memories of great victories of old have faded. Crime is rife and the
once proud people are little more than peasants. As a great evil
rises in the desolate north, can a forgotten king and an embittered
former war hero wake a nation from its stupor and build an army
strong enough to give it a fighting chance?
corruption and greed. The nobility has taken control, and the
memories of great victories of old have faded. Crime is rife and the
once proud people are little more than peasants. As a great evil
rises in the desolate north, can a forgotten king and an embittered
former war hero wake a nation from its stupor and build an army
strong enough to give it a fighting chance?
Goodreads * Amazon
Being king wasn’t exactly as
Eric had imagined. His memory of his parents was
more akin to dreams than
solid points of reference, but he had been very young
when they died, a mere six years
old, and was now entering his fortieth year. The
succeeding thirty-four years
became increasingly boring and frustrating in equal
amounts. While dealing with
affairs of state was hardly something a heartbroken
child should have to deal
with, as the years went by, Eric had received no
training in what should have
been important matters, and instead, considerable
efforts were made to keep him
from attending to what was his kingdom.
Eric’s ministers were no
doubt enjoying their own power, and there were
rumours around the castle
and even down in the city that they intended to usurp
him in the name of
democracy. While Eric actually appreciated the idea of
democracy―thankfully he had
been well schooled in other areas―what his
“advisers” were practising
hardly fit in with the dictionary definition of the idea.
They preferred lining their
own pockets and favouring the wealthy over those
less fortunate. There was
no doubt that his father, who had come from a long line
of respected regents, was
turning in his grave with regularity.
Eric, however, failed to
replicate his father’s charisma and steely will that had
benefited the kingdom
greatly when it came to matters of diplomacy or trade
negotiation. Whereas the
mighty King Cedric had had his finger in all the
country’s pies, running it
as he saw fit―which had been admittedly
effective―Eric had been
hampered by his advisers from an early age, and by the
time he was old enough to
sit in court, he had been roundly discouraged for so
long that he did as he was
told.
Of course, this bothered
Eric, who didn’t want to hand his beloved kingdom
over to a bunch of
charlatans. He still occasionally tried to join in on matters of
state, but he was talked
down at each attempt. With a lot of time to spare, Eric
spent much of his time
reading and often talking late into the night with many of
the respected academics in
the kingdom. The great minds supported the king, but
all felt he needed to show
some resolve in order to take the seat of great prestige.
While his intellect was admirable
and matched many of his predecessors,
there was one area where
Eric surpassed not just every regent who had sat on the
throne before him, but
possibly every person who had ever resided in the
kingdom: combat. Eric had
been born at a time of great turmoil, as border battles
were an almost daily
occurrence. Perhaps being born practically with a sword in
his hand helped, but Eric
had grown up in a time of relative peace. Yet his
acumen with a sword, bow,
or any other weapon one could name was peerless.
The king trained daily for
most of the morning and reached the stage where he
could take on six soldiers
while wielding just a knife, yet come out victorious
with nary a bruise. While
some opined that his soldiers went easy on him, Eric
suspected that some of his
more enthusiastic opponents were in fact assassins
sent by his ministry.
Regardless of popular opinion, any combat veteran could
tell that the king’s
ability to parry and strike bordered on superhuman, and if
there was one person who
could spar with him for more than a minute, they had
yet to make themselves
known.
Spending his day reading
and training had given Eric a keen mind and a body
to match, and he could have
had his pick of brides had politics not reigned
supreme. Instead, Eric was
wed to Catherine of Genovia. They had managed to
consummate their marriage
on their wedding night but never shared his bed
again. While court talk
should always be taken with a pinch of salt, rumour had
it that Eric’s bed was the
only one she refused to share as she ingratiated herself
with the castle staff.
Eric was no fool, and he
knew that being royalty often led to a loveless
marriage. He could handle
her frosty personality, but she refused to bear him a
child, which put his royal
line in jeopardy. Not only did she refuse him sex, but
she worked hard to make
sure that no one else could bear him a bastard child to
interfere with whatever
nefarious schemes she had cooked up. Ending the
marriage was no option, as
Catherine’s father was a proud man who would have
sought revenge with his
seasoned army, something the peaceful Etruvians could
not boast. So, Eric had to
grin and bear it. He continued to perfect his skills and
his mind in the absence of
other ‘activities.’
Tiring of beating on his
generally incompetent soldiers, Eric decided to seek
greater challenges, and at
night he began to sneak down to town to try and help
stem the spiralling
outbreak of crime. While the army was essentially the militia
too, some of the senior
officers were well catered to by crime lords who seemed
to wield far more power
than the king himself.
Dressing in dark
clothing―not that he’d be recognised―Eric roamed the
town taking on thieves,
rapists, and the other types of scum who had flourished
in the once proud city.
Used to picking on hapless citizens, these criminals were
no match for Eric, and he
quickly earned a name for himself as a vigilante. This
reputation earned him the
respect of the honest people in the town, but the
criminal gangs and the
militia worked hard to trap him, both of whom saw a loss
of profit courtesy of
Eric’s crime fighting.
Villains came out in
greater numbers, at least as great as they could without
being too obvious, yet Eric
still sent the lucky ones running. With this
mysterious vigilante
roaming the streets and upsetting the criminal apple cart, a
plan needed to be hatched
to end his threat, and for the first time in his life, Eric
was able to bring people
together to agree on one thing―the vigilante needed to
be dealt with.
Al was born in Dublin, Ireland, but moved to Vancouver, Canada in 2009
with his wife and baby daughter. Now the proud (and active) father of
two children, Al pays the bills by working in his local library. Al
is the author of The King is Dead, an epic fantasy novel recently
published by Bella Tulip Publishing. With his first novel under his
belt, Al plans to release at least one more in 2017, including a
series of short stories.
with his wife and baby daughter. Now the proud (and active) father of
two children, Al pays the bills by working in his local library. Al
is the author of The King is Dead, an epic fantasy novel recently
published by Bella Tulip Publishing. With his first novel under his
belt, Al plans to release at least one more in 2017, including a
series of short stories.
Al's favourite genres are fantasy, science fiction and horror.
Al is a huge fan of mythology, and his future works will incorporate
different legends.
different legends.
Al has a degree in Philosophy, with particular interest in Morality and
Philosophies of Freedom.
Philosophies of Freedom.
Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts and a giveaway!
0 Comments
Please try not to spam posts with the same comments over and over again. Authors like seeing thoughtful comments about their books, not the same old, "I like the cover" or "sounds good" comments. While that is nice, putting some real thought and effort in is appreciated. Thank you.