King Unleashed
Posted Monday, 07/03/23
In the Shadow of the King was released by Club Lighthouse Publishing in July 2023. The paperback is available at Amazon, while the e-book can be obtained at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Needless to say, I'm thrilled! :)
I'm also very happy with the final back and front covers, especially the inclusion of the "Tudor Rose" on the spine.
Definition of the Tudor Rose from Wikipedia:
The Tudor rose (sometimes called the Union rose) is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the House of Tudor, which united the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Tudor rose consists of five white inner petals, representing the House of York, and five red outer petals to represent the House of Lancaster.
While there are no known likenesses of Sir Francis Bryan - allegedly because he was self-conscious about his eye patch and refused to have his picture painted - I decided to include an existing fictional portrait, which was located at Butler Castle in the storyline. Because I'm a visually inspired author when it comes to descriptions of people and locations, I based his looks on one source: a sketch of a 16th-century man wearing an eye patch, credited to John Wilhite at the website Find-A-Grave (pictured below).
Then my publisher also came up with a rendering of the man (pictured below), which hits the nail on the head, in my opinion. Tall and swaggering, Bryan simply had to be handsome in order to earn his reputation as a rake in the court of Henry VIII.
Hopefully, I was able to do him justice, however he may appear in the reader's mind.
I first began writing In the Shadow of the King in 2002. It seems like another lifetime ago, but there you have it. I pecked at the novel off and on for many years, along with the sixteen other books that were published before it. There were several occasions when I was convinced I could never pull it off, yet my perseverance served me well in the long run. I'm delighted with the finished tome, and would gladly do it all over again.
As I've stated before, I felt somewhat bereft when In the Shadow of the King was complete. I lived and breathed the story for so long, it was disconcerting to be without it once it was finished. I was literally ensconced with the book morning, noon and night for more than a year. Letting go was difficult, but now I'm all good.
My fascination with the Tudor period of history remains intact, despite the hundreds of hours of meticulous research I undertook to bring In the Shadow of the King to life.
Much gratitude goes to my publisher, and the uncanny editing skills of Terrie Lynn Balmer. I couldn't have brought In the Shadow of the King across the finish line without her.
