David Gilman, author of ‘historical fiction at its best’ (Historical Novel Society) delivers a pre-Christmas treat for readers with the ebook release of GATE OF THE DEAD, the third instalment of his action-packed MASTER OF WAR series. The gripping series, which began with Amazon #1 bestseller MASTER OF WAR, follows the adventures of Thomas Blackstone, a stonemason-turned-archer during the Hundred Years' War.
Tuscany, 1358: Thomas Blackstone has built a formidable reputation in exile, fighting as a mercenary amid the ceaseless internecine warring of Italy's City States. Success has bred many enemies, who will seize any opportunity to destroy the man they cannot overcome on the field. So when a dying man delivers a message recalling Blackstone to England, it seems almost certain to be a trap. Yet Blackstone cannot decline – the summons is apparently from the Queen.
Blackstone will brave the terrors of the High Alps in winter, face the Black Prince in tournament in Windsor, confront the bloody anarchy of a popular revolt in northern France and submit to trial by combat. And every step of the way, he will be shadowed by a notorious assassin, a killer who has been instructed to inflict the maximum pain on his target before he despatches him to hell.
The MASTER OF WAR series has been sold in Brazil, Hungary, Spain and the Czech Republic and more offers are pending. GATE OF THE DEAD will be published in hardback in the UK in February 2016 and David is currently writing the fourth Thomas Blackstone novel. His stunning Boer War novel THE LAST HORSEMAN will also be published by Head of Zeus, in Summer 2016.
Praise for the MASTER OF WAR series:
‘Move over Bernard Cornwell! Historical fiction at its best’ – Historical Novel Society
‘If you only read one historical debut this year, make it this one. The prose is sharper than a bodkin arrow, the pace faster than thought and to be honest it was a book that I just couldn’t put down. Great stuff.’ – Gareth Wilson, Falcata Times
‘A violent, tempestuous, glorious novel. I was gripped from the very beginning and the book never once let go of me until its end, by which point I was exhausted by its intensity, thrills and trauma. Among my top historical fiction reads of 2015.' – For Winter Nights
‘See-saw drama at its best… so many reasons why, when life tried to encourage me to put the book down, I resisted stridently. This is writing that twists around seldom seen hist-fict depth.’ – Ani Johnson, The Bookbag