Showing results by author "J. P. Reedman" in All Categories

Edmund is the second son of Richard, Duke of York. Whisked away to Ireland as a child in troubled times, his best friend is his brother Edward, a year older, with whom his shares a special bond. Later, the family returns to England and the boys begin knightly training at Ludlow Castle, where they encounter bullying and intrigue as they grow from children to young men of royal blood and high destiny. Their father strives for peace but his motives are always questioned, and his enemy, Edmund Beaufort, fills the sickly King Henry VI's ears with slander and lies. Peace will not last. St Alban's...

Ilmarinen-wanderer, adventurer, journeyman, thief. Swordsman, archer, rescuer of those in need. A pale, grey-eyed youth with an unknown past, who was raised in a humble village but has the bearing of a king and the heart of a lion. Essarndaon-A land of beauty and terror--and the terror is gradually overcoming beauty. Villages are besiged by the Unseelie Court--mound-dwellers, cannibal giants, winter witches, serpent-maids and Bloodcaps who die their hats in human blood. Ilmarinen son of Ilmatar will battle them all and win with prowess and with wit as he seeks his destiny in a land which he...

Melior the Wisewoman lives in the woods near the Vale of Rollendri. When her companion and mentor, Old Agg, dies, she is approached by the denizens of the Faerie kingdom, who tell her that she is in great danger--that a barbaric King called Gorangon is on his way hence with an army to claim the entire shire as part of his kingdom. Melior is uncomfortable and afraid to listen, for Agg told her the Faefolk are amoral and not to be trusted...but the King with his warband and iron sword is equally fearsome, if not even worse . Reluctantly, she agrees to let the Fae help her against the might of...

The spell-bound crown of Cumbria comes to Dunmail after his father Owain is slain at Brunanburh, but he soon learns the Saxon, King Edmund, covets it for himself and has paid a wicked sorcerer who dwells in a cavern in Gilsland Forest, guarded by three white demon-wolves, to manipulate the spells so that Edmund can claim the powerful talisman of kingship. Dunmail must find the sorcerer and destroy him, battling his fearsome wolves...but is the King too late? Battle looms amidst the fells. Briton fights Saxon invader on the blood-stained slopes while the tarn below waits--the only vault that...

A short look at mythology and folklore connected with Stonehenge, the world's most famous stone circle, and with other megalithic monuments. Who is the sinister 'Bowed One' and what relationship do the bones of a silver-handed saint have to an Irish deity of healing, mist and dogs? Did a Man in the Moon stare down at Stonehenge, and a female sun ride across the skies in a chariot with spoked wheels...or was it the reverse? Howling blue hags with single eyes bleary as the setting Midwinter Solstice sun; dancing stones drinking at the river; petrified women, wedding guests and hurlers; ...

Myles Phillipson, the local magistrate, is eager to obtain the lands of Kraster and Dorothy Cook by any means necessary. He frames the couple for theft and sees that they are hanged. But on the scaffold Dorothy curses him. He might build his mansion on the lakeside where the Cooks' house once stood, but he would never know a moment's peace from that moment on. Myles is a practical man, not given to superstition, but when he holds a banquet in his newly built stately pile, he hears noises from upstairs--rolling and bouncing, and then demonic laughter. On the wall, the shadows of two macabre ...

SACRED KING, a historical fantasy novella about King Richard III, the battle of Bosworth, and its aftermath. In August, 1485, King Richard III rides on the hunt in Bestwood Park, near Nottingham, and sees a disturbing vision, a man being killed in ritualistic manner, his blood given to the hungry Land. Riding into Leicester with his army several days later, eager to face the invading Henry Tudor and defend his crown, he encounters yet more disturbing omens…the old woman Agnes Black upon Bow Bridge, who prophecies his head will strike the stone upon his return from the field. On the day of...

One thundery day in 1909 a Bronze Age burial mound was opened near the sleepy little town of Marlborough. Soon Violet's nights would be disturbed by scratching and tapping. By a horrible, skeletal face pressed to the window. What did the creature want from a staid old widow? Could Violet ever send this unwanted nightly visitor to eternal rest? A gentle ghost story based on Wiltshire folkore. Approximately 8000 words

Sent into a convent at the age of six, Mary daughter of Edward I, decides to make the best of a bad situation. It soon becomes obvious she is never going to make a good nun! Never forgetting that she is a princess by birth, the feisty gambler travels around England, living the high life at daddy's expense, and acquiring numerous other bad "habits" ... including being linked romantically to the Earl of Surrey, John de Warenne. When her Father the King becomes ill and dies, the crown goes to Mary's brother Edward II and the travelling nun attends his disastrous Coronation, rubbing shoulders ...

Ring of White Roses: Two Short Stories Featuring King Richard III. PORT IN A STORM. A stranded modern-day traveller in the little town of Bridport encounters what she thinks is a film crew in action. She's wrong. The strands of time have unwoven and King Richard is in town, enjoying a relaxing banquet after dealing with the Duke of Buckingham's rebellion. MERCY JESU-- A story based on the legend that during the Scottish wars of the early 1480's, Richard Duke of Gloucester took a Scottish mistress and gave her a ring with the inscription Mercy Jesu. (The ring does in fact exist but its ...

In a world where bloodlines dictate fate, Eleanor of Brittany faces a grim reality. Once a prized bride, she becomes a pawn in a deadly game of power. Her dreams shatter when the marriage meant to secure her future crumbles, leaving her at the mercy of her uncle, the cruel and infamous King John. With her younger brother Arthur seeking vengeance and a throne he believes is rightfully his, they ally with France, igniting a brutal conflict. Captured and imprisoned in England, Eleanor's only crime is her royal lineage. Will she find a way to reclaim her freedom, or will her legacy be one of ...

In the shadow of Sandal Castle, betrayal runs deep. Richard, Duke of York, lies dead, and his son Edmund’s blood stains the cobbles of Wakefield bridge. The House of York crumbles, but young Edward of March isn’t finished yet. Driven by vengeance, he rises tall and fierce, ready to reclaim his family’s honour. As he battles Margaret of Anjou's Lancastrian army at Mortimer’s Cross, three suns blaze in the sky—an omen of change, a sign of the Three Sons of York. With the Crown of England at stake, will Edward rise from the ashes of loss or fall like his father? Blood will spill. ...

In the days coming up to Christmas, Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later to be Richard III) seeks shelter in York from a snowstorm that has blocked the roads into Middleham. As usual, he stays with the Austin Friars at the Lendal, with their massive library of precious books. Normally, he would enjoy his visit with the Friars, but this time, he is worried that he will not make it home in time for the Christmas Feast with his wife Anne, his small son Edward, and his friends, Francis and Nan Lovell. He prays for a miracle--and soon the skies begin to clear and the snow melts. Anticipating an ...

ANCESTORS. Maire Kennedy has never felt comfortable in her own skin; she feels the tug of the past, of distant ancestors whose blood runs through her veins, drawing her from the the New World back to the Old. Ireland is her goal, and she has the DNA results to prove her worthy place in the land of her distant forebears. One of her aims is to explore a particular prehistoric cairn, glowering on the the hilltop above a remote village, since the DNA company she used has told her she has a match to a burial archaeologists found within...but when she arrives on the hilltop, it all begins to go ...

Twelfth Night has come to Minster Lovell Hall. Francis Lovell and his wife Nan Fitz Hugh have arranged a fabulous celebration to entertain their friends, Richard Plantagenet and Anne Neville, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. The feast is served in splendour, the Mummers arrive to perform the traditional play with much jollity and hi-jinks, and the Lord of Misrule is crowned. But when a strange, mysterious storyteller arrives calling himself Jack Rhymer, the evening takes on a darker tone...as he tells the haunting tale of the Mistletoe Bride, a maiden who vanished at the old hall upon ...

In the depths of winter, Sir Ralph Percy holds the castles of Dunstanburgh and Bamburgh for the Lancastrians. Queen Margaret of Anjou has fled into Scotland, and no one knows if or when she will return with another army. Supplies are low and the snow is falling. Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, brings his forces to Dunstanburgh first, circling the fortress in a ring of steel. He attempts to cajole Ralph into a surrender with the promise of a second pardon from King Edward. Ralph is not certain...and he is not ready to surrender just yet... A short story 10,000 words long, based on true ...

In a world where honor and passion collide, red-haired Dangereuse de l'Isle Bouchard believes her marriage to Viscount Aimery is her greatest achievement. But everything changes when she encounters William, Duke of Aquitaine—his court a whirlwind of music and revelry. Drawn into a secret affair, Dangereuse finds herself abducted to Poitiers, living in a tower designed just for her. As tensions rise with William's vengeful family, she takes charge, orchestrating a marriage that will change history. Witness the rise of a granddaughter destined to become the fierce Eleanor of Aquitaine. Love...

Compilation of short fiction featuring Richard III and his family. Originally published as three separate volumes: Tales of the White Boar, Loyaulte, and Sons of York. 10 tales of historical fiction set in the era of the Wars of the Roses, mostly featuring a younger Richard, as a child and as the Duke of Gloucester. Now listed in chronological order to capture the sweep of the period...from Richard's traumatic birth to Duchess Cecily in 1452, to the sack of Ludlow and the death at Wakefield of the Duke of York and Edmund of Rutland, to the joys of a pilgrimage to Walsingham and subsequent ...

All Hallows Eve comes to the town of Middleham in a swirl of autumnal leaves and bonfire smoke. Young Edward, the son of Duke Richard of Gloucester, wants to join in with the traditional festivities--the turnip lanterns, the Soul Caking, the storytelling in the churchyard. Richard agrees, despite the reluctance of his wife, Duchess Anne, and the frail little boy and his half-sister, Katherine, go to join the festivities. Old Gatty tells traditional, haunting tales of the Yorkshire dales--the man-eating Water Horse of the Ure, the witch of the hazelnut tree, the evil giant of Penhill with ...

Juliane Fitzroy is the illegitimate daughter of Henry I--one of his twenty-two bastards. When her father weds her to a young Norman lord, Eustace de Breteuil, she thinks she has done well in life for the daughter of a Saxon concubine. But Eustace wants a castle he cannot have. He starts hostilities with its castellan, Ralph Harenc, egged on by the dubious Amaury de Montfort. To keep the peace, King Henry orders a hostage exchange between Eustace and Ralph. Juliane's pretty young daughters for Ralph's son. In a drunken rage, fuelled on by Amaury, Eustace breaks the truce and blinds Harenc's ...