The paperback version of Warlord is now available in Asda, Waterstones, WHSmith and all good local bookshops. Hip, hip, hurray! It is also available from Amazon and other e-tailers, if that’s more to your taste. So fill your boots, everyone.

The book is out in hardback in the UK on August 1st. The blurb goes:

http://www.angus-donald.com/blog/an-extract-from-grail-knight/

A home burned

When past crimes resurface, Sir Alan Dale, loyal lieutenant of the Earl of Locksley – better known as the murderous thief Robin Hood – faces terrible vengeance at the hands of those that he and his master have wronged.

A family threatened

With his beloved wife on her deathbed, Sir Alan must seek salvation by following Robin into the lair of their enemy, the mysterious leader of a band of renegade Templars, on the trail of the most precious object in the world: the Holy Grail.

Only a miracle can save them

As vengeful Templars hound Robin and his men across England and France, deals done with mighty lords turn to bloody battle. The companions must find the Cup of Christ before they face certain destruction.

Myth, mayhem and masterly storytelling meet in the astounding new epic from the bestselling author of Outlaw and Holy Warrior

Grail Knight is out on August 1st in the UK

 The long and the short of it

Writing these short stories has been an exhilarating experience for me. I’m used to allowing a novel to loop and unfold slowly over 150,000 words and many months, to meander, to have the space to develop characters, to go off in odd directions, to indulge in a bit of whimsical description. But you can’t do too much of that in a short story: you need a bit more zip. With only 10,000 words to play with, you have to introduce the characters, set up a story line or conflict or conundrum, and resolve it almost straight away. But it also has to be deeply satisfying for the reader. You have to be brief, to the point – a bit like telling a joke at a party. You have to engage the audience from the word go, and deliver a punch-line before they get bored or distracted or wander off to get another drink or talk to someone more interesting.

However, while the experience of creating this series of three short stories was a little out of my comfort zone, I thoroughly enjoyed doing it – actually, I loved it. It gave a chance to resurrect some of my favourite characters who have died (usually violently) in the course of the Outlaw Chronicles and enjoy their company once again. It allowed me to fill in some of the gaps in my fictional history of Robin Hood and his not-so-merry men – such as in The Rise of Robin Hood, in which I explain how and why a teenage Robin came to be the Lord of Sherwood – and to give the reader a fresh perspective on the events they have read about elsewhere in the Chronicles. And, to be honest, these short stories have also allowed me to refocus on some of the issues that I felt I didn’t do justice to the first time around. For example, in The Betrayal of  Father Tuck, we look again at the fraught relationship between Marie-Anne and Sir Ralph Murdac – this time from the Countess of Locksley’s point of view. I got a great deal of satisfaction from allowing Robin’s one true love to show her mettle in that particular short story.

I was extremely pleased to be able to spend some more time with an old friend, my shaven-headed Bavarian killer, in The Hostility of Hanno, and to be allowed to record how he and Alan Dale first met in the Holy Land after the siege of Acre. Hanno is one of my favourite minor characters – menacing, amusing and utterly loyal – and reacquainting myself with his honest brutality was quite invigorating.

The first of these short stories, The Rise of Robin Hood, is available as an e-book from March 21st; the second, The Betrayal of Father Tuck is out on April 19th, and the third, The Hostility of Hanno will come out on June 20th. And I hope you enjoy reading these tales as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

That’s all for now.

PS Would anyone like to read a brief extract from Grail Knight on this site? Let me know . . .

We are going for a much more Robin-Hoody feel this time. Hope you like it!

It’s is also up there on iTunes; I haven’t checked the other platforms yet.  It won’t be available until March 21st but the price is a very reasonable £1.49. I should order it now so you don’t forget!

It’s called The Rise of Robin Hood, it’s 10,000 words long – about 30 pages – and it concerns Robin Hood and Little John’s early days in Sherwood. I’m quite proud of it, actually.

But please tell me what you think when you’ve read it; and spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, etc, if you do like it.

My second digital short story – The Betrayal of Father Tuck – will be released on April 19th, and there another one coming out in June.

OK, that’s all for now, folks!

Just because I’m in a really good mood this afternoon*, I’m going to give away three free copies of Outlaw (the first book in the Outlaw Chronicles series) to the first three people who ask for them.

But – you knew there was going to be a “but”, didn’t you – I’m only going to give the books away to people who have never read any of my stuff before. So, if you are already acquainted with my darkly shining reboot of Robin Hood, this one isn’t for you. Gimme a break, this is a promotional deal, OK – I’m trying to hook a few more readers . . .

Here’s how it goes. Email me at the address on the Contact form on this website with your address in the UK – it’s UK people only, I’m afraid, the postage gets too expensive otherwise – and I’ll send the first three people to do so a free, signed copy of Outlaw, my first novel. Can’t say fairer than that, eh?

If you like the book, tell all your friends about the series, write me a nice review on Amazon or something, and know that there are plenty more Outlaw Chronicles adventures for you to enjoy – I’m writing the sixth one in the series now.

Off you go, then.

* The sun is shining for once and I had a couple of beers in the pub at lunchtime.

I have a little bit more info about the Outlaw Chronicles publications coming out this year (2013), so grab a pencil and make a note of these dates:

March 21 – publication as an e-book of “The Rise of Robin Hood”, a short story about Robin’s early days in Sherwood, set ten years before the first book in the series, Outlaw.

April 19 – publication of a second short story about Father Tuck, Marie-Anne and Sir Ralph Murdac, set during the time Robin and Alan were away on the Third Crusade (i.e. just before the beginning of King’s Man).

May 9 – publication of the paperback version of the full-length novel Warlord (book 4 of the Outlaw Chronicles)

June 20 – Publication of a third short story, possibly about the Bavarian warrior Hanno, or about Guy of Gisbourne – I haven’t decided yet

August 1 – publication of the hardback version of Grail Knight (book 5 in the Outlaw Chronicles)

I hope that is clear, if not just email me and ask. Bye for now.

PS I’m quite excited that I have five publications coming out in the next seven months! I will also have written Book 6 – The Iron Castle – by August 1 (Inshallah!)

Little bit of good news for you today: I have agreed a deal with my publisher to write three short stories as part of the Outlaw Chronicles series over the next six months. These will be sold as e-books (details of how and where you can buy them to come) not tree books and should be very reasonably priced (again, more details when I get them – but under £2).

In fact, I’ve already written the first short story, which is about Robin’s early years in Sherwood and ran a little longer than I had thought at 10,000 words. That’s about 30-35 pages or thereabouts. It answers some queries that I’ve had over the years about Robin’s early life as an outlaw – and ties up a few other loose ends. It’s also a rattling good read with plenty of bloody action. I hope you like it.

The second story is about Tuck – and, at the moment, I have no idea what’s going to happen to him. And the third short story is still completely up in the air, too. So if any of you have any parts of the Robin/Alan saga that you would like me to explore and explain – or any favourite characters that you think deserve more words – please let me know by emailing me using the Contact tab at the top of this website.

OK, I’d better get on with it, then. I’ll tell you more when I know more.

Peace, out.