The King is Dead by Al Burke Book Tour and Giveaway :)
The King Is Dead
by
Al Burke
Genre:
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?
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.
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.
Al
has a degree in Philosophy, with particular interest in Morality and
Philosophies of Freedom.
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the tour HERE
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