Coming fast on the heels of Wrath of the Picts (which is doing GREAT and has dozens of ratings on Amazon so far) I’m really happy to announce my NEXT book. It’s a novelette starring Little John and Will Scaflock, set in winter (as is traditional now!) and it’s called The Pedlar’s Promise.
You can pre-order the Kindle edition HERE. There will be a paperback although, being a novelette, it’s not very big and the price will reflect that.
My recent Forest Lord novellas have been based on pretty dark themes like stalkers and religious cults, but this one is a bit more fun and the true story it’s based on had a happy ending… I think it’s a good way to bring in the Christmas period and I hope you’ll all enjoy it. I must admit I did NOT think I’d be able to do a winter tale this year, and it bothered me because it’s becoming something of a tradition – for me AND my readers – but I had a couple of weeks while my editor was going over Wrath of the Picts so I made the most of the time and I’m really happy to get another medieval Xmas story out there!
Chuck T and M Stead were the winners of the signed copies of Wrath of the Picts. Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway, and look out for another one at Christmas as I’ll have ONE spare proof copy of The Pedlar’s Promise for someone on my mailing list to win (click HERE to join if you’re not already on it)!
Cheers, and please keep the reviews for Wrath of the Picts coming in! Oh, and LOOK OUT FOR THE NEXT EPISODE OF ROCK,PAPER,SWORDS! AS WE’LL HAVE SOME EXCLUSIVE NEWS ON BERNARD CORNWELL’S NEXT BOOK (unless someone else finds out before our episode airs, hopefully as a bonus episode this coming Friday, September 16th)…
Medieval England, December
A pedlar has been sent to Wakefield with an unexpected and apparently quite valuable Christmas gift for John Little and his friend Will Scaflock. Unfortunately, the pedlar likes his ale a little too much and somehow gets lost and ends up in the wrong town. With no other work to do, or any strange mysteries to solve for a change, the pair of bored former outlaws decide to ride out and track down their gift. Of course, things don’t quite go as smoothly as hoped and they experience a series of hair-raising adventures on the snowy roads and villages of Yorkshire before their quest finally ends with a surprise…
Will our heroes ever find their quarry? What is the mysterious gift their friend Robert Stafford has sent to them from Brandesburton? And who the hell thought it was a good idea to go riding around northern England in the depths of winter searching for a drunk old pedlar?
Pour yourself a warm glass of wassail and settle in beside the fire to find out!
The Pedlar’s Promise continues the series of winter tales including Friar Tuck and the Christmas Devil, Faces of Darkness, and Sworn To God and brings some much-needed cheer to the gloomy winter months.
PRAISE FOR STEVEN A. McKAY’S WINTER STORIES
“Another winter tale of the adventures of Little John, Will Scarlett and Tuck. Would it even be Christmas without them?” 5-star Amazon review
“At Christmas my kids look forward to Santa while I look forward to the arrival of Tuck, John and Will Scarlet to solve another mystery.” 5-star Amazon review
“This is the type of story whose reading demands a crackling fire and a glass of ale as you travel through time into a different world. I finished the story with a tear in my eye and a smile on my face.” 5-star Amazon review
STEVEN A. McKAY - Historical Fiction Author 
The Forest Lord series including all the novellas have been an enjoyable read and I was hoping another Christmas short story would be coming out this year. So glad that it is and that you keep the Forest Lord world alive through such likeable characters and the situations they find themselves in. I am very much looking forward to this and will be buying the paperback when available to go with the rest of the collection.
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Thank you Chris, I hope you like it. It’s a novelette so will be a thin paperback but I do believe it’s a fun story for winter!
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