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Mandy Ward

Mandy Ward

About

Mandy thought she was a Teacher, until Life pointed out toher that she is actually a writer. As her Cats, Kids and Partner approved, shedecided to agree with Life.

Currently she is working on a five book  Sword & Sorcery Novella Series and a Children's Book series collaboration with an Illustrator  as a number of other projects. As If that weren’tenough, she spends a week or two a month putting together “Welcome toWherever”, along with trying to juggle Cats, Kids, Partner.

She does all this from a body in South Wales, UK. Where hermind is, she hasn’t yet worked out...

The Sons of Godwine: Part Two of The Last Great Saxon Earls

The Sons of Godwine: Part Two of The Last Great Saxon Earls

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Description

<p>Emerging from the long shadow cast by his formidable father, Harold Godwineson showed himself to be a worthy successor to the Earldom of Wessex. In the following twelve years, he became the King's most trusted advisor, practically taking the reins of government into his own hands. And on Edward the Confessor's death, Harold Godwineson mounted the throne—the first king of England not of royal blood. Yet Harold was only a man, and his rise in fortune was not blameless. Like any person aspiring to power, he made choices he wasn't particularly proud of. Unfortunately, those closest to him sometimes paid the price of his fame.<br /><br />This is a story of Godwine's family as told from the viewpoint of Harold and his younger brothers. Queen Editha, known for her Vita Ædwardi Regis, originally commissioned a work to memorialize the deeds of her family, but after the Conquest historians tell us she abandoned this project and concentrated on her husband, the less dangerous subject. In THE SONS OF GODWINE and FATAL RIVALRY, I am telling the story as it might have survived had she collected and passed on the memoirs of her tragic brothers.<br /><br />This book is part two of The Last Great Saxon Earls series. Book one, GODWINE KINGMAKER, depicted the rise and fall of the first Earl of Wessex who came to power under Canute and rose to preeminence at the beginning of Edward the Confessor's reign. Unfortunately, Godwine's misguided efforts to champion his eldest son Swegn recoiled on the whole family, contributing to their outlawry and Queen Editha's disgrace. Their exile only lasted one year and they returned victorious to London, though it was obvious that Harold's career was just beginning as his father's journey was coming to an end.<br /><br />Harold's siblings were all overshadowed by their famous brother; in their memoirs we see remarks tinged sometimes with admiration, sometimes with skepticism, and in Tostig's case, with jealousy. We see a Harold who is ambitious, self-assured, sometimes egocentric, imperfect, yet heroic. His own story is all about Harold, but his brothers see things a little differently. Throughout, their observations are purely subjective, and witnessing events through their eyes gives us an insider’s perspective.<br /><br />Harold was his mother's favorite, confident enough to rise above petty sibling rivalry but Tostig, next in line, was not so lucky. Harold would have been surprised by Tostig's vindictiveness, if he had ever given his brother a second thought. And that was the problem. Tostig's love/hate relationship with Harold would eventually destroy everything they worked for, leaving the country open to foreign conquest. This subplot comes to a crisis in book three of the series, FATAL RIVALRY.</p>

Story Behind The Book

The Tower and The Eye is a series of Novellas that came out of my love for RPG and Sword & Sorcery. I have many happy memories of spending Saturday and Sunday afternoons, rolling dice, acting out my character and generally being elvish. When I started writing seriously, it was natural that I used my experiences in RPG to aid my story development. So you’ll often find me rolling a 10 sided die to decide what happens to a character or where they are going. I also drew inspiration from a number of Fantasy / Sword & Sorcery based console games that I love to play and the Master of Pure Fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien himself. The Tower and The Eye tales began appearing after I had spent a while writing horror stories and I needed to get back to my fantasy work. My horror side does come through in the battles, but I enjoy the journeys that I make my characters take (whether the characters enjoy them is another thing!) and these stories are pure fantasy – Elves, Dwarves, Orc’s; Demons, sword fights and magic aplenty.

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Reviews

<span style="color:#4e4e4e;font-family:'droid-serif-1', 'droid-serif-2', serif;font-size:14px;line-height:21px;">“This is a fun read employing all the stereotypes we have come to know and love from Dungeons and Dragons and the sword and sorcery fantasy world. Axe-wielding dwarves, ethereal, pointy eared elves, a bumbling hero, a buxom barmaid and an evil lord bent on re-conquering the world. But it certainly isn’t all predictable. Some of the characters are a tad unexpected, like the talking jar who acts as the Evil Overlord’s aide de camp. Although the author says it isn’t a spoof, I suspect she’s telling at least a little bit of a porky. The Tower and the Eye? No reverberations from Mordor? I suspended judgement and went along for the ride and got a little bit more than I bargained for. Some of the outcomes I expected didn’t come to pass. Some parts are downright funny, like the skeletal hand that holds the hero’s torch while he tries to break down the dungeon door. Recommended as a piece of light entertainment.”</span><em style="border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:#4e4e4e;font-family:'droid-serif-1', 'droid-serif-2', serif;font-size:14px;line-height:21px;"> -  Ms. G. van der Rol, Amazon.com</em><div><em style="border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:#4e4e4e;font-family:'droid-serif-1', 'droid-serif-2', serif;font-size:14px;line-height:21px;"><br /></em></div><div><em style="border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:#4e4e4e;font-family:'droid-serif-1', 'droid-serif-2', serif;font-size:14px;line-height:21px;">* * *</em></div><div><em style="border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:#4e4e4e;font-family:'droid-serif-1', 'droid-serif-2', serif;font-size:14px;line-height:21px;"><span style="font-style:normal;">“Classic sword &amp; sorcery fantasy. This romps along through a fairly a traditional Dungeons &amp; Dragons scenario, for which the author makes no apologies, but what made this stand out for me was the dialogue. Some lovely one-liners remind me of early David Eddings and made me remember all the fantasy I lapped up in my student years. If you like Eddings wit and/or are a fan of D&amp;D and its spin-offs then you’ll enjoy this story.” </span><em style="border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;">- Debbie, Amazon UK</em> <br /></em></div><div><em style="border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:#4e4e4e;font-family:'droid-serif-1', 'droid-serif-2', serif;font-size:14px;line-height:21px;"><br /></em></div>