About
Mike is a great-grandson of Harry Arthur Gant. The publishing of Gant's memoir, I Saw Them Ride Away, was one of the goals of his establishment of Castle Knob Publishing.
Little did he know how that straightforward-seeming project would consume so much of his life. He had so much fun, preparing the memoir for publication and following up on people he met along the way, that he wrote The Making of "I Saw Them Ride Away". He describes the depth and breadth of sources and techniques available on the Internet for researching the most arcane information imaginable, and a great many surprises.
The Sons of Godwine: Part Two of The Last Great Saxon Earls
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
Harry Gant's memoir, I Saw Them Ride Away, brought us his voice and views on the real Old West and how Hollywood failed to depict it. Some of the stories in his memoir were well known to his family, but many were new even to them.
While preparing his work for publication, cross-checking his names, dates and other facts, we confirmed much of what he said and found some new stories. He wrote, "My footprints in the sands of time will be obliterated at my demise, by the first rain." We certainly didn't expect to find many footprints fifty years after wrote those words. But much to our surprise, the vast resources available through the Internet revealed many of his footprint, and put us in touch with real people with connections to him.
Most amazing was the "missing chapter," the story he didn't tell, but should have. None of his living family members knew of this story, either from him or from his sons. We are pleased to bring it to view for the first time, and to propose a reason he might have left it out of his memoir.
