Review competition completed for December

Hello,

I've done my bit, drawn the names from a salad bowl, and the smaller prize goes to:

Angella Nabb.

The Big Price goes to:

Kacie T.

Send me an email at alaric.longward@gmail.com and I'll send you your gifts. Congratulations.

br, Alaric

Happy new year 2016

I'll be announcing the winners of the review competition later on on the 1st January when I get back to my office.

Some new concept art for Maroboodus and Adalwulf, two new Roman era adventures

Eye of Hel

Hello,

I'm currently doing a new edit on Eye of Hel. The book will be back later in January, 2016.

From Raven's Wyrd

'Well, praefectus. I am a horseman and in a hurry that might perplex you. '

He clucked his tongue. 'I do get perplexed easily, but let us not be cheeky, or I shall roast you.'

I rolled my eyes at his threats. 'Hraban … look—' I started.

He laughed. 'Hraban? What is wrong with proper names, like Lucius, Marcus, or Gnaeus, like mine? You people are impossible.'

I spat. 'You nearly rode into three thousand Tencteri, who are, by the way, over there, behind that hill. They have few fineries, oh lord, so your bright cape would have made them happy.'

'Indeed. Would be wasted on the scoundrels. Now that we have looted our rightfully won riches, paltry that they are, and have saved your sorry asses, we shall leave.' He got up, mounted, pocketed his loot, and I could see that he had a bright cuirass under the cloak. I sighed.

'We saved you,' Pipin spat in heavy Latin. 'Not the other way around.'

'You saved nothing and sons of senators don't ride to battle in peasant garb. Besides, I wanted to attract the enemy. Only way to count the cunts is to have them ride after us. We had an ambush site picked back up that way,' he sniffed and pointed toward the north, but smiled and gave the order to retreat. 'Does not matter. We got some of them.' And so we went, Fulcher on a horse, tied to the saddle, and the archers occasionally losing arrows at some foolhardy enemy scouts.

'Sons of senators might go home in a pot when taking such risks,' I grinned at him.

'By Mercury! That would probably be the one thing to make my father smile. It would be a horrible sight, his smile, but he would grin and cry with happiness! I think he might make a piss pot out of that urn!' he laughed like a mad thing, drawing exasperated looks from the Syrians and the Parthians around him.

November review competition finished

It's time again for that special 20 dollar Amazon gift card raffle. The winner is:

Laurel Long

Would you send me an email to alaric.longward@gmail.com and I can get this sent to you.

Congratulation.

Always a nice sight!

The Winter Sword - on promotion now.

http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Sword-Germania-Hraban-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B011CCDJO8/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

The third book in Hraban's epic saga is on a week long promotions. A quote from the author. "The Oath Breaker and The Raven's Wyrd were my first books and probably still have a lot of "extra" in them. The Winter Sword is to the point. Sharp point. It's the best of the three damned good books.'

Today's thought (27th October 2015)

The Beast of the North is on .99 cent PROMOTION 26th Oct to 2nd Nov

Get it here!

We have a Pinterest board all set up!

https://www.pinterest.com/alariclongward/alarics-books/

The books are live, but ...

Well, after I left my publisher, the books are now under my own control and live, save for the paperbacks, which take time to appear. I am rebuilding the Amazon sales info bit by bit, mainly with big promotions during this coming month. I expect to be pretty much in a ramp-up phase for the coming four weeks. It is a terrible thing to see all your Amazon sales go back to zero, as I lost all the previous sales data with the republishing, but at least I can start rebuilding immediately.

I thank the thousands of readers this past year and Amazon for making it possible for them to find my work.

I'll be back.

Some changes in my publishing and delays in the book availability

Hello,

on Monday, I resigned from my publisher and republished my books. This will mean a series of improvements in the editing, though this will take time. Dark Levy has already been professionally edited around 80 percent through and I will continue with my other books as soon as Levy is fully done. In the long run this will have been a wise move, because I will have full control of the quality and promotions and a faster response rate for issues. I will care about the books personally and daily, not once a month.

This move did have some adverse affects on my previous sales data. Amazon is basically a search machine and this means I will not have any previous sales information available for most of my books.

Meaning I start from the beginning with most of them.

For the past two days Amazon has been republishing the work. It takes time for the books to show up, and especially The Oath Breaker and Raven's Wyrd have been having some issues in this regard. Jeanette series as well. Hopefully the book's kindle versions will be online very soon and the paperbacks will all follow asap. You can basically 1-click buy all of them, but the detail page does not show the full information, only old paperbacks. Amazon has told me the issues will be fixed very soon.

br AL

September review competition finished

Hello,

this month's review competition was won by:

Pekka Karu.

If you can send me an email at alaric.longward@gmail.com, I'd be happy to send you your prize.

Thank you all for taking part this month.

Jeanette's adventures - on sale for few more days

The Beast of the North is raging

A dark and dangerous fantasy story, set in Midgard, cradle of humans and part of the Stories of the Nine Worlds, the Beast of the North is out. This one is full of twists and surprises, and gripping adventure.

http://www.amazon.com/Beast-North-Stories-Worlds-Midgard-ebook/dp/B015RNF8FQ/ref=la_B00LX654J2_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443338371&sr=1-7

August review competition finished

Thank you again for most of the reviews. As I am having some ISP issues, I hope this post works. The winner is:

Cynthia Hoelscher.

Congrats. If you send me an email at alaric.longward@gmail.com, I can get you your amazon gift card.

Moving on to Eye of Hel

A mockup graphics for the next book, which will be dark and dangerous, like Dark Levy.

New book coming up

Working to finish the the first book on Thief of Midgard series, 

The Beast of the North.

It is a "sister" series for the Ten Tear Chronicles and the two series will converge at some point in the future.

July review competition finished

And we have a winner. Brenda Nichols, I owe you a 20 dollar Amazon gift card. Can you give me an email where I can gift it. Thank you and thank you all for the reviews.

The Beast of the North - one month out

In the elven world of Aldheim, the Jewel of the Nine Worlds, a battle was waged.

A slip of a girl fought a magical duel in the midst of a terrible war. She fought her former mistress, and she was losing. It was no wonder she was being overmatched, for she was a human and her former mistress was of the First Born, not a god, but a mistress of the old world and she was, but a human recently come to rare magical powers. In her desperation, she did what she had wowed not to do. She released a complicated, dark spell of a forlorn, mad goddess, Hel, the goddess whose war had sundered the gods from their prized Nine Worlds thousand of years ago. Was the legendary, ancient war justified?

That matters little.

The spell cast by the girl was Hel’s last attempt at gaining control of the worlds of the Aesir and the Vanir. It was perilous, the girl knew it was, but it was her only hope and so she saved herself, her friends and the worlds suffered instead. And Hel smiled, lying on her bed of rot.

The spell changed the ancient world of Aldheim profoundly, yet in truth it was a spell that would alter the fate of all of the Nine Worlds, for Hel had a long memory and she was ever seeking vengeance and her lost property, hating the gods for their freedoms and her sorrow and losses. While the spell and its consequences were immediately clear to the denizens of Aldheim, the spell wrought changes both unseen and physical to the unwary, seemingly safe lands far from Aldheim.

In one of these worlds, in Midgard, the hallowed home of men, that day had been unusually bright and warm in the Verdant Lands, the main continent of Midgard. Across the land, there was war, and there was peace. Death and birth marked that day and night as any. The night that followed was a beautiful one with a sky full of stars. They glittered like thousand diamonds hanging across the velvety curtains of space. The Three Sisters, the pale moons of Midgard lazily trekked the sky, their light promising the morning and light of the start called the Lifegiver. Millions of people slept soundly; lovers lay curled up in each other’s arms, babies were content in their sleep, people were leaving taverns, drunk and happy and life was unremarkably predictable.

A thick, ominous darkness shot across the sky from the west.

The night guards of the Midgard’s many realms screamed warnings; bells tolled as a peculiar, strange storm front seemed to materialize from the thick, dark air. Midgard’s humans were used to seeing all kinds of weather but the dark, devastating storm rushing from the grand Callidorean Ocean was vast and terrifying, driving waves and storm winds before it. Ships sunk with all hands, towns were swallowed by waves, walls crumbled, and fires broke out as people fled to the higher grounds. Hel’s spell danced across Midgard. Stone cracked. Flesh burned. Thousands died. Whole kingdoms were gone, and others changed forever.

Then, the storm abated. The strange darkness vanished as if it had never been.

But something had changed, in Aldheim, in all the Nine Worlds and so even in Midgard. Twenty years later, some of it would be clear.

Listen.

Rebranded a series

Hello,

my French revolution and Napoleonic wars series have always been a bit hard to define. Do I wish to emphazise the army, the revolution, the era in genera? The first set of covers were a harrowing compromise, the next ones a beautiful failure. 

The series is about a girl. And her men. And the war. So, the names and the pics will reflect that from now on. 

Reign of Fear and Swords and Love are now history, and Jeanette's adventures have a new face. Two new faces, in fact, with more to follow by winter.

A character competition - take part!

Ever want to have a character designed by you in a book?

Now's your chance.

What's the deal?

Send me a proposal for a character for ANY of my three series, and if you win, I will insert the character in the story.

I will choose the winner based on how intrigued I get by it. Don't worry about the exact fit for the story, I can make it work.

• You will get thanks for the character on the book credits page. 
• You will get a signed copy of the book.
• And you can win a twenty dollar Amazon Gift Card.

Guidelines:

I have three series ongoing, currently. The character can be a male or a female, it can be a child or an adult, and if you really want to stretch your imagination, it can be something more fantastic in my fantasy series.

Where are the stories currently?

In my Roman era story, Hraban the Germani is entering Rome during the reign of Augustus and is looking for the one who ordered the murder of Nero Claudius Drusus.

In my Napoleonic series, Jeanette is returning to Paris from Egypt to see Napoleon create the consulate. She has the power to help or hinder him and Napoleon's foes know this.

In the fantasy series, the Ten Tears Chronicles, Shannon and Dana will face the turmoil of Aldheim's elven kingdoms.

Create a character that describes the traits; the good and the bad of the person or creature, the looks, the past and where they might fit in the story. Be imaginative, have fun. Make them someone you can relate to, and I am not looking for all good or entierly bad characters. My stories rarely have people who are only pure or just plain evil. Well, some, but few.

How to?

Send the proposal to me at alaric.longward@gmail.com. The winner will be announced 15th of September 2016 in my newsletter. Be sure to sign up at www.alariclongward.com for that; its a monthly, nonintrusive thing.

Good luck and have fun!

Thank you for the recent "The Oath Breaker" and "Reign of Fear" promotions.

They were very successful and hopefully you enjoy the stories.

June review competition completed

Alas, the salad bowl was not available, but I did find a suitable vessel. Names were inserted, and here are the winners.

For June review competition the winner is Sparta, for 20 dollar Amazon gift card.

For the half a year 100 dollar big one, where all the previous reviews take part, we have a winner, Shelly.

Please send me an email at alaric.longward@gmail.com to claim your prize.

The Best Selling Historical Fiction - The Oath Breaker is 99 cents for a very limited time.

Grab it here!

http://www.amazon.com/Oath-Breaker-Germania-Hraban-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00LVZDBVS/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Remember there is a ongoing review competition

This will be running to the end of the year.  Remember to check back in the blog if you do win and sign up for the news letter. More info in www.alariclongward.com under "News".

The Winter Sword - Hraban Chronicles Book 3 is being edited

Folks, we are one month from the latests in Hraban's stories. Hraban shall settle many of his grudges on the final summer of war in the lands of the Cherusci. They will all be there.

May 2015 Review competiton

The faithful salad bowl was in use again and I have drawn a name. We have a winner for the 20 dollar Amazon gift card.

There were quite a few part takers this month and I wish to thank you for your wonderful help. I also remind you that in June, we have the extra special award where you all will take part, so if you did not win anything now, you will have this chance to make up for it, royally.

And the winner of this month's award is: Sgregor. Congratulations.

Please remember to sign up for my newsletter, which I shall begin to send out shortly. It will be a newsletter going out once a month and will contain info, competitions and other stuff.

Also remember, that in order for me to send the reward in Amazon, I will need you to share your amazon mail address with me. It will not be shared or misused.

Hraban Chronicles Book 3 - The Winter Sword is coming along

The book number three, The Winter Sword just finished it's first draft at 140 k words.

Hraban, the Woden's chosen will make an oath to his wife Cassia over his ill omened sword to finish his grudges on a summer of fates, when Nero Claudius Drusus brings the legions to the lands of the Cherusci.

Reign of Fear

The Dark Levy calls

The Dark Levy

My attempt at a fantasy novel is soon available in Amazon.com. Check out Shannon's perilous journey to the Nine Worlds.

Our Swag line has launched

Get your Hraban T - Shirts here:

http://teespring.com/hraban#pid=7&cid=2238&sid=front

- April review competition finished -

We did not have any contestants in March. None. It was most depressing and I thought about becoming a monk or a hermit high up in the mountains. I suppose it doesn't matter what one calls oneself up there while freezing ones ass off.

However, in April we did and I decided to abandon my plans of solitude.

There were several five star ones, many four stars and a three star review. There were praises and slaps on the wrists. Some on the cheeks. Most made me happy, some made me pull some books and fix the editing I had not realized was badly executed. I am most grateful to all.

All the names were handwritten on paper and placed in a recently cleaned fruit bowl. I shuffeled them vigorously. I closed my eyes tight, jumped around the bowl with wild leaps, invoking spirits and finally I pulled a slightly damp paper out of the bowl. There was a name on the paper and the winner of a 20 dollar Amazon Gift Card is:

Ruth Braca!

Congratulations and thank you for the reviews, you all!

If you DID not win, as the majority of you did not, remember there will be a new chance at the end of the June, with the BIG prize at a stake.

Can the winner give me an email at: alaric.longward at gmail dot com, please.

Tidings

Hello.

So, my books will be back online soon. Yay!

Due to some bad editing job, I found I had to pull the products from the market. It was personally a terribly harsh thing to do, for they had just begun to sell at normal price, but I do not wish to sell badly edited stories. That's not what my company is about. So, I shall start again. This got very, very costly for me, but I will not be one to push out errors. 

Seriously apologise for the lesson I am currently learning as it also affected the readers. Still happy that even those who disliked the editing, loved the stories. 

Speaking of which. 

I will be pushing out four books next six months. (Edited by professionals, I might add.)

There will Sword of Winter, the third book in the Hraban Chronicles. The book is in the first draft mode currently and will be going for editing in some weeks time. Hraban will deal with Lif's loss and the mad Odo. He is sure to meet Maroboodus. He will also find a new lord to serve. A lord that will change everything in his life.

There will be a series in the fantasy genre. This series is called the Ten Tears Chronicles and will tell the story of Shannon and Dana, two girls of very special powers and fates in the unkind mercies of Euryale, the gorgon of Gray Downs. This series will begin to create a brand of stories set in the Nine worlds and dips heavily in the old Germanic and Norse legends. We all know something of them thanks to Marvel and the Vikings series. We know, or think we know of Odin and Thor, but this will go further. Much further. Deeper and higher. Expect adventure and conflict. The Dark Levy and Eye of Hel are both written, are being fixed and sculpted and should be done in a month or so.

As a side show to this fantasy series, I also began Thief of Midgard series, featuring Maskan. He is quite a scoundrel, but he has a heart. Sometimes a black one. Other times not so black. A heart nonetheless. We will see. I'm not done with this one yet, but I almost feel this will be very, very good. It's intricately linked to Shannon as well.

First acts have been written for the Cantiniére Tales book three. Where Jeanette has survived the initial Reign of Terror and the Egyptian campaign under Napoleon, she is about to be thrust in the showdown between well tanned Bonaparte and the suspicious, corpulent, and corrupted Directory. Paul Barras is due a whipping. We know who wins that one, but what will it cost Jeanette?

Also, the review competition has been going well. There has been over a dozen so far and as I requested, most are honest. One is a three star thanks to the editing, rest four and five stars with well structured feedback. 

I thank you all.

At the end of the month I shall do April lottery for the Amazon Gift Card for those who have been part of this month's competition. There is still time and I am sorry some of my books are still down.

Some issues with my books

Hello,

been getting a lot of thanks and great reviews lately for my stories.

Yet, to my horror, I have also found the editing job, at least for some of the books have been downright terrible.

So, for the next two weeks, I will have them re-edited by a team of industry professionals. During this time they will not be available in Amazon.

I am not comfortable with lack of quality in any way or form and I wish to extend my apology to those who have suffered from some of these issues. Happily, even the people who have noted the editing issues have loved the stories themselves, so I will fix and get back on the saddle.

br

Alaric Longward

They sure look pretty

7 secrets of writing

I was tagged by author Carole Gill to share seven secrets about writing. 

1. People will expect this to be a profession for the retired, not something you might consider doing full time.
2. Your mother and siblings will ask you to find a real job, subtly and then bluntly.
3. Your family and friends expect you hold hundreds of your books as giveaways.
4. You will be surprised how few of the people you know read. Even the smart ones in your family. Life has grown too hectic.
5. Your wife and children will suffer from your many writer's insecurities. Guaranteed, or you are not of this world
6. You will have to fight the constant urge to check your reviews and sales data.
7. If you have the stories, you can learn the rest. All of it.

Swords and Love - a new book on 99 cent promo!

Get it here. It's really good.

Some new covers for my books

The Oath Breaker hit number 1 in Amazon Travel Adventure category

That bestseller tag looks mighty fine!

Be sure to get yours while the promo lasts!

Get it here: The Oath Breaker.

Also, don't forget the book number two in the series, Raven's Wyrd. 

The Oath Breaker is on sale, though not for long.

The Oath Breaker - a Roman era historical adventure. Now 99 cents, for a limited time only. 

Raven's Wyrd is out

Here is the Raven's Wyrd, number two book in the adventurous Hraban Chronicles, set in the Roman era of Augustus.

Reign of Fear close to the Bestseller Rank once again.

GET YOURS WHILE THE PROMO LASTS!

AN ONGOING COMPETITION FOR MY READERS

http://www.alariclongward.com/#!news-and-events/c1pz

COMPETITION TIME:

 

Announcing an ongoing bookish competition!

Greetings to you, readers. I am Alaric Longward and a writer of historical adventure and fantasy stories and do I have an opportunity for you. Connecting with readers is a thing to make an author warm and fuzzy with giddiness and getting reviews usually the other.

 

So I wish to combine the two (hopefully) joyous events.

Beginning March 2015 and running through to December 20th, 2015, we will have a monthly competition. Anyone who has posted a verified, HONEST review for any of my books during that month will take part in a monthly competition that will reward the winner with:

 

a 20 dollar Amazon Gift Card.

 

The winner will be picked in a monthly lottery, taking place at the last day at midnight (GMT +2). If you have posted a review during that month in Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk site you are eligible. Make sure to take advantage of the promos that might be running for the books during that month. You will see them in my blog, at the homepage of www.alariclongward.com.

 

The competition begins NOW.

 

But that is not all.

In addition, I'll be making an extra lottery taking place at midnight June 30th (GMT +2) and also at midnight 20th December (GMT +2), and so anyone having posted a verified review from 1st of  February 2015 onwards will have a chance to win:

 

an Amazon Gift Card worth 100 dollars.

 

That is 2*a chance for the big one, and quite a few for the monthlies. Great, no? I will have five books out momentarily, and I will try to gear out more constantly, so my productivity is the only thing hampering you.

The monthly and the June/December winners will be announced at www.alariclongward.com and also in our newsletter, so be sure to sign up for it at the landing page and find the instructions to receive your prize.

 

Good luck! A word of warning, though. The books are "slightly" violent at times, there will be unpleasant people involved and the lot are quite furious adventures.

Reign of Fear, Jeanette's bestselling, furious adventure in revolutionary France, now only 0,99 cents. Limited time.

 

Reign of Fear

 

Revolutionary France, 1789. Having fought off her own traitorous family, young Jeanette Baxa and her mother Henriette seek refuge with the desperate revolutionaries of Paris.

Yet no refuge is safe when dangerous men attempt to foment great, king-killing changes. After discovering a dreadful secret of the revolutionary leaders and being hunted by Jeanette's mad, driven cousin Gilbert, the two women become desperate exiles. They face a nearly hopeless fight to survive the Temple, an infamous prison, and the festering age of Terror, while being searched for by their enemies.

They find hope in the army, where a handsome captain gives them shelter from Gilbert and even the Jacobins. Here, Jeanette learns of love and finds a firm family in the ranks of the revolutionary army as a cantiniére. But even with the help of her new, rugged family and the brave captain, can she take the fight to Gilbert and his masters, and win peace for herself and her family?

As of February 6th, 2015, Swords and Love, the second book for the Napoleonic Cantiniere Tales is out.

Check out Swords and Love in Amazon store.

It is 1798, and Europe is taking a breath after the War of the First Coalition.

For Jeanette, this is the time for happiness. She is a cantiniére of the French 5th Company of the 4th Light Demi-Brigade, and a soldier, finally free of the filth of the revolutionary Paris and her past. By extorting the scheming Director Paul Barras of the French Republic, she is also free of her treacherous cousin Gilbert Baxa, the servant of the Directory. She has a home in the army and she is in love with colonel Henri d’Montepello.

Yet, such happiness is as volatile as the Revolutionary France itself and times are changing. France is facing new challenges and Director Barras is making bold moves to remove troublesome, loose ends of his past as well as generals who have grown too powerful and independent. The Republic does not tolerate soldiers who think too deeply and so Jeanette is once more facing Gilbert Baxa and the schemes of the Directory. She finds herself far from home in the sandy, ruthless war of Egypt, as the Army of Orient fights first to conquer the Mamelukes, then to survive.

Will Jeanette overcome Gilbert’s ruses as she struggles to save herself and young Napoleon Bonaparte, a general forever changed by his trials in Egypt?