Choke Mortimer is the biggest traitor in Earldom and everyone knows it, so why do people continue to trust him?
A Better Crown is the first book in a proposed trilogy, set in the world of Earthguard, a fantasy realm once ruled by Elves before a mysterious dark age wiped them from the face of the world.
It is a shadowy and harsh world, a world where magic and the gods are not as they first seem.
A Better Crown is set in the aftermath of a rebellion that turns the Kingdom of Earldom into a republic, destroying the arcane customs of monarchy. The novel follows the exploits of Choke Mortimer, a deceptive, devious and untrustworthy political advisor who works for the new republican leader Garian Sutherland. Other central characters include The Wanderer, an ancient Runebearer, Hubert, a drink addled lord dreaming of his former glory days and Twelve Trees, a bounty hunter trying to turn from his bloody past.
Harking back to better days and a history that they can’t seem to shake off, these characters are pushed headlong into a world sliding towards war. But while men squabble over their petty misgivings, an ancient and terrible evil is roaming about the peripheries of Earthguard itself, ready to breakthrough into the mortal world.
Here you can find excerpts from A Better Crown as well as short stories from the world of Earthguard. Enjoy!
His blank eyes were two dark pools in a sallow, thin face, sunken cheeks pulling in around a toothless mouth. Decomposing flesh hung from every inch of visible flesh, the skin melted and smudged like hot wax across an aged candlestick. Long, silvery hair fell in thin strands across his shoulders and his brow was mounted by a crown made from rough Darkstone shards.
Read MoreQuill didn’t know why but every instinct, every primal urge was telling him that touching that light was not a good idea, not remotely a good notion, the wrong course of action, something that would surely be remembered as a tragic and rather unfortunate chapter in the unpleasant and unerring life of one Captain Carcarus.
Read MoreThe men looked as gaunt and hungry as the villagers, as thin as Tiny, as emaciated as Osber. Some could have been skeletons in dress, their faces skull-like, their eyes glinting madly out of the taught skin.
Are they starving too? She wondered.
Read MoreDon’t ever trust Choke Mortimer, personal scribe to the King, sleaze, turncoat, deceiver. Traitor, some say, and believe me, I’ve earned every last one of those titles. Never trust those you should trust, no matter who they are because when I whisper in their ear, you can guarantee they will bury a dagger in your gut without a second thought.”
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