Just wanted to share the great news about my most recent book, The Cripple and the King, which was ranked as #10 in Historical Fantasy on the Kindle Store this week! It’s been great to see the reception of the book and if you haven’t already picked up a copy be sure to check the link below!
-Peter
Link: https://www.amazon.com/Cripple-King-Peter-Hopkins-ebook/dp/B07BWH8R8X
The Cripple and the King has just been published through Amazon KDP! Be sure to pick up your Kindle or physical copy, and if you do, be sure to leave a review!
Physical Link:https://www.amazon.com/dp/1980686076/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522781006&sr=8-2&keywords=the+cripple+and+the+king
Thanks so much,
Peter
With the first draft of The Cripple and the King complete, I thought I should share the map done for the book, wonderfully crafted by Anna Vasyuk who also designed the coats of arms for the various houses and kingdoms. I’m very excited to share this map, I really think it’s terrific and will add so much to the novel when it is released!
-Peter
Hello everyone! Exciting news, The Sword to Unite has been republished by Digital Fiction Publishing, featuring the exciting new ability to read the book for free through Kindle Unlimited or for the low regular price of 2.99. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, now is a perfect time. Check it out here!
Hello everyone just wanted to send out a quick update post for the secoond book, The Cripple and the King, since just today I’ve finished the first draft! I am beyond excited to begin submitting the book for queries and can’t wait to keep my followers up to date on the progress. Check out the book cover and the blurb to see what’s to come in the next few months!
Thanks,
Peter
Blurb:
The ancient Nacian Empire is gone, the lion which tamed the world has faded into a hollow shell of its former glory. King Lucan ascends the throne after his brother, Vespasian, is brutally blinded by an unknown enemy and declared incapable of ruling. Lucan is forced to take the heavy burden of the crown he never wanted or asked for, nor the one his father thought he deserved. With the help of Vespasian, Lucan must learn, and quickly, if there is any chance for his rule to last. Along the way, he must conquer enemies both external and internal and take a journey which will show both the greatest goods and darkest evils in the world.
Hello everyone! I just wanted to give a quick post regarding progress on the second book, a project roughly as long in development as The Sword to Unite. The Cripple and King, is currently in the final stages of the manuscript before I move on to editing and querying to agents. I can’t wait to show more of the book to you all, but for now here’s a coat of arms done for the second book by Anna Vasyuk. It depicts the Lion of Nacia, an ancient symbol used by various dynasties who have ruled the Nacian Empire. It is also the heraldry of the main character, Lucan, king of the new Nacian Kingdom and member of the Lavinian Dynasty. I’ve just started a new semester at college, so the blog posts may be a bit more few and far between than usual but I’m hoping to keep everyone’s interest in the second book. Be sure that you’ve checked out The Sword to Unite on Amazon and be sure to like, comment, and subscribe for more content!
-Peter
This is a bit of a different article today, much more personal. It’s not the typical post history of a certain house or kingdom in the world of Yennen, Morthwyl and Erastrius, no this post is about my dream to make that world known to as many readers as possible.
Over the past year, I’ve begun my quest to write novels, at least as a passion for as long as I can. I’m still fairly new to the game and there’s plenty left to learn. I was so ecstatic when I clicked to confirm my order through BookBaby, the publishing service I used for The Sword to Unite, but now it feels almost like a bitter sweet moment. For all the work I put into the book, I felt I had almost wasted my time on it. Advice to anyone considering writing; you will feel like that at some point, but you have to push through it.
Like writing, the process of publishing is long and arduous, filled with typos and minutes spent pacing around your room trying to ignore the complete lack of logic in your last paragraph. It’s still my dream that one day I might get an agent, that one day that agent might find a publishing house willing to take a chance with one of my stories, and one day someone will pick up a copy of a book with my name on it and read it. Just that thought is so exciting, it really makes the process worth all the effort, the thought that someone genuinely enjoys something I spent the time to craft, minus a few typos of course.
Thanks for reading,
Peter
A traditional song of the Duxy of Freven, whose sigil is the tower Gelgeth (Star-Tower) upon a blue sky of white stars and two laurel wreaths.
Fair light upon stars
Burning like cold and endless flames
White as bone, falling like tears
Glistening like ice upon a sunny day
Gracing the height of the world
Ceaseless in their dance
Gelgeth (Star-Tower) will wane and fall,
Yet from the sky,
Be never dimmed in light,
You flame for the world, to see
Fair light upon the stars
Of gods and men, you shine equal on
The world content to sleep another night
Beneath your every burning gaze
Fair light upon the stars
Burn ye forever bright
For without your light
A world of dark and endless night
With the fall of Glanfech, the first kingdom of the Hlútrian, or the proper name of elvish people, was lost. The elves were divided, many chose to stay close to the ruins of their home, residing in the lake city of Evrand, while others went north towards the woodland realm of Lusani, where a great number of their people already dwelled. A small fraction departed for Antiquii, the ancestral homeland of the elves, where they devolved in technology and culture to a more primitive state, seeking harmony with nature. The fourth group of elves fled to the east, hoping to avoid the senseless brutalities ensuing in the west. Along the eastern coast of Yennen, they settled in the palisade of Geladhithel, which had been a minor border fort until this point.
The eastern elves became known as the Silver Elves, called this by the native men who marveled at their skill of smithing and art, for their steel was well made it appeared as shining silver. The elves built up Geladhithel, turning the earthen mud fort into a stone city with many walls and towers. The royal palace in Geladhithel became known as the Blue Star, for the blue tile which adorned the roofing of the keep. Here, the Kings of Geladhithel rose to power over the lands they had fought and journeyed for, yet they could never surpass the majesty of Glanfech.
In worship, the Silver Elves worship Duwel alone, believing all other gods to only be his cohort of angels and servants, not worthy of prayer. They take their sigil after Duwel's cloud, which supposedly fell over Rohiel, greatest of elven kings, and gave him the knowledge of the world.
Wars with the Dradanians to the north and Silverscale to the south bled the treasury and army. On Lake Fyrk, the Silver Elves had attempted to build a city similar to Evrand, naming it Lirfell, yet the city was burned and left to ruin by a host of Silverscale who sacked the city for its deposits of gold and jewels. After this, nearly a fourth of the Silver Elves population had been lost to war, and finally, the Sky Kings were forced into a peace with a heavy tribute of taxes to Silverscale.
Allied with Nacia for centuries, Geladhithel had begun to regain strength, and have finally paid off their war debts; wealth they intend to win back through martial power or cunning plot.
Weep not for the dead
For they are ones who cannot
Weep instead
For the living who still bear this mortal toil
Let rather your prayer to the dead
Be in your actions
In the strain of the hand against the plow
The eye against dim light of candle
The mind in the whirlwind of thought
Let your life be the prayer to the dead
-Poem by Justinian the Younger
This is the first in a new series of poems done to promote the second book I am currently working on, I hope you all enjoy
-Peter
The Sword to Unite 