A Time for Swords
The Bernicia Chronicles
Standalone Novels
Non-fiction
Standalone Novels
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A thrilling historical western set in 1890s Oregon, from the author of the critically acclaimed Bernicia Chronicles. An English soldier turned policeman escapes to the American West for a new future, but life on the frontier proves far harder than he ever imagined...
A man can flee from everything but his own nature.
1890. Lieutenant Gabriel Stokes of the British Army left behind the horrors of war in Afghanistan for a role in the Metropolitan Police. Though he rose quickly through the ranks, the squalid violence of London's East End proved just as dark and oppressive as the battlefield.
With his life falling apart, and longing for peace and meaning, Gabriel leaves the grime of London behind and heads for the wilderness and wide open spaces of the American West.
He soon realises that the wilds of Oregon are far from the idyll he has yearned for. The Blue Mountains may be beautiful, but with the frontier a complex patchwork of feuds and felonies, and ranchers as vicious as any back alley cut-throat in London, Gabriel finds himself unable to escape his past and the demons that drive him. Can he find a place for himself on the far edge of the New World?
Publishing
Ebook wordwide: 4th July 2024
Hardcover UK: 4th July 2024 USA: 8th October 2024
AD 838. Deep in the forests of Wessex, Dunston's solitary existence is shattered when he stumbles on a mutilated corpse.
Accused of the murder, Dunston must clear his name and keep the dead man's daughter alive in the face of savage pursuers desperate to prevent a terrible secret from being revealed.
Rushing headlong through Wessex, Dunston will need to use all the skills of survival garnered from a lifetime in the wilderness. And if he has any hope of victory against the implacable enemies on their trail, he must confront his long-buried past – becoming the man he once was and embracing traits he had promised he would never return to. The Wolf of Wessex must hunt again; honour and duty demand it.
A Time for Swords
Viking-Age adventure as monk turns warrior in defence of all he holds dear.
Listen to Matthew talking all about book three in the series, A Day of Reckoning, on the Rock, Paper, Swords! podcast.
Hunlaf battles peril and intrigue on a dangerous voyage to Muslim Spain.
AD 796. Sailing in search of an object of great power, Hunlaf and his comrades are far from home in Islamic Spain.
Hunlaf and his allies must walk a difficult path where friends and enemies alike are not always what they seem - and where a weapon deadlier than any yet seen could change the future of all the kingdoms in Europe.
In the wild lands of Norway, Hunlaf must quell a violent revolt in Matthew Harffy's new historical adventure.
Northumbria, AD 794. Those who rule the seas, rule the land. None know the truth of this more than the Vikings. Hunlaf must brave the Norse wilderness, and overcome deadly foes, to stop this madman. Can he prevent a night of flames and slaughter?
When the Vikings attack, a novice monk's life is changed forever in Matthew Harffy's new historical adventure.
It is 8th June AD 793, and with the pillage of the monastery on Lindisfarne, the Viking Age has begun.
Hunlaf soon learns that there is a time for faith and prayer... and there is a time for swords.
The Bernicia Chronicles
Seventh century Anglo-Saxon Britain brought to gritty, vivid and authentic life in this best-selling series.
AD 633. Beobrand is a young man with a shadowy past. As an outsider in the kingdom of Bernicia, he must learn to fight with sword and shield to defend the war-ravaged kingdoms of Northumbria.
Driven by a desire for vengeance and a relentless pursuit of his enemies, he faces challenges which transform him from a boy to a man who stands strong in the clamour and gore of the shieldwall. As he closes in on his kin's slayer, can Beobrand mete out the retribution he craves without sacrificing his honour... or even his soul?
AD 634. The Cross and the Curse is the second gripping, action-packed instalment in The Bernicia Chronicles.
Beobrand returns to a hero's welcome. His valour is rewarded by wealth and land by Oswald, King of Northumbria. He retires to his new estate only to find himself surrounded by enemies old and new. With treachery and death on all sides, Beobrand accepts the mantle of lord, leading his men into the darkest of nights and the bloodiest of battles.
AD 635. The third gripping, action-packed instalment in The Bernicia Chronicles.
Beobrand escorts Oswald's young queen to her new home. Their path is fraught with danger and uncertainty, and Beobrand must unravel secrets and lies if they are to survive.
Beobrand will give his blood and blade in service to his king, but will that be enough to avert disaster and save his kith and kin from the evil forces that surround them?
AD 636. The fourth gripping, action-packed instalment in The Bernicia Chronicles.
King Oswald orders Beobrand southward, to escort holy men bearing sacred relics. When Penda of Mercia marches a warhost into the southern kingdoms, Beobrand and his men are thrown into the midst of the conflict.
In the chaos that grips the south, dark secrets are exposed, bringing into question much that Beobrand had believed true. Can he unearth the answers and exact the vengeance he craves? Or will the blood-price prove too high, even for a warrior of his battle-fame and skill?
AD 642. The fifth gripping, action-packed instalment in the Bernicia Chronicles.
When Penda of Mercia, the great killer of kings, invades Northumbria, Beobrand is once more called upon to stand in an epic battle where the blood of many will be shed in defence of the kingdom. But in this climactic clash between the pagan Penda and the Christian Oswald there is much more at stake than sovereignty. This is a battle for the very souls of the people of Albion.
AD 643. The sixth gripping, action-packed instalment in the Bernicia Chronicles.
Heading south to lands he once considered his home, Beobrand is plunged into a dark world of piracy and slavery when an old friend enlists his help to recover a kidnapped girl.
As the winds of his wyrd blow him ever further from what he knows, will Beobrand find victory on his quest or has his luck finally abandoned him?
Beobrand is besieged in the seventh action-packed instalment in the Bernicia Chronicles set in AD 647 Anglo-Saxon Britain.
Caught unawares, the Bernician forces are besieged within the great fortress of Bebbanburg.
Beobrand finds himself in a struggle with conflicting oaths and the dreadful pull of a forbidden love that threatens to destroy everything he holds dear.
With the future of Northumbria in jeopardy, will Beobrand be able to withstand the powers that beset him and find a path to victory against all the odds?
AD 651. War rages between the two kingdoms of Northumbria in the eighth installment of the Bernicia Chronicles.
Beobrand unwittingly tilts the balance of power in the north, setting in motion events that will lead to a climactic confrontation.
While the lord of Ubbanford is entangled in the clash of kings, his most trusted warrior, Cynan, finds himself on his own quest. Riding into the mountainous region of Rheged, Cynan faces implacable enemies who would do anything to further their own ends.
Forced to confront their pasts both Beobrand and Cynan have their loyalties tested to breaking point. Who will survive the battle for a united Northumbria, and who will pay the ultimate price for lord and land?
AD 652. In the ninth action-packed Bernicia Chronicles adventure, Beobrand finds himself in a dangerous foreign land, caught between warring factions of royalty and the Church.
Beobrand has been ordered to lead a group of pilgrims to the holy city of Rome and hopes to make the journey through Frankia quickly and return to Northumbria without delay. But the lands of the Merovingian kings are rife with intrigue, and soon Beobrand and his companions are caught up in sinister plots to seize control of the Frankish throne. Thrown into a deadly race for survival through foreign lands, Beobrand cannot be sure who is friend and who is foe.
The only certainty is that if he is to save his men, thwart the plots, and unmask his enemies, blood will flow.
AD 652. After surviving dark intrigues at the Merovingian court of Frankia, Beobrand is finally able to undertake the mission his queen set him: to escort a party of pilgrims to the holy city of Rome.
But Beobrand's life is never easy. His party includes a scheming novice churchman whose ambition is boundless, and a mysterious envoy from Frankia.
Entering the lands of the Langobards, Beobrand discovers unexpected similarities to his native Northumbria in their speech and customs... and their willingness to spill blood.
The roads heading south are filled with danger. Meeting other pilgrims who have been attacked and robbed, Beobrand soon finds himself reluctantly responsible for their safety. Confronting brigands and robbers at every turn, they press on towards their goal.
But when Beobrand reaches the snakepit of ruins and relics that is Rome, his difficulties truly begin... and his homeland has never been further away.
AD 630. A gripping, action-packed prequel novella set in the world of the Bernicia Chronicles.
Winter grips the land in its icy fist. Terror stalks the hills, moors and marshes of Bernicia. Livestock and men have been found ripped asunder, their bones gnawed, flesh gorged upon.
King Edwin sends his champions, Bassus and Octa, and band of trusted thegns to hunt down the beast that prowls the night. The warriors soon question whether they are the hunters or the prey. Death follows them as they head deeper into the ice-rimed marshes, and there is ever only one ending for the mission: a welter of blood that will sow the seeds of a tale that will echo down through the ages.
Non-fiction
Get ready to turn your writing dreams into reality with Tips for Writing, Publishing and Marketing Your Novel by bestselling historical fiction authors Matthew Harffy and Steven A. McKay. Between them Harffy and McKay have published over thirty books and they also co-host Rock, Paper Swords – The Action & Adventure Podcast.
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