The Black Knight (Kurval, Book 5) by Richard Blakemore and Cora Buhlert

 

Release date: June 19, 2021

Subgenre: Sword and Sorcery

 

About The Black Knight:

 

 The Lords of Angilbert have been a thorn in the side of the Kings of Azakoria for decades, refusing to pay taxes or to accept the authority of the throne.

King Kurval of Azakoria inherited the conflict with the Black Knight of Angilbert from his predecessor. Determined to bring the Black Knight to heel once and for all, Kurval besieges Castle Angilbert. But when he finally comes face to face with the mysterious Black Knight, he's in for a shock.

The law demands that the Black Knight be executed for treason. However, Kurval does not want to sentence the Black Knight to death, especially once he learns that the Lords of Angilbert have a very good reason to hate the Kings of Azakoria.

But is it even possible to find a peaceful solution or can the feud with the Black Knight of Angilbert end only in bloodshed and death?

The new sword and sorcery adventure by two-time Hugo finalist Cora Buhlert and her occasional alter ego, 1930s pulp writer Richard Blakemore. This is a novella of 33400 words or approx. 112 print pages in the Kurval series but may be read as a standalone. Includes an introduction and afterword.

Warning: This is a dark story, which contains scenes of a violent and sexual nature.

 

Excerpt:

 

The castle of Angilbert clung to the side of the mountains of Harlovec on the eastern border of the Kingdom of Azakoria, a stark black silhouette against the flaming dawn sky.

There were countless legends about those mountains, tales of fearsome beasts and daring outlaws who had made their home on these hostile peaks. And there were just as many tales and legends about Castle Angilbert itself and its Lords. Depending on which legend you chose to believe, the Lords of Angilbert were either heroic liberators and protectors of the downtrodden or cruel tyrants who engaged in unspeakable rites in the dungeons that reached deep into the black rock. The truth, as always, was likely somewhere in the middle.

From the saddle of his stallion Shadowmane, Kurval, King of Azakoria, gazed up at the castle, wondering what was going on behind those forbidding walls.

“They say that Castle Angilbert is impregnable, Sire,” Izgomir, Kurval’s vizier and chief councillor said with as much awe in his voice as Kurval had ever heard, “Never in a thousand hundred years have its walls been breached, though not for lack of trying.”

“We don’t need to breach those walls,” Kurval said. He was in full armour — silver chased with gold — though he was not wearing his helmet. “We just need to besiege the castle and make sure nothing and no one gets out or in. Sooner or later, they will give up.”

“The Black Knight of Angilbert never gives up,” Izgomir said darkly, “More than twenty years ago, King Brogan thought he had the Lord of Angilbert brought to heel, when he captured the Lord’s only daughter and her escorts. The attendants were punished and the girl held for ransom until the Lord of Angilbert bowed his knee to the throne. Which he did. But that was only a brief respite, for as soon as the girl was reunited with her father, the Black Knight of Angilbert started up his reign of terror again.”

Privately, Kurval sympathised with the rebellious Lord. He certainly wouldn’t have been kindly inclined towards anybody who kidnapped a child of his.

“Black Knight or not, the Lord of Angilbert and his people still have to eat,” Kurval pointed out, wondering not for the first time just why Izgomir was so impressed by this recalcitrant Lord. “It’s the end of the winter, so their stores will be largely depleted. So either this Black Knight surrenders or he shall starve along with his men.”

“No one knows if the Lords of Angilbert are even fully human,” Izgomir continued, “There are rumours that deep inside the mountain, there is a portal to the underworld itself, where demons and creatures from the pit dwell. There even are stories…” Izgomir shuddered theatrically, “…that those of Angilbert are mating with demons down there.”

“I don’t care if the Lords of Angilbert mate with the Great Old Ones themselves…” Kurval countered, “…as long as they accept the authority of the crown.”

This was obviously not the response Izgomir had expected. With sniffy disdain he said, “They’re not fully of noble blood, at any rate.”

“Well, I’m not of noble blood at all, so we should get along just fine,” Kurval remarked.

 

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About Richard Blakemore:

Richard Blakemore (1900 – 1994) was a prolific writer of pulp fiction. Nowadays, he is best remembered for creating the Silencer, a masked vigilante in the vein of the Shadow or the Spider, during the hero pulp boom of the 1930s. But Richard Blakemore also wrote in many other genres, including an early sword and sorcery series about the adventures of a sellsword named Thurvok and his companions and another about a barbarian king named Kurval.

 

Richard Blakemore's private life was almost as exciting as his fiction. He was a veteran of World War I and II as well as a skilled sportsman and adventurer who travelled the world during the 1920s. He may also have been the person behind the mask of the real life Silencer who prowled New York City between 1933 and 1942, fighting crime, protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty, though nothing has ever been proven.

Richard Blakemore was married for more than fifty years to Constance Allen Blakemore and the couple had four children.

 

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About Cora Buhlert:

Cora Buhlert was born and bred in North Germany, where she still lives today – after time spent in London, Singapore, Rotterdam and Mississippi. Cora holds an MA degree in English from the University of Bremen and is currently working towards her PhD. 

Cora has been writing, since she was a teenager, and has published stories, articles and poetry in various international magazines. She is the author of the Silencer series of pulp style thrillers, the Shattered Empire space opera series, the In Love and War science fiction romance series, the Helen Shepherd Mysteries and plenty of standalone stories in multiple genres.

When Cora is not writing, she works as a translator and teacher. She also runs the Speculative Fiction Showcase and the Indie Crime Scene and contributes to the Hugo-nominated fanzine Galactic Journey. Cora is a two-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer and the winner of the 2021 Space Cowboy Award.

 

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Prison Break by Rachel Ford, narrated by Jill Myers

Release date: August 17, 2018

Subgenre: Dystopian science fiction

About Prison Break:

 

Mercy is weakness. Forgiveness is blasphemy. Sin is crime. The unholy trinity - monotheists, polytheists, and technotheists - rule in unison. Justice is not blind, but soulless.

In a city of stratified wealth and endemic poverty, Father Edlin tries to make a difference. His little church and free clinics provide a flicker of hope to the downtrodden populace. But not for long.
The men with guns show up, and it's only a matter of time before a forced confession of heresy is extracted. Now Father Edlin sits in a cell, awaiting the fulfillment of his death sentence. But somewhere in the night, a friend lurks, waiting for the chance to pay off an old debt...

Excerpt:

 

It was right after midnight, when the last watch had already returned to their homes and the new settled in for a long shift, that I made my move. I was dressed in an assortment of rags, my hair tied back and covered, with my communicator tucked into the humble headdress. I’d picked a corner of the courtyard, huddled under a blanket like one of the poor wretches who dotted the empty expanse with no place better or warmer to be. I’d taken a bottle of low grade moonshine with me, the kind of swill that turned up on the streets, and now I popped the top. Alcohol was a pleasure I was denied due to the fluttering--but to judge by the odor that assailed my nostrils, this was more punishment than pleasure. Trying not to inhale the noxious fumes, I flecked spots of the liquid all over myself. I reeked as if I’d consumed a bottle or two already. The rest, I drained on the ground.

Staggering and shouting incoherently, I made my way from the corner, dragging my blanket behind me with one hand and the empty bottle in the other. Troubled glances greeted my performance from all over the courtyard. Some pulled away. Others pretended not to see.

The homeless were at the mercy of the constabulary; no one wanted to be in the way of trouble.

“Sing with me!” I urged them, slurring my way through a few shanties I’d picked up on freight detail. I’d forgotten half the words, but that just added to the overall flavor. The temporary residents of the area pulled further away. The constables at the borders of the courtyard seemed not to care. I suppose they’d seen their fair share of drunks here; what, after all, was left to those condemned to the streets, but drink and despair?

I decided to amp up my performance. I meandered toward the citadel, singing as I went. I stopped near a group of three, a father it seemed and a young man and woman. His children, I supposed. “A pretty family,” I called. “Such a pretty family.” They observed me with concern, moving closer together. “Here, have a drink with me, eh?” I lifted the bottle as if to drink. “I’m empty. Have you any to spare? Just a sip, it’s all I need.”

“We have nothing,” the father assured me. “Please go. We’re trying to sleep.”

I feigned anger. “A sip--a sip is all I need, friend. You won’t deny a starving man a crust, would you?”

“You seem to have had many ‘crusts’ already,” the woman declared. “As we said, we have nothing for you.”

“Move along,” the younger man added.

“Lies!” I snapped. “Lies and insolence! Do you know who I am? I’ll not take this from anyone, much less landrats like yourself.” My conscience pricked at heaping such abuse at strangers, much less those already down on their luck. But their temporary discomfort served my larger goal; already I could see the constables taking note, weighing the situation to see if it merited intervention.

 

Sample:

 

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About Rachel Ford:

Rachel Ford is a software engineer by day, and a writer most of the rest of the time. Her non-fiction work has been published in the “Information Systems Education Journal” and reached best-seller status on Amazon.com. She is a Trekkie, a video-gamer, and a dog parent, owned by a Great Pyrenees named Elim Garak and a mutt of many kinds named Fox (for the inspired reason that he looks like a fox).

 

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About Jill Myers:

British actress Jill Myers has worked professionally in  theatre and TV for longer  than she cares to remember (26 years but don't tell).   More recently she has built a recording studio in her home in the Peak District area of Derbyshire in order to be able to record more audiobooks and work more in the area of Voice Over.  This means that rather than touring around the UK or filming away from home Jill just needs to take the dog for a walk then step into her recording booth with a good book!  Most recently Jill has enjoyed voicing Rachel Ford's new book Prison Break, now available on Audible.