The Ambrosius Chronicles: Awakening
A new epic fantasy and magical realism series set in an alternate version of medieval Albion.
Home to sword and sorcery, powerful monarchs, feudal lords, mythical creatures, hidden agendas, a little politics and a lot of action and adventure.
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Book 1: The Corral Ring
Author Bio
Thomas Richards is a software engineer and law graduate. A creative and perhaps even overactive mind drew him to those areas, but then he discovered an appetite for fantasy fiction – specifically sword and sorcery. It wasn’t long before writing became his go-to outlet for his creativity, and his passion drove him to take it further.
On the days that Tom isn't working on his mythos or dreaming up new fictitious scenes, he can be found taking long walks while plugged into an audiobook, practising Wing-Chun and Karate, or telling someone that he really should take up cycling again.
The Ambrosius Chronicles
Most things in mythology are real,
but many things that happened are celestial coverups.
Fortunately, the elves like to keep accurate accounts.
This chronicle is one of theirs.
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Like a legendary sword, is the future set in stone?
The Ambrosius Chronicles begins around 500 BCE, in a world with a history that's very different from what we have recorded, today. As a result of unseen hands, meddling from the shadows, the figures we believe to be legend are true, but events surrounding them... not so much.
A legendary kingdom, destroyed.
A once-and-future king, never crowned.
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We begin in c. 1270 CE, centuries after alternate events in ancient Britain changed everything, including what we would come to know about the history of human magic. Zeke Stone lives in that world, and for reasons he and his newfound allies are far away from understanding, his life is intertwined with events that require the rediscovery of buried history and forgotten secrets to overcome. Alas, getting involved has the potential to make things worse, because what Zeke and his friends learn, and how, will determine which sides they take in struggles between creation’s children...
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...struggles dating back to time immemorial.
Dawning series
The prequel series will cover the dawn of sorcery and two events mentioned in 'The Corral Ring,' across three books.
Volume 1: The Cunning Folk (In pipeline)
Volume 2: T.B.D.
Volume 3: The Battle of Camelot (A long way off)
Awakening series
Volume 1: The Corral Ring (2020)
Volume 2: Seiðrlemja “Spellbreaker” (In progress; expected: 2021)
Volume 3: Lady of the Lake (In pipeline; expected: 2022)
Volume 4: King of the North (In pipeline)
Volume 5: Excalibur (In pipeline)
Volume 6: The Sword in Stone (In pipeline)
Reckoning series
Continuing on from the last event in the Awakening series...
Volume 1: Hunter (A long way off)
Volume 2: Saviour (A long way off)
Volume 3: T.B.D.
Stand-alone tales
Book 1: Necromancer (In progress)
Question: With plans for such a large world, will you be making side-stories with popular/interesting characters?
Answer: It's an interesting notion, to write side stories. However, I think the best approach for me is to recognise that they aren't the focus. If an idea comes to me which I think would make a good stand-alone tale and add some depth to the series, I may act on it, but won't be actively thinking of stand-alone tales to write - at least, not yet - which is why there aren't many listed.
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Question: What language are the elves and dwarves in the series using?
Answer: Elvish and Dwarvish, of course! The languages are of my own creation, as are the fonts used to represent Elvish and Dwarvish text in the books. I haven't made it available as a resource because I cheated. Rather than take a linguistics degree and spend months-years developing languages, I developed a progressive cryptographic algorithm to essentially one-way encode English words in a fashion that hides the fact that they were encoded from English i.e. by not making the same transformation to each letter. I can adjust the variables to completely modify the output, essentially giving me the ability to create new languages on a whim. After the encryption, I submit the word to a number of string-replacement routines to enforce certain rules which allows each individual word to be identified as part of the same language. This means that while yes, I have a whole language ready to go, I don't have a list of words outside of those I've specifically "translated." So, no dictionary, I'm afraid. But as time progresses and the JSON file gets more entries, maybe I'll put something up!
Publish date: 16/05/2020
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E-book:
EBook currently available, exclusively, on Kindle Unlimited!
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Paperback:
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* Available on other Amazon domains, but only in English
The Corral Ring
The Ambrosius Chronicles: Awakening
Volume 1
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Set in c. 1270 C.E., Albion.
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When representatives of London, led by their supreme sorcerer, arrive at Norwich with accusations of warlocks attacking their kingdom, Zeke Stone, the tower guard’s latest recruit, unwittingly becomes a pawn between the Wizard Council and enemies long thought vanquished. Under the threat of war with the great kingdom of Mercia, the council’s race to learn the secrets of a dark object and uncover the plans and identity of their adversary place Zeke in the middle of an unlikely alliance where he must fight for his life, his future, and the future of Albion.
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☆☆☆☆☆ "An excellent book, which I highly recommend"
"... This genre is particularly characterized by long word counts and abrupt, unfulfilling endings. But, in this book's case, while it certainly does have the former, the latter is thankfully avoided by this tremendously good author. ... I found myself utterly engaged with Richards's writing. He is exceptionally eloquent, his narrative, characters and dialogue are infused with humour and loaded with the author's personality; the sentences he constructs are clever, interesting and witty. Sure, the book is long, and does feel it at times, perhaps crying out to be moved along a little quicker, but character interaction is the star aspect of the author's work. It is a book for the intelligent fantasy reader, and Richards shows his maturity over the usual YA author with whom this genre is suddenly so popular. Focusing more on the thoughtfulness and diplomacy of the political arena, rather than the frivolity of the fairy-tale world - even though it does include sprites, elves and gnomes - there is much more Lord of the Rings about this book than Never Ending Story..."Matt McAvoy
Read full reviews on the product page
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Seiðrlemja “Spellbreaker”
The Ambrosius Chronicles: Awakening
Volume 2
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When magic is suspected in the mysterious and shocking murder of dozens of dwarves and the only evidence implicates the high king, Hedley Tygram, a bold young dwarf, strikes out from Veirendil, seeking the aid of the enforcers. Whether suspicious of a ruse to appear impartial or because of something else, Zeke Stone and Laura Tailor, the third regiment's newest recruits, are chosen for the task. Alas, sending away two trusted sorcerers may prove fatal, for wolves in sheep's clothing lurk within the white walls, and one with the knowledge to thwart the abominable uprising may instead be the key to its grim return.