We are delighted to announce that we have signed a Viking trilogy and Medieval Templar series by Michael Burr.
In Michael’s words:
“I’m thrilled about joining the Sapere family of authors, because not only is that how the company has been represented to me, but it’s also the impression created by my first contact with Amy, Caoimhe and Natalie. I care a great deal about historical fiction and I believe that readers of that genre really tend to know their stuff, so Sapere’s reputation for excellence in matters editorial, cover design and marketing certainly lives up to that standard.
“As someone who made a career out of teaching History, I’m fussy about the twin imperatives of telling interesting stories and telling them properly. Central to this is keeping real people and their motivations as the focus, because those tend not to change, whatever else does. In fact, that’s the central premise of my trilogy, Chronicles of the Scraeling, in which a disabled teenager is snatched as a trophy from a French convent devastated by a band of marauding Vikings. His initial and derisory nickname of ‘scraeling’ becomes a badge of acknowledgement and respect among his gung-ho pagan companions through his ability to manipulate and outmanoeuvre acquaintances, enemies, and the occasional friend using an outrageous mixture of intelligence, cheek, bluff and superb man-management.
“His story rollicks in three volumes through most of the eleventh century and any number of unscrupulous kings, scheming empresses and demented eunuchs. The books encompass genuine history, graphic violence, outright comedy and even bits of down-home ordinariness.
“Similarly, I was prompted to write my Medieval Templar series by my fascination with the legendary appearance of a phalanx of Templar knights on the battlefield of Bannockburn. Where did these elite and terrible warriors of the medieval period come from? Why were they there, especially since they were supposedly dispersed, proscribed and persecuted years before? And what happened to the fabled and fabulous treasure of an Order that produced history’s first capitalists?
“So many questions, and my story of the life of the first, secret Master of the Temple after it was driven underground, is sort of an answer to them.”
Visit Michael’s website to stay up to date with his news and latest releases.
