Greetings and Salutations, my dear Readers! Have I got a story for you. (Unless you want to go for the usual March events and selected commentary - in which case, please go here: March blog post, where you will fine all you want to know about Pi Day and St. Patrick's Day.) Otherwise, let us move on into the future.
March used to be a time of Spring Break, a week of merriment and mirth serving as not only a transition between winter and spring but between the hard work of a school semester and the slow slide into summer vacation. The last time I experienced this Spring Break was in 2020, oddly when we started our famous pandemic. I've told the tale before and lived to tell it. The administrators at my university instructed us to complete the semester exclusively online once we "returned" from our week off. I did that as best I could while being caught unprepared (no camera, no mic).
Then I retired and now I cannot keep track of the days of the week, all rushing together like a rollercoaster. In my idle time, I started writing a pandemic-focused novel - but I started further along on a more extensive crisis. One book became a trilogy, extending our story a couple generations into the future. I thought I was done but new ideas pestered me into writing a "sequel" and then another "sequel" and then, yes, a so-called "conclusion" to the series. The conclusion had barely launched when I was hard at work again on a new novel set much further into the future - a future that saw further degradation of civilization to a medieval society - and it was a ribald comedy, too!
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So now that 7 books have been written on this one timeline (trying to connect them with my previously published fantasy novel EPIC FANTASY *WITH DRAGONS (2017) or at least provide crucial background for it), I thought I was done. But those of you who know me know I'm never done.
I had one more book in me - saved from my adolescence for a time when I could do it justice. Given the massive story and the vast scope of the drama, I had to wait until I was an experienced novelist with life maturity to bring to the epic.
That book, as I introduced in my previous blog post, is A TIME OF KINGS.
There are two things you must know before anything else:
1. The narrator/protagonist is a Baumann descendant - although it isn't revealed until later. A hint is given at the beginning but you will forget it until later.
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The origin story of a story, hmm?
Back in my 7th grade days I tried writing stories. Stupid stories little more than copies of the sci-fi stories I read voraciously at the time. It was true for me: write the stories you want to read. And yet, somehow, an idea came to me that was so huge, so complex, I could not write it. Not at that time. It overwhelmed me. I pledged to write it later, when I retired and had the time to devote to it. And so I have. And so I did: it is finished now.
Back in my 7th grade days I tried writing stories. Stupid stories little more than copies of the sci-fi stories I read voraciously at the time. It was true for me: write the stories you want to read. And yet, somehow, an idea came to me that was so huge, so complex, I could not write it. Not at that time. It overwhelmed me. I pledged to write it later, when I retired and had the time to devote to it. And so I have. And so I did: it is finished now.
What's A TIME OF KINGS about?
Back in 7th grade, I suffered from teen angst. The world was against me. So were some other guys in my school. I transformed all of that reality into a fantasy I could control. I saw myself as the good prince beset by evil doers bent on my demise. You could fashion a book out of such themes. I scribbled a few scenes in a spiral-bound notebook with a ballpoint pen, often during classes. I thought it through. Had the whole story in my head from start to finish. But I couldn't do much with only a manual typewriter. An electric typewriter I got later did not make it easier.
Back in 7th grade, I suffered from teen angst. The world was against me. So were some other guys in my school. I transformed all of that reality into a fantasy I could control. I saw myself as the good prince beset by evil doers bent on my demise. You could fashion a book out of such themes. I scribbled a few scenes in a spiral-bound notebook with a ballpoint pen, often during classes. I thought it through. Had the whole story in my head from start to finish. But I couldn't do much with only a manual typewriter. An electric typewriter I got later did not make it easier.
Later, in college, I took a screenwriting class and I finally got the whole story down from start to finish - albeit as film instructions plus dialogue. Getting all of what I could think up into the movie made it 3 hours long. Of course, I thought that would be worth it. We see several 3-hour movies these days and nobody seems to mind. Then, from that screenplay, I tried to novelize it. But I started at the wrong place and got stuck, put it away. I tried a different novelization attempt later but again got stymied soon into the story. The problem, as I now understand, was that I started with history, too much backstory, and written in a droll voice of a minor scribe who seemed less interested in what was about to happen.
Problem solved. After writing 7 books with mostly 1st-person narration, I found the way into the epic novel. (Read it for yourself: an exciting prologue that introduces the setting and the situation of the novel.) I tried to keep to the flaneur narrator (one who describes what is seen, what happens, without being a part of it) but couldn't keep it going after a while, so gradually our narrator becomes aware to us (who he is). As the epic goes on we get to know our narrator better and gradually follow his own actions and motivations and regrets within the greater story.
So what is this greater story?
In the far future, after civilization has collapsed and survivors have rebuilt up to the level of a medieval society, we find the states of America have become kingdoms with walled cities and armies to protect them and wage war against other "city-states". Pressures from north and south help unite the states of "the Americus" (roughly Missouri across to Ohio). Our story begins in a battlefield where a lost boy becomes the ward of the young King of Louis (St. Louis). Named Jack by this King, he grows up at Court as the adopted brother to the prince and princess only to be sent away for training as a physician so he can be useful.
In the far future, after civilization has collapsed and survivors have rebuilt up to the level of a medieval society, we find the states of America have become kingdoms with walled cities and armies to protect them and wage war against other "city-states". Pressures from north and south help unite the states of "the Americus" (roughly Missouri across to Ohio). Our story begins in a battlefield where a lost boy becomes the ward of the young King of Louis (St. Louis). Named Jack by this King, he grows up at Court as the adopted brother to the prince and princess only to be sent away for training as a physician so he can be useful.
As boys will be boys, they pass through adolescence, youth, and young adulthood with its many trials and ladies to woo. Which brings us to the insult and the revenge at the core of the story. Justice must prevail!
A medieval society with Court intrigue and palace drama, with armies clashing in the field and a siege of the walled city of Cinnati, the aftermath of the war and all that follows and how it greatly impacts our narrator in his own personal life, as he is tasked with monitoring the King and managing the Court into his elderly years.
I have avoided almost all possible spoilers. This is a rough outline only. The enjoyment in reading is in the details. The how and why of the plot points, the turn of the story, the thoughts and feelings, motivations and regrets of our major players. I have crafted a rich story using a large cast and a fertile setting. I'm certain you will enjoy it. I will say about the conclusion of this epic drama that it is satisfying - neither a happy ending nor a tragic ending. As is usual for a book written by me, life is not so tidy. Endings are merely the end of the story, while life for the characters may continue beyond the final page. It is best, therefore, to provide an end which is perfect in its conclusive form.
A medieval society with Court intrigue and palace drama, with armies clashing in the field and a siege of the walled city of Cinnati, the aftermath of the war and all that follows and how it greatly impacts our narrator in his own personal life, as he is tasked with monitoring the King and managing the Court into his elderly years.
I have avoided almost all possible spoilers. This is a rough outline only. The enjoyment in reading is in the details. The how and why of the plot points, the turn of the story, the thoughts and feelings, motivations and regrets of our major players. I have crafted a rich story using a large cast and a fertile setting. I'm certain you will enjoy it. I will say about the conclusion of this epic drama that it is satisfying - neither a happy ending nor a tragic ending. As is usual for a book written by me, life is not so tidy. Endings are merely the end of the story, while life for the characters may continue beyond the final page. It is best, therefore, to provide an end which is perfect in its conclusive form.
A TIME OF KINGS is not a Game of Thrones clone (my idea came in 1973) nor does it draw anything from current medieval dramas (which I have not seen). It is medieval in setting but everything happens in the middle states of America. And in the future, say 3000 AD. It features a Baumann descendant as narrator/protagonist who observes, analyzes, comments on what these twin princes do in trying to destroy each other. It has romance (young princes wooing their ladies) but also warfare (a few grisly scenes). Court intrigue (ministers scheming) and palace drama (the staff and their quirks, the Royals and their proclivities). There are strong female characters: princesses, the Queen, barmaids, the doula, various wives and daughters with strong personalities. And guiding us is a youth trained as a physician becoming Chief Medical Officer in the prince's army, becoming palace doctor to the King while trying to live his own life full of regrets as the Realm crumbles around him and he is helpless to stop the fall.
A TIME OF KINGS launches later this year (2026). Perhaps as early as summer but definitely by September. And, let me whisper this, I already have ideas for the next novel....
More story details in the next blog post.
(C) Copyright 2010-2026 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog.
Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.
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