Hello! I hope this email finds you well. Better than well!

Thank you for signing up to my newsletter! I appreciate it. The letter will be used to inform you of progress on the books, previews of books to come, discussions of the literature research that went into the books, maps in future newsletters, and extras. You certainly do not have to read the entire newsletter! And, yes, the name is terribly bland and should be changed.

Contents:

Progress Update

Preview from Book 4

Behind the Scenes

Other Author Book Promotions

If you want to contact me, your thoughts on the newsletter or writing, I’m at pdballwrites@gmail.com

Progress Update

Book 4 is going to be called: “Princess Cayce is Still My Name: the spring campaign.” The story continues from where Book 3 left off, with Cayce struggling with the angry earls, finally getting trained by Etienne, and continuing to develop the new weapons, which the army trains with for the upcoming war.

The book is 50% written and will likely take one more month to finish. Writing takes time, but it’s honestly the editing that takes up most of the work. Though if you caught spelling and grammar mistakes, you might disagree that the editing is complete! I apologize for these – and thank you for kindly ignoring them. Believe it or not, I give each book five full edits before releasing them to beta readers, who find some errors, do two more edits, and publish it.

The cover is started. I have the picture picked out and an image of what I’d like Cayce to look like on it (a raging whirlwind of magic swirling about her hair) but have a lot of work to do here.

As promised, a preview from Book 4: The Spring Campaign:

Battle at Castle Barclay

Scouts had returned. Their army was amassing on a large, fallow field. Wisely, I thought to myself, best not to trample the crops. In response, we were marching there, about to break into formation upon sight of them.

Cresting a little hill, there they were, hastily forming up. Off in the distance, I could just make out the castle, little lines of smoke rising off its chimneys. It made for a remarkable sight, a massive army lining up in the plains before a distant castle. Larger than ours, larger than I expected from the last time I’d seen the Barclay troops, nearly twice our size and spread out to show their numbers off. Maybe I should have accepted marriage.

Brundle, on his black horse next to mine, said, “looks like scouts have alerted them to our presence.”

Watching them rush here and there, I felt anxious. My body wanted to run, train, exercise, and I twitched a little atop my horse. “Shall we attack?”

“Let’s form up and advance. Once they see us coming, they’ll want to parley.”

“Parley? That’s seriously a word?” I’d only ever heard it in shows.

Brundle looked at me like I asked where the ground was. “Given their superior numbers, they’ll demand your concession. Perhaps your acquiescence to marriage. Whatever you decide, we’ll follow.”

“Well,” Morry said, “we’re not here for a giant wedding celebration.”

My hands tightened on the reins, Cloud stamped around as if he was nervous, too. “No, we are not.” I left the ‘but . . .’ unsaid, sitting in my mind, pestering me.

Their army spread out across the field below, taking so much space, I wondered how we’d defeat it, even with our new weapons. Looking back at my own, still mostly single file, but breaking into formations, it looked so small by comparison. They’d surround us easily. Compared to our 40 000 and change, they must have over 70 000.

They were massing for us slightly downslope, about halfway through the field. Roughly half their army wore different colored armor. “Those,” Brundle said, pointing, “are the church’s army. I fear your gold has been spent.”

“That’s a large army.”

“It is, but our infantry has been training with the sarissa the entire winter. And beating regular pikes each time. Trust our weapons as our soldiers do.”

“Enough to win, you think?”

“I think yes. We shall see how your crossbow ranks hold up. I have some reservations about them. And the new cavalry.”

The new cavalry being Morry’s regiment, a thousand men in full plate armor with long, heavy cavalry lances, back-up spears and greatswords. Morry, faceplate open and calm, said, “we’re all as prepared as is possible for what’s coming.”

“Is that a white flag, are they surrendering?”

“That’s the parley signal.”

“Well, gentlemen, let’s go have a nice chat then, shall we?”

Brundle gave the order to march into the valley. Gun was with the phalanx, Rand with his cavalry and Morry, the Companion Cavalry nearest us, looking fierce and daunting in his full plate. Sunlight gleamed against their armor, metal men atop their metal mounts, the horses outfitted in scale-mail armor, long lances straight up. If our winter of training was accurate, the Barclay force was in for a terrible surprise. If otherwise, well, my kingdom would be short lived.

***

Morry, Brundle, I, and a few of the Companions rode out to meet them halfway. Clumps of mud kicked off the horse’s hooves but wasn’t deep enough to cause us any issues.

“Princess Cayce,” yelled out the archbishop, the ambassador who’d come to my castle to bark and yell at me, at my own coronation to issue demands. Atop his horse, holding some stave with a ringed symbol at the top, metal sphere in the center, and a ridiculously tall white and purple hat. Anger on his face.

To his right, a boy in his teenage years in fine chainmail, resting his helmet on his leg. Likely, the Barclay duke. First time I’d seen him in person. Red hair tipped with white, like Sapphires, freckles. Large body and tall, but still a teenager. I looked for her, but Saph thankfully wasn’t here. I didn’t want her hurt, either by seeing the war or being in it.

I lifted my visor. “Duke Barclay, I presume?”

The elderly priest continued, “we offer you the chance to surrender. Your forces will not be harmed. You will marry Duke Barclay in a fortnight and he will be your king.”

I asked the boy directly, “you think I would make a good wife to you?”

That surprised him. He looked over to the bishop.

“Listen to His Excellency,” said one of the priests accompanying him, “it is the only way to keep the kingdom intact. You will soon have your castle back, and a worthy husband to be your king.”

“I will marry no boy. And you will not advise me, priest. For I know your kind!” I spat at him, as childish as it was, but I did. “As for you, Duke Barclay, this is your chance to save your soldier’s lives. Surrender and I will keep you on as duke. Also, I’d like the return of my gold.” Even though it was clearly spent, no harm in asking.

“Do you not see the size of our army?” The priest held his hands out, “we outmatch you handily. It’s time to quit your arrogance and posturing.”

I ignored the priest and looked into the duke’s eyes as I said, “look, I don’t want you or your soldiers to die in this needless battle. I like your sister. Just stop listening to these filthy priests and their unholy order.”

“Blasphemy!” shouted the priest, pointing at me.

The boy duke finally spoke, “Princess Cayce, I implore you not to follow through with this attack. We outnumber you greatly and it will be your downfall.” He rode closer to me, Morry and the companions shifted their steeds, I waved them off. Beside my horse now, he said in a low voice so that no one but us could hear it, “let us walk together, alone.” With that, he got off his horse, handing the reins to one of my mounted cavalry.

I nodded at the cavalry man’s questioning look, held my hand up to Morry so he wouldn’t do anything rash, but he merely nodded, and dismounted myself. The ground was soft, easy to land in. The boy and I walked off together.

“Your Highness,” he started and paused as if weighing his words, “my lady, let me first thank you for returning my father’s body to us. It was most kind of you, allowing Sapphire to escort our father home and gracious of you to allow us to retain the duchy.”

I nodded. “Of course. It is my hope that after this day you shall yet retain the duchy, but I need you to swear an oath.”

“Sapphire told me that she helped you against my father by providing you your brother’s armor and weapons.”

“And against the dowager’s plans.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. I believe it was the dowager, and not your father, who orchestrated the betrayal. It was she who forbade me from leaving the tent that day to witness my brother’s downfall. Saph brought me my late twin’s armor and weapons, and I was able to sneak out to the battle. Unfortunately, I was not able to affect the outcome.”

He looked back at the parley group. “Do you have evidence to support your case against the dowager?”

“Just my recounting of events.”

“Then the best I can offer is an apologize on behalf of my family. My traitorous father is to blame for your loss.”

“It’s long in the past and nothing to worry about now. Not with our two armies facing each other and those blood thirsty priests wanting a fight.” Also, and this had its benefits if you’re goal was to be heartless, the previous king wasn’t really my father. It was easy to forgive the loss of someone I never met to prevent the losses of men I knew.

“My lady,” he stopped and faced me, then knelt on one knee. “You are, by Sapphire’s accounts, a good woman. Let us marry and save the kingdom. We will return the rule of law to these lands.”

A collective gasp was audible from those gathered back at the parley sight. They couldn’t tell if he was offering me his oath or proposing.

My heart fluttered. Not for marriage prospects, but the chance to prevent the enormity of war. Men would die on my choice and he’d forced me to make it. I took his gauntleted hand in mine, looked into his green eyes. Then, closed my own.

“I . . . No. The answer is no.” He was sincere and kind and I was shocked by this. I didn’t want the battle, the deaths to be on my hands. Yet I couldn’t give him myself.

“I will be a good husband for you. I will treat, ever treat you with respect and honor for all of my days. And I will take no concubines.”

“That’s, ah, very generous of you. Acknowledge me as the rightful ruler, make oaths, give me your soldiers as my bannerman and quit this battlefield and we can engage in discussion . . .” I tried to stop an involuntary shudder, “regarding courtship.”

“Give me your hand, my lady, and we will prevent needless deaths of your men. And unify the kingdom and drive out the Ketzles.”

“Listen, I don’t want this war any more than you do. Surrender to me, take the oath your father gave to mine, and . . . I will accept you as,” I had troubles saying it, “a suitor. The suitor, for I will take no others. We’ll spend time together, get to know each other. But I won’t marry you at sword point and under threat of insurrection.”

“My lady, I cannot do these things. For you have murdered a priest. Only marriage to a king will protect you from the church.”

“I acted in self-defense and morally. He was-”

“I don’t condone his actions. Yet, yours weren’t befitting a ruler. With a king guiding you, I believe you would be even tempered.”

“I’d kill him again in a heartbeat.” I took his hands and pulled, “ok, stand up. Listen, you name yourself a duke and not a king. Your lands are part of my kingdom.”

“And you are a princess and not a queen in the eyes of the law.”

“What a difference one year makes in the life of a princess.” I turned my gaze on the horizon, “you aren’t going to surrender then?”

“My lady, I cannot. I can only accept your surrender and acquiescence to marriage, to make me king.”

I looked into his young green eyes but couldn’t bring myself to give him a cute smile. “We’re about to have men fight and die for us because of pride.”

“You are refusing marriage for pride.”

“No, I am refusing a forced marriage. As my bannerman, you are betraying the kingdom.”

“My lady, we outnumber you greatly. There is no chance you can win. And once you have lost, I will be king but without your noble presence as queen.”

“If I may offer a suggestion?”

“Certainly.”

“Do not ride at the head of your troops. Mine are well practiced.”

“I will lead my men into battle.”

Ok, that’s the preview! More to come in the next newsletter and much more when Book 4 comes out.

Behind the Scenes: Phillip II Reinvents Warfare

I do a lot of research to get the details of the setting correct. Yes, it’s fantasy and a lot of the details are made up, but much of it is also based on history. The setting for Cayce’s new world is a mix of medieval Europe and Ancient Macedonia, specifically when Phillip II and Alexander the Great were alive.

Phillip II, as Cayce has brought up a lot, changed warfare and conquered most of the world as he knew it. He invented the sarissa, reduced camp followers to one for every six soldiers, introduced regular training for soldiers and awards for performance, and developed tactics to maximize the effectiveness of the phalanx. These involved fighting on level fields and using phalanx to pin enemies in place while cavalry attacked them from the flank and behind. It also involved protecting the phalanx using cavalry, archers, peltasts and skirmishers. In effect, Phillip II invented the combined arms strategy.

One correction to Cayce’s comment that other armies didn’t use the sarissa. After Alexander died, his empire was divided up and fought over. His former generals, and a few other nation-states, used sarissa but apparently they weren’t as capable at protecting, nor using, the phalanx with cavalry, ranged and skirmishers. Other leaders simply weren’t effective at using a combined arms strategy.

Later, the Romans would make use of both combined arms and terrain very effectively, and lead to the downfall of reliance on the phalanx.

The 4 pegged leather saddle is straight from this time – and they didn’t use stirrups. It therefore appears as if they didn’t have a full cavalry charge, except perhaps into peltists (slingers, mostly) and skirmishers (light infantry). It seems as though cavalries would simply engage each other directly, thrusting their spears at one another.

Likewise, phalanx would also attack each other at the line of skirmish. They’d stab at each other and apparently wouldn’t march forward until they’d broken their enemy’s line. Hence, Phillip II’s invention was so powerful: it extended his soldier’s point of attack, making the enemy’s spears unable to cross the distance.

In terms of how the book describes phalanx advancing, with the lines ‘leapfrogging’ each other, that’s an invention of mine. I haven’t come across any information about how phalanx advanced in battle. If the lines didn’t pass each other, then you’d imagine the first line in the phalanx would quickly tire as they’d be doing all the fighting. Plus, if the phalanx itself was advancing, the first line would have to remove their sarissa from enemy soldier’s they’d stabbed, which would slow down the entire affair. Hence, I describe the lines as walking past each other. Yet it is possible they swapped out individual soldiers when they tired, or had some other method of keeping the frontline fresh. This information simply isn’t recorded – if you have suggestions or knowledge on these topics, I’d love to hear it!

It is worth noting that the most senior soldiers, paid the most, were stationed in the front lines. As Macedonian armies under Phillip II and Alexander rarely lost, their soldiers fought in many battles.

Macedonian soldiers did not have the greatsword used so often in the books.  Swords in Ancient Greece’s time were similar to the Roman gladius – short, one handed, and largely used for finishing off fallen opponents.  Large, two-handed swords weren’t invented until around the 14^th century, which is about when better armor becomes used more frequently. The better protection made swords more useful in battle as a primary weapon.

Swords therefore weren’t particularly useful in Ancient Macedonian battles, except as back-up weapons. Spears and sarissa were the primary melee weapons through which soldiers engaged each other. This situation, again, is likely because of reach: spears are deadlier at greater distance than swords. Spearmen can therefore engage enemies before swordsmen can.

So, I cheated a little here. But, I really wanted greatswords to be part of the world – big swords, much more fun! And, the point of Cayce’s world is that magic is holding most technology back. Not all, but most.

If you want to watch of Alexander the Great’s battles and exploits, I found this to be a fantastic resource (I have no affiliation with this YouTube channel or the ones below):

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaBYW76inbX5gW1dT5HvFcKUkrG5hvJPF

If you’d like to watch sword wielders lose to spear users, take a look at the following videos. Also, these videos both discuss the advantages of spears and swords and how swords become more useful (with shields and armor). One thing to keep in mind is that soldiers back in Macedonia would very easily beat almost any martial artist or person training with weapons today, as they lived or died by their training, so these test fights aren’t perfect representations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afqhBODc_8U&ab_channel=Lindybeige

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d86sT3cF1Eo&ab_channel=scholagladiatoria

Next newsletter, I’ll discuss some of the cuisine choices in the books. Namely, lead-sugar and the barley and fat recipe that Cayce found not to her liking – it actually existed! And people thought it was good for muscle building.

Other Author Book Promotions

Ok, so these are promotions I agreed to do in trade for the same. It’s a key way for authors to reach larger audiences. That said, feel welcome to ignore this section. These are works from authors in similar genres who’ve agreed to list my work in their email newsletters and promotions.

I have vetted these works to the extent that I tried to eliminate erotica and anything that triggered my ‘yuck’ response. But that’s as far as I went. I haven’t read any of these – sorry! – so I am not actually recommending them. If you don’t wish to look at these books, no worries! If you do, I hope you find something that appeals to you. Some of them look appealing to me and I might add them to my reading list.

Kindle Unlimited fantasy novels:

https://storyoriginapp.com/to/SXMnTr7

This one is for Sword & Sorcery books (mine’s in there, too!):

StoryOrigin (storyoriginapp.com)

Fantasy novels with a dark twist:

StoryOrigin (storyoriginapp.com)

Portal fantasies, where the main character finds themselves in another reality:

StoryOrigin (storyoriginapp.com)

Individual book mentions. These authors are mentioning Princess Cayce to their readers, so I’m returning the favor:

The Forbidden: A Fantasy Romance Series (The Ancestors Saga, Book 1) (English Edition):

https://storyoriginapp.com/swaps/47b5a376-2539-11ed-8e57-f7974d8b423c

Stonebearer's Betrayal (Shadow Barrier Trilogy Book 1) (English Edition):

https://storyoriginapp.com/swaps/e2bc208a-1c14-11ed-89be-3fc05d02e5c8

That is the first newsletter! Thank you for reading, I hope it was interesting for you. I will return to day drinking finishing Book 4. You have a good one!