Robin Hood and the Holy Grail to finish off the series
I have finished writing and editing the 12th and final book in the Outlaw Chronicles series – Robin Hood and the Holy Grail – and to be honest I feel a little sad. I am going to give the book a final read-through, to spot any pesky typos that have slipped through the net; I have my brilliant art director whipping up a terrific cover, and I’m going to be self-publishing it at the end of this month.
There will be no more adventures for Robin, Earl of Locksley and his loyal lieutenant Sir Alan Dale, no more colourful swearwords from Little John, no more cunning tricks, no more white-knuckle escapes, no more bloody battles against impossible odds, no more sadistic French lords to put down and Alan getting the wrong end of the stick because, well, I think 12 novels is more than enough for any historical series. I’ve enjoyed my time with the boisterous Sherwood crew, but now it’s time to move on.
It’s been an incredibly wild ride that has occupied a surprisingly large part of my life. I stared thinking and planning the first book Outlaw, and what I thought might one day stretch to be a trilogy, in 2003 or thereabouts, when I was working on the Body&Soul desk at The Times. I asked one of the work experience people to get me a reading list for Robin Hood books and she came back with a list of something like sixty titles for me to read. And I so began to read and research what became the Outlaw Chronicles.
I got my first book deal for two Robin Hood novels in 2008, with a pretty hefty advance, and almost immediately quit my job on the newspaper to launch a full-time career as a historical novelist. And, although it has been a bumpy road at times, I have never regretted that decision. Outlaw came out in 2009 and was an immediate success, and seven more novels followed, all published by Little, Brown. After eight books, I had had enough, and I killed off both my heroes in The Death of Robin Hood, in 2016.
I genuinely thought that was it, although I had left some chronological holes in the story, that I thought I might one day come back to fill. But, such was the demand for more Robin and Alan stories that in 2020, I published Robin Hood and the Caliph’s Gold, the first self-published Outlaw Chronicles story. That was followed by Robin Hood and the Castle of Bones the same year (it was Covid time and I’d nothing else to do but write) and five years later by Robin Hood and the Heretic Prince, which came out last year.
Robin Hood and the Holy Grail follows on directly from Heretic Prince and it set in the same part of the world. This is the blurb from the back of the book:
“You are not worthy of the Grail,” said the knight. “Do you even believe in its holy power, Locksley? Do you even believe in Jesus Christ, in God Almighty? No wonder you fight so hard for the cause of these heretics.”
September 1209. After a botched robbery in Sherwood, Robert, Earl of Locksley, better known as the outlaw Robin Hood, and his lieutenant Sir Alan Dale, have fled King John’s wrath to seek shelter in the Languedoc.
Swept up in the brutal Albigensian Crusade, Robin and his brave men must battle the Army of God, a fanatical invading force blessed by Pope Innocent and led by wily Simon de Montfort, which is determined to root out all heresy in this warm, tolerant southern land with fire and the sword.
However, Robin is also on a vital mission. He cannot go home to his family in England until he has in his possession a great treasure, perhaps the most precious object in the world – the Cup of Christ, the holy vessel that once held the Saviour’s blood as he suffered on the cross at Calvary.
And so farewell and adieu to the Outlaw Chronicles, which have been a major part of my life for nearly a quarter of a century. I really hope you enjoy the last outing of the lads in Robin Hood and the Holy Grail when it comes out in a couple of weeks time. And please feel free to tell me what you think. It will be available from Amazon in paperback, eBook and (I hope) audio versions.
In other news . . .
I have another novel coming out next month: Templar Assassin, which is the second book in the Mongol Knight trilogy based on the true story of the 13th-century Englishman who fought for Genghis Khan. From 7am on Tuesday 21 July to midnight on Friday July 24, if you go to the Waterstones website you can pre-order a copy of Templar Assassin for 25% off when you use the code SUMMER26 at the checkout.
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