GATE OF THE DEAD, the gripping third title in David Gilman’s action-packed MASTER OF WAR series, is out in hardback in the UK today. This popular series, published by Head of Zeus, began with Amazon #1 bestseller MASTER OF WAR and follows the adventures of Thomas Blackstone, a stonemason-turned-archer during the Hundred Years' War.
As the For Winter Nights review says: ‘David Gilman, again, achieves wonders with his recreation of the Hundred Years War. But a strong part of its appeal has been watching Thomas Blackstone grow from the young stonemason archer who fought at Crécy.’ Readers love David Gilman’s band of characters, including the strong women, and reviews praise his expert blend of historical fact and fiction in this epic story of conflict, loyalty and love. The MASTER OF WAR series draws hundreds of glowing 5-star reader reviews on Amazon and in total more than 100,000 copies of the first two titles in the series have been sold.
GATE OF THE DEAD opens in Lucca, Tuscany in 1358: Thomas Blackstone has built a formidable reputation in exile, fighting as a mercenary amid the ceaseless internecine warring of Italy's City States. Success has bred many enemies, who will seize any opportunity to destroy the man they cannot overcome on the field. So when a dying man delivers a message recalling Blackstone to England, it seems almost certain to be a trap. Yet Blackstone cannot decline – the summons is apparently from the Queen.
Blackstone will brave the terrors of the High Alps in winter, face the Black Prince in tournament in Windsor, confront the bloody anarchy of a popular revolt in northern France and submit to trial by combat. And every step of the way, he will be shadowed by a notorious assassin, a killer who has been instructed to inflict the maximum pain on his target before he despatches him to hell.
The MASTER OF WAR series has been sold in Brazil, Hungary, Spain and the Czech Republic and more offers are pending. David is currently writing the fourth Thomas Blackstone novel. His stunning standalone THE LAST HORSEMAN, featuring American and Irish characters in the South African War, will also be published by Head of Zeus, in Summer 2016.
Praise for the MASTER OF WAR series:
‘Move over Bernard Cornwell! Historical fiction at its best’ – Historical Novel Society
‘If you only read one historical debut this year, make it this one. The prose is sharper than a bodkin arrow, the pace faster than thought and to be honest it was a book that I just couldn’t put down. Great stuff.’ – Gareth Wilson, Falcata Times
‘A violent, tempestuous, glorious novel. I was gripped from the very beginning and the book never once let go of me until its end, by which point I was exhausted by its intensity, thrills and trauma. Among my top historical fiction reads of 2015.' – For Winter Nights
‘See-saw drama at its best… so many reasons why, when life tried to encourage me to put the book down, I resisted stridently. This is writing that twists around seldom seen hist-fict depth.’ – Ani Johnson, The Bookbag
