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The Hammer of God Trilogy A Story of Arthur
On a windswept moor, not far from the ancient shrine at Stonehenge , during a conference to discuss differences, a conference where no weapons are allowed, three hundred British leaders are massacred by Saxon warriors who came to the council with knives hidden in their boots. The occurrence passes into infamy as "The Night of the Long Knives" and ushers onto the scene, twenty five years of continual strife and bloodshed, and the beginning of a century long war between Briton and Saxon. And into this bubbling cauldron of treachery and hate comes Arthur. The Hammer of God Trilogy , a sprawling three part saga of a peoples fight to survive, tells us his story. It is about Arthur's rise to become Dux Bellorum (War Chief) of the united British tribes, his campaign to defeat the invaders, his coronation as the first High King and his fall and apparent death on the battle fields at Camlan some forty years later. It is also the story of Christianity's triumph over the false gods of the Druids. Arthur was a real person who emerged from the dusky mists of the dark ages as the most important leader in Celtic history. Noted historian John Morris in his definitive work, The Age of Arthur , tells us that "his short lived empire created the future nations of the English and the Welsh; and it was during his reign . the Scots first came to Scotland . His victory . turned Roman Britain into Great Britain . His name overshadows his age." The Hammer of God trilogy is about the real Arthur as he could have been. It is the story of fifth century Britain after the Romans departed. It is not a story of the Middle Ages, some 600 years later, where other writers have placed him. Nor is it the mystical and mythical world of many of the Arthurian tales. Travel with us back to that tumultuous era. Meet the people who inspired the legends; Merlin, Arthur's mentor; his parents Uther and Ygraine; Guinevere his future wife; Brigit, the forest nymph, and Medraught and Morgan, his brooding half brother and treacherous half sister. Meet also, the princes and tribal kings, Kay, Bedwyr, Gawain, Gaherhis, Tristan, Gareth, Agrivane, Bors, and Lancelot; all who become his lieutenants, providing the inspiration for the legendary Round Table. Join with us as they fight the good fight against the overwhelming numbers of Saxons, Angles, Picts and Irish barbarians arrayed against them." Watch as they attempt to unite the British tribes, something they have never been able to do in their thousand year history. Watch as the story of Arthur unfolds.
Book One: The Time of the Raven tells us of Arthur's youth, from his birth in a dank Castle overlooking the western sea through his childhood training by Merlin and Ector, and his teenage escapades with Kay and Bedwyr to the time when he has to assume command of the British armies at age sixteen.. It is a time of learning and of testing; of young love and bitter heartbreaks; a time of growth and of destiny being fulfilled. Book Two: The Time of the Eagle carries the reader through Arthur's arrival as a great warrior and leader. We experience the twelve great battles told in Nennius writings on King Arthur, where he defeats the Irish pirates, the blue painted Picts and then overwhelming hordes of Angle and Saxon warriors in a gargantuan final battle at Mount Badon . The story also tells us about the extraordinary feats Merlin and the nymph-like Brigit and their May-December romance. Book Three: The Time of the King w ill take us from Arthur's coronation to his ultimate final battle at Camlan, Briton fighting against Briton, where according to Nennius, "both Arthur and Medraught fell." We will also follow Merlin as he roams the island looking for Britain 's lost treasures and his lost love. And we will at last understand the full impact of the treachery of Morgan, Arthur's half sister. |
