Ellis L. Knox's Blog: Knox in Altearth

I have a little Christmas story published over at Another Realm. It's a happy story, honest.
http://www.anotherealm.com/2020/ar120...

In the Valley of No Return lies a remarkable forest known as Brocéliande. You can read about over in Altearth.
https://www.altearth.net/broceliande/
Merlin, Vivienne, and a tree of gold. Among other curiosities.

For a sense of the significance of this place, just search on Broceliande here at Goodreads. Over a hundred results as of June 2020!

Otto of Brunswick had it all--family connections, powerful patrons, high ambitions. By the time of his death at the age of 43, he'd lost it all.

Read about Otto on my Altearth blog,
https://www.altearth.net/otto-of-brun...

I have a new essay at my history site
http://europeanmiddleages.info/crusad...
This one is about the last days of Acre in 1291. It's a dramatic story, both heroic and tragic.

This is the penultimate crusading essay. The next one will be on the Kingdom of Jerusalem itself (yeah, I know, it's a bit out of order). After that, I'll be offering essays on other aspects of the crusading era, but that doesn't exhaust my backlog. I have essays on other aspects of the Middle Ages, some on the Reformation, and even some on Greece and Rome.

You can find the Table of Contents for all published essays here
http://europeanmiddleages.info/toc.shtml

I've got a new article up at Mythic Scribes, another in the series on history for fantasy writers.

This one is about cowboys. You know, French and Italian and Polish and Hungarian and Spanish cowboys. The ones you always read about.
https://mythicscribes.com/history/fan...

Book is done and off to the editor. "Into the Second World" is my third full novel set in Altearth and is one much more recent in time than I ever thought I'd do.

It's a re-imagining of Jules Verne's classic, A Journey to the Center of the Earth. Except, this time, things actually happen (it's a classic, but they get to the center of the world only to find ... not very much).

This one has drow and dürgar, dwarves, and an ogre. And a few humans, just for variety.

The book won't be out until mid-July, though. I'll be traveling for nearly a month--back in late May. Then time to do the revisions from the editor. And then allowing time to set up some marketing. I'll post updates. Look for a cover reveal in late June or early July.

My new book is available at Amazon.
A Child of Great Promise. If you read it, please leave a review!


The young woman Talysse longs to escape her orphanage in southern France and find her parents. All she knows about them is that her mother is a noblewoman and her father an elf. She’s tired of her magic lessons and tired of living an isolated life.

When the wizard Saveric arrives, insisting she come away with him to a wizard school in Paris, she’s afraid she’ll be trading one prison for another. So she flies away.

Now, she and her faithful gnome companion, Detta, must find their way to the man who has been her patron ever since she was little. They are pursued relentlessly by Saveric. Is he hunting Talysse, or trying to rescue her? All answers lie high in the Pyrenees Mountains, where Talysse’s wizard patron lives. There she must face the truth about her past, if she is ever to have a future.

I have an on-going series of articles over at Mythic Scribes. These are aimed mainly at people who write historical fantasy, but should be of interest to a more general audience as well.

https://mythicscribes.com/history/pir...
https://mythicscribes.com/history/money/
https://mythicscribes.com/history/chi...
https://mythicscribes.com/history/bar...
https://mythicscribes.com/history/wag...
https://mythicscribes.com/history/how...
https://mythicscribes.com/history/how...

... and more to come!

I'm hip-deep in editing my next novel, entitled "A Child of Great Promise." I should have this pass done by end of December, leaving January to finish up and get this off to the editor. Aiming for March for publication.

Meanwhile, I'm just beginning the research phase of the next book, entitled "Into the Second World." I'm going to keep quiet on this one for a while. I'm not aiming for any big surprise; I just want to keep focus on Talysse and Detta, the gardiens and the wagoneers, and on how wizards can do the most damage when they're trying to do good.

I have new article at Mythic Scribes, part of my series there "History for Fantasy Writers." This entry is: How Old Was Old?
https://mythicscribes.com/history/how...