Sun Stallion: A Historical Novel of the Conquest of Peru

by Carol Travis Alonso

The Conquest of Peru, led by Pizarro in 1532, involved bloody battles between a few hundred Spaniards and vast armies of Incas. The steel armor, swordsmanship, and magnificent war horses of the Spanish Conquistadors made them invincible against Inca foot warriors using stone catapults, wooden weapons, and native trickery. This is the story of a proud Spanish war horse and two boys - one Spanish and one Incan - who befriend a Spanish cavalier in Peru. It is a tale of deceit and honor as both sides try their hardest to win the stallion. This collision of two vastly different cultures, Spanish and Incan, is observed by the stallion himself. Highly alert to the events around him, he comprehends most of what he experiences. A fictional and magical horse, he is the Sun Stallion.The novel follows the evolution of the horse's allegiance from conquerors to the conquered. It begins in Spain, brimming with the hope of the New World, and ends in Peru through the bloody Conquest, where it slowly switches from the point of view of the Spaniards to that of the Incas. The boys and horses are fictional, but the rest of the characters, events and details remain true to the historical record. It often sounds like fiction because many events were so bizarre it's hard to believe they really happened, but they did.Sun Stallion was a finalist in the 2018 Blazing Lantern Fiction Contest, winning 3rd place in 132 entries. "Her debut novel Sun Stallion is an entertaining account (straight from the horse’s mouth) of the sixteenth century exploits of Spanish Conquistadores in Peru. Told from the perspective of one of Pizarro’s war horses, ... Sun Stallion blossomed into a well-researched work of historical fiction." - Blazing Lantern Publishing Company

389 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 6, 2019