Destiny rules all. Few are kings. One was chosen. King Brute is an epic tale of the first king of Britain.
In 1200 BC at the conquest of Troy by the Greeks, the Trojan king Aeneas escapes to Italy. Two generations later, his descendant Brute is born. Banished from Italy after accidentally killing his father, he is captured at sea by the Greeks. He then struggles to win his freedom as an athlete and unite the captive Trojan people to defeat their captors. He succeeds and then goes on a quest to find a new homeland, eventually landing in what was to become Britain. Based on Geoffrey of Monmouth‘s 12th Century, Historia Regum Britanniae, King Brute brings back to life this old legend, as Brute and his band of countrymen battle huge armies, bloodthirsty pirates, fire breathing sea dragons, tattooed pygmy Picts, hideous giants, cruel natural forces and time itself.
This book has been along time coming. I first became interested in the legend of King Brute after seeing the London Stone while living in London in the early 70’s. Then in the early 80’s, at the Sonoma State University Library in California, I happened upon an old book The Phoenician Origin of the Britons, Scots and Anglo Saxons by Professor L.A. Waddell which whetted my imagination even further.
It was also at this time that I read The History of the British Kings by Geoffrey of Monmouth. The surviving legends of those days were first written down by the Welsh monk Nennius in the 9th Century and later by another Welsh monk Geoffrey in the 12th Century. With an oral historical account so old that has been passed down from generation to generation, it is hard to know how much of it is fact and how much is fanciful fiction. I then took the basic story as written and added to it with my own imagination, not unlike Shakespeare who took the story of King Lear from the very same book.
While studying writing at the University of Southern California, I was exposed to the archeological findings of the city of legendary Troy in Turkey, and as the sports team of the university are the Trojans, it made me even more interested in the legendary King Brute.
The story laid dormant in my imagination for many years until suddenly when it sprang to life on the page. I hope you all will enjoy this dramatic historical fiction and many thanks to everyone who has already purchased King Brute.
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