As I posted last month, my mother died on February 4th, 2013. For several years before she passed, I was working closely with her to convert her extensive oeuvre to e-book formats. She wanted very much to share the wonderful world of St. Frideswide with as many readers as possible, and that’s work which I will be continuing to do on her behalf for as long as I live.
Toward that end, for the next five days (until March 7th), Margaret Frazer’s Sins of the Blood will be available FREE on Amazon.
This book collects three short stories (“The Witch’s Tale”, “The Midwife’s Tale”, and “The Stone-Worker’s Tale”), the Guided Tour of St. Frideswide, and a lengthy 10 chapter preview of The Novice’s Tale (the first book in the series).
If it looks like the sort of thing you might find interesting, please grab a copy. If it doesn’t, consider this: My mother was absolutely masterful at placing you inside the viewpoint of a truly medieval character; that’s a perspective that I’ve often found useful in fantasy gaming, and you might think so too. If not, take a couple seconds, see if you can think of any friends or family who might be interested in these books, and then send them a link.
THE WITCH’S TALE
Witchcraft has come to the peaceful village near St. Frideswide, and its foul touch is striking down those closest to the church. Can Dame Frevisse thwart the servants of the devil before the hellfire of hysteria sears the souls of the faithful? Or is there more to this magic than meets the eye?
THE MIDWIFE’S TALE
“Sisters! Come back! Please don’t leave us yet!”
Cisily Fisher has died in childbirth and now the village of Priors Byfield is held in a grip of fear. Can Dame Frevisse find the root of misery behind a murderer’s sin before the next lethal blow falls? Or will the village be lost in a hue and cry of terror? The gentling touch of the midwife may calm the tortured soul… or give birth to a bitter death.
THE STONE-WORKER’S TALE
When Frevisse is given bishop-pardoned leave to visit her cousin Alice at Ewelme, she is enchanted by the work of the sculptor Simon Maye. But Simon is enchanted by the beauty of Elyn, one of Alice’s ladies in waiting. Clandestine meetings have given way to sinful lust, and now the two lovers have disappeared. The servants whisper that the lovers have eloped, and secretly pine for the passion to do the same. Lady Alice believes her sculptor has been stolen away by jealous rivals and rages at the injustice. But Frevisse alone suspects there may be some darker truth behind the midnight vanishing…
A GUIDED TOUR OF ST. FRIDESWIDE
And so we turn to St. Frideswide’s in rural northern Oxfordshire. Imaginary, yes, but fully realized as an ordinary place much like many others common across England in both rural and urban settings by the 1400s. A wealthy widow founded it in the 1300s, saw to its beginning, and endowed it with lands and other income to sustain it – alas, not so fully as she intended to do before she died…
Thanks for the pointers, Justin, and I’m sorry for your loss—I hadn’t noticed your post about your mother’s passing last month 🙁
Allan.