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Rebel King (Book One - Hammer of the Scots)

Charles Randolph Bruce and Carolyn Hale Bruce

Published by
Published and Distributed by Bruce & Bruce, Inc.
Virginia Beach, VA USA
ISBN (Hardback): 0-9721674-0-4
ISBN: (Paperback): 0-9721674-1-2

A review (©, 2002) by the authors Charles Randolph Bruce and Carolyn Hale Bruce
Original Copyright by Charles Randolph Bruce and Carolyn Hale Bruce. Used by permission of the authors. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission of the authors.

Rebel King (Book One - Hammer of the Scots) - The Brave Heart continues . . .

Ahead of the Hangman Press proudly announces the publication of Rebel King (Book One) Hammer of the Scots, a work of historical fiction by Charles Randolph Bruce and Carolyn Hale Bruce. The novel is the first of a series of four the authors have planned about the struggles of Robert de Brus, the Scottish nobleman who went to war against 14th Century Europe's most powerful army to reclaim the throne of his ancestors.

After deposing Scotland's King John de Balliol and having William Wallace executed for treason in August 1305, as depicted in the Mel Gibson movie Braveheart, Edward I of England moved to eliminate the strongest claimants to the Scottish crown, Robert de Brus, and his family. Hammer of the Scots is the story of that epic clash of wills.

The handsome and courageous earl of Carrick and Lord of Annandale, Robert de Brus, and his brothers, Scottish knights Edward, Alexander, Thomas, and Nigel; Robert's beautiful and spirited wife, Elizabeth de Burgh; his roguish nephew, Thomas Randolph; Edward, king of England, the "Hammer of the Scots" who would enslave the kingdom; the debauched Aymer de Valance, earl of Pembroke; Robert Wishart, patriot Bishop of Glasgow; Andrew Stewart, Robert's young squire; Isabel McDuff, the countess who gave all to crown a king; Neil Campbell; Christopher Seaton; Robert Boyd; James "The Black" Douglas, who pledges to follow Robert unto death and beyond; the wealthy and entrancing Christina of the Isles; the Macdonald brothers, Donald and Angus Og, smugglers and traders throughout the islands; and dozens of other, equally fascinating characters bring the Scots' struggle for freedom to these pages.

About ten years ago, designer and illustrator Randolph Bruce first had the inspiration to write about the "The Bruce" because of tales claiming descent from the Scottish king told him as a boy by his late grandfather. Years passed before the actual writing was started, and that as a screenplay, rather than a novel. The release of the film Braveheart spurred him to proceed with his own effort, but it evolved into a novel, the story being too complex to tell fully in a movie-length script. Carolyn, experienced as an advertising copywriter and author of two previously published pictorial histories on her hometown of Roanoke, Virginia, volunteered to help with editing and some rewriting, and again the effort morphed, becoming a cooperatively told saga of one people's great struggle to be free.

In Hammer of the Scots, the pair's first effort at writing fiction has produced an ancient story retold in modern form by writers sympathetic, without being overly so, to the Scots. One reader opined, "... I don't know where you got your information from but it has a real sense of being there."

Readers with intense personal combat experience have commented that the battle scenes described in the book read as authentic. In the words of a former SEAL team platoon commander with multiple combat tours in Vietnam, "I found I was reliving the actions and emotions of my past while reading the vivid battle scenes . . ."

About the book as entertainment a reader commented, ". . . You're hooked from the first . . . the pace is intense with no lulls. It has everything in it that you would want in a novel. My wife and I laughed and we criedÉ a great book." And one Scot descendant said, ". . .I loved it. It gave me chills. I read it four times. I felt like I was reading a screenplay . . .it puts you right into the action. I saw Braveheart fourteen times and as a movie, this could knock the socks off Braveheart."

Published by a newly formed publishing company, Bruce & Bruce, Inc., Hammer of the Scots is its first title under the imprint Ahead of the Hangman Press. The imprint gets its name from a tradition in Randolph's family that his Bruce ancestors arrived in America after fleeing Scotland "one step ahead of the hangman," having fought in one of the Scots' rebellions, perhaps "the '45."

Asked why they chose to found a new publishing house, the couple responded, "Often, when we sent out our manuscript to agents and publishers, we saw that Hammer of the Scots was returned without being opened, even though the mailing had been targeted specifically to agents and publishers of historical fiction or books of Scottish interest. We figured, if they were too busy even to open their mail, it must be a good business to get into!"

Rebel King (Book One) Hammer of the Scots is available in hard back at suggested retail price of $28.95 and paper back of $19.95, plus any applicable shipping costs and sales taxes. Further details, ordering instructions, and a free "pre-book chapter" not included in the printed volume are all available on the Internet at http://www.Robert-de-Bruce.com.

See also Rebel King

Charles Randolph Bruce is online at crb@crbruce.com
Carolyn Hale Bruce is online at cdhbruce@worldnet.att.net

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