Tag Archives: Sword’s Edge

End of The Year Rundown

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Greetings and felicitations!

No new novels (yet – hopefully at least one if not two in 2026). The next book in the Sword’s Edge Chronicles is about 75% done. Quite a bit is happening, and I’m scrambling to keep up. Have a word with my characters if you please, and let them know they can slow down a bit once in a while.

I do have the beginning of the next Deuces Wild book started, including a smashing space battle. Literally. Once SEC6 is off, I can double-down and make some real progress on DW4.

Now, if you’ve happened upon this post, and you’re new to my worlds and wonder if my writing is decent and/or if it’s what you’d like to read, the first novel of each series is only 99¢ in ebook. As a dear friend of mine likes to exclaim (in his NY accent), “What a deal!”

I agree. A book to read and enough leftover for a coffee. What a deal!

So why not give one or both of them a go? Deuces Wild: Beginners’ Luck if you like spacey derring-do, or Sword’s Edge, if you like SF with a fantasy vibe.

Also, if you do like Sword’s Edge, you can get the first three books of the series in one ebook omnibus edition!

But wait! There’s more!

A flash fiction psychological horror story that was previously published in Hidden Villains entitled “The Mad Man of Briars Lodge Road” is available free.

Also, I collected some backstories and short stories from the Sword’s Edge Chronicles—some previously published, but not all—and I am also offering them for free in a collection entitled Oddments & Sundry.

That’s all for this year. Be seeing you!

👌

Ranger’s Heart – A Review

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I did it. Something I felt I couldn’t do and was uncomfortable doing: I wrote a romance novel.

Granted it’s a SF romance novel, but still—

And someone liked it! Hey, Mikey!

Check out this review of Ranger’s Heart!

It is a beautiful romance in an amazing world that would make Andre Norton proud.

Wow!

😎

A Review of The Reluctant King :)

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Is any author not happy when she gets a review of one of her books? This is the fourth book of the Sword’s Edge Chronicles, The Reluctant King.

Review: The Reluctant King (Sword’s Edge Chronicles, Book 4) by L.S. King

“Being Thane was hard enough, but now Alcandhor must make Claim and become King to save his friend and scribe as well as his people. The question is: just how long will he last in this job?”

😊

Tam from Sword’s Edge

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I worked on Sword’s Edge for many years before it was published. I mean the original dream that inspired it was in 1985, but I started actually writing it in about 1999. And my poor family were stuck with reading all my drafts.
Of course this included descriptions. Tam was petite, dark skin, straight black hair, amber eyes, dimples when she smiled.

One night, my older daughter called and said you have to turn on the TV. You just have to turn on the TV! I found Tam!
Me sighing: Okay, what channel?
She told me and I turned it on to find a show called Smallville. And sure enough, there was Tam! Spot on, it was Tam! I was gobsmacked!

If you’ve watched the show, you know the actress.

😎

And Here We Go!

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Ahh, a big scene with many characters and much talking. Lords, advisors, leaders.
And I must remember all the points of the agenda in this important meeting, and to give voice to each person present.
If I mess up (I am trying hard not to), I hope my beta readers and/or copy editor will catch it when eventually the manuscript gets to them.
Meantime, I’m rolling up virtual sleeves and slogging away.

(And aye, I just used this meme in my social media, but it fits, so here it is again.)

😎

An Inquiring Author Wants to Know

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Yesterday I posted about The Origin of Sword’s Edge, and I mentioned that one of the three characters in the dream—the guard—was Guy Williams.

So here’s a question for anyone who has read any of the Sword’s Edge books: who do you think in the series is the character that I imagine being played by Guy Williams?

🤔 🤔 🤔

The Origin of Sword’s Edge

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It’s no secret to anyone that Zorro was my first hero, and that I attribute my love of swords and capes to him.
To me (and to Johnston McCulley, the creator of the Zorro stories), Guy Williams was the perfect Zorro. You see the author below, showing his creation to the star of the then-new series.

Guy Williams and Johnston McCulley

In 1985, I had a dream (we Kings seem to have that propensity). In it, I was a young lass, raised secretly and taught to fight. Bad guys stormed the castle (how I was raised in a castle yet my existence was a secret is a mystery of the dream world) and killed the king and queen, my parents (who were some sort of guards or protectors) and most of the guards.

One guard survived (played by Guy Williams) and snuck me out, then sent me on a mission to rescue the prince, being held captive. It involved a long journey. When I arrived, I snuck in through vents and dropped down from the ceiling to see a young man dressed in white robes with long blond hair, his back to me. He whirled around from staring at the setting sun through a barred window. The person playing the prince in the dream was Rick Schroder—which was strange to me as I never even saw the TV show he starred in, and only saw occasional previews.

Anyway, I snuck the prince out, and we made our way to safety with the last part of the journey through huge pipes tall enough to walk in, more like tunnels. They weren’t sewer pipes (so glad, that would have been gross), so who knows what they were.
We were reunited with Guy Williams at the end of pipes/tunnels and the dream ended there.

So now you know the source of what eventually came to be The Sword’s Edge Chronicles.

Thank you Johnston McCulley and Guy Williams!

😎

Short and Sweet Book Review

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A world at a crossroads. A leader with a vision.

The portal is closed, but its legacy lives on. As ancient prophecies surface and fear grips the ruling elite, Alcandhor dares to challenge tradition with a bold call for change.

Sword’s Edge Chronicles is a gripping tale of rebellion, revelation, and a society on the brink. Perfect for fans of epic world-building and political intrigue.

https://x.com/illustratorKH/status/1919142876157792342

Thank you, Kevin Henkes!

Characters Taking Over

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I have mentioned this at times in writing groups or sessions and to some readers. And I’ve probably shared it on my social media as well.

I have one character in The Sword’s Edge Chronicles that swaggered in and introduced himself. Like Tolkien with Faramir (I felt so much better later finding out this happened to him as well), I didn’t plan him, I didn’t want him, but I rather liked him.

I thought, hey, I’d like a nice guy to be a red shirt in my story, so maybe that’ll be him. My characters all immediately quit cooperating until I agreed to not kill him off.

This fellow ended up changing the entirety of my overarching plot for the series, forcing me to rethink everything I had planned.

Does anyone who has read any of the SEC novels care to hazard a guess who this interloper is?

😎

Another Sword’s Edge Chronicles Review!

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Yes, another review! Whee! This time it’s the second book of the series, Children of the Enaisi.

And guess what? Hey Mikey—she liked it:

Review: Children of the Enaisi (Sword’s Edge Chronicles, Book 2) by L.S. King

And in case you’re new to the series, she reviewed book one, Sword’s Edge:

Review: Sword’s Edge by L.S. King

The series has five novels in it currently, plus the stand-alone prequel, Unlikely Prophet.

If you haven’t delved into the series yet, and the reviews pique your interest, the first three books are available in an ebook omnibus, to get you going.

😎