Book Title: 1066 Turned Upside Down
Authors: Joanna Courtney, Helen Hollick, Anna Belfrage, Richard Dee
G.K. Holloway, Carol McGrath, Alison Morton, Eliza Redgold, Annie Whitehead
With a foreword by C.C. Humphreys.
Publication Date: 14th September 2021
Publisher: Taw River Press (paperback) Matador/Troubador (e-book)
Page Length: 222 Pages
Genre: Alternative History
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1066 Turned Upside Down
By Joanna Courtney, Helen Hollick, Anna Belfrage, Richard Dee, G.K. Holloway,
Carol McGrath, Alison Morton, Eliza Redgold, Annie Whitehead
With a foreword by C.C. Humphreys
Have you ever wondered what might have happened if William the Conqueror had been beaten at Hastings in 1066? Or if Harald Hardrada had won at Stamford Bridge? Or if Ed-ward the Confessor had died with an heir ready to take his crown? If so – here is the perfect set of short stories for you.
1066 Turned Upside Down explores a variety of ways in which that momentous year could have played out very differently.
Written by nine well-known authors the stories will take you on a journey through the spec-ulative ‘what ifs?’ of England’s most famous year in history.
Read an excerpt by Joanna Courtney from 1066 Turned Upside Down
HOLD ENGLAND FIRM
by Joanna Courtney
If you’ve ever had the luck to go to the Battle of Hastings re-enactment at Battle Abbey, you will have heard, as I have, the vast majority of the spectators vigorously boo-ing Duke William. Most of us still, despite so much of our heritage coming from our Norman ancestors, believe in our hearts that Harold was the just and good English defender and that William was the vicious foreign invader. Certainly at the time, King Harold was desperate to see William from his shores. This was the man who had forced him, under duress, to swear an oath of allegiance. This was the man trying to steal England on some trumped-up promise no one else remembered. And this was the man who was ravaging his own patriarchal lands around Hastings. Harold had beaten Hardrada in a surprise attack and he was keen to do the same to William. He rode out from Westminster before his northern reinforcements had caught him up – a rare impetu-ousness that may well have cost him the Battle of Hastings. If only he had waited one more day…
The English camp stretched out as far as the eye could see, swamping the ancient moot point of the now wizened hoary apple tree. And still men came. Even now, Harold could see a new group coming out of the thick trees of the Andreaswald – maybe fifty of them, led by a squire who was barely bearded and riding on a packhorse that looked as if it might expire at any mo-ment.
His men had an eclectic collection of weapons: rusting swords with only their new-cut edges shining in the low autumn sun; knives of all sizes, no doubt taken from the kitchen or the threshing barn; and hoes and spades and rakes that might have looked comical save for the fierce determination with which they were wielded. These men had come with all they had to fight for England and Harold rushed to welcome them to his army. He would have felt safer, perhaps, had they been in chainmail with fine new blades, but raw courage counted for much in a shield wall and he grabbed keenly for their hands.
‘Welcome, welcome. Thank you for joining us.’
The men, wide-eyed, dropped to their knees at the sight of the crown on Harold’s head.
‘King Harold, my lord. We are honoured indeed.’
‘No please.’ Harold rushed to raise them. ‘It is I who will be honoured to fight at your side to-morrow. England will need all her sons to keep the Normans out.’
This elicited a roar of approval and Harold seized the chance to move away, adjusting the heavy crown as he went. He felt a little foolish wearing it in the rough war camp but his brother, Garth, had insisted that the men needed to see him as a king and he was right. These new re-cruits would fight harder for having stood before their ruler. If Harold was to be a king, he was determined to be a good king and if that started with jewels on his brow, so be it. It will make you an easy target, a voice inside his head reminded him but he paid it little heed. He had led armies for years with his ‘fighting man’ standard high over his head and had not yet been cut down. His chainmail was of the finest quality, his helmet of the thickest steel and his sword sharpened to cut bone like butter.
The royal swordsmith had done the sharpening in London, saying Harold could not ride on the Normans with Viking guts dulling his blade. There was time, he’d insisted, and everyone had said the same. The Normans were going nowhere. They’d set up one of their ridiculous little wooden castles at Pevensey and were happy hiding within its walls. Harold, they’d all said, could take a few days to regroup and recruit and rest.
‘Rest?’ he’d roared at them. ‘How can I rest with scum on our doorstep? How can I rest whilst they raid my villages and cut down my trees to make arrows for our hearts?’
Everyone had looked scared at that, even Garth. Harold had been a little loud, perhaps –there must be traces of his father in his blood after all, God bless him. Born the son of a lowly thegn, Godwin had fought his way up to become England’s topmost earl and had passed that honour to his eldest living son, Harold. How proud he would have been now, to see his son as king.
Does William win the coming battle – as history tells us he did? Or maybe this time... Find out in 1066 Turned Upside Down
READERS’ COMMENTS
“1066 Turned Upside Down is the exemplar for how analytical counterfactual history should be done, combining the best elements of fiction and non-fiction to create an im-mensely impressive achievement.”
“As a collection, the quality of the writing is exceptional and the variety of possible out-comes presented is truly fascinating.”
“The collection is assembled in such a way that between the ‘alternatives’ are the related facts as they happened, as far as historians and archaeologists know – which still leaves room for these experienced writers’ imaginations.”
“A book I will read and re-read. I heartily recommend it”
“The real joy of a collection of stories like this is, of course, that you are likely to be intro-duced to writers you may not have come across before.”
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1066 Turned Upside Down is a collection of eleven alternative history short stories of a ‘what if’ nature imagined by nine well-known successful authors:
JOANNA COURTNEY Ever since Joanna sat up in her cot with a book, she’d wanted to be a writer and cut her publication teeth on short stories and serials for the women’s magazines before signing to PanMacmillan in 2014 for her three-book series The Queens of the Con-quest about the wives of the men fighting to be King of England in 1066. Her second series, written for Piatkus is Shakespeare’s Queens exploring the real history of three of the bard’s greatest female characters – Lady Macbeth, Ophelia and Cordelia.
Joanna’s fascination with historical writing is in finding the similarities between us and them –with an especial goal to provide a female take on some of the greatest stories we think we know. www.joannacourtney.com
ALISON MORTON writes the award-winning alternative fiction Roma Nova thriller series featuring tough, but compassionate heroines. She blends her deep love of Roman history with six years’ military service and a life of reading crime, historical, adventure and thriller fiction. A ‘Roman nut’ since age 11, she started wondering what a modern Roman society would be like if run by strong women. She has recently branched out into a contemporary crime setting with Double Identity, the first of a planned series. www.alison-morton.com/
ANNA BELFRAGE Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy set in 14th century England. Anna has also published The Wanderer, a fast-paced contemporary romantic suspense trilogy with paranormal and time-slip ingredients. His Castilian Hawk - returning to medieval times and her most recent re-lease, The Whirlpools of Time, a time travel romance set against the backdrop of brewing rebellion in the Scottish highlands. Anna has won several awards including various Gold, Silver and Bronze Coffee Pot Book Club awards. www.annabelfrage.com
ANNIE WHITEHEAD is an historian and prize-winning author. Her main interest in histo-ry is the period formerly known as the ‘Dark Ages’. Her first novel, To Be A Queen, is the story of Aethelflaed (daughter of Alfred the Great), who came to be known as the Lady of the Mercians. Alvar the Kingmaker, tells the story of Aelfhere of Mercia, a nobleman in the time of King Edgar. Cometh the Hour goes further back in time to the seventh century, to tell the story of Penda, the last pagan king of Mercia. Annie has twice been a prizewinner in the Mail on Sunday Novel Writing competition, she won first prize for nonfiction in the new Writing Magazine Poetry and Prose competition, and was the inaugural winner of the HWA (Historical Writers’ Association)/Dorothy Dunnett Society Short Story Competition and is now a judge for that same competition.
Annie has had two nonfiction books published. Mercia: The Rise and Fall of a Kingdom (Amberley Books) has been an Amazon #1 Bestseller. Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England was published by Pen & Sword Books in 2020. www.anniewhiteheadauthor.co.uk
CAROL McGRATH is the author of The Daughters of Hastings Trilogy. Her fifth histori-cal novel, The Silken Rose, first in The Rose Trilogy, published by the Headline Group, is set during the High Middle Ages. It features Ailenor of Provence and was published in 2020. The Damask Rose about Eleanor of Castile was published in 2021. The Stone Rose, Isabella of France, follows in 2022. Carol has also written Historical Non-Fiction for Pen & Sword. www.carolcmcgrath.co.uk
ELIZA REDGOLD is an author and ‘romantic academic’. Her bestselling historical fiction includes her Ladies of Legend trilogy, starting with Naked: A Novel of Lady Godiva re-leased internationally by St Martin’s Press, New York. Her historical romances are pub-lished by Harlequin Historical, London (Harper Collins). They include Playing the Duke’s Mistress, Enticing Benedict Cole, The Scandalous Suffragette and The Master’s New Gov-erness. They have been translated into multiple languages including Italian, Polish, Czech, Danish and Swedish, and are available internationally. www.elizaredgold.com
G.K. HOLLOWAY After graduating from Coventry University with an honours degree in history and politics, he worked in education in and around Bristol, England, where he now lives. After reading a biography about Harold Godwinson, he studied the late Anglo-Saxon era in detail. When he had enough material to weave together facts and fiction he produced his novel. 1066 What Fates Impose, a story of family feuds, court intrigues, assassinations, plotting and scheming, loyalty and love, all ingredients in an epic struggle for the English crown. www.gkholloway.co.uk
HELEN HOLLICK moved from London in 2013 and now lives on a thirteen-acre farm in North Devon, England. Born in London, Helen wrote pony stories as a teenager, moved to science fiction and fantasy, and then discovered the wonder of historical fiction. Published since 1994 with her Arthurian Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy, followed by her 1066 era duo. She became a USA Today bestseller with her story of Queen Emma: The Forever Queen (ti-tled A Hollow Crown in the UK), and its companion novel, Harold the King (titled I Am the Chosen King in the U.S.A). She also writes the Sea Witch Voyages, a series of pirate-based nautical adventures with a touch of fantasy. Commissioned by Amberley Press she wrote a non-fiction book about pirates in fact, fantasy and fiction and a non-fiction book about smugglers, published by Pen and Sword.
Recently she has ventured into the ‘Cosy Mystery’ genre with her Jan Christopher Myster-ies, the first of which is A Mirror Murder. She runs Discovering Diamonds, an independent online review site for Historical Fiction, primarily aimed at showcasing Indie writers.
She occasionally gets time to write. www.helenhollick.net
RICHARD DEE was a Master Mariner and ship’s pilot, now living in Brixham, South Dev-on. His novels include Science Fiction and Steampunk adventures, as well as the exploits of Andorra Pett, a reluctant amateur detective. www.richarddeescifi.co.uk
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