Zekial
The Gascony Letters
The Southampton Chronicle
by Richard Massey
Part of the Gregory of Bordeaux Trilogy series:
Gregory knew they hunted him, but did they have the horses to see it through? Doubtful, but soon the answer would be known. He neared the end of a mournful poem that had bedeviled him for a fortnight. Once done, he would again ride out and give test to their mettle. Gregory gazed into the raftered reaches of the hall and thought of home. An autumn gust rattled the shutters, candles flickered and, somewhere out there, they waited. He lit a stub of Frankincense, dipped his quill into the inkwell, and hunched over the golden sheet of parchment.
Asked to write a chronicle of the times, Gregory—with his merchant's wit, his silver and wine, and a talent for arriving in places where he doesn't belong—journeys through late 13th Century England, to ramshackle villages and splendid cathedral cities, to dank castles and even a remote battlefield in the foggy northern hinterlands. What he finds is a realm of toil and gossip, tragedy and cheer, and hard lines between the accepted and the forbidden.
As the list of friends and enemies grows, Gregory finds himself courting something he never before imagined, the trappings of fame. The Southampton Chronicle, born from the dust and blood of the Middle Ages, itself yields an unlikely hero, a chronicler who sheds obscurity in claiming the highest title available to him—Gregory of Bordeaux.
Publisher: Tiree
A native Texan, Richard Massey lived in New England, the Midwest, and the Deep South before settling in Northwest Arkansas in 2007. A career reporter with over a decade of experience, he cut his teeth at city hall and the courthouse. While he's been to just about every juke joint on the Mississippi Delta, he also appreciates the Rembrandt collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He has a bachelor's degree in history from Ohio State University, and a master's degree in journalism from Ole Miss.
Andre Guirard