Diplomat’s Gambit

Mikhail Trubitskoy is a carouser, perfectly at ease wasting away his years drinking and gambling to his heart’s content. A disappointment to his father and reckless spender of the overbearing old man’s wealth. That is, until one night he is challenged to a duel – quite the overreaction to a little good natured ribbing – shot, and almost killed. For his family, it’s the last straw. A profession will force him to get a hold of himself, his father decides. Mikhail chooses the least objectionable option: he becomes a diplomat. The romance of it! To whisper in the ear of princes, speak for the King-Emperor of Vascasia, and enjoy all the pleasures of society away from his family’s prying eyes.

But, for a first assignment, he is sent to no rich empire or quiet backwater. No, he is sent to Daastrijn. A kingdom without a king, as the last one got himself killed over a year ago. The fractious nobility still cannot decide who should replace him. It’s not like there is a hurry: they’re only at war with their neighbour, who they accuse of orchestrating the regicide. A volatile mess. It’s the assignment no-one would ask for. Unless, perhaps, they had the wits and ambitions to use it. And could stay sober long enough to understand it all, or avoid betting the empire on a game of cards.

Beginning his investigations into the mysterious death of the king and disappearance of his killer, Mikhail starts to sketch out the outlines of a conspiracy. But the closer he gets, the more dangerous his position. After all, anyone willing to commit regicide would surely be all too willing to get rid of one minor diplomat any way they saw fit and the candidates for the throne will stop at nothing to secure the crown. On top of it all, the war must be stopped before it escalates, threatening to drag in Mikhail’s home. He will outmanoeuvre politicians, uncover a murder, survive an assassination, unmask a conspiracy, flirt with romance, and end a war. And maybe, by the end of it all, he’ll have even made something of himself.

DIPLOMAT’S GAMBIT is the second full-length novel I’ve completed, currently sitting at 95,000 words and going through revisions. Heavily focused on political intrigue and drawing on my political science background, it is a stand-alone though I have vague plans for using the character again in serialised episodic novels. The character himself will also appear as a minor figure in the ‘Wars of Peoples and Nations’ series whenever I get around to it.

The Wars of Peoples and Nations

Book One: The Seed of Revolution

One word is on everyone’s lips: revolution. The continent of Teua Major is on a precipice as new ideas clash with old, threatening to destroy and make anew everything that anyone has ever known.

Cycer shar Delir Taronish is a radical writer who has dedicated himself to reforming the political structure of his native Lydesis. The threat of revolution has finally forced the Sahan and Grand Vizir to contemplate his ideas but, positioned between reactionaries on the one side and revolutionaries on the other, Cycer finds that his every attempt is challenged even as the fate of his homeland rests in his hands.

Queen-Regent Apoleana of Savaria rules on behalf of her young son. She faces challenges to her rule from an aristocracy who hate their foreign queen and from the open call for revolution. She plans to unite her fellow monarchs underneath her to defeat the revolutionaries and smash her opposition. Her opponents have other ideas.

Captain Leofric il’Prolais is a cavalry officer in the armies of the Grand Duke of Prolais. A member of the ruling family himself, he prides loyalty to his Grand Duke, his nation, and his family above all else. That pride is questioned when his brother tells him of a great threat to his family which divides his loyalties and pushes him to his limit. Asked to choose between his family and his nation, he makes a fateful decision.

In the city-state of Xhodesi, Katerina Nikomanche is a young woman newly exposed to revolutionary ideas that finally give her life a direction she can believe in. But the further she becomes embroiled in revolutionary activity, the more she comes into conflict with her family. Worse, the movement she believes in is under existential threat, possibly to be lost before it has even begun. She will be forced to ask herself just how much she is willing to give up for the cause of defeating tyranny and injustice wherever it is found.

Across the Sea of Serpents, in Teua Minor, Malambek Malomo, Archpriest of Ambek, grieves for the Divine-Emperor of Asynuk Nabkuun. It is their job to help pick his successor. But, when Malomo discovers that the Divine-Emperor was murdered, they embark on an investigation to route out a conspiracy at the very heart of the empire, with implications that will ripple across the world.

Five lives tell the story of a world in flux. Of tragedies and triumphs as ideas and soldiers clash. How it will end is anyone’s guess, but the world can never be the same again.

THE SEED OF REVOLUTION is book one of a seven book series largely inspired by the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. A continent spanning epic tale, from the perspective of people on all sides of an almighty brewing conflict, it is a story of political intrigue, war, and the clash of new and old. The whole series is roughly outlined and book one is fully outlined, estimated at 300,000 words with a similar length for each book after it. I can’t wait to write it but I’ve been tackling some slightly more reasonably sized projects while I develop my craft.