The Legend of the Great Horse

The Golden Spark by John Allen Royce has been named an Independent Publisher (IP) Highlighted Title for August 2011. The IP Highlighted Title designation honors newly-published books exhibiting superior levels of creativity, originality, and high standards of design and production quality.

“Going into the book with very limited horse knowledge, I feel that I learned quite a bit about horses, and have gained a greater appreciation for their place in history. I enjoyed reading about how the horses were cared for on the Spaniard ships, the techniques used to train them in 17th century Europe, and what a fox hunt would actually be like.” – LibraryThing Early Reviewer

I haven’t yet linked to this review in The US Review of Books, basically because my blog is an affront to the good work of bloggers everywhere.

Emily Hinton for the US Review of Books
Eclipsed by Shadow, the first installment of Royce’s Legend of the Great Horse trilogy transforms a majestic beast into a thrilling [...]

The following is an archived review from Bob Spear of Heartland Reviews. Mr. Spear is no longer offering his standard review service, which is a loss to the industry. In his words: “My health and time constraints preclude me from offering free book reviews any more. If the mainstream reviewers such as Kirkus, Foreword Magazine, [...]

The following is the description of Eclipsed by Shadow for the Mom’s Choice Awards:
Eclipsed by Shadow is the first book of a new trilogy, “The Legend of the Great Horse,” which takes the reader on a journey through the ages when horses were everyday companions in work, war, sport and spectacle. The story is told [...]

For Immediate Release
Contact: Robert Hall | Micron Press 617-301-2901
History at a Gallop: “Eclipsed by Shadow” wins 2009 Reader Views Literary Award
BOSTON – The critically acclaimed first volume of a bold new trilogy about the history of horsemanship has won in the Fantasy category of the 2008 Reader Views Literary Awards. Veteran horseman John Royce has [...]

I’ve been away, and it seems mighty odd to write it that way. Contractions didn’t exist in the 17th century, at least not the ones we are used to today; although shan’t t’was. I have found it is a challenge to write conforming prose that does not roll off the keyboard with square wheels.
I have—I’ve—been [...]

One thing you notice when researching historical fiction like “Eclipsed by Shadow” is how much human history is owed to the horse. Civilization advanced through adapting to the horse’s outlook.
Horsemanship is a civilized encounter with an alien mind. Horses are a “prey” species whose code is: “he who quickly runs away, lives to run another [...]

The latest review of Eclipsed by Shadow is from the Historical Novel Society. (view citation)
The first in a trilogy, Eclipsed by Shadow tells the tale of a horse-crazy teenager traveling through time on a horse. This unusual-sounding summary had me skeptical at first, but the story is surprisingly page turning, and it left [...]