King Henry's Choice
Page 21
Special thanks to the efficient and thorough editors at Clean Reads for their help and support in seeing this book to its published form.
HISTORICAL NOTE
What if? “Queen Mary’s Daughter” challenged the recorded history of Scotland, setting the parameters for an alternate history, one where Scotland remained free and independent, one where Scotland didn’t suffer at the hands of the English. Taking notes of what happened in our known timeline, I manipulated the events, using time travel to make some things possible. Hence, Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Mary Queen of Scots. This first book set a precedent for the events that followed. A new line of Scottish monarchy evolved. And, another royal time traveler, King Henry I of Scotland, who appeared at the end of “Queen Mary’s Daughter”, set the stage for another battle with England, a battle with England’s Queen Victoria and her wayward son, Crown Prince Albert Edward (or Bertie as his friends and family called him). Taking the history as we know it, and the alternate history of Queen Mary Elizabeth I, I mixed facts with fiction and science fiction to develop a whole new plot, a whole new series of ‘what ifs’ and a whole new challenge to keep Scotland free and independent.
Historical facts and dates are accurate, for the most part, except where some events are fantasised to fit into the new plot, the new timeline which included a Scottish king in the nineteenth century. Snippets are shared from the first book, allowing the new protagonist, King Henry, to do his time jumps both to the future and to the past.
Our known timeline includes Queen Victoria and her desire to rule the world as Empress, her frustrated son who desired more power than his mother would allow, and the passion the English monarchy had for the Scottish Highlands, including Balmoral Castle built by Prince Albert as their Scottish get-away.
There are other places, events and personages of interest. This is a story, a work of fiction, pure and simple. It is a story that continues what “Queen Mary’s Daughter” began: it opens up a realm of possibilities. What if….
History has been written, but, if time travel exists, history will be re-written countless times. Perhaps, even as you read this, the timeline you thought you knew has already changed. Sit back and enjoy an infinite realm of possibilities. Perhaps in another time, another dimension, there is another plausibility, another historical timeline, one in which Scotland remains free and independent.
Emily-Jane Hills Orford
2019
About the Author
An avid gardener, artist, musician and writer, Emily-Jane Hills Orford has fond memories and lots of stories that evolved from a childhood growing up in a haunted Victorian mansion. Told she had a ‘vivid imagination’, the author used this talent to create stories in her head to pass tedious hours while sick, waiting in a doctor’s office, listening to a teacher drone on about something she already knew, or enduring the long, stuffy family car rides. The author lived her stories in her head, allowing her imagination to lead her into a different world, one of her own making. As the author grew up, these stories, imaginings and fantasies took to the written form and, over the years, she developed a reputation for telling a good story. Emily-Jane can now boast that she is an award-winning author of several books, including Mrs. Murray’s Hidden Treasure (Telltale Publishing 2019), Mrs. Murray’s Ghost (Telltale Publishing 2018), Queen Mary’s Daughter (Clean Reads 2018), Gerlinda (CFA 2016) which received an Honorable Mention in the 2016 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards, To Be a Duke (CFA 2014) which was named Finalist and Silver Medalist in the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and received an Honorable Mention in the 2015 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards and several other books. A retired teacher of music and creative writing, she writes about the extra-ordinary in life and the fantasies of dreams combined with memories. For more information on the author, check out her website at: http://emilyjanebooks.ca