Fate: Tales of History, Mystery and Magic
(A short story anthology)
By
Annie Whitehead
Jean Gill
Marian L Thorpe
Helen Hollick
Alison Morton
Elizabeth St.John
R. Marsden
Anna Belfrage
J. P Reedman
Debbie Young
With an introduction by Cathie Dunn
and endword by Helen Hollick
Publication Date: June 16th, 2025
Publisher: Taw River Press
Pages: 244
Genre: Anthology of Short Stories
If you had a crystal ball to predict what lay ahead, would you be tempted to use it? Or would you leave the future to the turn of Fate?
Tales of Variety. Tales of History, Mystery and Magic – some comprising just one of these popular fiction genres, others, a mild mixture of all three. Perhaps you prefer historical fiction rather than a story about magic or fantasy? Maybe you enjoy exploring new themes or prefer sticking to the familiar? Historical fiction can often inform, imparting knowledge of the past, of its events and its people. Stories of mystery exercise the ‘little grey cells’ as Poirot would say, while fantasy and magic create new worlds and awed wonder.
Whatever result, this is where anthologies come into their own, and where short stories are often appreciated as enjoyable, entertaining, quick or easy reads shown through the eyes of a variety of extraordinary characters and situations.
In this instance: an Anglo-Saxon woman facing the consequence of conquest, the pursuit of alchemy, the concern of a mother for her daughter, the shifting of time, the necessity of hidden identity, souls who will linger as ghosts, a warning from the supernatural, the necessity for (justifiable?) revenge. All mingled with the rekindling of romance through a mutual quest, and the preparations for a Cotswold village celebration. (Along with a good tip if illicitly snaffling cakes.)
The binding theme? Destiny... Kismet... FATE!
This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
Participating Authors & their Stories:
BRAMBLE CREEP BY ANNIE WHITEHEAD
When the Normans arrive at a peaceful Anglo-Saxon village, do the women, children and old men submit... or fight?
About Annie:
Annie Whitehead is a prize-winning writer, historian, and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and has written four award-winning novels set in ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Mercia. She has contributed to fiction and nonfiction anthologies and written for various magazines.
Annie has twice been a prize winner in the Mail on Sunday Novel Writing Competition, and won First Prize in the 2012 New Writer Magazine's Prose and Poetry Competition. She has been a finalist in the Tom Howard Prize for nonfiction and was shortlisted for the Exeter Story Prize and Trisha Ashley Award 2021. She was the winner of the inaugural Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) / Dorothy Dunnett Prize 2017 and was subsequently a judge for that same competition.
Annie has also been a judge for the HNS (Historical Novel Society) Short Story Competition, and was a 2024 judge for the HWA Crown Nonfiction Award.
Her nonfiction books are Mercia: The Rise and Fall of a Kingdom and Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England. In 2023 she contributed to a new history of English monarchs, published by Hodder & Stoughton, and in February 2025, Murder in Anglo-Saxon England was published by Amberley Books.
Website: https://anniewhiteheadauthor.co.uk/
Amazon Author Page: http://viewauthor.at/Annie-Whitehead
***
SIX POMEGRANATE SEEDS BY JEAN GILL
A daughter’s dream can be a mother’s nightmare.
About Jean:
Jean Gill is an award-winning Welsh writer and photographer living in the south of France with a scruffy dog, a beehive named 'Endeavour', a Nikon D750 and a man.
First published in 1988, her twenty-six books are varied in genre, including novels, memoir, military history, dog books, poetry, and a cookery book on goat cheese. With Scottish parents, an English birthplace and French residence, she can usually support the winning team on most sporting occasions.
She taught English for many years and was the first woman to be a comprehensive school headteacher in Dyfed, Wales. Life has been hectic as she is also mother or stepmother to five children.
Website: www.jeangill.com
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/jeangill
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ONE BLACK DOG BY MARIAN L THORPE
A warning of Fate, or simply too much beer and a tale well told?
About Marian:
A dual Canadian / British citizen who divides her year between Ontario, Canada, and Norfolk, UK, Marian published the first of her eight-book Empire’s Legacy series, historically-inspired speculative fiction, in 2015. The series is set in a world ‘on the edge of history’: reminiscent of Britain, Northern Europe, and Rome in the latter centuries of the first millennium, but a world where society evolved differently after the Eastern Empire left; a world where one young fisherwoman answers her leader’s call to defend her country, beginning a journey into uncharted territory.
Website: www.marianlthorpe.com
Amazon Author Page: https://relinks.me/MarianLThorpe
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IN THE SHADOW OF GHOSTS BY HELEN HOLLICK
Does the fate of those who survive linger forever?
About Helen:
Known for her captivating storytelling and rich attention to historical detail, Helen’s historical fiction, nautical adventure series, cosy mysteries – and her short stories – skilfully invite readers to step into worlds where the boundaries between fact and fiction blend together.
Helen started writing as a teenager, but after discovering a passion for history, was initially published in 1993 in the UK with her Arthurian Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy and two Anglo-Saxon novels about the events that led to the 1066 Battle of Hastings, one of which, The Forever Queen (USA title – A Hollow Crown in the UK) became a USA Today best-seller. Her Sea Witch Voyages are nautical-based adventures inspired by the Golden Age of Piracy. She also writes the Jan Christopher cosy mystery series set during the 1970s, and based around her, sometimes hilarious, years of working as a North London library assistant.
Her 2025 release is Ghost Encounters, a book about the ghosts of North Devon.
Helen and her family moved from London to Devon after a Lottery win on the opening night of the London Olympics, 2012. She spends her time glowering at the overgrown garden, fending off the geese, helping with the horses and wishing the friendly, resident ghosts would occasionally help with the housework...
Website: https://helenhollick.net/
Amazon Author Page: https://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick
***
A FATEFUL ENCOUNTER BY ALISON MORTON
When time turns in the wrong direction, fate will always step in…
About Alison:
Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. Her eleven-book Roma Nova thriller series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the ancient Roman Empire has survived into the 21st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but with a sharp line in dialogue.
Six years’ military service, a fascination with ancient Rome and a life of reading crime, historical and thriller fiction have inspired her writing. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history. She lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her latest three contemporary thrillers, Double Identity, Double Pursuit, and Double Stakes.
Website: https://www.alison-morton.com
Amazon Author Page: https://Author.to/AlisonMortonAmazon
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FOLLOWING FATE BY ELIZABETH ST.JOHN
A Lost Portrait, a Hidden Conspiracy, and a Second Chance at Love
About Elizabeth:
Elizabeth St.John’s acclaimed historical fiction brings to life her ancestors – remarkable women linked to England’s royalty – offering unique insights into Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times.
Inspired by family archives and historic sites like Lydiard Park and the Tower of London, her novels include The Lydiard Chronicles, The Godmother’s Secret, and The King's Intelligencer, exploring the English Civil War and the mystery of the Princes in the Tower.
Website: www.elizabethjstjohn.com
Amazon Author Page: https://geni.us/AmazonElizabethStJohn
***
THE BLACK ONYX BOX BY R. MARSDEN
The Bluffer’s Guide to Becoming a Famous Alchemist
About R. Marsden:
R. Marsden is an author and musician, passionate about the Middle Ages. He plays the gittern, a beautiful medieval stringed instrument, ancestor of the guitar; and a thirteenth century recorder, a replica of one which was excavated from medieval ruins in modern-day Poland. He also plays the piano, and there’s nothing medieval about that!
Tales of Castle Rory are Medieval Fantasy Adventures, in which the demesne of Lord Rory of Hambrig is brought to life. Set in the latter part of the thirteenth century, these stories have adventure, mystery and magic at their heart. You’ll also find relationships, romance, friendship and the forging and breaking of ties between people and nations. Running through the Tales are themes of family, loyalty, trust and resilience, together with the other sides of those coins: abandonment, betrayal, loss and disempowerment.
Website: https://talesofcastlerory.co.uk/
Amazon Author Page: https://mybook.to/TalesOfCastleRory
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BEWARE THE CROWS BY ANNA BELFRAGE
Beware the consequences of hatred. Revenge can take many forms…
About Anna:
Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with three absorbing interests: history, romance and writing.
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, which is set in 14th century England, and The Castilian Saga, which is set against the medieval conquest of Wales. She has also published a time travel romance, The Whirlpools of Time, and its sequel Times of Turmoil, and is now considering just how to wiggle out of setting the next book in that series in Peter the Great’s Russia, as her characters are demanding...
All of Anna’s books have been awarded the IndieBRAG Medallion, she has several Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choices, and one of her books won the HNS Indie Award in 2015. She is also the proud recipient of various Readers’ Favorite medals as well as having won various Gold, Silver and Bronze Coffee Pot Book Club awards.
Website: www.annabelfrage.com
Amazon Author Page: http://Author.to/ABG
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DAME FORTUNE’S WHEEL BY J.P. REEDMAN
Fate can be in the hands of others – or held within your own...
About J.P. Reedman:
J.P. Reedman lives in Wiltshire near to Stonehenge. Born in Canada, she has had a lifelong interest in ancient and medieval history, and is often found lurking around prehistoric sites, ruined castles and abbeys, and interesting churches with camera in hand. She became a full-time writer in 2018.
Series include I, Richard Plantagenet, five books chronicling Richard’s life from childhood to Bosworth, and Medieval Babes, a set of standalone novels about lesser-known medieval queens and noblewomen.
Amazon Author Page: http://author.to/REEDMANHISTFIC
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SAINTS ALIVE BY DEBBIE YOUNG
When children are not quite the saints we’d like them to be!
About Debbie:
Debbie Young is the author of three series of cosy mystery novels set in the Cotswolds. The Sophie Sayers series starts with Best Murder in Show; the Gemma Lamb series begins with Dastardly Deeds at St Bride’s; and the Cotswold Curiosity Shop series kicks off with Death at the Old Curiosity Shop. She sometimes sends characters from one series to visit those in another.
She also writes short fiction, not all of it crime-related, set in the same world, e.g., Christmas with Sophie Sayers. Her novels are published by Boldwood Books in English, by DP Verlag in German, and by Antonio Vallardi in Italian.
Debbie has recently written her first murder mystery play for performance by her village amateur dramatic group. She is a frequent speaker at events for writers and readers, a course tutor for Jericho Writers, and the founder and director of the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival.
She lives in a Victorian cottage with her Scottish husband, her student daughter, and three cats, and she writes in a little hut at the bottom of her garden.
Website: www.authordebbieyoung.com
Links to buy Debbie’s books:
