Welcome to my little group of book babies! My brood is growing year by year and soon I will be adding a whole new series to the coop.
“Blood and Ink” is my firstborn, delivered originally in 2010 as a small run for family and friends to enjoy and to use them as Beta readers.
Then, in May of 2018, I released the ebook and paperback on Amazon with White Rabbit Publishing. The hardcover was released on Barnes & Noble a few weeks later, and in October of 2018, the Audible version was released narrated by the incredible vocal skills of Jonathan C. Dixon, a voice and re-enactor from Weymouth in Dorset, England.
This book is very dear to my heart as it set me on the path of writing historical fiction. During my years of research and writing, I had the privilege of meeting some outstanding people who encouraged me and pushed me forward on this journey; including Mr. Peter Farey, a historian and Marlowan, who read my early pages and whose own research into the Shakespeare/Marlowe authorship question fueled the story; Sir Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance, whose authorship debate I attended in 2007 at the Globe Theatre in London. Also, I cannot forget the incredible mentors from the Writer’s Retreat Workshop in Erlanger, Kentucky – Jason Sitzes, Lorin Oberweger, and Roman White, as well as Gail Provost and Donald Maass, who inspired me and showed me ways to improve on the story.
I received a five-star review for this book from The Historical Novel Society, and within just six months, I received the Bronze Medal for the Best Historical Fiction of 2018 from a top 35 Historical Fiction Blogger and Book Club – The Coffee Pot Book Club by Mary Anne Yarde. The next year, I received a Silver Medal for the Best Historical Fiction of 2019 from The Book Squirrel Blogger. Reviews from the 2018 Book Tour with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours is here: https://www.hfvirtualbooktours.com/bloodandinkblogtour/
Synopsis:
History shows Kit Marlowe died in a tavern brawl in Deptford in 1593, but did he? England is torn apart by religious metamorphosis and espionage. The stages of England and bright intellectual boys are used to bolster Queen Elizabeth I’s reign and propagate the rising Protestant faith. At the age of eight, Christopher Marlowe, the muse’s darling, is sucked into the labyrinth of secret spy rings, blood, murder, and betrayal, while his own ambition to become England’s favorite playwright drifts further from his grasp.
As Christopher grows to manhood, he sinks further into the darkness, and a chance meeting with an unknown actor from Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare, sets him on a path of destiny – a fate of forced exile and the revelation that the real enemy is not an assassin of Rome, but a man who stared into his eyes and smiled. One he did not expect…
Read the editorial review by the Historical Novel Society here: https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/blood-and-ink/
Read the editorial review by The Coffee Pot Book Club here: https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2018/10/bookreview-blood-and-ink-by-d-k-marley.html
“The Fire of Winter” published in September of 2019 is available in ebook, paperback, hardcover and Audible, narrated by the stunning Scottish voice actress, Aileen Archer.
This one is a historical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, told from the point-of-view of Lady Macbeth. I used the quote from the play:
O, these flaws and starts, impostors to true fear, would well become a woman’s story at a winter’s fire, authorized by her grandam. Shame itself!
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
This book received an editorial five-star review from The Coffee Pot Book Club which can be read here: https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2020/09/bookreview-fire-of-winter-by-dk-marley.html
Synopsis:
She is known as Lady Macbeth. What leads her down the path of murder? What secrets fire her destiny?
Gruah, the granddaughter of King Cìnéad III of the Royal Clan Alpin, marries two men in less than six months, one she loves and one she hates; one in secret, the other arranged by the High King of Scotland. At the age of eighteen, she lays her palm upon the ancient stone of Scone and sees her destiny as Queen of Scotland, and she vows to do whatever necessary to see her true love, Macbeth macFindlaech, beside her on the throne. Amid the fiery times and heated onslaughts from Denmark and England, as the rule of Scotland hangs in the balance, Gruah seeks to win the throne and bring revenge upon the monsters of her childhood, no matter the cost or amount of blood tainting her own hands; yet, an unexpected meeting with the King called the Confessor causes her to question her bloody path and doubt her once blazing pagan faith. Will she find redemption or has the blood of her past fire-branded her soul?
The story weaves the play by William Shakespeare with the actual history of Macbeth and his Queen in 11th-century Scotland. “…a woman’s story at a winter’s fire…” (Macbeth, Act III, Scene IV)
“This beautifully written reworking of the Macbeth tale told from Lady Macbeth’s point-of-view flows from the page and you quickly become immersed in the politics and intrigues of feudal Scotland as she fights for her rightful place and her true love! A mesmerising read that grips from start to finish and Gruah is now one of my all-time favourite literary crushes. “ – Iain Leonard, ARC Reviewer
“Brilliantly conceived and beautifully written, The Fire of Winter is a tale not to be missed by lovers of Shakespeare, lovers of history, or lovers of the written word.” – Riana Everly, Author of Teaching Eliza and Through a Different Lens
The Hist Fic Chickie 