jbronderbookreviews

Hank Quense has a new novel called The King Who Disappeared and it’s due out on April 15.  Before then, he’s giving away 10 copies of the ebook in a random drawing.

The book blurb reads: A long time ago, Bohan was a king.  But that was before the sleep spell.  Now that he’s awake again, it’s time for revenge.

If you like stories filed with heroes, villains and political satire, you’ll like this novel.

The book will be available in ebook and print and will be sold on the usual sites such as Amazon, B&N, Kobo etc.

The King Who Disappeared by Hank Quense

Bohan, a king, is at war with Jerado, an evil wizard who controls four neighboring kingdoms.  Bohan, his wizard, Ansgar, and his guards are trapped in a cave by Jerado who magically seals the cave.  Ansgar casts a sleep spell on all of them. It will last until the cave is unsealed.

More than 200 years later, an earthquake unseals the cave and frees Bohan.  While catching up on history, he learns Jerado is still alive and rules the country as dictator.  Bohan learns this from a sympathetic constable named Leticia.  After talking to Bohan and his guards, she recognizes him from school lessons as the King Who Disappeared. Bohan determines to go to the capital, Dun Hythe, and gain revenge.  Leticia promises to go with him to find out what happened to her father who was arrested and disappeared.

Jerado learns that Bohan is still alive and headed to confront him. He tells Lithgow, his son, and Flavia, his daughter about Bohan.  Lithgow is the War Minister and Flavia the Minister of the Interior. They hate each other and each plans to succeed their father when he retires.

Jerado orders Lithgow to use his soldiers to block and kill Bohan.  Flavia, who also has troops, decides to kill Bohan before Lithgow can.  Bohan and his guards, all heroes, brush past Flavia’s soldiers and route Lithgow’s.  Jerado now orders Lithgow’s troops to seal all the city’s gates and search everyone entering the city.

Meanwhile the citizens in Dun Hythe are suffering from Jerado’s rule and from Flavia’s imposition of lower wages to raise profits for the many businesses she controls.  The wage restrictions impact on the Godmother’s bottom line.  She is the head of a crime family who controls all vice in the city.  She is also the head of the two largest and most powerful labor guilds, the teamsters and the dock workers. With Flavia’s wage restrictions in place the citizenry does have any money to have fun in the Godmother’s saloons or gambling halls.  Also the workers don’t make enough money to feed their families.

Jerado’s Treasurer, Maurice, learns a few of Jerado’s family secrets.  He knows how Flavia embezzles vast amounts of money from the contracts she gives out.  Maurice learns about Bohan and the attempts to kill him. These and a few other secrets ensure his early death if Jerado ever finds out what he knows.  Maurice meets with the Godmother and they agree to help each other for their mutual protection.

Now close to Dun Hythe, Leticia agrees to enter the city and scout it out.  Hopefully she can find a way for Bohan to enter the city.  She also wants to meet with the Godmother because her father was once a high-ranking official in the dock workers guild.  Leticia hopes the Godmother can find out where her father is.

Within the city, rumors swirl about the reappearance of the King Who Disappeared.  The Godmother ignores the rumors and is stunned to learn from Leticia that Bohan is really alive and outside the city.  After a lively discussion, The Godmother agrees to smuggle Bohan into the city in return for a guarantee from Bohan for protection for her business.

Bohan and his mates enter the city by boat in the middle of the night and meet with the Godmother and Maurice who tells Bohan the layout of the palace and how to sneak into it.  To make a distraction, the Godmother will call a city-wide general strike to coincide with Bohan’s attack on Jerado.

Bohan and Ansgar sneak into the palace at night with Maurice in the lead.  Leaving Maurice behind, they advance into the living quarters and confront Jerado.  A confusing battle ensues as the two wizards throw spells at each other.  Using Ansgar’s spell as a distraction, Bohan gets close enough to Jerado to use his sword on the wizard thus gaining revenge.

With Jerado out of the way, Bohan arrests Lithgow and Flavia, proclaims himself king and agrees to work with the Godmother, orders a wage increase for all the workers.

Everyone is happy except Jerado’s children who must perform menial work for the rest of their lives

Below is a tongue-in-cheek interview with Hank:

This is Marcia Hammerhead.  I’m the cultural reporter for Faux News Network.  I love literary fiction and I love going to symphonies and ballets. My boss knows this, so what does he tell me to do?  Every time Hank Quense, an unknown scribbler of genre fiction, comes out with a new book, I have to interview him, but at least I don’t have to read and review the books.  Let’s get started.

—————————————-

Marcia Hammerhead: Mr. Quense.  What is your latest atrocity?

Hank Quense: It’s a fantasy novel called The King Who Disappeared.  The main character is a king who spends two hundred years under a sleep spell.  When he awakens, he finds his nemesis is still alive and the king wants revenge. The book has a lot of political satire in it.

MH: It sounds just as dreadful as all your previous books.  I suppose it’s filled with silly fantasy creatures.

HQ: It is.  Besides humans, there are elves dwarfs, half-pints —

MH: Half-pints?  What’s a half-pint?

HQ: They are also called halflings.  Hobbits in other words, but I can’t use the word ‘hobbit’ because Tolkien’s estate trademarked the word.

MH: Why don’t you invent your own creatures instead of stealing other authors’ work?

HQ: I do.  The novel has dwelfs.  They’re half elf and half dwarf.  They tend to have all the bad features of both races and none of the good traits.  The story also has yuks in it.  Yuks are like orcs but aren’t as friendly.

MH: I’m getting a headache just thinking about these matters. How many books have you foisted on the unsuspecting reading public?

HQ: I have 23 books on Amazon right now, both fiction and non-fiction.

MH: Good heavens!  You’re like a plague.  Fortunately, you’re almost completely unknown.  Otherwise civilization would be in a crisis mode from reading all your drivel.  Have you considered retiring from writing to do something useful?  Like delivering newspapers or pumping gas?

HQ: Nope.  I’m almost finished with the first book of a scifi series of three novellas.  I’m also writing a non-fiction book that integrates self-publishing and book marketing into a single project.

MH: I can’t stand the thought of interviewing you several more times. Maybe I should retire. Well, I can’t go on.  That’s it for this interview.

HQ: Thanks for having me on again, Marcia.

M: Why is that whenever I interview you I have an urge to go out and buy a large bottle of wine?

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