King Arthur’s Sister
in Washington’s Court
Morgan le Fay, 6th-century Queen of Gore and the only major
character not killed off by Mark Twain in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s
Court, vows revenge upon the Yankee Hank Morgan. She casts a spell to take her
to 1879 Connecticut so she may waylay Sir Boss before he can travel back in
time to destroy her world. But the spell misses by 300 miles and 200 years,
landing her in the Washington, D.C., of 2079, replete with flying limousines,
hovering office buildings, virtual-reality television, and sundry other
technological marvels.
Whatever is a time-displaced queen of magic and minions to
do? Why, rebuild her kingdom, of course—two kingdoms, in fact: as Campaign Boss
for the reelection of American President Malory Beckham Hinton, and as owner of
the London Knights world-champion baseball franchise.
Written as though by the old master himself, King Arthur’s
Sister in Washington’s Court by Mark Twain as channeled by Kim Iverson Headlee
offers laughs, love, and a candid look at American society, popular culture,
politics, baseball...and the human heart.
Buy links
Amazon.com/dp/
EXCERPT:
The wench’s smile looked
indulgent, if a bit saddened. “Queen Morgan, may I offer an observation?”
“Pray, proceed, Darla, as I seem
to have paid for it.”
“This is about a man—the dishy
one you’re always coming in here with.”
“Brilliant. Yes, the dishy one.
Dishy, and treacherous.” I took a long pull of bitters.
“Lor’ love ye, madame; but all
men are treacherous! If you’re lucky, that’s all he is.”
I reflected, through another
draught, upon this spot of rough wisdom. Of all the men I had ever known,
biblically or not, in this century or any other, the only man I could not label
as “treacherous” was Sir Galahad, and we all know what happened to him. For the
couple of you who might not be privy to the story: in brief, Sir Galahad drank
from the Holy Grail and fell down dead, reportedly because his soul was so pure
that Our Lord God bustled him straightaway to heaven. The fact that Sir Galahad
had always acted so damned self-righteous that his Grail-hunting companions had
wearied of his holier-than-thou ways probably had nothing whatever to do with
his demise. I said:
“I have treachery aplenty in my
life, Darla.” Free agents, not-free agents, other players, managers, coaches…
the list seemed endless. “I do not need more from Sandy Carter.”
“But you do need his love.”
I shook my head. “With love like
that…”
She was not listening, but had
looked toward the line of tall windows fronting the street, across which arched
the words “nnI dleiftuO” and, in a revolving pattern of white, blue, and red
tube-lights, “NEPO.” I would have taken umbrage at the offense—the server’s,
not the fact that the words in the windows appeared backward to my vantage—but
I had imbibed too much beer to care.
Darla said, “You need his love…
and he needs yours. Look.”
What a clever twist on a favorite tale. This sounds absolutely delightful and is going on my TBR list. Love the concept, love the excerpt, love the cover!
ReplyDeleteThank you for checking our Medieval Tour, Mae!
DeleteThank you on all counts, Mae!
DeleteThis sounds unique and wonderful. Congratulations on an enticing concept. Well done.
ReplyDeleteA new author in the tour with an indeed wonderful book! Thank you for visiting, Flossie!
DeleteThanks so much, Flossie, and have a lovely week! :)
DeleteI am so glad to have joined this marvelous group of medieval authors, Carmen, and thank you so much for hosting #KASIWC on your blog!
ReplyDeleteKim Headlee
Stories make us greater.