Drummer Boy: The Road North

[Castle Herald]

[Special Note: The new website is now live. As a result the links throughout this thread are invalid except for the latest posting to the thread. All of Arthur's stories can now be found at Arthur]

Arthur

 

Drummer Boy: The Road North

 

Battle of Albuera - The Aftermath

 

Chapter 1

 

[Jay]

WOW !!!  What can you say? This newest chapter dose not disapoint. I thought maybe the next book mite not be as good as the first. I was mistaken even thou book 1 was outstanding and remarkable, the begaining of book 2 is even better.

[Drew]

It never ceases to amaze me how well written the story has been and continues to be with the first chapter of Book 2.

Arthur's writing is superb, his research exhaustive and his character development unmatched.  A wonderful read.

I can now look forward again to my Thursday nights.  Thank you Arthur for continuing this excellent story.

[Dmeister]

Arthur creates interesting characters and challenges for them.  I really appreciate the research that goes into this and his other stories.  I look forward to every new chapter.

[GCdiam]

The wait for Book 2 was well worth it - of course.  As others have said the attention to detail and the great characters make Arthur's writing such a pleasure to read. Thursdays have once again become my favorite day of the week knowing that another chapter of this wonderful story will be posted for me to read.

[militarypress]

With his Auxiliary mostly blown to bits and the remnants now scattered around the Spanish countryside...at least Thomas is alive and can perhaps retire from action and convalesce to recover some quality of civilian life....if Arthur is going there........or am I the only one worried that might happen?

[dtm180]

The first Chapter is definitely an eye opener. I am thinking that retiring is not in Thomas's thoughts for quite some time Militarypress. Not aslong as The French are still in spain. 

The character depth that Arthur portrays is very well done, All in All with other aspects already said by those before me Another literary Marvel has arrived.

I am anxiously looking forward to next Thursday.

[Al Norris]

Gee... with all those accolades, Arthur will be getting a swelled head! He will think you guys actually like him!

[mumble]nothing worse than an evil author getting a swelled head! Damn, gonna have to retrain him all over again.[/mumble]

[Tinker Taylor Soldier I]

4 hours ago, Al Norris said:

Gee... with all those accolades, Arthur will be getting a swelled head! He will think you guys actually like him!

There is nothing for me to add except my total agreement with the praises already posted by others. If Arthur's head is a little larger, it is no doubt from how much he exercises his brain muscle!  ...and we DO like him, too.  :-)

I concur, retirement is probably far from Thomas' mind... which must be a general mess because of what he's been through, struggling to stay alive for the past six weeks. The pain, physical weakness, drugs, confusion, and now shock of seeing his poor image... it will take a while for him to start processing and thinking clearly again. Still, “fighting the French” seems to be so engrained I doubt he will consider giving up the fight even if he must make adjustments in how he fights.

On the other hand, I hope the time he spends recovering at his awesome new “home in Spain,” helps him start looking beyond the war, when Spain and Portugal are liberated and peace comes again. Maybe he can imagine himself settling down here with his friend Carmelo after the war, raising some of those fine horses and helping Estaban, their neighbor, reestablish his family’s bull breeding business. Long ago, the destitution of Limehouse had killed the hopes and dreams of a small boy. Perhaps he will discover soon some new hopes and plans for his future. (Just a thought…)

But first, there’s a war to finish.

[Al Norris]

OK, I admit I was being a bit cheeky there.

Truth is, this is the best online fiction that I've read. The fact this is historical fiction, something I normally wouldn't read, just makes it all that much better.

Arthur really deserves the accolades.

[harrypotter237]

man this is just a great story and I have found that I really like all the authors work, but and sorry this other author is making him change the names kind of sucky on his part. wish I knew what the name of the story or story's where that he used the names in so I could read them to see if they are good enough to say hey you can't use these names there mine

[R08m4rv]

Actually the " Sharpe" name that Arthur was using is Copyrighted and is owned by Bernard Cornwell see the quote below:-

Sharpe is a series of historical fiction stories by Bernard Cornwell 

That is the reason for the name changes in Drummer Boy, we do not want Arthur to end up being sued, do we ?

 

[dtm180]

Yes R08m4rv, i kind of got that that was why Carmelo's last name was changed, what i am wondering though is why the name of the good Sergeant O'Malley has been changed.

Pvt. Cooper i would understand as Bernard Cornwell has a Rfn Francis Cooper in his novels's, but i do not see a Sgt O'Malley ilisted in the Characters list on the wikipedia page of the novel's

[Al Norris]

Whether or not Wikipedia lists ""O'Malley" as a character is not the point. The character is used by Mr. Cornwell in his books and is therefore subject to copyright laws. Mr. Cornwell spoke through his publisher and Arthur was denied the use of those two names.

Arthur, being an author himself (as well as a man of integrity), informed me of the decision by the publisher. I immediately changed all references to "Sharpe" and "O'Malley" to "Grey" and "O'Rourke". I did this to protect Arthur from a copyright infringement suit. It is my hope that the other websites that have published Drummer Boy, have done the same.

Regardless of any controversy this name change brings, the overall story is simply too good for such a minor thing to detract from what Arthur has written.

[dtm180]

Thats fine Al Norris, i just wondered. I have not read Mr. Cornwell's books so have had to go on what other sites say. As such i was confused, but, if you say the character is in the novels then thats good enough.

[R08m4rv]

dtm180,

Good day to you.

If you care to " google" Richard Sharpe, you will also find reference to Sean Bean who actually played Sharpe. The Utube videos also in the credits make a note of the gentleman who plays the role of Sergeant Patrick Harper, his surname  is O'malley. If you watch these episodes on utube there are some very good battle scenes which may bring some of what young Thomas Marking was a part of.

[R08m4rv]

Here is a link to watch one of the episodes, note the names of the actors as they scroll up.

 

 

[Sircody]

Hi I just like to say I love this story and that it has helped me stay positive. I would love to see our little drummer boy join the princes army as a general.   

[Tinker Taylor Soldier I]

R08m4rv <<<---  Thanks for the link to Sharpe's Sword. Although Arthur's words have been crafted well-enough to give me some great visualiztions of the story, watching this helped, too.

[Castle Herald]

Arthur

Drummer Boy: The Road North

A Matter of Taxes

Chapter 2

[Tinker Taylor Soldier I]

Another great chapter!  Thanks Arthur (and Al).

I hope the Prince and other great Spanish landowners don't get upset with Thomas' reforms in treatment of his tenant farmers. They're all wealthy because of how they use this cheap labor.

It will be interesting to see how Thomas once again reinvents himself, and his fighting unit.

[JohnnyC]

Another fantastic chapter here ! Our man Marking is up & about now trying to reunite with his disbanded soldiers . I cannot wait to see what will happen next & will mr.percy show up with his pirate buddies ....lol 

.          Happy Holidays Everybody,

.                       Johnny C 

[dtm180]

Definitely a great chapter, Thomas is back in health and on his way to the vimeiro Home valley. I wonder howlong it wil take for Mr.Grey and O'Rourke to come looking. I am also wondering of our Thomas wil ever see his birth family again, do not forget it has been weeks at best but probably a few months now so his family wil have been informed of his demise. I am also looking forward to when Wellesley(Wellington) and Beresford see Thomas walking in as a spanish General. I have a feeling that Beresford especially wil try to make more trouble for him.

For the rest i can only agree with those who have posted before me.

[Jay]

Each and every chapter just improves on the next. This is why this story is so outstanding. From the very first chapter till now it keeps you just wanting and waiting  for the very next one. Few storys are able to do that our hats off to Auther.

[Al Norris]

Tinker, there is no need to thank me. This is all Arthur's doing!

As for the rest of y'all's questions... It's so dang hard to keep my mouth shut!