The Powder of Death – OUT NOW!

x1024-powder of death packshot

The Powder of Death is the latest in the GameChangers : Moments of History Series

Published October 6!

INFERNO Packshot

Inferno is the latest in the Kydd Series and is out October 6

191 Comments on “The Powder of Death – OUT NOW!”

    • Have just learned that there are some rights complications. I regret that at the moment TYGER audiobook is not available in the States. My agent is hoping that this will be resolved in the future, we’ll update when there is news.

      Reply

      • Hello Jules,
        Using your link, Tyger did show up. I clicked Add to Cart and it was unable to complete the transaction. I talked to Audible Customer Service and they said Tyger was not geographically available in my area. – Roger

      • Roger – it seems TYGER audiobook is still not available in the States due to rights complications. My agent is pursuing this and hopefully the matter will be rectified in the future but I regret I do not have a release date yet.

    • Roger – I have finally been able to clarify that TYGER audiobook is not currently available in the States. My agent is hoping to rectify this in the future but at the moment I don’t have a date for release. Apologies for the disappointment and I hope you won’t have to wait too long…

      Reply

  2. Hello Jules
    I would like to purchase a signed copy of The Powder of Death, I hope it is not too late for you to accommodate my wish.
    Warmest regards
    Norman Redmond

    Reply

  3. Just finished reading Invasion, It was a really good read and I shall be reading more. I too was put on a boys training ship called Arethusa that was in the River Medway, she is now in Southport Sea Museum in New York under her old original name of Peking. She was a four masted barque and carried nitrates to Europe from South America. I live in Queensland Australia with my wife and am still involved with tall ships. I currently sail on Queensland’s only tall ship called South Passage we take school children to sea for a few days at a time, dragging them away from mobile phones!
    Coincidently my first sea training ship in the RN was HMS Teazer out of Portland learning Torpedo and Anti Submarine training. That shows my age!
    Finally to stop me rambling on I must thank you once again for a really good read and keeping me from chores around the house.
    Martin

    Reply

    • 1807. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd’s famous sea action aboard Tyger in the Baltic has snatched his reputation from ignominy. He is the hero of the hour. But though Britain’s Navy remains imperious at sea, a succession of battles has seen Napoleon Bonaparte victorious on mainland Europe. His enemies have sued for peace and the Emperor’s Continental System, establishing a European blockade, will mean that Britain will be cut off from her economic lifeblood. But one small link in this ring of steel is still free of French control: the neutral state of Denmark, which controls the straits through which the entire Baltic Trade passes. The French army are already mustering at her borders. If her navy falls into French hands all Europe will have fallen. Thomas Kydd’s great friend, Nicholas Renzi, now the Lord Farndon, is sent on a desperate diplomatic mission to persuade the Danes to give up their fleet to Britain. But the Danes are caught between two implacable forces and will not yield, opting instead for the inferno of battle. Kydd sails with a combined navy and ground force. Soon a bloody and fiery battle for Copenhagen is raging. Mariners, soldiers and civilians are all caught up in a conflict in which the stakes could not be higher.

      Reply

      • Can’t wait. Sound’s like it will be a good one (not that I had any doubts it wouldn’t be). It’s also nice to hear we will be hearing more from Renzi too.

      • Iv just finished tyger and am looking forward with great anticipation to the next installment of the kydd series, and reading this overview makes it seem that it will not disappoint.
        Mr stockwin you are a fine author

      • I picked up the first novel in the series, Kydd, at a used book sale so long ago. Have followed Kydd’s adventures off and on ever since.

      • I too am waiting for Tyger to be recordrd for Audible. Christian Rodska does a FABULOUS job on your books.
        I think audio books are an Internet phenomenon that will continue to grow. I am a busy dentist, grandfather, photographer, road cyclist, Christian apologist,etc. I had averaged maybe 2 to 3 books a year until I discovered Audible. Now I average 2 books a month!
        Thanks for providing such interesting and fun tales that make history come alive.
        Charlie Wilson

  6. I came across Kydd’s life story by accident via our online County library. I regret that I didn’t realise at first that it was a series of books but that is a shortcoming of the way that books are made available online. If only I had known from the outset, I wouldn’t have been hopping backwards and forwards in time through Kydd’s life. Every book has had me enthralled and I’ve always been unableto stop listening. You and Mr Rodska have taken over my life at times when I should have been otherwise engaged! Thank you.

    Reply

  7. I’ve just finished Tyger and I’m left with mixed emotions. I found this novel to be absolutely satisfying, yet way too brief. I wanted it to last at least another 300 pages so I could savour it for a few more days.

    Tyger is the best Kydd book in an age. Julian Stockwin’s skill has reached a level of virtual perfection that transcends the Ramage, Bolitho, and Hornblower novels and at least equals those of Jack Aubrey.

    Julian Stockwin’s plot invention, coupled with the historical and technical accuracy that interlaces the Kydd yarns, makes the read even more enjoyable.

    The thought that I have to wait almost a year before reading the next Kydd book is daunting.

    Reply

  8. Hi, I’m just writing to say how much I enjoy your books. I’m blind and so read using the audio-books. You have a fine narrator and the fact the book and audiobook come out on the same day is something of a rarity. I’m already looking forward to Kydd’s next adventure, whatever it happens to be.

    Reply

    • Hi, delighted you’re enjoying the Kydd audiobooks. You are right about the narrator, to my mind Rodska is one of the best! The next book is INFERNO, out in October.

      Reply

  9. Rattling good reads Old Trout!!! I’m a truck driver and listen to audio books when I’m driving. I’ve just finished listening to the whole of the Kydd series for the second time. I’m certainly looking forward to whatever comes next.

    Reply

  10. Amazon keeps sending details of the electronic version of ‘Kydd collection 4’ ,but as someone who detests kindles, I don’t seem to be able to buy a softback or hardback version. Do you know where I can obtain one – otherwise I’ll buy the books separately

    Reply

  11. Sir,

    Have just finished Kydd, Artemis,Quarterdeck and Seaflower and half way into Chapter 1 of Mutiny. Have a question: Seems names can make or break a story. With so many stories in the series, how do you come up with believeable names? As I read a book, any book, I make notes as to the quality of the writing and I rate the overall book with a number from 1 to 10, 10 being near perfection in my way of seeing it. I have read a goodly quantity of 4 ratings, even though the authors are famous. Each of your books to date have, in my humble opinion, rated a 10. I can’t wait to get to the next story except I am afraid I will get to the end of the string, and then what shall I do? Thank you for your good work. I am 88 years old and you have and are providing me with hours and hours of great fun.

    Bernard Killinger bkdata@sbcglobal.net

    Reply

    • Bernard – appreciate your kind words, especially your ratings of 10 for each of my books! On the question of the name of a book – I do give this a great deal of thought. Ideally, it should reflect the book’s main theme in some way and be a strong one-word title that will grab readers’ attention. (THE ADMIRAL’S DAUGHTER was the exception to this one-word format.) As you have just started MUTINY you still have a few titles to go and I am certainly not at the end of the series yet…

      Reply

  12. Kydd Series:-

    Fantastic series, very accurate detail.
    I know the trials & tribulations that Tom Kydd goes through to be in command.
    I feel like I’m there!
    Excellent.

    Regards,

    Capt.Tim Schofield

    Reply

  14. Dear Mr Stockwin

    I wandered into Waterstones before Christmas looking for inspiration and saw a copy of Tyger on display. The cover immediately caught my interest and I am afraid that I memorised the title and author to investigate when I returned home. I could not believe that Tyger was number 16 in your series – why had I not come across the eponymous Mr Tom Kydd before?
    Needless to say I am hooked and am about to begin Victory on my kindle! My husband is now an ardent follower – and my eldest son – an ex-RN Lieutenant has succumbed to my enthusiasm too.
    Thank you so much for giving us your wonderfully exciting and fact filled stories that are filled with such amazing characters and that are so readable. I am particularly fond of Renzi who is surely Tom’s conscience and, of course, Toby Stirk. I do hope he survives!
    Marvellous stuff and the first seafaring yarns that I have read since CS Forester’s Hornblower series when I was much, much younger.
    I am only sorry that at the rate I read I will have finished Tyger before your next instalment appears and then I will have to wait for a whole year. Whatever will i do!
    Kind regards
    Elizabeth Goodrich

    Reply

  15. I am just finishing up Seaflower. I was drawn to your writing because of my own seafaring experiences, and seeking seaworthy novels came upon your Thomas Kydd series. I sailed across the Atlantic in a 1922 gaff-rigged Baltic Trader schooner. We nearly sank in a vicious storm off the coast of Spain, and barely made it in to a Cadiz boatyard for repairs to make us seaworthy again. I signed on to crew as far as English Harbour, Antigua, so its fun to be in the later chapters of Seaflower and her West Indies visits. From English Harbour I crewed for a contemporary sailboat cruise to New Zealand. Quite an experience for a Montana “cowboy at sea.”

    I would be honoured to join your Shipmates Network.

    Reply

  16. In the past two weeks read both Tyger and Silk Tree with great interest. On Tyger, I was delighted to see you follow through with Popham. As you well know, he was later to prove invaluable in controlling the Basque coast of Spain and resupplying the British Army once Wellington broke out of Portugal in 1813. As to the northern operations, you may have missed one important point in Baltic operations. In any of the warmer months the winds more often than not proved light and unsettled. The Danish frigates were built with strange looking stern-cabins that allowed cannons to shoot out over the stern corners, to combat rowed boats with single cannons attacking at the stern quarters.
    That aside, I was impressed with your development of the battle scenes, and the general structure of the novel.
    I look forward to further developments in the career of Thomas Kydd.

    Reply

    • Yes, was aware of these things but have reserved some of these for future stories where they may well prove battle winning/losing… Delighted you’re enjoying my books!

      Reply

  17. I also have read read the Aubrey, Lewrie, Hownblower, Bolitho , Ramage as well as the James L Nelson series and yours remains one of the best. Tyger is your best yet, full of diverse adventure and showing how Kydd forges the most amazing bonds on the forecastle and the quarterdeck. I can’t wait for the next one, keep up the great work…Patrick is smiling from beyond.

    Reply

  18. Dear Julian,

    I am both amazed and aghast that I have only just discovered your books, and the wonderful world of Thomas Kydd’s maritime adventures. I must have been living in a cave for the last ten years.

    Meanwhile I have had to physically restrain myself from reading up on our other titles in the series just so I don’t go ‘spoiler’ myself!

    I am only on chapter 4 of the first book in the Kydd series – but my wife has insisted I put my kindle down and get on with the weekend chores.

    Sure!

    But later tonite, I’ll pour a Craggenmore, light up a Cuban and quietly plunge back into the action.

    So thank you so much for all the anticpated pleasures to come….

    Julian

    Reply

    • Julian – thank you indeed for your kind words about my Kydd tales. Like your evening reading style, by the way! And out of curiousity – where did you discover the books?

      Reply

  19. Big Jules, I wrote to you a good while ago about The Silk Tree,
    You kindly wrote back saying there would be no more Marius, but that you did plan another book [outside the wonderous Kydd series].
    I cannot find your reply anywhere on the site, although I am sure it is there !
    Can you update me please or tell me I imagined it !!

    Regards

    John Plumer

    Reply

  20. Having read all Kydd books, I then moved on to listening to them on my frequent journeys through France.
    Having reached “Caribee” after listening to the first two chapters, I strongly feel this one above all others would make a magnificent film.
    Have you ever approached anyone re putting your books into film?

    Reply

  22. Dear Julian
    Just finished TYGER.
    Your best yet — breathtaking battles and heart-rending sentiment.
    THANK YOU SIR!
    Mike Z.

    Reply

  23. I’m anxiously waiting for the publication of Tyger to see where Kydd and Renzi are headed next. One book a year isn’t nearly enough!

    Reply

  24. Hi Julian just finished reading Pasha great novel I came across it by accident at the local library with my grandson he knows I love Naval novels of that period I had just finished reading another author by the name of Sean Thomas Russell series of 3 books so I was excited to see you have a lot of books in your series have to start from Kydd

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  25. Jules: I thought I would just mention one real highlight for me in reading `Betrayal` was the visit of General Beresford to L`Aurore. I had to grin thinking about how much of an eye-opener it must have been for any Land Soldier to have a day at sea with the Royal Navy in those days. How true it was that the jolly tars were trained to perfection and how the enemy must have feared them. As I look out of the window here in Dartmouth I am looking across at the Britannia Royal Naval College and wondering what the future holds for the Royal Navy

    Reply

  26. Julian,

    My grandad introduced me to your books (I’m only 13), and I have never regretted it. The Kydd books feed my interest in the 1800s, and your books show a different perspective of life to Hornblower. I find some books depressing, but I ALWAYS want to read on. You have a natural talent for writing.

    Reply

  27. Just read my first (e-book) of yours, “The Admiral’s Daughter”, and have highly recommended it, and your work to my email group. Great stuff! I find your style a welcome place between (my occasional ) Patrick O’Brien, and Dewey Lambdin content-reads. As a long-time rag-sailor, your attention to the sailing details is very much appreciated. I’ll be starting the Kydd series soon. As an American I wonder if there are any good “age-of-sail” series/books about us Yanks? Mike Griffin in San Diego

    Reply

    • Delighted to hear you’re enjoying my Kydd tales – and thank you for your kind comments on THE ADMIRAL’S DAUGHTER. You might enjoy subscribing to “Quarterdeck” an online magazine that features nautical and historical fiction from around the world. You can do so via http://www.mcbooks.com – and also read the back list of the issues. Happy reading!

      Reply

  28. Big Jules
    I am trying to buy your next book ‘tyger’ I do not want to pay using pay pal as your exchange rates are not to my liking, how can I persuade your system that I would like to pay in pounds despite being in France?????.
    Many thanks one of your devoted readers, Andy Paton.

    Reply

    • Hi, Andy – I regret I have no control over PayPal exchange rates but I am happy to accept a Sterling cheque, made out in my name, if this is preferred. It can be sent to Julian Stockwin c/o Carole Blake, Blake Friedmann Agency, First Floor, Selous House , 5-12 Mandela St, London, NW1 0DU.

      Reply

  29. Julian, I just finished The Silk Tree. It was a tremendous read. I have also read all fifteen Thomas Kydd books and eagerly look forward to the next one. I believe that you are working on a second story independent of the Kydd series. Would appreciate a brief description of what it is about and when it will be published. Thank you in advance. Sonny Beddia

    Reply

    • Thank you for your kind words on THE SILK TREE and THE KYDD SERIES. Yes, am planning a second standalone independent of the Kydd tales. Hope to announce details shortly.

      Reply

  30. Greetings from Los angeles! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to browse your blog on my iphone during lunch break.
    I enjoy the knowledge you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home.
    I’m surprised at how quick your blog loaded on my mobile ..
    I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, superb site!

    Reply

  31. Hello Julian, still researching our common ancestors. Were you aware whilst writing about Chatham docks and Newgate prison that a Luke Stockwin (might be 2 different individuals) were associated with both? A Luke resigned his naval commission and became a Chelsea pensioner from Chatham and another Luke died in Newgate prison in 1837 after staying for 2 years, when his original sentence was 3 months (born around 1789). The Chelsea pensioner does link in somehow to our line as he was born in Tipton around 1770s.Clare Marshall

    Reply

  32. Hello.
    Wonderful ripping yarns.
    I am an audiobook person and have eaten up all of Kydd in the last few months.and am wondering about what sort of delay there is before an Audio version of Pasha will be available.
    My congratulations to the narrator and producers of your audiobooks by the way.
    So well done.
    Sincerely, MP

    Reply

      • Thank you sir. I really was glad I started reading the books. I love good historical fiction, especially sea stories. I had read the Hornblower series, Drinkwater series, Bolitho series, Sabatini books, the Marryat books, a couple I can’t find any more that were written in the 18th and early 19th century, and I was afraid I wouldn’t find anything new to read. I haven’t read the Master and Commander series yet. Your series really appeals to me because of the technical information. It makes me feel similar to the adventures I read in Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons when I was younger.

        To bide my time I have been reading the Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period off of Guttenberg. I like the story where some privateers of Providence Island parcel out a ship that was taken as a prize, giving the anchor and cable to the Master. The master went and took the anchor and cable, even though it was still being used to moor the ship, and the ship drifted ashore. The “Admiral” of the privateers base tried to have a trial by jury to punish the Master for this misdemeanor, but found the men selected for the jury were “soe absurde and ignorant as sone made me finde the miserie of trialls in these dayes by such kinde of men”. The Admiral decided that all future crimes would be tried and punished in a different way. I had to chuckle as I was envisioning a pirate admiral trying to have a jury of drunken pirates sitting over one of their own…….

      • Hi Steve, as an avid reader of this type of genre, and as abookdealer I have good access. I can recommend ‘Midshipman Quinn’ by Showell Styles, published 1956. Although a childrens book ,it tells the exciting story of a young midshipman in 1802/3 aboard HMS Althea in the Med. The copy I have just obtained is not for sale but if anyone can find it get it, a young Kydd type of yarn. Colin

  34. Have just finished PASHA–great story, Sir Thomas is really”going places!!”
    your grasp of the times is amazing. can’t wait for the next adventure Congratulations, John

    Reply

  35. HOW DO I HAVE MY NAME PUT ON THE LIST FOR A COPY OF JULIANS SIGNED BOOK TO BE ISSUED IN OCT/NOV 2015?

    Reply

    • Hi, Robert. For some reason my emails to you do not seem to have been getting through. Yes, you are on the list for next year’s signed book Set and I did email you to confirm this. I will do so again just so you have it in writing and could you confirm this latest email has arrived.

      Reply

  36. Just looked at the Amazon site to see when Pasha will be available as a paperback; May 2015!? Sadly, purchasing the hardback version is not an option as “she who must be obeyed” (ex WREN and careful with our money) would not take kindly to my spending what she would consider a lot, on a book, no matter how good it was.
    Oh well, patience is a virtue, so it’s said.
    Kindle version, not an option.

    Reply

  37. Hi Julian

    just received Pasha on Friday and I have just put it down. Again my thanks on a brilliant book yet again and for satisfying my Kydd fix for another year. I am starting to read the series again to help me through the next year. Wonderful graphic descriptions of the Dardanelles and Constaninople. The prose takes you to the heart of the era and makes the book more believable. Can’t wait for the next as usual. Thank you Jules and I am looking forward to receiving my copy of The Silk Tree.

    Keiran Allsopp-Robson

    Reply

  38. One of the greatest enjoyments of reading KYDD .. and several others of lesser genre .. is examining the foods these period mariners had available. I’m wondering at the mention of .. “greens”. Just what sort of greens? Spinach, Kale, Cabbages .. surely not just wild onions, rhubarb leaves, or simple kelp.

    Reply

  39. Sea Scout, US Navy US Merchant Marine,

    Finally books on the RN as seen by the men before the mast. Able Seamen and Gunners. Up through the hawse, as I did and a fine sailor man. Just finished book 8 and have a feeling that Kydd’s true love waits aboard a hulk at Sheerness. Also your take on the Nore Mutiny as seen by the jacks from the foc’s’le intead of officers from the great cabins is priceless. Thank You HTS

    Reply

  40. I am a great fan of the Kydd series and have anxiously been waiting for Pasha. However, I’m disappointed to see that it is not available in audiblebook format. Is there any plan to do so? Hope so! Keith.

    Reply

  41. Julian,

    I’ve read the Aubrey, Hownblower, Bolitho & Ramage series of books over the last several years. In all them the main characters are all fine upstanding gentlemen with the Navy in their blood. It is great to read series where the hero starts out as a pressed man and grows into a Navy man I read. Great job in bringing the common man into this genre. Reminds me of “White Jacket.” Keep up the great work.

    Reply

    • Been on vacation for two weeks and finished my last two in the series with Caribbee.. so sad to say I have nothing left to read until you write more, Julian! ! Picked up a Joseph Conrad novel to start last night..but it doesn’t read as easily as yours!!! Waiting for Pasha….. Patty Martin

      Reply

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