Liz Schevtchuk Armstrong first heard the name “Hotspur” at age 12 in Shakespeare’s Henry IV play and it changed her life forever. Scouring libraries in her Midwestern town for information on Hotspur—Sir Harry Percy, a real person considered England’s finest knight circa 1400—she couldn’t find much. But she never forgot Hotspur or the suspicion that perhaps Shakespeare stretched reality a little—or a lot—in portraying him.
After studying journalism in college, Liz embarked on a long career in news at local to national levels, winning awards for investigative-type reporting on government as well as general coverage and feature-writing, and, in briefer editorial stints with non-profits, for public relations. As a reporter in Washington, D.C., she covered the White House, Congress, and Supreme Court, for U.S. and international daily news operations and worked for a time as a stringer for the Toronto Globe and Mail. During a news business downturn, she entered graduate school (continuing part-time as an overnight news editor) and studied medieval history, returning to her childhood interest in Hotspur’s conflict with Henry and exploring it in her quasi-thesis master’s project. That spawned To Remain Vigilant, Book I of the Epic of Hotspur series, which though cast as fiction tells a largely true story.
She now resides in upstate New York with her husband and 3 macaws.
Coming soon from BWL Author Liz Armstrong, The Epic of Hotspur, a three book trilogy.
Book 1: To Remain Vigilant
Book 2: To Be Worthy in Honor:
Book 3: To Tread on Kings
England, circa 1400: Lauded by bards and envied by champions, Sir Harry Percy strides the earth with brash, graceful energy—and at the sound of his bootsteps, kings tremble. Nicknamed Hotspur for his audacity and unceasing vigilance (as if his spurs never cool), he advocates justice and opposes royal corruption as boldly as he wages war. His courage and integrity win the hearts of a nation and love of a spirited woman. But his actions give rise to troubling questions: Is a king above the law, or subject to it, like everyone? Does a knight owe fealty to a ruler, or to the realm itself? And should he be faithful to the Crown if it means he must be unfaithful to his conscience? The answers could shape destiny. Unnerved, successive kings denounce Harry’s idealism as treason and determine to stop him. Thus the lines are drawn…
Book 1 - Click here to purchase
As Sir Harry Percy patrols England’s rugged North, even the Scots, his frequent adversaries, admire his audacity and courage. Claiming his ceaseless vigilance means his spurs never cool, they call him Hotspur. Yet when Harry questions royal corruption, Richard II bestows another name: traitor.
Escaping death, Harry joins Duke Henry Bolingbroke, whose fortune Richard stole and who leads a campaign to improve Richard’s governance. Soon, though, Henry, too, acts despotic, ordering executions without fair trials and plotting to seize power directly. Alarmed, Harry exacts a vow from him to not oust Richard. But Henry violates his oath, inciting a mob to force Parliament to make him King Henry IV. Harry boycotts Henry’s coronation but, realizing he serves the nation regardless of who wears the crown, later returns to duty, with Henry’s backing.
Will their reconciliation last? And can Harry’s newfound love with an ex-abbess protect him not only from threats on the borders but those in dark palace corners? Never has his motto, Esperance—Hope—mattered more!