Have you seen the cover reveal of my next book, Die For You (Outlaws, book 4)? It is gorgeous. Since it is the fourth book in my Outlaws series, I wanted to introduce you to some of the characters I keep torturing I have created for my Robin Hood’s story.
I would like to stress that, even though I wrote above that I ‘have created’ these, well, let’s call them people, that is not true. They have created me. They have appeared in my head and in my life, and are saving me every day with their courage, their humour, their stupid choices and their crazy adventures. Everything that happens in the books is their fault, not mine. Just saying.
*Note: Skip ahead for writing updates (there are many, brace yourselves)
Without further ado, here are the characters we’ll see get tortured shine in this fourth installment in the Outlaws series.
*Disclaimer: The character reference images below have been cropped out of artwork to which I do not own the rights. All of their creators are credited in my Outlaws pinterest board.
Ru: A female assassin who has infiltrated the camp of outlaws posing as a boy. Not everyone has been fooled. Plus, she’s fallen in love with her intended victim. She’s in for a world of pain, and has a backstory that will need a whole book to explore. This book. (Die for You).
Robin: A young baron turned outlaw after his father’s enemies left him in a dungeon to rot. He’s fighting to make “every wrong right” but there are so many wrongs and he’s so tired and feels so guilty for every single life that’s been lost on his watch. He is a Tortured Boy™ who is a genius with the bow and arrow, and loves a cat named ‘Fox’. He is also a liar: He will tell you ‘he is fine’, but he is not, in fact, fine. He, too, is in for a world of pain.
Tuck: Of half Chinese descent, an ex-monk who had his fingers cut off for doing non-monkish stuff. He can defeat you with a single swing of his staff, but looks deceptively lean and wickedly handsome. He has kept the faith, but these outlaws keep testing his limits. He is the moral anchor of the group, heaven help him. He gets to be called ‘old man’ because he’s over 30 and this is, well, the Middle Ages.
John: A giant of a warrior with blonde braids that reach the middle of his back. Fiercely protective of his two young children, who he has had to hide away with friends, because he is an outlaw. He is Robin Hood’s second-in-command and in Die For You we get to see how they met. He is NOT going to let anyone lay a finger on Robin, be it man or woman. Yet he is harboring dark secrets of his own. Deadly ones, to be precise.
Will: Too young, too sad, too tortured. He’s been through much more than anyone ever should in an entire lifetime. He’s an orphan with advanced warrior skills. He and Robin grew up as brothers and are inseparable. Danger follows him around, but to be honest, Will follows it first. He is suffering from severe PTSD (in this book we find out why), and he thinks he is hiding from everyone the fact that he is not entirely sure he wants to be alive. They know.
Alis: A wealthy young lady that Robin rescued from a gruesome wedding ceremony to an old man. She’s deadly with the bow and the sword, and fiercely protective of all the men. She mothers them to death, and they protest, but secretly love it. She hides her golden braid inside a hood, a fact that every member of the outlaw gang hates with a passion.
Julian: Red-haired and multi-talented, otherwise known as My Poor Boy™. He’s the Intelligent One, the brains behind the band of outlaws who fight against evil. Unfortunately, he’s been shackled in the sheriff’s dungeon for the past 5 or more years, and is currently a shadow of his former shelf. He gets beaten up daily, and is hanging onto life by a mere thread. (My poor boy.)
Gilbert: A member of the sheriff’s elite personal guard, Gilbert is the eyes and ears of Robin in the castle. Insanely loyal and protective of Robin. His fondest wish is to follow the outlaws in the forest, but Robin needs him in the caslt, so that he can spy for him. Hopefully, he won’t get caught. (*Hopefully* lol)
Ximena: A beautiful Arab woman, who has been raised in an English convent, and is now in great danger in the sheriff’s household. A brief meeting with Robin and his band of outlaws is her last hope. That is, if she survives long enough to be rescued.
Alan: Singer, song-writer, jester. Extremely clever and amazingly annoying. He makes his first appearance in book 2 and, well... for such a smart dude, he does some really, really dumb stuff. Maybe that’s because he’s used to constantly living in danger and doesn’t give a darn anymore. That, plus he’s a reckless and handsome devil. Exactly what the band of outlaws need right now, when everything is about to fall apart in a BIG WAY.
Fox: The outlaws’ cat. He is orange and fat and he is the best fed creature in the forest. He eats mice, gets spoiled to his heart’s content, and is always waiting for the gang to come back from another one of their brainless missions. Sometimes, when the outlaw holds him in his arms, Robin wonders how it would feel to finally be fed, loved, safe and free. To have a real home…
These are the Outlaw Series heroes of course. The villains are a cast all on their own, a story for another day…
Until then, Die for You is up for preorder here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086YPTP9V
It would help me so much if you gave it a look!
You heard it here first:
I have written a new book!
It is currently sitting at 72k words (!) and it is my favorite thing I have ever written (with the possible exception of the No Ordinary Star series-I will never top that, I don’t think). I wrote it in two months, it just came pouring out of me. Well, of course, it helped that I had been outlining it for a couple of years before that, and I was beyond ready to finally tell this story.
This is going to be the first in a 5-book series, of which 3 other books are already written. (I was just missing the first in the series). Which is to say, I now have 4 books in the series completely drafted. The books need to be edited thoroughly, and then I will start publishing them one by one, God willing.
While I am not ready to share anything specific about the books yet, I can give you a few general clues:
They are going to be even more Greek mythology-inspired than usual
I have been PINING to write Dark Academia for years
These books will include my wildest fantasies in terms of tropes, characters, world-building, angst, adventure and romance. (Maybe yours too)
I will be announcing the genre, title and release timelines very soon on instagram and here, so keep an eye out for that.
Going forward, I am hoping to edit my next contemporary dark romance (the next Lose Me book that takes place in Paris!) in March, and after that, I am diving back into the final final final FINAL edits for Die for You. I am hoping to have review copies available very very soon! Such an exciting time all around, don’t you think?
The darker the world gets around me, the more urgent I feel the need to speak, to write, to create light with my words and my stories. If the night is so black, even the tiniest star makes a difference. I want to be that star, no matter how tiny.
How are you doing? I hope you’re taking care of yourselves, doing things you like, taking it easy, getting a lot of hugs and reading beautiful books that bring light into the darkness.
Even in the deepest night, you still shine!
All my love and thanks,
M.C. Frank
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