En Garde!
This site is dedicated to the adventures of sword-wielding heroes: in short, swashbucklers! Here your host, Lawrence Ellsworth, provides previews and updates about his books, both available and forthcoming, published in both book form and in serial format on the Substack platform.
This Home Page provides updates on Ellsworth’s latest titles. For in-depth coverage of the Cinema of Swords series and of the Musketeers Cycle, see the navigation bar at the top of the page.
The Man in the Iron Mask
Book Nine and last in the Musketeers Cycle, the grand conclusion of the thrilling adventures of d’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis at the Court of Louis XIV. If you read only one other book by Alexandre Dumas than The Three Musketeers, this is it! Available Spring 2025 from Pegasus Books of New York and London.
Shadow of the Bastille
Book Eight in the Musketeers Cycle, love and death in the Court of France as Aramis ripens his conspiracy against the crown and d’Artagnan attempts to uncover and thwart it. Available now in trade paperback and ebook formats.
Le Vicomte et les Mousquetaires
The Rose Knight’s Crucifixion, Ellsworth’s Musketeers-adjacent novel of historical intrigue in Louis XIII’s France, is now available in French translation from Parisian publisher Le Cherche Midi. Following the English version, it’s published in two volumes translated by Laurent Barucq, L’ombre des Rose-Croix and La Conspiration Richelieu.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is Game of the Year!
The video game I’ve been working on for the last several years in my persona as game designer Lawrence Schick, the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3, was released in the second half of 2023 and was the year’s surprise hit, earning in December the coveted Game of the Year award. It’s available now from Larian Studios for the PC, the PS5, and the Xbox Series X/S. If you haven’t done so yet, try it and see what the fuss is all about—meet the lovable and, dare I say it, swashbuckling characters of Faerûn who’ve taken the world of gaming by storm.
Cinema of Swords
Now available from Applause Books: Cinema of Swords, a popular guide to 400+ movies about Knights, Pirates, Samurai, and Vikings (and Barbarians, Musketeers, Gladiators, and Outlaw Heroes) from the Silent Era through The Princess Bride!
Devil’s Dance
Book Seven of the Musketeers Cycle, the adventures of the musketeers at the court of King Louis XIV continue, as Athos’ son the Vicomte de Bragelonne competes with the king himself for the love of Louise de La Vallière. Available now in ebook and trade paperback formats.
Court of Daggers
Book Six of the Musketeers Cycle, the adventures d’Artagnan and of Athos’s son, the Vicomte de Bragelonne, at the court of King Louis XIV! Available now in ebook and trade paperback formats.
Between Two Kings
Book Five of the Musketeers Cycle, in which d’Artagnan and Athos join forces to restore the English throne to King Charles II. Available now in hardcover and ebook formats!
Blood Royal
Book Four in the Musketeers Cycle, the exploits of d’Artagnan and his comrades to save King Charles I from execution, and themselves from Mordaunt, the son of Milady! Available now in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats!
Twenty Years After
Book Three in the Musketeers Cycle, continuing the adventures of d’Artagnan and his comrades Athos, Porthos, and Aramis in the years of a French rebellion and the English Civil War. Available now in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats!
The Three Musketeers
Book One in the Musketeers Cycle, the classic tale in an acclaimed new translation, illustrated and fully annotated! Available now in hardcover, trade paperback, and ebook formats.
The Red Sphinx
Book Two in the Musketeers Cycle, Lawrence Ellsworth’s reconstruction and translation of Alexandre Dumas’s lost sequel to The Three Musketeers. Available in hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.
The Rose Knight’s Crucifixion
Lawrence Ellsworth’s two-part parallel novel to Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, telling the tale of hunchback Louis d’Astarac’s quest for the hidden secrets of the Rosicrucians, crossing paths with Richelieu, Milady de Winter, and Aramis. Volume 1, The Three Mystic Heirs, and volume 2, The Three Monks of Tears, are available in both ebook and trade paperback formats.