Award-winning novelist Rusty Blackwood has announced that the hardcover version of her latest novel, Before The Grandeur: The Making of a Horsemaster, is now available at Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/stores/Rusty-Blackwood/author/B0092XLBRM. The release matters to the publishing niche Blackwood occupies because it closes out a matched hardback set of a series that has already drawn award recognition, a detail that carries weight with collectors and with readers who still prefer durable editions over digital formats.
Before the Grandeur is the prequel to the Autumn Trilogy, a sequence of books set in the world of professional equestrian racing, concealed secrets and an unfaltering love, built around the idea that determination and grit can turn uncertainty into triumph. Blackwood framed the hardcover launch as a completion of the collection. "I am extremely pleased to offer, Before the Grandeur: The Making of a Horsemaster, in hardback edition," she stated. "As the prequel to my multi-award-winning Autumn Trilogy of books that are each available in hardback, having Grandeur join that select group finishes the collection perfectly, especially for the consummate collector, as well as all readers who prefer this choice of format."
The story follows Cyril Landon, a deprived young Englishman born into poverty in the village of South Wood Chester, Gloucestershire, England, where opportunity appeared far removed from his grasp. A labourer's situation at a local farm gives him a window into a future he had never considered, and his choice sets him on a path that leads toward Landon Lawns Stables and the events of the trilogy. Reviewers have treated the book as character-driven historical fiction rather than a plot-twist vehicle. Richard Prause of Readers Favorite said it "doesn't depend on manufactured plot twists to drive the story" and instead focuses on "the simple, powerful moments of a man earning the trust of a stallion." Asher Syed called it "a boon for readers who are already fans of the series, and a brilliant introduction to fans-in-waiting."
Blackwood is also offering the title at no charge during this timeframe, a move that lowers the entry point for newcomers. "Born into extreme poverty with little hope of survival, Cyril Landon's difficult beginnings throughout England's horrific war years, will better assist readers in understanding the difficult journey that precedes the grandeur awaiting them in The Perils of Autumn," she stated, calling the book a must read for fans of historical fiction. The prequel's availability in hardcover and free promotion both serve the same commercial purpose: pulling new readers into a series whose first installment, The Perils Of Autumn, was named a finalist in the Fiction Romance category by the International Book Awards in its 2019 program and a finalist in the American Book Fest's 2019 awards in the same category, and which received a 5-star rating from Reader's Favorite.
That first book, set primarily in the early 1970s, centers on Kentucky native Autumn Leeves, born in 1946 to an unwed mother, Abigail, who struggles to make ends meet until a kind shopkeeper takes them in. By 1970 Autumn is a nursing school graduate assigned to care for the terminally ill wife of middle-aged English equestrian master Cyril Landon, owner of Landon Lawns Stables outside Lexington, Kentucky, where world-renowned jockey Duff Taylor lives full-time with a dark secret tied to an unsolved racing incident. The romance that develops between Cyril and Autumn is plagued by those trying to stop it, and peril returns when Abigail dies, leaving a pregnant Autumn fighting to carry her baby to term.
Blackwood's catalog also includes the 5-star rated romantic fiction novel Willow's Walk, set in Ottawa in 2003, and her first romantic fiction novel, Passions in Paris: Revelations of a Lost Diary. Information on all of her work is available at her website at http://www.rusty-blackwood.com. For the indie publishing market, the hardcover release is a reminder that backlist completion and format consistency remain practical ways for self-published authors to extend the life of a series and court collectors alongside casual readers.
