Reverend Charles Watts Whistler MRCS, LSA, (1856-1913) was a writer of historic fiction that plays between 600 and 1100 AD, usually based on early English/Saxon chronicles, Norse or Danish Sagas and archeological discoveries. He studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital, London, and was a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons and a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries. After practicing as a surgeon he was ordained deacon in 1884 and priest in 1885. He then served as a clergyman in a succession of parishes. Whistler was interested in the history of England before the Norman Conquest and this is reflected in the subject matter of his prolific work as a historical novelist. His works include: A Thane of Wessex: Being a Story of the Great Viking Raids into Somerset (1896), Wulfric the Weapon Thane: A Story of the Danish Conquest of East Anglia (1897), King Olaf's Kinsman: A Story of the Last Saxon Struggle Against the Danes in the Days of Ironside and Cnut (1898), A King's Comrade: A Story of Old Hereford (1905) and A Sea Queen's Sailing (1906). --This text refers to the Paperback edition.