Jack Whyte (born 1940) is a Scottish-Canadian novelist of historical fiction. Born and raised in Scotland, Whyte has been living in Canada since 1967. He resides in Kelowna, British Columbia.
Whyte's major work to date is the A Dream of Eagles series (as it is titled in Canada, but known as The Camulod Chronicles in the United States and elsewhere). This series of historical novels presents the tale of King Arthur set against the backdrop of Roman Britain. This retelling of the popular legend eschews the use of magic (as in T. H. White’s The Sword in the Stone) to explain Arthur’s ascent to power and instead relies on the historical condition (with some artistic licence) of post-Roman Britain to support the theory that Arthur was meant to counter the anarchy left by the Roman departure from Britain in 410 AD and the subsequent colonization and invasion of Britain by various peoples from Northwestern Europe, including the Saxons, Jutes, Franks, and Angles. Whyte incorporates both traditional Arthurian names, places and events (albeit in Gaelic or Latin form) as well as the names of various historical figures that have been suggested as being the possible basis for the original King Arthur legend. The tacit implication is that Whyte's version of history is the true story that has become distorted over time to become the legend and stories of magic that we know today.
Jack Whyte served as the official bard of The Calgary Highlanders and performed several tracks of poetry and song on the 1990 recording by the Regimental Pipes and Drums of The Calgary Highlanders entitled Eighty Years of Glory: The Regimental Pipes, Drums and Bard of The Calgary Highlanders.
The two volumes The Sorcerer: The Fort at River’s Bend and The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis were written as a single volume entitled The Sorcerer but were split for publication.
Golden Eagle (companion mini-series)
Clothar the Frank (titled The Lance Thrower outside of Canada)
The Eagle
Other
Uther, is a stand-alone novel about the life of Uther Pendragon from infancy up until the end of events in The Eagles' Brood. It serves to answer lingering questions left open by The Eagles' Brood that result from the fact that the latter is told exclusively from the perspective of Merlyn Britannicus and as such is not able to explain actions and events of which Merlyn is unaware. In this way, Uther is also an effective companion novel to The Eagles' Brood as it follows the title character and others as they grow up and wage war on Uther's main enemy, Guhlrys Lot, King of Cornwall.
At a public reading in his hometown of Kelowna, on Thursday, November 8, 2007, Whyte announced that he had, earlier that day, signed a contract for a new series of books on the heroes of his Scottish homeland.
Further information has it that the proposed trilogy will be called The Guardians of Scotland, and will be set in 14th century Scotland during the Scottish Wars of Independence and will feature James "The Black" Douglas, William Wallace, and Robert the Bruce.
He will start the series following completion of the Templar series which has recently ended. A sneak-peek of the first book, titled The Forest Laird, was released on his site on May 21st.