A Song of Eagles
Humans, elves, and dwarves once claimed the world of Zilekska. Even the jackal-headed worshippers of the moon, the ghûl, embraced peace. But that was before the Fall, when magic twisted and the Dead rose, their gray tide drowning civilizations and turning capitals to grand necropolises. Three generations later, the survivors cling to Redoubt, the last city in the world.
As a blacksmith and metal craftsman, Fáerin enjoys a peace and security that’s rare among Redoubt’s desperate masses. When his honor won’t let him look away from the desecrated bodies of two enslaved ghûl, he loses it all. One act of compassion by Fáerin and his friends sparks chaos in the fortress-city. To control the tide of revolt, the city’s ruling Magisters sentence them to exile outside the walls — among the teeming Dead.
Fáerin and his companions follow a trembling hope that the old stories still hold some truth, and seek sanctuary in the lost lands of the Eternal Sea. Inside Redoubt, Fáerin’s allies dare the wrath of the Magistrates when the investigate the rise of strange, dangerous magic among the enslaved. Behind it all, the Dead and their corruption fester into new horrors and dark revelations.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
A bit different, this one. A few years back, I wrote a novella called “The Sport of Crows” for an anthology called Tales of the Lost Citadel. Everything was set in a grim fantasy world that was the creation of game designer C.A. Suleiman.
I had a great time doing it. Fell in love with the characters I’d come up. Got entirely wrapped up in their relationships and their plights. Created a plot development that altered one of the developers’ own concepts. And, most crucially, I couldn’t stop wondering what happened next.
When its foundational world was later ported over to an RPG game, I had both the desire and opportunity to find out, and expand “The Sport of Crows” into a novel, whose funding was folded into the broader Kickstarter campaign at gaming company Green Ronin.
Developing and writing it was like renewing and deepening old friendships, and I had a wonderful time throughout. Moreover, after a dozen novels of horror and crime, tackling my first fantasy novel felt surprisingly refreshing.
The novel was initially released exclusively to the project’s Kickstarter backers, but is now available to the public from Green Ronin’s online store.
