Mark Stone's Blog - Posts Tagged "greco-roman"

Getting the woman can return him the past. Saving the girl stolen will gain him a future. Should he choose one, the other loses everything.

The question, “Have I bedded you?” pushed for voice. In addition to the embarrassment of having to ask, there was the propensity of learning he had been inside a woman other than his murdered wife. The guilt of gaining that knowledge could send him back down the spiral staircase.

Smarter to avoid cataclysmic subjects. Caderyn nodded to himself. “I think we should learn if any townspeople might recall seeing Indrasena the night of her disappearance. While in Polus you mentioned a painting of her. Might I show it around Floridus?”

“If your arms could stretch so wide,” Jana spat.

“What do you mean?”

“Verum, I had no idea your stupidity reached such depths. Figure out what it is I mean. When you do, invite the townsfolk to come here. Line them up single-file starting at the atrium and continuing here on the lawn and there on the road. Charge admission. People would pay were they told of the art’s sheer lewd size. Or why he had it created. Let each gaze in solitude upon the painting in all its excruciating detail and marvel as I did and do and must and witnessed you doing the same. You shall have more chance of shining light on someone’s recollection should their memories have dimmed. That I rather doubt. No one could possibly forget seeing her.”

The outburst and how Jana had said art, he, and her reeked of jealousy. Caderyn colored green, too, wondering whether Jana’s envy based itself in desiring Lepidus when the proconsul had directed his affections elsewhere. “We need smaller replicates. Are there artists—?”

“Query Lepidus,” she uttered through clenched teeth. “In the tablinum.”

“Jana…” He reached for her arm.

“Dare not touch me unless the touch leads to intimacy.”

His hand dropped.

“I see,” she mumbled. “It is the dance of hither-thither. Please go.”

Having fallen from noble status, Caderyn Fortis is now a broken man trying to hang onto a semblance of sanity as his addictions to gambling and drink worsen day by day. The grip he has on his last thread of survival is tenuous until he gets an offer that will return to him some respect and buy a better tomorrow. All he has to do is rescue a young woman kidnapped from a proconsul's villa. Caderyn takes on the assignment thinking it rather easy. He never accounted for who took the girl or what falling for Jana might mean not just for himself but all involved.

He learns too late that for every action there is a reaction, and in some cases, the reaction rips asunder lives no less than earthquakes do the ground.

Calasade is a Greco-Roman Fantasy world that was in development for over five years. The world of Calasade has enough in common with Ancient Rome and borrows enough from Greek and Roman mythology that it will seem familiar, but also offers plenty of its own lore so that it is something new and different, the latter especially true when the world of Calasade and its tales are compared to Fantasy taking place in worlds based on Medieval Europe. Don't get me wrong. I love Fantasy tropes, but it was of the utmost importance to avoid most of them and come up with something rather unique. Here you will find neither the knight in shining armor nor the never-do-good evil sorcerer. In truth the people of Calasade are not so different than us in that they belong squarely inside the gray box of existence. As such, each and every one is capable of heroic acts one moment and dark ones the next depending on what's at stake and the means available for acquiring their goals.

Thank you for taking the time to check out Calasade: Blood Isle. It is my sincere hope that you join me on an exciting, fresh journey.

Blood Isle is an illustrated novel. While part of a series, it is like all Calasade stories and can be read as a stand-alone. Blood Isle is a mixture of Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, and Paranormal Romance.