A Thousand Roads by John Robin
Greetings book-lovers!
Today I have something extra-special! This might not be a romance or erotic book I’m featuring today, but it’s a book that means a lot to me… it’s the epic fantasy novel debut by my husband!
Check it out!
Blurb:
Azzadul, the god-king, the Lord of Light revered by many. When the darkness corrupted him, he became the Dark Lord, feared the world over. His magic, once a gateway to immortality for his people, delved instead into horrors as he sought ever deeper levels of mastery. Children were stolen from their beds, coveted for his blood-rites. When he vanished, it all ended, and the people of the world tried to forget, to move on…
Jak Fuller has always wanted a home. An orphan born ten years after Azzadul’s disappearance, he has wandered far and wide, trying to forget the memory of a burning woman. When he comes to Fort Lasthall, on the outskirts of the Dark Lord’s former kingdom, he hopes to finally settle into a peaceful life. Instead, he finds himself unnaturally compelled by a dark, terrible voice, a voice that knows him, calls to him. A sense of destiny that fills him with fear.
New powers are rising in the dark places of the world. A master of fire-rites called Talamus the Red, arch-foe of Azzadul, seeks to enslave the world with a magic he has been developing for the many centuries of his life. Ready at last, there is only one weakness in his plan, an obstacle he is determined to remove: a boy, bound to an old magic that just might resurrect the power of Azzadul.
The very power bound to Jak, before he was even born…
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Excerpt:
The moment Fort Lasthall appeared at the far end of the dirt road, Jak halted with his barrow full of books.
For all his childhood, Jak had drifted from village to village. He’d slept beneath trees or in haylofts or sheltered ditches. He’d been a helper to a bootblack, a fetcher, and a costermonger, and all that before he was ten winters. He’d stayed in so many places, but he’d never thought of them as home. His books were his only possessions, and with them he’d wandered.
Then he’d heard about Fort Lasthall.
“The town of good fortune,” some called it.
“A relic of the old world,” a kindly hag had told him once, “untouched by the god-king’s Curse.”
“All roads lead there,” said many. “It’s the best place to live.”
Every time Jak heard about it, something stirred in his heart. It was like a whisper from deep within him. Fort Lasthall, it said. Go there. Go.
His childhood was coming to an end, and Jak was frustrated with having nowhere to stay for longer than a quartermoon. So he’d listened to the call. He’d traveled the smaller roadways and lanes, and all the while that stirring in his heart grew stronger. He journeyed even in the rain and went to bed wet, feeling for once that his path was leading him somewhere.
Finally, he was here. Yet now that he saw Fort Lasthall, he hesitated.
From this distance, the town was an indistinct jumble at the foot of the mountain called Tharrannor, a hidden world shimmering behind a veil of morning mist. Higher up, its outer wall curled along the mountain’s slope, into a forest thick with Northwood trees so dark their green looked almost black. Higher still, a stone cliff marked with holes seemed a hundred eyes…watching him.
Jak stopped. He was certain something from within those holes was beckoning—was the very thing that had called him here.
It was a ridiculous thought. Jak forced himself to keep moving. The day was yet young, and if he was quick, he would still have time to find work and, if he was fortunate, a roof over his head for the night.
A measure of dawn had passed by the time he arrived at a gateway in the thick outer wall. He passed through it, studying the buildings that towered around him, taking in the stillness of the morning. Birds wheeled in lazy circles above the rooftops. At the highest point of the Fort, an old castle with two towers rose up within an inner wall, joined by the wings of newer, abutting palaces. On the west, it was divided by a river called the North Thistle. Jak tried not to let his eyes wander higher, but they did anyway. Dark caves, opening into the white-capped mountain peaks beyond…Jak thought of the stories in his books.
How, beneath these mountains, they said, there was magic.
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About the Author:
[image error]It all began when he was an eight-year-old boy, when he discovered Tolkien’s map of Wilderland tucked in the pages of an old, beat-up copy of The Hobbiton his grandmother’s bookshelf.
From that point onward, John Robin knew he was destined to make his own world and tell stories about it. Over a period of twenty years, he read the great fantasy epics, learned the craft of storytelling, wrote three novels just for practice (unpublished), and all the while his fantasy world and unique vision as a writer ripened.
After working for many years in academia and adult education, John left his job in 2014 to pursue his dreams as a writer. Having cut his teeth as an editor at a small publishing company, John built a book production business to help connect self-publishing authors with editing, cover, design, and marketing services based on the traditional model. He presently is the creative director, senior editor, and production manager for his company and oversees a team of twelve.
In addition to fantasy, John also enjoys writing nonfiction, as an instructor for the lifelong learning website Highbrow, and recently as author of Your Daily Journal: 100 Day Starter. He has numerous other projects in the pipeline, both in fiction and nonfiction, and is also a ghostwriter. He also writes as the advanced machine intelligence from the future, Nannybot A3-4.
When he’s not writing or reading, John enjoys listening to educational podcasts, toying with recreational mathematics, drawing trees or maps with pen, playing classical piano (especially Beethoven and Chopin), and occasionally, working with textiles. He also enjoys strength straining, running, and yoga, gardening, long walks, serially watching his way through TV series in the evenings, board game nights with friends, RPG video games, and of course…pandering to the whims of his cats, Wizard and Shyger, who are the true muses behind his stories.
Connect with John through his website: http://www.epicfantasywriter.com
