Chasing the Dragon
I’ve heard this phrase before but I wasn’t quite sure where. So naturally, Google to the rescue! Turns out it involves heating up heroine, morphine, or anything along those lines and inhaling the vapor that escape from it. Rest assured this post has absolutely nothing to do with anything like that.
In this case, Chasing the Dragon is a serious contender for the title of the second book in my Order of the Dragon series. I just finished the rough draft of Isle of the Ape and it would be in the hands of my editor had I remembered to attach the file with the email I sent. Yeah, I do that too sometimes.
Back to Isle of the Ape for a moment. What is it? It’s book 1 in the Order of the Dragon trilogy – but you already figured that out. It continues the story of Alto, Patrina, Aleena, Garrick, Namitus, Kar, Karthor, and Celos a little over a year since the end of Silver Dragon (Blades of Leander trilogy). Oh, I almost forget to mention, it even adds in a little Thork.
During that year+ between books the people of the north have not been nearly as busy as they should have been. Without a common foe to unite them, they’ve fallen back to complacency. The promised construction to rebuild the city of Rockwood at the entrance to the dwarven mines has been stalled by labor negotiations and little has been accomplished. At least for the “good” guys.
Emissaries from the south have sailed north. Reopening the long lost dwarven mines is a noteworthy event and everybody wants a little action with that. The leading contender seems to be a southern noble who’s become quite smitten with Alto’s sister, Caitlyn. I hope it’s not a spoiler to say this, but Isle of the Ape opens with their wedding in the south.
That’s not the only thing to happen though. Garrick’s gone back to his people but his eyes have been opened. He’s come a long ways from the intemperate youth he was. It could even be argued he’s a wee bit more than an intemperate young man now! He’s wise enough to know that when bad things start to come out of the mountains again he needs help in figuring them out.
Aleena and Celos? They’re cleaning up some messes left behind and doing so in a fine fashion. Fine enough, in fact, to draw the attention of Leander and earn the notice of their church. Of course having the spotlight on you isn’t always a good thing…
Now who remembers Rosalyn, the kidnapped girl that was tattooed and coerced into becoming an apprentice for the evil wizard, Therion in Victim of Fate? Well, she’s back…and that’s all I’ll say about her for now.
Now what does all this have to do with an island and a really big monkey? Well I guess that’s what you’ll need to read the book for. I’ll be sure to share when it comes out, hopefully later this month since I already have cover art completed.
I’ve decided that, since everything is still fresh in my mind, to push ahead for book 2 in the trilogy. Thus the potential title of Chasing the Dragon. My hope is that the books are as addictive and as heroin, but without any of the nasty side effects. I’m not certain what all will be happening in book 2 other than to say much of it will take place in the south, in the desert kingdom of Shazamir. I’m giving myself 3 weeks to write this novel. I managed Isle of the Ape in a little over two weeks, so let’s hope the mojo is still with me!
To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to read about him, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com .
