My NaNoWriMo project for 2015. The bare skeleton of an outline had been hanging out on my thumb drive for something like ten years. Decided it was time to either tackle it or let it go. While I didn’t quite make the 50k word goal (thank you children’s colds AND Fallout 4), I got 30k words deep into it and decided to finish. As usual, you can pick it up on Amazon, though currently in Kindle format only.
When the wars between cities stop, peace flourishes…but when the peace between cities stops, will war return? In this Dystopic Science Fiction set in the Iron Age, follow the lives of rulers and ruled, sons and daughters, soldiers and slaves as they come to the end of a decade-long peace treaty. All are preparing for the wars they know must begin anew, but the future they want is not the future their handpicked Champions will bring from the great City at the end of the treaty, for the children they sent in are now grown – and have plans of their own.
- For merciless Zeni of Er Nah – torturer, spy, assassin…and slave – the choice is simple: do as his master tells him. Discover the plots of Er Nah’s enemies, foil them, and prepare to help the city bring in more slaves to replace the aging population.
- Ambitious Ophia of Ea Rithin wants nothing more than to achieve her due, to be named the youngest Shipmaster in the history of her city. Standing in her way is the inertia of the elders, the abode of fools in the Guildhouse who have become fat and happy off the ways of the world while ignoring the Code of the Sea.
- Dutiful Grigon of Fin Da’c has achieved the dream of finding a new metal, one that will make his beaten-down city of smiths into a powerhouse of metal-clad warriors…if only his father would finally reveal his plans and set the fire burning.
- Beaten-down Xipin of Shinopé wants nothing more than to bring a cleansing to her city’s ruling class…a clean slate she plans to accomplish during a feast unlike any city has seen in a hundred years. All the cities together, all the elites sharing food, sharing bread and sampling hospitality…and the poison she has been cultivating for years.
- Repressed genius Eban of Gaelbric is the oddest of his family, what with his panic attacks and uncanny ability to detect patterns, and he wants nothing more than to welcome his brother back into the fold. But when an attack happens two days before the City opens, something triggers his questioning nature, and once he is on the hunt for an answer, nothing can hold him back.
- Highly motivated Proteus of Na Shuda is the model soldier…if only his city could hold his interest. Dreams of glory clash with his average life, so when a freak attack thrusts him in the center of events, will he seize the moment or squander his chance?
A decade of peace teeters on the brink, balancing haphazardly on the shoulders of twenty-three teens. Their actions will determine the fate not only of their home cities, but also of what lies beneath their very feet…and that is where the real danger lies….