Lamec—A Beastly Place

Why not cut to the chase? The fallen city of Lamec is where my novel The Beast at the Gate gets its namesake.  The city is in ruins and populated by hordes of vicious, humanoid creatures that are rumored to have once been men.   These are the “Beasts”. No one really knows how the once great West Taren capital became a den for the Beasts, except that it had something to do with the Lake stone in the center of the city. 

The good news is that the city is gated off from the general populace—preventing the Beasts from getting out. The bad news is that the  gate is failing, and the Beasts are literally drooling at the chance of escape(green, acidic drool to be exact). 

Here is an excerpt from the book—a scene where our heroine Rayna Powell finds herself in the unfortunate situation of wandering into the city:

Taking heed to her watch’s warning, Rayna quickly hid herself behind the corner of a brick wall and shoved her glowing hand in her pocket. Then she saw it.
It stood over eight feet tall, and oozed a dripping, green ichor from every part of its scaly body. Its face resembled a nightmarish hybrid of boar, and lizard—creased and knotted—like heavy clay molded into monstrosity.

Its bulging eyes had lids that closed horizontally, and as the creature squinted in the daylight sun, only its elongated red pupils showed through. It was an undeniable rendition of evil personified. Its pointed-toothed mouth opened and closed repeatedly, as if rehearsing for its next meal. Rayna dared not breathe; she feared the sound of her own pounding heart would give her away…

Needless to say, the city of Lamec doesn't get many tourists.

© Copyright December 2012 JK Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.

Kuara: Work All Day, No Time For Play

Kuara is the province closest to the Band. In many ways, the Band's presence has shaped the Kuarans' culture and their code of laws. At first glance, Kuara is a gentle, scenic place—full of sloping hills and rolling meadows.

However, before you grab your hammock and sunscreen to plan your next vacation there, realize that all forms of idleness are considered a crime punishable by death.  So, resting comfortably in the shade while watching the clouds float by would probably be a bad idea in Kuara.

Kuarans view their land as an opportunity to work hard and bear the fruits of that labor. The mighty plains of Kuara are the breadbasket of Taren, and that makes the West Taren province an agricultural power, if not a military one.

The Next Chapters

I took a small break from the blog in preparation for the new installment in the "Rayna of Nightwind" series. It is the highly anticipated sequel to "The Beast at the Gate".

I want to take the time to say to my fans that I am both touched and thrilled that you are as exited about this new novel as I am. It's been a while in the making, but the next draft of "Beyond the Band of Death"(tentative title, pending my publisher's final approval) is done and now I'm ready to move on  to the next phase. With a lot of sweat and a bit of luck, I hope to have the finished book ready in time for Christmas! Again, thanks for everything. I would not have gotten this far without you. So, let's move together into the exciting next chapters of the Nightwind saga.

As always, if you want to learn more about me and my books--and read some sample chapters to boot--please visit my website.

Next time: Back to our regularly scheduled  blog entries.