Lord Belmont’s life ended in Clovis, in the impenetrable darkness beneath the ground where forbidden rites were once held. Lady Gwendolyn was his love, body and soul, and the Demon in Blue Light killed her.Every year, on the anniversary of Gwen’s death, he returned to Clovis to stand in the cold desolation, hearing the wind moan through the lonely passes, feeling her loss all over again.
On this anniversary, he wasn’t alone in Clovis. He heard the noises rustling in the brush. He smelled the raw river of Shadow tech. Then he saw it:
The claws …
The flicking tail …
The maniacal, glittering eyes fixed on him …
“I’ve been waiting for you,” it said in a grating voice as it attacked.
* * * * *
Far away, across the cosmos in a city of wondrous crystal towers, two people watch in horror as the desperate scene at Clovis unfolds. They had worked so hard, sacrificed so much, even argued for it before the gods. They convinced the gods they were right, that they knew best, and everything would go well.
But, things weren’t going well at Clovis.
If this situation went poorly, then ages worth of work would be lost, and, just possibly, the universe might come to an end.
This book will be published next year,
in the meantime find all of
Author Ren Garcia's books, in the meantime find all of
including the first books in this series,
below:
~ Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ Amazon UK ~
Ren Garcia is a Science Fiction/Fantasy author and Texas native who grew up in western Ohio. He has been writing since before he could write, often scribbling alien lingo on any available wall or floor with assorted crayons. He attended The Ohio State University and majored in English Literature. Ren has been an avid lover of
anything surreal since childhood, he also has a passion for caving, urban archeology and architecture. His highly imaginative "League of Elder" book series is published by Loconeal Publishing.
anything surreal since childhood, he also has a passion for caving, urban archeology and architecture. His highly imaginative "League of Elder" book series is published by Loconeal Publishing.
Connect with the Author here:
~AUTHOR INTERVIEW with Ren Garcia~
1) What gave you the inspiration for the storyline?
I can’t really pinpoint any one thing that inspired this storyline. As with most of my stories, the genesis of it takes a fair amount of time, simmering in my head in bits and pieces of clashing images for years. For all of these Shadow tech Goddess stories, I wanted to explore differing versions of Lord Belmont, usually being paired with a different love interest. I found this simple angle was problematic, as I seemed to be simply spitting out rehashes of the same story. For this tale, it was doubly so. In the beginning, I simply pulled Kat out of the pages of Book 8 and dropped her into this one “as is”. The result was flat, uninteresting, a retread of previous books and pretty much an unfulfilling read from beginning to end. I was so put-off, I considered deleting this tale several times. I set it aside and thought about it for a while. I did receive inspiration from my wife taking up running as a hobby — I thought she looked cool running in her little running clothes. Given that, I thought I had a few modifications for Kat to give her a little life. Forty thousand words later, I had completely overhauled the book. I’m pleased with the results — the changes to Kat made her a complete character and focus of the book, whereas, previously, she was a side-character.
2) Are there any hidden themes in the book that you hope readers will discover?
I think a theme that comes up quite often is Beauty through Endurance. I wanted Kat to be a rather unassuming character, possibly a person one might pass on the street and think nothing of it. Many of my previous characters, both male and female, are exaggerated and bigger than life. I wanted Kat to be small, outwardly uninteresting and unimpressive, nothing that would generate a turned head or two. But, take a moment, and what do you see, a person driven by that rare flame, that simple call that will not yield. A person with the unspoken strength to endure, to carry on no matter what. Just like Atha wasn’t impressed with her at first, once she had a glimpse of what was hidden under the surface, she was convinced A-Ram and Alesta had made the right choice. Professor Shurlamp was appalled with Kat — couldn’t make heads or tails of her. That theme carries on later with the whole Belmont dress fiasco, when Lord Belmont’s sisters were terminally unimpressed with Kat, but grew to respect her drive and determination very quickly.
3) Are any of the characters based on real people you know?
Yeah, quite a bit. I’ll not say who in particular — don’t want to give them a big head or anything, lol.
4) Who has influenced you most as a writer?
I consider Michael Moorcock my greatest influence. His writing is always uninhibited and unabashed. That always impressed me, made the reading experience so much better. He could also handle a gigantic battle scene incredibly well, breaking down the doings of the units and various personalities in a way I’d never seen any other writer do it. I always wanted to emulate that style. I also always found it interesting that the villains in his books are, almost always, variations of the United Kingdom, his homeland.
5) If you could have any three literary characters over to your place for game night, who would you invite, what would you play, what would you serve, and why?
Oh, I’d probably have Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser from Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar series. I’ve always loved them and the city of Lankhmar. I’d also have Laika from the Bloodstein books over. I know I created Laika, but I had a huge fascination for her while writing Book 11. We would all sit down and play Talisman, 2nd edition, which is the best. I have all the various add-ons and side pieces for Talisman — a game can last forever now, it seems. I have all the old Games Workshop offerings from when I was in college — I totally love them. I’d serve the tried & true lluegos con carne as a snack. One can never go wrong with eggs & weenies. Laika likes meat, so gotta’ keep her happy.
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