The Legend and the Dark

I took a mini-break from working on my current project and did some minor edits on The Legend and the Dark recently. I've shared this book with both of my writer's groups. One has finished it already, and the other is nearing the end. Obviously, sharing only a chapter or two with them each month meant they've been 'reading' this book over the span of a couple of years (pretty much the entire time I've been writing it). The edits received on these chapters were mostly of the smaller kind - the occasional typo, perhaps a grammatical suggestion, and sometimes a request for more details in certain sections. A few of my writer friends have read it straight through and were able to give me suggestions and comments about the entire story arc, character growth and critiques pertaining to the bulk of the story. For me, both types of comments were helpful. It allowed me to focus not only on the big picture, but also on some of the tiny details. I have a few readers/fellow writers still in the process of reading the book, and I look forward to their comments as well. One I've been told has an extremely keen editor's eye, so I'm curious to hear/read her comments/critique. I've been warned already about her 'red pen'.

Thank you all who have read The Legend and the Dark and have helped me to improve this manuscript.

Take care all -

The Legend and the Dark

The Legend and the Dark is the novel I'm currently submitting to agents. It is a fantasy novel of approximately 125,000 words and while it is a completely stand alone novel, it has the potential to become the first book of a series.

Mallandor is dead. At least, that's what the king hopes. He masterminded a genocidal massacre that wiped out all the Fallerians thirty years ago, but the Overlord's youngest son was never found. For years, the king searched for the missing heir, but to no avail. Finally, he decides--Mallandor is dead.

He was wrong.

Infiltrating the new society using a number of aliases, Mallandor, now 'Mallor' becomes a legendary thief while pursuing his revenge. He learns that the insurgent king did not act alone and thus his list of targets and his retaliatory plan grows. However, thirty-six hours before the culmination of his life-long quest, Mallor learns from his lover that he has a daughter, and that she is being held hostage by a sadistic, magic-abusing sorcerer. The price for her release is the Armilleae, a cursed holy relic desired by everyone for its restorative powers, including the ailing goddess to whom it belongs.

If Mallor recovers the missing Armilleae and uses it to buy Zoelle’s freedom, his goddess will die, the souls of the dead Fallerians will remain unredeemed, and his home city of Sepeccare and all of its inhabitants including Zoelle will be dragged into a watery hell. If he returns the relic to his goddess, she will survive, but his daughter will die. With Zoelle doomed regardless of his decision, Mallor searches for a third option while being hunted by three people: an officer in the insurgent king's secret police who claims to have killed him once before, his own deadly duplicate, created by the cursed holy relic and loyal to the ruler of hell, and his ex-wife, a manipulative, shape-changing sorceress, and keeper of a secret darker than Mallor's own history.

It is during this search that Mallor confronts his destiny and realizes the true purpose of his existence.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of this book.

Take care, my friends...