Sword & Sorcery

Curses Dark and Foul – Blurb Reveal

Hi everyone, I’ve been remiss about posts the last few weeks but I was away over the weekends and there just wasn’t time for a post.

First, I want to thank everyone for visiting today with the blurb reveal for Curses Dark and Foul, my first fantasy anthology. Before I a go any further, I do have one request: please this post in some way to help spread the word about the release of the book.

The title of the anthology has a rather grim connotation to it as well it should since all three stories involve a curse. Each of the stories places a main character in a situation of coping with an insurmountable challenge from a curse. These characters are in a situation where they likely have no way out but forward into the teeth of an inescapable fate. Dark and foul certainly well describes the circumstances which hopefully makes for an intriguing read.

Here’s the blurb for the anthology:

Grim words spoken. Foul intentions invoked. Curses never offer surrender.

Within Curses Dark an Foul are three fantasy tales of unlikely hope in the shadows of dark fate.

The Black Bag: Coryss finds herself alone against three powerful witches. Young and foolhardy, she confronts her foes and challenges them to a simple contest. Hopeless, Coryss finds help from an unlikely source. But the dark and foul curses fly without mercy. Can Coryss save herself?

Shadow of the Beast: Sa’hatap serves the Seddessan Empire faithfully as a foreign conscript, his people merged into the political scenery of merciless overlords. An enemy tasks the warrior and holy-man with ending a curse upon the missing empress. Unwilling, yet with his people under threat of annihilation, Sa-hatap sets out to accomplish the impossible and kill an accursed beast that cannot be defeated. Will his sword and his faith save him?

For No Reason: Dax is haunted by the curse upon his village as the living emblem of the revenge of a witch. No one can kill him and his touch is death. But the curse will take Dax’s mind and transform him into a beast of retribution. His only hope is helping the village, but they hate him. How will he ever save himself, and them?

If you like short fantasy with a mix of sword and sorcery, dark fantasy and noblebright, then you’ll like Curses Dark and Foul. Bestselling fantasy author, P. H. Solomon, presents three short stories of curses both dark and foul, where characters never had a chance. Yet in the darkness abides the glimmer of hope and the slimmest of chance against overwhelming odds.

Dire curses threaten these characters with inescapable fate. Will each hero make a choice and take a stand regardless of hope or chances of success? Click the BUY NOW button at the top and join these cursed journeys.

Curses Dark and Foul will soon have a link on Amazon for pre-orders which I’ll share here on the blog as soon as it’s ready.

As you read, there’s little doubt as to the danger in which all the characters find themselves. One curse may have been for a shorter period of time another curse may have stretched out for years. Either way the consequences are fraught with an emotional strain that reveals an underlying attitude toward life. Hopefully you’ll find the stories interesting and entertaining.

Thanks for stopping by today for the blurb reveal. Don’t forget to share the post with a reblog or on your social media. I’ll be in and out all day to reply to any comments. Have a great week!

Fantasy Friday! 5 Additions to The Bow of Hart Saga Over the Years

It goes without saying that a fiction project morphs in many ways as it is written. However, The Bow of Hart Saga was a project that lasted several decades so the changes in it have been ongoing throughout that time. Here are 5 additions to the series:

1. Spark – this character was added very late in the writing process of The Bow of Destiny and then into the following two books, An Arrow Against the Wind and The White Arrow. Spark began as a suggestion from my daughter so the character would not have been in the series at all without her input. Interesting since I didn’t even know my wife when I started the series just out of high school, let alone have a daughter!

A larger cadre of villainous characters – one of the characters added was Paugren, Corgren’s brother. He arrived before The Bow of Destiny was completed, but mainly in Trading Knives which is a prequel story that reveals Corgren’s past along with his brother who is an integral part. Paugren takes on a larger role as the series moves forward.

A different writing style – in 2014, at the suggestion of several other people, I changed the essence of the writing style for The Bow of Destiny (and the series) to that of deep point-of-view. It’s a different technique that I had to learn but I think it helped the series tremendously because of the nature of Athson’s story.
More back-story about Withlings – as I prepared The Bow of Destiny, I knew there would be lots of questions about Withlings and the mystery surrounding them. Sometimes wonder-workers, sometimes mystics, these characters are quite different in nature so their story needed to be developed. For that, I turned to a short story entitled, What Is Needed, which refers to the common saying among Withlings.

Ralda’s deeper characterization – this giant of a character had a makeover – again at my daughter’s suggestion. Before her suggestions, I had added that Ralda used a supplemental sign-language common among his people. Also, Ralda’s back-story about his brother took on a deeper meaning as something which motivates him. But at my daughter’s suggestion some appearance changes were added. Ralda (and giants) use a set of tattoos on their hands and fingers to augment their signing was one of the main details that came from the make-over.

There are many other details that I added along with some that were removed. Check back next week to find out what I removed.

Thanks for reading today, please leave your thoughts in the comments section and I’ll reply as soon as I can. If you want to know more about The Bow of Hart Saga, please see the series page.

Fantasy Friday! The Origin of The Bow of Hart

The Bow of Hart is a main element of The Bow of Hart Saga and book two, An Arrow Against the Wind. But, what is this bow and why is it so important?

The Bow of Hart is mentioned in The Bow of Destiny as a family relic inherited by Athson. Without spoiling all the details in any of the books, the quest is centered around finding the bow. The bow is prophesied as a weapon to be used against Magdronu the dragon yet it has never been seen, nor is Athson even certain it exists.

Here’s the full extent of the prophesy regarding the Bow of Hart:

The false one begets betrayers, but he shall not have his way.
The Hidden Dragon may usurp kingdoms with deceits, but his ways shall not last, and he will not ascend.
A bow shall be made in defense.
To break the binding curses.
His prey shall be snatched from his fangs.
The bow shall be hidden from Hart.
The eagle will guide the heir.
The bow shall be found at need.
And the arrow shall Eloch prepare.

Athson is aware of the prophesy and has some information about it as revealed in The Bow of Destiny. Yet, he mainly only knows about the bow from a mysterious will he received under dubious circumstances – at least to his addled understanding:

To whom the eagle and the Withling give this bundle of my will, greetings and long life.
Having seen into the future, I have prepared the way for you as I have been commanded. You, who read this parchment, are my heir, and thus may bear my signet and lordly insignia as your own.
The bowstring belongs to a Bow, specially made of my care. None but you, not even I, its maker, is able draw it, let alone string it. Seek out the Bow. The Withlings look after the one to whom I gave it. You are destined to do the deed. Beware of the servants of evil; they have hounded me for the sake and possession of the bow since their doom is tied to it. Follow Eloch’s prophecy as you can and be of good courage.
May Eloch go with you,
Thayer of Hart

Thus the question remains, who is Thayer and what part did he play in the Bow of Hart as its original owner. I hope to share more about this in the coming months with some additional prequel stories so I don’t want to give anything away other than to confirm that Thayer had a hand in the making of the bow. It was by his efforts that the prophesied bow was created and, when he was threatened, he found a way to make sure it stayed out of Magdronu’s clutches. So, after many generations, the bow became Athson’s to own and the burden for him to take up – wanted or not.

But conflict around his family’s history and that between Hart and Rok swirl and twist like an arrow in flight out of the past and into Athson’s present. The Bow of Hart is the one thing upon which An Arrow Against the Wind turns as Magdronu seeks to gain possession of the bow. However, he cannot simply take the bow because he never owned it. The power surrounding it prevents him from taking what is not his own. But, Athson can give it away and it is around this point that all of the dragon’s efforts are centered, Athson being the target. Magdronu will stop at nothing and Athson may not be able to keep the dragon from the relic.

To find out more about the Bow of Hart and the prophesy, have a look at the series online beginning with any of the pages for the books in the series: The Bow of Destiny, An Arrow Against the Wind or The White Arrow.