Tarnish: Fantasy Trilogy

My coming-of-age, fantasy novel Tarnish is now available in trilogy form!  The whole thing is certainly still available in its full 130,000 word unabridged version (as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook), but since that’s equivalent to three regular novels anyway, I thought I might as well break it down into its three “acts” and see what happens.  So readers can pick up the same novel that’s been out there, or they can try it in a smaller series of books with some cool new covers (which were great fun to make).

Here’s each book’s cover and individual description:

Silver, they call it, the light of the full moon: celestial magic that changes men into beasts and calls the dead from their graves... and young men to their destiny.

Billy Cole is the son of legendary folk hero Ian the Black.  He should be marching to war, battling dragons, and rescuing fair maidens.  Unfortunately for him, the war is long over, the last dragon was slain by the Dread Duke, and all the girls in Redfield are either several years younger than him or already married.  Billy is sixteen springs old and ready for a life of valor and excitement.  So far, however, he seems destined only for boredom and manual labor in a small farm town. 

Then a scarecrow tries to kill him and a monster of swamp water and vines trudges into town and attacks his father.  Evil has risen from the Blood Marsh and Redfield needs a hero.

And while Billy has the brass to take on an entire army alone, he’s smart enough to know better.  Instead, he straps on the sword of Trevor the Red and takes the name Wil Thunderstrike—wandering hero and teller of tales—to venture into the Free Fertile Lands and find the help they need.

But the world beyond Redfield isn’t like in the tavern tales, and not everyone who carries a sword is a hero.

Tarnish is a grittier coming of age tale than you’re used to, where destiny is forged, not written.

Wil Thunderstrike’s journey into legend continues…

Forging ahead despite his earlier failures, Wil Thunderstrike arrives in the shadowy city of Fellwater in search of his prey, the bandit Mad Dog McCray.  And seeking the heroes he needs to save his hometown, of course. 

Though it’s easy to get distracted in a place like Fellwater.  Gambling on boxing matches and chasing a flirtatious pickpocket prove to be dangerous forms of entertainment.  Wil soon finds that he’s making more enemies than friends. 

Meanwhile, back in Redfield, Trevor and Ian fight to hold off the Blood Marsh and to hold the town together.  Farmers and tradesmen, however, make poor soldiers and in this small war, there will be casualties.

But all is not lost.  Wil meets a rival storyteller who promises to introduce him to just the kind of hero he’s looking for to save his home.

And only then do the real trials of William Thunderstrike begin.

The making of William Thunderstrike concludes in this action-packed volume.

Billy Cole—formerly Wil Thunderstrike, now the warrior Lockheed—has started down a new heroic career path as one of León Shimmerskin’s champions.  But the illustrious tales of the Colors Three never prepared him for his new patron’s particular brand of justice.  The path of the traveling hero, it seems, is darker than he’d imagined.

When he at last returns to Redfield, Lockheed must face the tragedies that have befallen his home and its people.  And by his own actions, he will either prevent or bring about even more of them. 

The final battle for Redfield is coming, and it will decide not only the fate of Billy Cole’s home, but that of his soul as well.

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This series is available only in ebook form at all major retailers: The Quest ($0.99), Among the Shadows ($2.99) and Heroes and Villains ($2.99).