fantasy
The Door Into Sunset
Available now!
"Deeply resonant, provocative, and moving." (New York Times)
"The series as a whole seems destined to become one of the best in the genre." (West Coast Review of Books)
"The culminating battle will disappoint nobody. Imaginative, well-handled magical affrays, plus plotting that provides enough twists and turns to keep things interesting." (Kirkus Reviews)
"Duane has crafted an intelligent and exhilarating Swords and Sorcery adventure." (Publishers Weekly)
In the third and climactic volume of the Tale of the Five, Freelorn, exiled prince of Arlen, heads home to battle for his lost throne at last... but the odds are stacked against him. His land has achieved an illusion of stability under the reign of his usurping half-brother Cillmod, and not everyone is convinced that Freelorn's rule -- even though he is the rightful heir and chosen successor to the half-divine White Lion of Arlen -- would be that much of an improvement.
But some have no doubts at all, and will do whatever it takes to keep Freelorn from retaking his throne. One of these is the sorcerer Rian, Cillmod's chief advisor, who has helped Cillmod twist to his use the royal magics that have preserved Arlen and its throne for centuries. And though Freelorn has the aid of Herewiss, first man in centuries to possess the dangerous Power of the blue Fire, and Eftgan, Queen of Arlen's neighbor-country and immemorial ally Darthen, even their combined power may not be enough to break the deadly grip of the shadowy force manipulating Cillmod and Rian to Its own ends.
Freelorn and his friends and allies -- human and otherwise -- must now put their lives on the line in a final campaign in which he and they discover they have become tools in the hands of the Goddess against Her most terrible and ancient enemy. And for Freelorn, the final sacrifice to save his land from the triumph of an age-old evil will confront him with a choice more terrible than anything he could have imagined: death with those he loves... or immortality without them.
Reader advisory: This novel contains adult / mature themes and situations.
The Door into Sunset is available from the DD.com Ebooks Direct Store. Click on the store logo to proceed to the order page.
Bonus: a .PDF file of the original map from the hardcover and paperback editions showing the locations of the final battle scenes can be downloaded here from our file storage at Box.net.
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The Door Into Shadow
"To my way of reckoning, this is an even stronger book than the first... Absorbing, the kind of book one reads in gulps and cannot put down."
-- Andre Norton
In the Middle Kingdoms, the royal magics are failing. The dread Reaver armies threaten the southern passes, and behind them moves the eternal malice of the Shadow, sworn to destroy all it can of the Goddess's creation -- especially the re-established realms of humankind.
One man stands between the Shadow and its prey: Freelorn Ferrant's son, called the Lion's Child, exiled prince of Arlen. His companions are a strange crew -- from Sunspark, a fire elemental who's trying hard to understand humankind without burning everyone to cinders in the process, to Eftgan, housewife, mother of three, and warrior Queen of Darthen.
And there are also the keepers of the blue Flame of Power: Herewiss, the first man in centuries to master the Fire, and wielder of the great sword Khávrinen, and Segnbora, a warrior and sorceress whose power is locked in her terrible past, and who speaks with the tongue of dragons.
Together they will face the nameless terrors of Glasscastle, where sorrow walks with madness. They will scale the awesome heights of the Bluepeaks in search of a kingdom's salvation. And they will make the first moves in the apocalyptic war that will set the true king on the throne... or see their world destroyed.
"The House"
An ambitious teenager takes on a (para)science fair project guaranteed to cause more trouble than she's imagined...
She couldn’t think when the subject, or the room, had last actually been called “Home Economics”. Both had certainly undergone a lot of changes over time as people shied away from the rampant un-correctness of it being seen as a “girls only” subject involved with making your own clothes and feeding-and-cleaning-up-after somebody else, usually a husband. These days the class was called “Family and Consumer Science”, and was an elective, taught only for a quarter semester every year because its uptake was just so small. There were usually a few guys who got involved with it, seeing it as a gateway to some kind of career in food service management, and a few girls who either were already excellent cooks and felt like taking a class that would be no effort for easy credit.
“Mrs. B?” Brianna said, standing there and glancing around. The place was empty – there were normally no classes this early in the day. “Mrs. Baldwin?...”
No answer. Brianna was just turning to go when, in the middle of the room, between two of the stainless-steel cooking demo stations, a cloud of black smoke burst up from the floor. Out of it, a moment later, walked Mrs. Baldwin, fanning the air in front of her a little...
"Out of the Frying Pan..."
A magic-user with a passion for food gets out of retail under most unusual circumstances...
She was arguing with a werewolf about the price of saffron when the veiled woman wandered in.
Veils were presently having one of those small renaissances that the fashion features of bygone years sometimes experience, so the shoulder-length sweep of dark gauze by itself wasn’t enough to seriously distract Annabelle from the ongoing disagreement. She turned back to Harl and said, “Look, you can't expect to pay supermarket prices for this stuff, especially since this is not a supermarket! In case you haven't noticed. When you consider what my saffron goes through before it gets here – “
“I know what you say it goes through,” Harl said, leaning on his elbows on the counter and absently twirling one side of his mustache, “but the prices you’re discussing are insane! Only the fact that you're the extremely nice lady that I know you are – for a one-skinner – has kept me from complaining about the markup until now…”
Oh boy, Annabelle thought, here we go, the Witch With A Heart of Gold ploy. Why is it we’re all either Good Mommies or Crone Mothers and never anything in between? And next, I bet, comes the not-so-thinly-veiled request for a discount. How many seconds will it take?...
