Pixie at MM Good Book Reviews gave the first review of my latest book, The Last Grand Master.

Since yesterday’s entry was about the culture of Nendor and much ink was spilled discussing the festivals, I thought it would be fun to show how Farrell dealt with the preparations for his union ceremony.  For the sake of better understanding the excerpt, Horgon is Miceral’s father and the First Minister of Haven – meaning he runs the day to day operations in Farrell’s name. ========================== STARING at the parchment, Farrell rubbed his eyes. “Are you sure all of this is necessary?” Horgon gave him a brief smile before nodding. “I’m afraid so. As Prince, you can’t sneak off and get joined. All this…” He waved at the papers. “…is just part of what’s involved. I’ve left the more mundane …

I suppose it is somewhat obvious that when world building, one should give the inhabitants something uniquely their own, but it wasn’t to me. Although I like to cook, I’m hardly a foodie.  To me, reading a description of what the characters are eating is boring. Generally I skip over these parts, especially if there isn’t anything unique or important in the description.  Example of important food would be Lambas bread in the Lord of the Rings or Aliantha berries in Stephen Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant Chronicles.  Thus far, Nendor doesn’t boast any such miracle food. Like any other author, I bring to the table what interests me most. I really don’t care what people eat. The fact that characters eat is …

Religion and Culture of Nendor The world was created by the seven gods and goddesses of Nendor. Siblings, they are in order of age: Honorus – Lord of the gods; Lenore – Goddess of the earth; Neldin – Lord of the underworld; Arritisa – Lady of the ocean; Khron – God of war; Seritia – Goddess of love; and Falcron – God of wisdom. Each deity has it’s own temples, clerics, and followers.  Although there is no prohibition against following more than one, most people choose a specific god or goddess to primarily worship. Of course prayers are offered to different gods or goddesses depending on the need, no matter who a person follows. The seven gods worked together to …

The Seven Gods of Nendor created the world. After a time, Neldin – third eldest – decided to try to rise above his eldest brother Honorus and rule the world.  Neldin tricked the dwarves of Trellham to unleash the hordes of Neblor upon the world.  The other six gods rallied their followers and the two sides fought to a stand still. After a short but bitterly fought war, a young wizard from the island of Dumbarten, named Kel, followed the will of the gods and sealed off Neldin’s foot hold into the world and ended the war.  For the next three millennia, Neldin retreated to the underworld and was rarely heard from.

The Last Grand Master  is set on the world of Nendor.  There are three main continents, Ardus, Erd and Loudria.  The island kingdom of Dumbarten is one of the largest kindgoms in the world, but set just of the western coast of Loudria, it is not considered it’s own continent. Ardus – Book One, takes place entirely on Ardus, the southern most and smallest of the three continents. There are Seven Major Kingdoms on Ardus, Yar-del, Zargon, Endor, Respital, Arvendia, Pelipan and Honal. Collectively, these nations are referred to as the Seven Kingdom. The Seven Kingdoms are bordered to the north by Spine of Khron, the highest mountains on the continent, and to the west by the Trellham Mountains. The Kessen Ocean lies …

The release date is a week away and while I will try my best not to bombard folks with ‘announcements’ and ‘updates’ this is my blog so I think I can be excused for using it to write a bit about it for anyone who is reading. Release Date: February 1, 2013 Pre-Order

Tag I’m It. 😯 Being new to a group is an interesting time. Everything is fresh, unknown and you get the chance to poke around and discover new things.  But for the not so bright – insert befuddled picture of me here – here’s a bit of advice. When you see something new and shiny that looks interesting – do NOT raise your hand and say ‘yeah, I’m in.” The ‘Next Big Thing’ blog hop was one of the ‘new and shiny’ things I discovered when I got my spiffy new ‘admit one’ ticket to the Dreamspinner Press author group. Before the rational side of my brain had a chance to realize what was happening, the ‘ohhh lookie, shiny’ side …