Blurb
…Here
again, his natural figure crouched beside her in the dank darkness of
the cave, watching her in silence as she slept, struggling with
cravings which were new to him, both tender and violent, and which he
could only really compare to hunger… (from ASMODEUS)
On
the cusp of the Great War, an even more pitched battle is waged in
the furthest corner of the Nordic highlands, the final chapter of a
centuries-old rivalry, pitting a troubled bloodline of thieves,
journeyman, and politicians against the last and greatest dragon of
the hemisphere, Asmodeus.
Until
now, the source of this antagonism has been a single gemstone, the
fabled shamir, whose history traces to the coffers of King Solomon.
The present clash, however, has been sparked by the emergence of an
even more desirable, more defiant, and more powerful force than that.
Inspired
by the golden legend of St. Margaret, Brooks Hansen’s Asmodeus is a
masterfully woven tapestry of history, myth, and fantasy, in the
tradition of J.R.R.Tolkien, Bram Stoker, and C.S. Lewis. By turns a
romance, an adventure, and the darkest imaginable Gothic, his tale is
also, as seen through the eyes of the maiden Margrét, an unflinching
exploration of our divided nature — what makes us beasts, what
makes us human, and what makes us divine.
Excerpt
His
golden eyes flicked open, blinked, and narrowed to a squint as he
finally lifted up his great, horned head. He shrugged the veil of
wings. He uncoiled from his most precious gem and lumbered upward,
following the airborne trail up through the high tunnel to the
opening just beside the cataract.
Only
his muzzle appeared at first, shining like tar in the slanting
sunlight, but even that merest of appearances stirred notice among
the hovering hawks and vultures: Look. Be warned and wary. The master
had awakened.
His
head slid further out, taking in the day. The clouds had lifted. The
sky was polished glass, but the familiar whisper was still there,
coming from below. Down on the near shore of the inlet was a scuttled
boat. Again his eyes narrowed, trying to figure from the tides just
how long ago the wreck had occurred, and whether its victims were
still on premise. He hoped not. Men had their place, but it wasn’t
here.
…He
crawled further out onto the ledge and extended his neck toward the
curtain of water, which was fuller today than usual, gushing down
from the mountains after all that rain. He helped himself to several
gulps. He let the bracing cold beat on his head a while, then shook
free with a glistening, majestic explosion, lifted his wings and
leapt. He glided most of the way down, turning three wide circles in
the crux of the fjord, his great spanned shadow dashing along the
cliff-side, flicking across the cataract, then across the blue
surface below, around and up and around again three times before
finally re-meeting him, claw to claw, on the strand beside the
boat...
About
the Author
BROOKS
HANSEN is
an author,
screenwriter,
essayist, and
teacher. His
novels – THE
MONSTERS OF
ST. HELENA,
PERLMAN’S
ORDEAL, THE
CHESS GARDEN,
and BOONE
(co-authored with
Nick Davis)
were all
New York
Times Notable
Books. THE
CHESS GARDEN
was also
selected as
a PW
Best Book
of the
Year in
1995. He
has written
one book
for Young
Readers, CAESAR’S
ANTLERS, which
he also
illustrated. In
2009 he
released his
first memoir,
THE BROTHERHOOD
OF JOSEPH,
and in
2005 he
received a
John Simon
Guggenheim
Fellowship for
his most
recent book,
JOHN THE
BAPTIZER, which
was published
in 2009
by W.W.
Norton. More
recently, his
fiction appeared
in CENTRAL
PARK: AN
ANTHOLOGY
(Bloomsbury USA,
2012), and
he has
an essay
slated to
appear in
another upcoming
anthology THE
GOOD BOOK
(Simon &
Schuster, 2015).
Brooks
has recently launched his own imprint, Star Pine Books. He
lives in Carpinteria, California with his wife and children.
Amazon
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Buy
Link:
https://www.amazon.com/Asmodeus-Legend-Margret-Brooks-Hansen/dp/099739790X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Brooks
will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner
via rafflecopter during the tour.
