Welcome everyone! It's Fantasy Friday and I hope your Thanksgiving went wonderfully. Gearing up for the holidays? Consider adding this new book to your shopping list! It sounds SUPER -- and the cover is just so very compelling!
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An accident made him a savior. Now Daniel Marten struggles to find himself and a way home while the armies of Naphthali battle to control him.
These are dark days for Naphthali. The king has been murdered, the land invaded by the Imperial Army. It will absorb Naphthali into an Empire that stretches across all of Enialé at any cost. The ravaged people cling to an ancient promise, an assurance that a Prophesied savior will come to set them free…Daniel Martin is trapped in a life that hasn’t gone as expected. His pharmacy is struggling and he is losing all hope of making a difference in his patients’ lives. His family is the one shining light in his disenchanted life, but he is torn from them when an accident draws him to Naphthali. The people need him but Daniel is driven by his need to return to the family he loves. Is he the Prophesied One? Only time will tell as both the Empire and the Resistance battle for Daniel while the fate of Naphthali hangs in the balance…
I asked Ron what internal issues does his hero have to confront and overcome. Here's what he had to say:
What a great question! In The Prophecy Chronicles: Prophecy Foretold, Daniel Marten has several issues he has to overcome, the first of which is, “who is Daniel Marten?” At the beginning of the story Daniel is in a car accident and is transported to another world. When he comes to he remembers his name…but that’s about it. Over time his memory slowly comes back, but while he is struggling to recall he gets swept up in a rebellion that rages across the country of Naphthali.
While Daniel is pulled along across the war-torn country he is forced to face the fact that life in our modern society has left him woefully unprepared for the rigors before him. He has no survival or martial skills, and any sense of control he’d had over his old life is stripped away as he is forced to rely on strangers for everything. His helplessness imprisons him more surely than shackles as he struggles with feelings of worthlessness, the words of his earliest nemesis echoing in his mind: “What good are you?”
Local Naphthalians and the invading Empire alike recognize him for a prophesied savior and try to make him fit that mold, but with Daniel’s internal struggles he is powerless to stop them. To make matters worse, as his adventures become ever more dire, allies sacrifice themselves for their faith in him. Their need and his guilt nearly destroy him.
Does Daniel overcome these struggles? Well, I don’t want to give too much away, but he does remember his family…which only adds more guilt and feelings that he abandoned them. He faces down some of his demons, but guilt dogs him throughout his adventures, not only in Prophecy Foretold, but also in the next two installments to follow.
He was a savior by accident. Only time will tell if he fulfills the prophecy or throws everything away in a bid to go home.
Again, I say, it sounds really fascinating. I have definitely added this one to my reading list, and I suggest you all do as well!
Let's take a closer look:
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EXCERPT
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Gelnar wiped his blade clean on the man's breeches as he calmly looked around the farm. When he was done, he turned to his men and said, "Take her." The men gave a loud cheer and bounded from their saddles as the sergeant rushed forward and kicked the head from the woman's hands. He forced her to her feet as she finally realized what was going to happen. She screamed and tried to pull away.
Daniel felt hot fear in the pit of his stomach, but overriding that was an even hotter rage that he didn't know he possessed. He jumped from Blue Belle and pushed his way through the men, throwing his shoulder into the unsuspecting sergeant and knocking him to the ground. He looked into the woman's face and didn't realize until later that despite the horror surrounding her, she recognized him. He spun and pushed her behind him as her husband had done, looking at the hate-filled faces of the men.
Gelnar watched Daniel's charge with a slight smile on his face, and he laid a restraining hand on the sergeant's shoulder as he lurched to his feet. Daniel locked eyes with him and said, "Don't do this. You know it's wrong."
Gelnar's eyes narrowed and his jaws clenched before he finally chuckled and turned to the men. "Well now, the cunny's found his voice! And I thought he only had eyes for the goatherd." The insult thrown at Carmody was met with silence as everyone kept steely gazes on Daniel, murder in their eyes. Gelnar turned back to him and continued, "You presume much, but I am a…forgiving captain. You may have a turn with her, but you've hardly earned the Right of Firsts. I will allow you time…before she's done."
Daniel returned Gelnar's glare and shook his head. "Don't do this."
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YOU HAVE JUST READ AN EXCERPT FROM PROPHECY FORETOLD
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Ron will be awarding signed cover flats for each tour stop and a $25 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.
Follow the tour -- the more you comment, the better your chances of winning!! Complete dates can be found here:
About the Author:
Ron Hartman has had a life-long passion for the written word and is an avid reader. The Prophecy Chronicles are his first written works. Ron graduated from the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy in 2000 and lives in Ottumwa, Iowa with his wife and three children.
Learn More About Prophecy Foretold
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~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com
Posts
Great excerpt, thank you.
Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com
His writing style is great! Thanks for sharing.
chrysrawr@yahoo.com
Thank you for hosting today.
It sounds unusual and exciting at the same time. I love this type of paranormal stories.
Outside my usual genre, but very compelling!
vitajex(at)aol(dot)com
Thanks for all of the kind words! And thank you, Claire, for having me today! I sure enjoyed writing Prophecy Foretold, I'm glad others like the sounds of it as well. As always, if anyone has any questions/comments, I'd love to hear them!
Ron...Your bio says that you're an avid reader. Do you have certain books that you go back to and read periodically? Perhaps just because you enjoy them, or they inspire you, or because you learn/see something new each time?
catherinelee100 at gmail dot com
How do you start such a deep novel as this? Do you plot it all out or just start writing and go from there as the story takes you?
fencingromein at hotmail dot com
Oh, I've definitely added it!
justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Yes, Catherine, there are some books that I go back to and read again...my favorite all-time Stephen King novel is Bag of Bones--if I could capture that kind of heart-heavy sorrow in just one of my characters I'd be happy! That one I do occasionally reread. I also like the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling--her writing is so good it kind of sneaks up on you. Those books start as a good easy-reader for a 3rd or 4th grader and by the end you are so engrossed into the characters you can't put them down! I also really like the Troy trilogy by David Gemmell--that series (a fictional retelling of the Trojan war) is certainly Gemmell's masterpiece. The writing really takes my breath away in parts! All of these I go back to and reread, hoping to improve my own writing, but also because I've grown to love the characters so much I want to see them again!
Hi Shannon. Yes, I did write out a fairly detailed outline before I started, mostly because I didn't want to forget the important parts before I got it on paper. I ended up not following the outline too much though...the story had been living in my head for several years and it just flowed once I started writing. Of course, there were some parts I didn't know were going to happen until I started writing them. Like the excerpt above...that part was really hard to write but when I sat down to write that day it jumped into my head and I knew it needed to be told.
It's the struggles that often make a man a hero. He finds an inner strength.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com