Pass on the Cup of Dreams

Pass on the Cup of Dreams, the third novel in the Six Kingdoms series, is now out in e-book format and print.  And it has a sidekick:  the first edition of the 55-page Six Kingdoms Codex which contains a new, introductory story plus a glossary and backround to this world of dark fantasy.  You can download it for free from my website, www.brucefergusson.com.

It’s a thank-you to once and future readers who’ve already met or will meet Lukan Barra and Rui Ravenstone; Falca Breks and Amala Damarr; Shar Stakeen and Timberlimbs named Gurrus and Styada.  And Vearus Barra, Saphrax and Lambrey Tallon–nasty fellows who have chips on their shoulders the size of the Colossus of Roak in Lucidor’s capitol city of Draica.

And thanks as well to the folks at Lucky Bat Books–Jeff Posey, Judith Harlan and Louisa Swann–who have helped guide me into another world, that of indie publishing. I am indeed lucky to have found these knowledgeable, warm and responsive professionals.

Pass on the Cup of Dreams represents my return to the Six Kingdoms after a long exile.  The novel picks up the story of Falca and Amala where it ended in The Mace of Souls.  The events occur some years after those in the first book, The Shadow of His Wings; a long enough time for Lukan and Rui’s granddaughter to make a crucial appearance in a place far from her home in Myrcia.   It’s a long way from the gritty, port city of Draica to the Lake of Shallan and its sacred Isle, especially for Amala and a city-bred ditchlicker like Falca, for whom a throne would be a game only if he could steal it, not merely connive to ascend it.  Which, come to think of it…

Those two…such a vaunty pair of lovers, as they say in the Six Kingdoms.  She’s saved his life in one way; he’s saved hers in quite another.  You’ll have to read The Mace of Souls to find out how.   As for their current adventures, Falca might tell you to be careful about what you put in your cup of dreams.    So would Amala.

He’d certainly tell you to watch your step as you walk along the roads the Timberlimbs built between their villages high in the canopy of the Rough Bounds forest wilderness.  It’s a long way down.  He’d tell you to look sharp around the monumental trees there: wild bloodsnares lurk in deep fissures of the bark and can spring out to a surprisingly long distance.  It’s the tentacles, understand.  For that matter, you probably don’t want to play the things, like the bloodsnare consorts do in dens of the cities, to produce an audible narcotic–unless you desire to live fast, live large and die before you’re thirty.  But hey, it’s an option.

Prowling flenx may only be the size of large dogs, but by the time you hear them clicking their head-horns with their claws it’s too late to distract them with treats–though Shar Stakeen and Lambrey Tallon find a grisly solution to the voraciousness of flenx.

And those white rancers?  Only Maldan Hoster would keep one as a pet.

Anyway, that’s only a few of the dangerous critters.  The ones to REALLY watch out for walk on two legs.  Some of them are called Wardens and shaddens.  They happen to be pursuing you for various  reasons and those don’t concern your health and happiness–but of course you don’t know it, until…well…

So enjoy Pass on the Cup of Dreams!

As for the next book in the series, Kraken’s Claw, you’ll have to wait a bit to find out what the High Fates at their Loom Eternal (often cursed; less often thanked in the Six Kingdoms) have in store for some of the friends and foes I’ve mentioned.  Seeing as how the Fates travel every day from their world to mine, they’ve given me their wish-lists.  I do my best to accommodate them.

Mostly.