Legacy of the Fallen (The Fallen Mages) YA Epic Fantasy Adventure by Jane Shand Book Tour with Guest Post and giveaway
A dangerous quest risks the return of an ancient evil. Legacy of The Fallen is a thrilling fantasy adventure for fans of Empire of Sand, The City of Brass, and This Woven Kingdom.
Legacy of the Fallen
The Fallen Mages Book 1
by Jane Shand
Genre: YA Epic Fantasy Adventure
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**Coming Soon in August!**
Curse of the Fallen
The Fallen Mages Book 2
Excerpt no 1
AFSHANEH was late. She had allowed herself to be
distracted. She hurried her footsteps along the street, ignoring the
exhortations from the street vendors to purchase their wares rather than those
of their neighbours. She waved at Bahman, who owned the fruit shop and
sometimes gave her the squishy fruits he could not easily sell, though
perfectly edible. He knew Afshaneh and her mother and had a soft spot for the
pair. Afshaneh was not too proud to take handouts from friends. Besides, it
would only rot somewhere if she and the others he helped did not accept it.
Bahman waved back from where he was re-arranging the produce at the front of
his shop.
Bahman had been one of the first
people to befriend Afshaneh when she and her mother arrived in the city. He had
taken pity on her and offered her a job. It was only an hour a day sorting
fruit and it did not pay much, but Afshaneh had been grateful. He also gave her
fruit and vegetables he said were not good enough to sell. Afshaneh could see
nothing wrong with them and suspected he was trying to help her and her mother.
It had not taken Afshaneh long to
realise that there were children in the city who had nothing. No family, place
to sleep, or coin. They risked everything to steal food to survive. Afshaneh
gave most of Bahman’s handouts to these children. At least she had a roof over
her head, a mother, and some money coming in. Bahman discovered what she was
doing, but instead of being angry, he had set up an evening stall where he
would give away the slightly battered produce that ‘was not good enough to
sell’. Afshaneh helped him run it. She smiled at the memory. She had felt she
might burst from pride on the evening the stall opened. Dusk was creeping over
the city and ragged children with wide eyes stepped hesitantly towards them –
struggling to believe that someone was giving them food. Several of
those children now had permanent jobs and always had a warm greeting for
Afshaneh.
The aromas of spices, meat,
vegetables and honey made her stomach growl. It seemed a long time since
breakfast, though it had been no more than a couple of hours. It was her own
fault for eating nothing but an apple. She hoped Zerin would order her favourite
cardamon and rosewater cookies with their tea. She licked her lips in
anticipation. Yet if she did not hurry he might eat it all before she arrived!
Horses’ hooves clattered on the
paving slabs and echoed up the street from behind Afshaneh.
“Make way! Make way!”
The sharp voice precipitated a rush
of bodies to the edges of the road. Afshaneh pushed in beside a
bittersweet-orange vendor. She draped her scarf over her head and then chided
herself. Who would recognise her?
Six black horses pranced along the
paved street, their rare coats gleaming as if they had been polished. Five of
them were ridden by guards sporting their usual scarlet uniforms, their conical
helms flashing in the sunlight, their base’s deep blue cloth matching the
lacquered bird of prey on their metal vests. This bird was the symbol of the
satrap of Mahariz and all guards displayed it, although its colour depended on
the noble house they represented.
However, the man in the centre of
the guards was different. His clothes were of the finest silk in three shades
of blue, encrusted with silver embroidery, and he wore a cream turban with a
peacock feather jauntily bobbing at the front. Blue to denote the noble House
of Mirza – which was why the guards also had blue in their uniforms. The man’s
face was strong but haughty and unlike the guards who sweated in the heat, the
noble appeared pristine. He did not spare a glance for the stall holders,
merchants, or others that his passage had forced off the road.
Afshaneh hid the curl of her lip
behind her scarf. Nobles. They were all the same: corrupt, arrogant, and
untrustworthy. They cared nothing for the hard-working people they
inconvenienced. What did she expect, taking a detour through the Northern District
just to view the Almira Gardens near the palace? She should have known better
and kept to her own part of the city – the eastern sprawl.
Once the noble and his retinue had
passed, all the bystanders continued their business as if he had never disturbed
their day, used to such interruptions in this section of the city. Luckily, nobles
rarely strayed into the narrow alleys or the bazaars of the Eastern District.
Afshaneh settled the scarf round her neck and hurried away. After spending a
short time with Zerin, she would need to head to work.
As she strode eastwards, the paved
streets soon faded to hard packed earth. They began to narrow, and the people’s
clothing became simpler, less flounces and pleats and a simple sash around the
tunics. Though even here, no one skimped on colour. The tunics for men and
women and the long dresses for those women who preferred them to tunics were
vibrant with greens, pinks, and blues. The increase in noise level emanating
from the bazaars told her for certain she was back in the Eastern District,
home to the largest portion of Mahariz’s population, though packed into an area
no larger than the other three districts.
Excerpt no 2
However impetuous her behaviour in the past, this trip
to the mage ruins was the first time she had openly defied her mother.
Afshaneh’s face flushed in shame at the way she had spoken to her mother.
Ignoring her warnings, her threats, and her pleas, she had grabbed food, spare
clothes, and a knife, and simply set off. She had even slammed the door behind
her.
Afshaneh could still recall the
defiant sense of freedom that had washed through her as she marched towards the
city gates. She had possessed enough common sense to purchase more supplies on
the way – she had not grabbed enough from home to last her the eight day
round-trip – with coin she had saved over the last few weeks. However, once she
stepped through the city exit she quailed. The land was wide and she was alone.
It was almost four days of travel to reach the plateau. Afshaneh’s breath
hitched and her heart beat loud in her ears. What did she think she was doing?
She was no explorer!
She turned back to the gate. She
would return home and apologise to her mother and forget this madness.
A tug at her core had her facing
north once more. She frowned as she stared into the distance. She could not see
the plateau upon which the ruins sat; yet it was as if they called to her…
Without conscious effort, she found
her feet moving, leading her away from Mahariz and to whatever awaited her at
Yehtkala, the ‘Castle of Sorcery’.
The trip had been gruelling and if
it were not for that insistent tugging at her soul, she would have turned back.
At night she huddled in her blankets, eyes flying open at every tiny sound.
Luckily, nothing approached her.
Afshaneh did not let her mind linger
on the hours she spent crying in the rocky maze that blocked her path after
enduring more than two days of hiking. She had been certain she would die in
there, lost forever. Would anyone ever find her bones?
But at last she had reached the
cliff and refilled her sadly depleted water skin. Afshaneh stared upwards. She
scrubbed her face and scowled. Why did everything on this journey have to be so
difficult? The path switch backed up the steep cliffside and was overgrown and
covered in loose soil and pebbles. Perhaps there was another way up.
Afshaneh searched for two hours
before she gave up and returned to the base of the cliff, defeated. If there
was another way, she could spend days looking for it.
Resolutely she pivoted so that her
back was to the climb. She ate a meagre meal and sat with her arms tight around
her knees. She could not do this. It was too much. She peered over her shoulder
and let out a sighing breath. She had already come this far, she could not
return to her mother now. She had caused her mother grief and she needed to
have something to show for it. She firmed her lips, settled her pack more
comfortably and started climbing.
Pebbles rolled out from beneath her
feet, threatening to fling her to her death. Bushes snagged at her trousers and
she had to carefully unhook them. They could not afford material to repair any
tears.
By the time she struggled over the
top she was crying with exhaustion and rested for a while, drinking in the
sight of the once majestic fortress. Now it was rubble, partial walls, and the
occasional dome or tower. Whatever catastrophe had befallen this place had been
thorough.
The trip through the dark interior
was not something Afshaneh wished to remember, either. The only thing that kept
her moving, leading her onwards, was the sensation that something important
awaited her here. The pull of it had only increased as she crept through a gap
in the outer wall and stared at mosaics and friezes of fearsome mages.
It drew her down corridors and over
rubble and then up a staircase she found in a corner. It led her up one of the
remaining towers. The stairs wound up and up and her thigh muscles protested
after her long journey.
At last she reached a tiny landing
at the top with two doors. Both stood open, listing on their rusted hinges. But
she had eyes for only one. She darted through the doorway and halted, scanning
the room. Mouldy carpet, faded tapestries, remains of wooden furniture. A
half-collapsed bed sagged against the far wall. Something was underneath it.
Before she could think about what she was doing, she had thrown down her pack
and was squeezing into the gap beneath the base. There! Something gleamed
iridescent in the darkness and called to her. She reached out her hand and
snatched it up. A sensation akin to satisfaction washed through her and she
wriggled out again.
Ignoring the dust and cobwebs
adorning her clothes and face, Afshaneh slowly opened her fist to inspect what
she had discovered. In the centre of her palm lay a gem. It flashed in every
colour of the rainbow, was egg shaped, and fit neatly into her hand. Afshaneh
grinned gleefully. It was all hers! A precious jewel that she could sell for a
fortune and she and her mother might finally be safe.
Jane Shand
– Legacy of the Fallen
Guest Posts
Can you, for those who don't know you already,
tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
I
am a quiet introvert and I guess the job of being an author suits me. I am
perfectly happy spending lots of time on my own and in my own head with a cast
of fictional people! I always loved reading and writing and even when I played
with toys, they were acting out a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
As soon as I discovered fantasy I was
hooked – I think I always secretly wished I could be an elf in Middle Earth! I
loved magic and swords and archery. Pure escapism.
I began trying to write novels at about sixteen,
but it was all for me, I never really considered becoming an author at that
point. I sent off my very first manuscript at twenty-two – it was nowhere near
good enough and naturally received nothing but rejections!
It wasn’t until 2017, after I had my
children and things had settled a bit, that I seriously thought about trying
again to write a novel and get it published. I sent queries to two small
presses for the first novel I finished after that, but was already writing
another one when I got some rejections. They came with constructive criticism
that was encouraging. But that novel has never been published. One day I would
like to. I have an idea of how I could make it part of the world I have now
created.
I joined a novel writing course with the
next book I was working on, and when it was completed I chose to go the
self-published route. I wanted to be in charge of the whole process and not
have to wait eighteen months for a book to be published by a traditional
publisher. It is a decision I do not regret. By the end of this year I will
have published my ninth book in four years. And I can choose to swap genres, to
take a break, publish wherever I want. I enjoy the freedom and control
self-publishing gives me.
How did you come up with the concept and characters
for the book? And what can we expect from you in the future?
The
idea for a girl who had a special Crystal came to me while writing the previous
series (The Crystal Mages Trilogy). Then I had an idea for ominous ruins of a
once magnificent fortress that would play a huge part in the plot, and I had to
decide who had lived there and what had happened to them.
The ideas were coming to me as I wrote the
previous series and the girl and the Fallen mages who lived in the fortress are referenced in those books. Then I began
fleshing out the story a little more and creating the main characters. I
decided on how many of them there would be, chose names for them, and then
began working on their rough characteristics. What happened to them to make
them who they are today. Other characters came to me as I went along. Once I had
the main characters, the setting and a basic concept – a girl with a special
Crystal against evil mages returning to the ruins of their once-great fortress
– I began filling in the rest of the plot. I also had to decide on how many
books the series was going to be so that I could work out the final ending and
all the things that had to happen in between. This is a four book series and I
am about a third of the way through writing book 4. I hope to release the first
three books this year, with the final installment in 2025.
I
have plans for another series set on the same continent as both The Crystal
Mages and The Fallen Mages (Escarnia). It will be set in Virin Asra, a land
that is mentioned in both series. I am considering a land with a Mayan
influence here. I am also going to take a slight detour into a new genre – Cosy
Fantasy. I have actually begun the novel and have an outline for a second book.
This series is set on a different continent (but same world) – Thalian. This is
where my Darkling Duology is set. Then I have an idea for another series which
could either be Cosy Fantasy or YA Fantasy. We will have to see how it all
goes!
What kind of research do you do before you begin
writing a book?
I
usually start with a basic setting and create a rough map. So, Legacy of the
Fallen takes place on a continent called Escarnia that I created when I wrote
the previous series, The Crystal Mages Trilogy. The land for those books was a
kind of Celtic/Scottish setting so it needed to be at a particular latitude –
and that dictated what the other countries of the continent would be like. You
might ask why I do that in a fictional world – but the laws of climate,
weather, geology, etc. need to be understandable and seem ‘real’, or you need
to have a very good reason why they aren’t. I am asking people to believe in
magic and mythical creatures, I don’t want them struggling with a world that
doesn’t make sense.
So
then I find a country on Earth that is at a similar latitude and research its
climate, flora, and fauna. Legacy of the Fallen is set in a land called
Methisti and of all the countries at the right latitude I chose ancient Persia
to be the place that influenced the setting. It is quite fun finding names of
places and then putting a new slant on them, looking up people’s names and
choosing some for my characters, finding what plants and animals you might find
there. I also look to see what sort of religion the place might have, but I
always make it a brand new religion. Methisti will have a definite flavour of
Persia, but it isn’t Persia.
Jane Shand has always been an avid reader of fantasy and mystery and is an author of YA Fantasy.
She got hooked on fantasy after reading ‘Lord of the Rings’ at a young age and was determined to write books full of magic and adventure.
Her books always have magic, adventure, and some mystery. They are full of friendship and co-operation as well as danger and enemies. There will be a happy/satisfactory ending and some clean romance. Her books are all set in the same ‘world’ though on different continents and there is a thread/item that ties all the books together.
She lives in Hampshire, England with her family and two cheeky cats who would love to help her write.
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