This week, we’re welcoming historical fantasy author Maggie Secara, whose title THE DRAGON RING looks at history through time traveler Ben Harper's eyes. Join us Sunday, when Maggie will be here to talk about the novel and offer a copy to a lucky winner. Here's the blurb:
When the King of
Faerie calls in a favor, what can you do? Follow your gift. Find the magic.
Travel in time. Save the world... How hard can it be?
Reality TV host
Ben Harper has a problem: he owes the king of Faerie a favor. So now he has to
track down the three parts of a Viking arm-ring, and return them to their place
in time. This takes him through the wolf-haunted forests of Viking Age Wessex,
the rowdy back streets of Shakespeare's London, and a derelict Georgian country
house. Partnered with caustic, shape-changing Raven and guided by a slightly
wacky goblin diary, Ben must rediscover his own gifts while facing his doubts
and the queen of Faerie's minions, who will do anything to stop him.
The Dragon Ring, the first in the Harper Errant series, is a time travelling mythic adventure that takes you to Old England, and leaves you enchanted.
The Dragon Ring, the first in the Harper Errant series, is a time travelling mythic adventure that takes you to Old England, and leaves you enchanted.
**An Excerpt from The Dragon Ring**
The circle at
the top of the spiral path was complete even if the stones were mostly broken.
At its far edge hulked the unlikely tumble of boulders known as the Raven’s
Eye, which some said was the granite core of the hill with the top soil worn
away by the constant wind (it was) and some said was a door into Faerie, and
who could say? It was like a door. From two sides, slabs of granite had fallen
or perhaps been laid by giants against and on top of each other, leaving a low
squarish archway just big enough for a grown man and his son to sit under
without banging their heads. Not so long ago, women had come up here to be
passed through the arch when they wanted to get pregnant. On school holidays,
teenagers came up here to get high.
Just now, Ben
Harper sat on the ground in that archway and contemplated the view. He listened
to the breeze hum through the sparse grasses and furze, imagining the men who
had so long ago raised this spiral, singing to the sky.
A slight grumble
of earth and stone made him shiver. Louder, the sound coming from directly
beneath him. To a California boy that’s not especially alarming, except that
earthquakes seldom happen in Britain. Dust and grit sifted down from the stones
over his head, though, and that made him jump. The air shimmered around him as
the rumble grew louder. And the earth shook more seriously now.
A California boy
also knows when it’s time to get out of the building. So he was on the other
side of the circle, breathing hard, when the rumble became a sound like
pounding hooves, like moor ponies teased by elf riders to a gallop, like the
planet rifting open. And as he watched it, the space under the stone arch fell
away with a hideous crack, and as the dust settled a ramp could be clearly seen
sloping down into the hill.
Out of somewhere
impossible, a stocky grey Dartmoor pony hauled itself up into the clear air and
shook its mane, looking fat and well fed. Behind him came a pair of spotted
ponies, white and black, and a bay with black mane and tail, nudging a
bright-eyed foal. Six or seven more, the last two bearing riders with limbs so
long and slender and with faces so wild there could be no mistaking them for
human.
Ben stared and
shook himself, knuckled his eyes to be sure of what he saw. The ponies cantered
past him and came to a rest just outside the stone circle, as if it were the
most ordinary thing in the world. In moments they were all calmly grazing and
frisking amongst themselves, snorting their pleasure at being again under the
familiar sky.
The two
almond-eyed riders leapt to the ground, graceful as Minoan bull dancers, and
with a few melodic words and a friendly smack or two encouraged the ponies to
wander towards home. That done, their pointed faces alight with humor, they
each threw Ben a mocking salute and strolled fading into the long twilight over
the brow of the hill.
