NOW AVAILABLE!
The second novel from J. F. Meskimen returns to the eldritch and horrific world of THE DUST OF RHLL, unveiling part of a much larger canvas: THE GODS OF MEN, an epic dark-fantasy trilogy to be released by Bongo Books over the next five years.
Nyandera and Ghy, two young nobles from the vassal kingdom of Nydhia, arrive in Za’ar, capital of the Saspian Empire, to pursue studies in engineering and medicine. Lord Vasto, Ghy’s father, isn’t pleased. He has long served as ambassador in Za’ar, and doesn’t want his son exposed to the Saspians’ corruption and cruelty, nor to the political unrest brewing among them.
Ghy falls in with fellow medical student Irrian Taz, heir to one of the empire’s great fortunes. Irrian only wants to be a surgeon for access to the narcotic beetles that are the centerpiece of his world of high-class debauchery, which Ghy quickly embraces. Dabbling in powerful strains, he begins to develop unusual and even inexplicable symptoms.
Meanwhile, as the political situation deteriorates, Vasto plans to get his son out of the country. Using his contacts in the capital’s underworld, he begins to piece together how Irrian’s father, the sinister Senator Taz, has plotted to divide the empire and elevate a tyrant in the East.
But a grisly murder and the outbreak of civil war leave it up to Nyandera, and her alone, to get the two young Nydhians home alive.
Now available!
The childhood and youth memoir by world-famous social scientist Dean MacCannell, whose classic 1976 book The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class launched the field of modern tourism studies. In this personal turn, he exposes some of the seamier aspects of “The Greatest Generation” and the depth of the fissures in American society that are often miscast as recent. Here too are the radically different influences in his upbringing and early education that led him to his distinctive approach to modern social relations. Enthusiasts of classic European sports car racing and mountaineering will also find much to interest them in this gripping tale of an American boyhood that is unique but also archetypal.
Next in series coming soon!
A dark sword-and-sorcery adventure for adults featuring cover artwork by the legendary Erol Otus, The Dust of Rhll is J. F. Meskimen’s first novel.
Told from the perspectives of an ensemble of sinister and desperate characters — an assassin returning from his retirement as a medical college instructor; a young outlaw who fancies himself a lord; a master breeder and smuggler of narcotic beetles; a jaded mercenary captain; and more — it is the story of an expedition to a destroyed city to retrieve a relic on behalf of a mad emperor.
Readers of Joe Abercrombie, N. K. Jemisin, George R. R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, and others who portray morally ambiguous or rotten characters dealing with an alien, corrupt, and often terrifying world will likely enjoy this chilling and wickedly funny debut from J. F. Meskimen.