As a newly graduated wizard, Sven Takraf served poor villages in Marrishland because he wanted a peaceful place to raise his young family away from magocrats - wizards who used magic to enforce their reign. When a powerful magocrat sought to annex the villages under his protection, though, Sven fought back ruthlessly in their defense.

Fought back but lost.

Devastated by the deaths of the people he had sworn to protect, Sven devotes himself to breaking the power of the magocrats. His vision wins many loyal disciples but also makes countless powerful enemies, and soon he finds himself presiding over the bloodiest civil war in living memory.

Beyond the nation's borders, an ancient enemy gathers its forces to invade, and Marrishland is not prepared. If Sven cannot unite the nation he has divided, all his plans will come to naught but the extinction of his race.
About the Author: ERIC ZAWADZKI

Eric spent his Midwestern childhood reading fantasy, so it probably isn't surprising that he came to idealize stories of going to a far-off land. When no wizard showed up to tell him he was the heir to some otherworldly throne or the only one who could defeat the nefarious designs of a dark god, Eric took this whole questing hero thing into his own hands.

While backpacking alone in Poland without so much as a phrasebook, he met many strangers who gave him advice and directions. One family even took him in for the night, feeding him and asking him about his travels. No bandits or wolves, but that's probably for the best. He still has nightmares about that wolfman from The Neverending Story.

He lived for a time among the majestic mountains of Colorado before seeking his one true love, Beth, on the frozen wastelands of Minnesota. They married on a beautiful spring day and are in the process of living happily ever after.

MATTHEW SCHICK

Indiana had a slogan in Matt's childhood: "There's more than corn in Indiana." Driving around the state, he agreed - there were also soybeans and vast, flat skies. He found inspiration because there was so much room for it, inspiration to explore, to fill himself with variety, and to write with them in mind.

He now lives in Charlottesville, Va., with his lady, whom he met while working as a journalist in Hawaii. He ended up in Hawaii after doing similar work in Colorado and Virginia, and going to college in Wisconsin. In his explorations, he has found people, food and experiences that made each place an inspiration for the worlds in which he writes.