Summary

When Ingram and Quester had seen their clients, Lady Victoria Vantage and her young niece Urelle Vantage, safely to their new home, they had thought their work finished, the time come to find new Adventures – despite the not-well-hidden interest between Ingram and Urelle.

Then Ingram receives an impossible message: he, a fugitive and exile from Clan Camp-Bel, is desperately needed by the Clan in distant Aegeia, a thousand miles and more away, for a mission so secret it cannot be included in the recall. And the very night he and Quester set out, Urelle discovers there are assassins already on their trail and rushes to warn them – and following her, Victoria, a retired Adventurer forced once more into the field.

But more is at stake than they can realize, for the ancient Cycle of Aegeia – the living morality play between the Reason of Athena and the Passion of Ares – is in peril of destruction; a monstrous impostor has taken the place of the God of War, and begins to orchestrate an ending to Aegeia itself.

And the false Ares knows that one of the four travelers is the only thing standing between him and the downfall of the gods...

Author Biography

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Ryk moved with his family to Vermilion, South Dakota, then Atlanta, Georgia, and later to Latham, NY, before settling in Schenectady, NY. As an effort-induced asthmatic, he was often confined indoors, spending much of his time reading and, eventually, writing—getting those first million words out of the way early! While he enjoyed science books, particularly on volcanology, his favorite childhood reads were the Oz novels by L. Frank Baum.

In junior high, a teacher gifted him a battered, slightly scorched copy of E.E. "Doc" Smith's Second-Stage Lensmen, which permanently sparked his sense of wonder and set him on an inevitably geeky quest to become a science fiction writer. In high school, he discovered computers and RPGs, running the very first play-by-email (PBEM) roleplaying campaign from 1977 to 1980. It was during this time that he adopted the online alias "Sea Wasp," which he continues to use today.

Over the years, Ryk earned degrees in mathematics and science, psychology, and information science. His diverse work experience includes everything from fast-food jobs to an internet-bubble filesharing company to Borders Books. He currently serves as the R&D Coordinator for International Electronic Machines.

Along the way, he became a Usenet fixture, an RPG consultant and writer, an anime fan, and—ultimately—achieved his dream of becoming a science fiction author when Baen Books published his debut novel, Digital Knight. Since then, he has published over 25 novels across multiple genres, including:

The grand-scale space opera Grand Central Arena and its four sequels

The hard-SF Boundary series

The epic fantasy Balanced Sword trilogy (Phoenix Rising, Phoenix in Shadow, and Phoenix Ascendant)

The Godswar duology (The Mask of Ares and The Spear of Athena)

The magical girl novel Princess Holy Aura

Collaborations with his wife Kathleen on her Fall of Veils series

Ryk E. Spoor now lives in Troy, NY, with his wife Kathleen, their four children, a flock of chickens, and two dogs.

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