The Hero's Lot
Riveting Sequel from Christian Fantasy's Most Talented New Voice.
When Sarin Valon, the corrupt secondus of the conclave, flees Erinon and the kingdom, Errol Stone believes his troubles have at last ended. But other forces bent on the destruction of the kingdom remain and conspire to accuse Errol and his friends of a conspiracy to usurp the throne.
In a bid to keep the three of them from the axe, Archbenefice Canon sends Martin and Luis to Errol's home village, Callowford, to discover what makes him so important to the kingdom. But Errol is also accused of consorting with spirits. Convicted, his punishment is a journey to the enemy kingdom of Merakh, where he must find Sarin Valon, and kill him. To enforce their sentence, Errol is placed under a compulsion, and he is driven to accomplish his task or die resisting.
Hero's Lot is the Sequel to A Cast of Stones
A Cast of Stones
An Epic Medieval Saga Fantasy Readers Will Love.
In the backwater village of Callowford, Errol Stone's search for a drink is interrupted by a church messenger who arrives with urgent missives for the hermit priest in the hills. Desperate for coin, Errol volunteers to deliver them but soon finds himself hunted by deadly assassins. Forced to flee with the priest and a small band of travelers, Errol soon learns he's joined a quest that could change the fate of his kingdom.
Protected for millennia by the heirs of the first king, the kingdom's dynasty is near an end and a new king must be selected. As tension and danger mount, Errol must leave behind his drunkenness and grief, learn to fight, and come to know his God in order to survive a journey to discover his destiny.
Author Patrick W. Carr
Patrick Carr was born on an Air Force base in West Germany at the height of the cold war. He has been told this was not his fault. As an Air Force brat, he experienced a change in locale every three years until his father retired to Tennessee. Patrick saw more of the world on his own through a varied and somewhat eclectic education and work history. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1984 and has worked as a draftsman at a nuclear plant, did design work for the Air Force, worked for a printing company, and consulted as an engineer. Patrick’s day gig for the last five years has been teaching high school math in Nashville, TN. He currently makes his home in Nashville with his wonderfully patient wife, Mary, and four sons he thinks are amazing: Patrick, Connor, Daniel, and Ethan. Sometime in the future he would like to be a jazz pianist. Patrick thinks writing about himself in the third person is kind of weird.
Is this your first series or have you published before?
This is my first published series. I wrote three novels before this in a series called “Not Quite Super” that was intended for a YA audience. I may go back to them someday. There is a lot writing in them that I really enjoyed. They would need some serious editing, however.
Are you working on anything else?
I am in the beginning stages of a detective series. It would be a genre-bending experience that would mix the gritty pulp fiction of the 40’s (think Raymond Chandler) with Christian fiction with a different time period with spiritual warfare. I think all that means it would definitely be categorized as “speculative.” Ha. Is there any other kind of fiction?
Do you have any advice for authors wanting to publish? (Why did you choose to go indie? If this applies – If not why traditional)
Don’t be in a hurry. Whether you going the traditional publishing route or self-publishing (I’ve done both), make sure you’ve delivered the best story you can write. When you first get the feeling “it’s ready” you can pretty much count on the fact it’s not. Get someone very honest to critique your work and then polish (rinse and repeat as often as necessary).
What is your favorite writing snack?
Anything with chocolate in it. What works really well for me is to mix chocolate and coffee. A generous helping of mocha latte and fudge will destroy almost any writer’s block I have.
What gets you in the mood to write?
Hiking through the woods. I live pretty close to Radnor Lake Park in Nashville and the inspiration I get from being alone on the trails is amazing. It’s like God puts the story ideas in the forest and all I have to do is walk through the trees and pick them up.
Who is your favorite character and why? It changes depending on what kind of mood I’m in. Right now, it’s Martin Arwitten. He’s flawed and passionate and sometimes mistaken, but he always comes back to his faith, no matter how hard life gets.
Favorite book of all time?
Too many to list. There’s so much good reading out there that I need to experience. One series I keep coming back to is “The Belgariad” by David Eddings. There’s so much warmth in his writing.
What made you want to write this book?
I wanted to write a fantasy that would also be strongly allegorical, something along the lines of “The Chronicles of Narnia” but more subtle so that each reader could bring their own interpretation to it. When I started “A Cast of Stones” I also decided to write the first book from a single point of view. I felt it would make the story more intimate, plus I just wanted to see if I could pull it off. Rowling had done it with most of the Harry Potter series and I enjoyed the challenge of that constrained perspective.
I think breakfast says a lot about a person, what is your perfect breakfast?
What I usually have is oatmeal. Seriously, that’s is my breakfast about five times a week. On the weekends I like to make pancakes or French toast with the occasional omelet-with-everything thrown in. My perfect breakfast would be all of them together, with coffee, of course. A big breakfast makes me happy.
Do you have a favorite period of time that you like to write about or would like to live?
I like the time I’m living in now, though I think we need to get over our handheld technology kick and actually talk to people face-to-face. I teach for a living and I see so many kids who are socially stunted because they spend more time with their technology than they do with people. I’m afraid things will get to the point where people skills we used to take for granted will become a valued asset.
Please tell us in one sentence why we should read your book!
All of the books in the series are written to speak to you and your experiences, which is why I encourage people to read them more than once. I wrote the story in layers so that every time someone read it, they would see something new.
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