Thorn of Breland & Drawing Results

First off, the winner of the Fading Dream drawing is Misty Anderson. Misty, send me an email with your address at Onesmallkeith(at)Gmail.com and I’ll get your copy in the mail! Thanks to everyone else who entered. While I don’t have spare copies to sell myself, if anyone especially wants an autograph I’m always happy to sign and return any book sent my way with an SASE.

What I’m seeing from the comments is that more people have read the Dreaming Dark series than the Thorn of Breland books. At the moment, the DD books are out of print. The Thorn books are in print, but bookstores often don’t carry them. I wanted to take a moment to talk about the Thorn books for those who haven’t encountered them before.

The Thorn of Breland series focuses on Nyrielle, a Khoravar woman serving Breland as one of the King’s Dark Lanterns. She’s a spy, and each novel focuses on a different mission. As such, each book stands alone; however, there are ongoing character arcs that develop throughout the series, so while you don’t NEED to read from the beginning, you’ll get more out of it if you do.

The Queen of Stone is set in Droaam, the kingdom of monsters. Thorn is recovering from injuries sustained in a previous job in Aundair, and has been assigned a new partner – a sentient dagger named Steel. The story opens in Graywall, and then moves to the Great Crag. The Daughters of Sora Kell have called diplomats from all of the Thronehold nations to hear their petition to be recognized as a sovereign state… but there are schemes afoot within the shadows.  Meanwhile, Thorn has her own mission, one that concerns the medusa warlord of Kazhaak Draal: Sheshka, the Queen of Stone.

In addition to introducing Thorn and Steel, The Queen of Stone explores the general flavor of Droaam and involves a number of the key players in the region – Sheshka, the Dark Pack, the gnolls of the Znir Pact, and all of the Daughters of Sora Kell. Droaam and the Daughters play a role in the upcoming material for D&D Online: Eberron Unlimited, so if you’d like more information about the kingdom of monsters, this is a good place to start.

Aberrant dragonmarks are a subject of superstitious fear throughout Khorvaire. These mystical marks grant strange and deadly powers to those who bear them, powers over fire, fear, plague, and more. They are as unpredictable as they are dangerous, and the stories say they drive their bearers mad. More than a thousand years have passed since the dragonmarked families sought to exterminate aberrant marks once and for all. Now aberrant marks are returning to Khorvaire, and those that possess them are being recruited into a criminal guild known as House Tarkanan. Thorn is sent to Sharn and assigned to infiltrate House Tarkanan, to learn their plans and if necessary, to assassinate their new leader – a mysterious and powerful man known as the Son of Khyber.

This novel explores the nature of aberrant dragonmarks and the balance of power between the dragonmarked houses and the rulers of the Five Nations. In addition, it answers a few of the questions left hanging at the end of The Dreaming Dark. Son of Khyber is set in Sharn, the City of Towers.

Throughout history, there have been tales of people discovering fey citadels in the wilds, or wandering into Thelanis through gates that can never be found again. Following the Mourning, a number of Feyspires have appeared across Khorvaire. Their inhabitants are reclusive and powerful. In The Fading Dream Thorn is assigned to uncover the agenda of these Feyspires – and to investigate a possible connection between these outsiders and the Mourning itself. Do the ghaele lords hold the answer to the Mourning? Or are they themselves victims of an even greater curse? This concludes the Thorn series and resolves many of the questions that have emerged throughout the series – though this paves the way for a new direction, should Thorn return.

At this time I’m not working on any further Eberron novels. I’d love to continue this series or to return to the Dreaming Dark characters, but this is up to Wizards of the Coast and undoubtedly driven by sales… so if you want to see new adventures in the future, recommend the books to a friend! The Dreaming Dark series is no longer in print, but both The Dreaming Dark and Thorn of Breland are available on Kindle.

I’m always interested in hearing your thoughts about the stories, either here or on Twitter (Hellcowkeith). And while I’m not working on Eberron stories at the moment, please check out the anthology project I’m involved with here. We’ve got a month to go and still need a lot of backers, so any help is appreciated!