Author’s Inspiration:
The Darkened Land is the 1st in a Series of Eight books about the King and His light and the struggle to save His people who have become engulfed by darkness. It is an allegory of our world and God’s love for us. It was inspired by C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings but primarily by Pilgrim’s Progress. Although it is an allegory, that is somewhat hidden in the names which are taken from various languages. The meanings and pronunciations are given at the back of the book. This allows the reader freedom to read it as a story or delve into the deeper meaning.
About the book:
Separated from the world of darkness by a bottomless chasm lie the stones of light. The King has built a bridge from that world to His kingdom across the chasm to give people access once again to the stones. He has established seven cities of light and seven towers as beacons to The Darkened Land.
Seven Towers
Seven cities of might
Seven towers of light
In the land of was
And will be
Lachlaniel’s world is a world of complete darkness, but across the Godwin River there are stones of light. When he sees the light for the first time and beholds the wonder of the stones, Lachlaniel sets out for the Godwin accompanied by Ewald, the woodsman. But creatures of darkness, who hate the light and the stones, pursue them. Guided by Kesniel and protected by Velius they reach the Great City Agapay and the Bridge. The stones lie just beyond, but the quest has aroused The Great Evil. Nameless and powerful he bends his might to crush the city and put an end to the light in his dominion. The city is now in peril.
Excerpt:
As the forest closed in, a sound in the distance froze them in their tracks. It was the low guttural call of the wolf leader calling the pack to the hunt. Lachlaniel and Ewald ran. The call of the leader made their blood run cold and summoned their last reserves of strength. They couldn’t go far. If there were no shelter just ahead…. Then, ahead of them, a light loomed. They ran with renewed vigor; the sounds of the pack became distinct a short distance behind them. The light ahead was strange, not at all like the light from Kesniel’s stone. As they drew closer, they could see the fork in the road and the Black Tower beyond. So little light reflected from its surface that its features could not be discerned. In spite of this, it gave the appearance of a welcome shelter set down at the meeting of the ways in a land where there was no real shelter. The light of a fire within flickered welcomingly from the doorway. There was a man at the threshold. He held some strange object from which the light came. They were in agony as they crossed the last yards. The wolves rapidly closed the gap between them. The man was shouting.
“Hurry, hurry! Don’t look back! You can make it!”
He stood by the open door of the tower, urging them onward. The wolves were incredibly close now. Ewald caught the sound of the swiftest as it made a final leap toward him. He swung his axe wildly and blindly behind him striking the wolf in the neck with the head of the axe instead of the blade. The wolf was momentarily stunned, but the others continued to close the ground. Lachlaniel had already crossed the threshold into the tower. The man with the light held the door ready to slam shut as soon as Ewald was safe. The next closest wolf leaped as Ewald crossed the threshold and the door closed with a whump. There was a tremendous thud, and the oak planks of the door moved visibly with the impact. Outside, the wolves circled and howled with anger at losing their prey. Inside, Lachlaniel and Ewald lay sprawled on the floor, breathing too heavily to speak. They were too weary to move, but they were safe – inside the Black Tower.
About the author:
I was raised in a little town south of Dallas. When I was fifteen God called me to the ministry. I was licensed as a minister by my church when I started college. I attended Dallas Baptist College starting in 1975. When I started college I began writing a book that would form the basis for The Darkened Land many years later. I married the love of my life in 1978. After we were married, I found it difficult to impossible to finish a course at college. So my college career ended.
The next years saw three beautiful children added to our family. My first, my daughter, was named after the heroine of my unfinished book. My two boys were born two and four years later. About 1995 I began writing again. That is when The Darkened Land began. My first book, from my college days, had been an allegory similar to Pilgrim’s Progress, but the names were Greek words that gave the allegory its meaning while allowing the book to be just a fun story for those who did not want to delve deeper. The Darkened Land utilizes the same format, but takes the names from many languages. Many like Aidan are actual names. Over the next couple of years the book grew to 30,000 words, before events brought my progress to a halt.
With the kids going off to college and work difficult to find, I went back to school. Dallas Baptist College had become Dallas Baptist University in the intervening years. I worked at the University as a computer tech. Then in 2004, I was disabled and no longer able to work though I continued classes. I graduated in 2010. In the meantime our first grandchildren had arrived and we moved to be close to them.
After a false start in 2018, the second edition of The Darkened Land was published in 2019. It was then that I began the second in this series of eight books. It is entitled The Basaners and the Man Who Would Not Die although the title on the cover is simply The Basaners. It was published in November of 2021. The third of the eight books in the series is my present work in progress.
Author media links:
https://larry-paris-books.square.site/
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Inspirational Author 