The Barrow

Mark Smylie

Mar 2014 · Pyr

About this ebook

Action, horror, politics, and sensuality combine in this DEBUT EPIC FANTASY novel for fans of George R. R. Martin and Michael J. Sullivan, set in the world of the Eisner Award-nominated Artesia comic books. To find the Sword, unearth the Barrow. To unearth the Barrow, follow the Map. When a small crew of scoundrels, would-be heroes, deviants, and ruffians discover a map that they believe will lead them to a fabled sword buried in the barrow of a long-dead wizard, they think they've struck it rich. But their hopes are dashed when the map turns out to be cursed and then is destroyed in a magical ritual. The loss of the map leaves them dreaming of what might have been, until they rediscover the map in a most unusual and unexpected place. Stjepan Black-Heart, suspected murderer and renegade royal cartographer; Erim, a young woman masquerading as a man; Gilgwyr, brothel owner extraordinaire; Leigh, an exiled magus under an ignominious cloud; Godewyn Red-Hand, mercenary and troublemaker; Arduin Orwain, scion of a noble family brought low by scandal; and Arduin's sister Annwyn, the beautiful cause of that scandal: together they form a cross section of the Middle Kingdoms of the Known World, united by accident and dark design, on a quest that will either get them all in the history books...or get them all killed. From the Trade Paperback edition.

About the author

Mark Smylie is the author of The Barrow. In addition, he has worked in the publishing and entertainment industries for almost two decades as an artist, an illustrator, a writer, a game designer, an editor, and a publisher. In 2003, he founded a comics and graphic-novel publishing company, Archaia. He spent twelve years there, initially as publisher and then as chief creative officer, before departing to return to his own creative endeavors. From the Trade Paperback edition.