Now Touring: The Children of Lubrochius by Matthew D. Ryan

Welcome to my stop on the tour for The Children of Lubrochius by Matthew D. Ryan. The Children of Lubrochius is a fantasy book that is available now.

Blurb

The vampire, Lucian val Drasmyr, has been defeated, but not destroyed: Now he serves another evil: Korina Bolaris, a young and gifted sorceress bent on subverting the power structure of Drisdak. Only Coragan of Esperia can hope to stop them. But is even he prepared to face the dark cult who claims her as their own: the Children of Lubrochius?

Excerpt

 

Several hours later, Gaelan stood at attention in the Fire Hawk Sparring Arena in the Western Guard Barracks of the city of Drisdak. Prinson and Retlin, the two other young guild guardsmen from his earlier assignment were with him. Each of them still wore his chain mail armor and the now sweaty undercoat, but had relinquished his steel sword at the entrance to the arena. Anduri stood in front of them with several wooden practice swords lying at his feet. Behind them, about thirty city guards busily worked on a calisthenic routine.

Gaelan watched Anduri unclasp the real sword at his side, place it on the floor behind him, and then bend to pick up one of the wooden ones.

 Gaelan stood at attention. I’m ready, he thought. Finally, I’m going to learn to fight … to kill. The thought lodged in his breast, hard and solid like a chicken bone in his throat. He knew what he wanted. He wanted this. But …

Better to die a peaceful man, than live with the stains of murder. His father had taught him that. It was the last line of the Aspallan peace oath. Aspalla of the White Palm, Lord of Healing and Counsel, was one of the most revered gods of the Paradisian Circle. He was the father of the goddess Auraria and the personal counselor of Mardikkar Evilbane, King of the Gods. He was also Gaelan’s patron deity, the deity he’d worshipped his whole life.

Inspiration to Your Writing 

What inspired you to write The Children of Lubrochius?

I’ve encountered this question several times for a number of interviews for this blog tour. However, those responses are usually limited to only a paragraph or so. I can go into much more depth here.

The first point to note is that The Children of Lubrochius isn’t really the first book in the series. There is a prequel entitled Drasmyr which features pretty much the same characters minus Gaelan, Agyrra, and Gilliad. So, perhaps the more proper question would be what is the inspiration for your series, as opposed to just this one book, for this one book is part of a larger whole—and that whole is intricately involved in whatever inspiration I might feel.

Anyway, the inspiration for the plot line of Children grew naturally from the development in the plot of Drasmyr. Drasmyr ended with Lucian captured by Regecon and unwittingly given over to the control of Korina. Children picks up where that left off. In fact, the first chapter consists of Korina interviewing Lucian—who is still bound to his jar. The intricacies of the plot has benefitted greatly from my many years of playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and other RPG games. I have been both game master and player; as such, I feel I am quite adept at developing intriguing story lines around mystical objects and other happenings. Although not directly related to a particular gaming experience, I feel the Kaldtarri rings and even the entire cult known as “The Children of Lubrochius” may have some sort of template for their structure buried in a long forgotten gaming session—I just can’t place a specific one.

As for the characters, many of them have specific inspirations, too. Lucian val Drasmyr is based largely off Bram Stoker’s legendary Count Dracula. Most of his powers and abilities have been inspired by that original story with perhaps a few embellishments. Coragan of Esperia, my famous bounty hunter, was inspired by a socialist friend I had in college. Coragan isn’t a through and through socialist, but he does harbor a viewpoint that is heavily tilted toward the “common man” and against the “upper class,” so much so, he harbors a good deal of resentment toward his employers, who happen to be mages and members of that upper class. As such, Regecon and Ambrisia are set up as kind of foils to Coragan. Both are nobility. Of the two, Ambrisia is a little more snobbish, but both look out for the welfare of others and neither one is evil. Similarly, in Children I introduce two priests—Gilliad and Agyrra—whom I use to explore the philosophies of relativism and absolutism. Gilliad is the absolutist; Agyrra, the relativist. Again, I had a friend in college who was a relativist, and I was an absolutist at the time. We literally spent five years arguing over the nature of truth (ahh ... the good ol’ days). My current position is that embraced by Kurgish ... it’s kind of a mix. Anyway, I think it’s an important discussion so it makes its way into the story as well—but only in passing. The other characters sprung up as needed and share basically literary roots. Borak is the not-so-typical terse warrior with a brain. Galladrin is the classic jovial thief. Gaelan, the young warrior-in-training persecuted by self-doubt and conscience. Korina ... well, I thought having a female enemy would be a novel thing, as such she becomes a threat on multiple levels: her raw intellect, her vast powers, and even her striking good looks serve her well in her nefarious machinations.

Anyway, those are pretty much the guts of the story: the plot line and the characters. I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoy reading it.

About the Author

Matthew D. Ryan is a published author living in upstate New York on the shores of Lake Champlain. Mr. Ryan has a background in philosophy, mathematics, and computer science. He has a black belt in the martial arts and studies yoga. He has been deeply involved in the fantasy genre for most of his life as a reader, writer, and game designer. He is the operator of the web-site matthewdryan.com which features his blog, “A Toast to Dragons,”a blog dedicated to fantasy literature, and, to a lesser extent, sci-fi. Mr. Ryan says he receives his inspiration from his many years as an avid role-player and fantasy book reader. He has spent many long hours devising adventures and story-lines for games, so it was a natural shift moving into fantasy writing.

Mr. Ryan is the author of the exciting dark fantasy novel, Drasmyr, its sequel, The Children of Lubrochius, and a growing number of short stories. His first novel, Drasmyr, has consistently earned reviews in the four and five star range and serves as the prequel to his upcoming series: From the Ashes of Ruin. In addition to Drasmyr and The Children of Lubrochius, Mr. Ryan has published several short stories on-line, including: “Haladryn and the Minotaur,” “The River’s Eye,” and “Escape.”

 

Links to the Author on the Internet

Author’s Website: http://matthewdryan.com
Author’s Smashwords Page: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/matthewdryan
Author’s Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000038781652
Author’s Amazon Author Central Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/matthewdryan
Author’s Goodreads Page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/579148.Matthew_D_Ryan

Buy Links for The Children of Lubrochius

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/415779

The prequel, Drasmyr, is currently available free as an ebook at Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and elsewhere.

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/131156
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Drasmyr&sprefix=Drasm%2Caps&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3ADrasmyr
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Drasmyr?store=allproducts&keyword=Drasmyr
Lulu (Hardcover Print Book—$24.99): http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type=Print+Products&keyWords=Drasmyr&sitesearch=lulu.com&q=&x=0&y=0

Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions.

Matthew will be awarding a $20 Amazon Gift Card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour. Remember, the more stops you visit, the more chances you earn to win.

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