Swordbane

About the Book

A dark plot unfolds in the western lands of the Kingdom of Swordbane with the formation of an unholy alliance, deliberate spread of a deadly affliction, and a newly conspired war looming on the horizon after the Kingdom of Swordbane has just emerged victorious from a bitter twenty-year-long war with its eastern rival neighbor. Masterminding this dark plot built on social malaise from corruption and an espoused propaganda of revisionism, a former vassal of the kingdom emerges who seeks to claim the status of the ultimate dark lord and chosen vessel. In seeking to receive special divine powers, this aspiring dark lord will pave a bloody path of death and destruction in order to ultimately create a new prosperous social and political order inspired from the ashes of the once-great Lupercalian Empire. Only a group of unlikely but personally connected heroes seek to stand in the way and fight back to preserve what is left of the kingdom. Throughout their trials and hardships, both the heroes and this ambitious dark lord will reflect upon their past life events while seeking to move forward with the challenges they face ahead in the ultimate war of perceived good versus evil. Whoever wins in this struggle, one thing is certain among all of them: life will never be the same.

About the Author

Paul Joseph Santoro Emerick was born in the mid-1980s from a middle-class family with a military service background carried on by each generation, including him as a US Navy veteran. He currently works as a teacher when not writing. Previously, he served as a historian for the Golden Key International Honour Society at the local chapter while attending California State University San Bernardino, where he documented articles about philanthropic activities that the charitable organization was involved in. He has also previously self-published a novel in 2008 called Portals of Infinite Enchantment: The Legends of Latera, and returning to writing since that time, he has been very inspired to tell a new story also under a fantasy theme but with aspects of relevant issues that we face in real-life society today, including withdrawing from a prolonged war and occupation, managing a pandemic, and dealing with an antagonist who is in pursuit of historical revisionism while engaging in territorial domination. The author currently resides in the same general area in which he grew up around Redlands, California.