Author: Derrick Smythe

Book title: The Other Magic (Passage to Dawn: Book One)

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Publish date: June 30, 2020

 

Blurb:

Darkness stirs in a world that is ill-equipped to confront it.

A prophesied king is born, but not all will benefit from his foretold conquests. In a realm where only clerics are permitted to practice magic, Kibure, a mere slave, draws the attention of much more than just his master after wielding an unknown force in a moment of desperation. In a twist of fate, Sindri, the priestess hired to strip Kibure of his power, defies the law, revealing designs of her own. But trust is in short supply in a land ripe with deceit. This wayward pair will have to work together if they hope to evade capture at the hands of the Empire’s most potent wielders.

Halfway around the known world, Aynward’s knack for discovering trouble drives him deep into conspiracies within which he does not belong. Too arrogant to accept counsel, he will have to learn the hard way that some actions have consequences that cannot be undone…

 

Story sample:

Kibure could hardly believe what he was doing. He narrowed his eyes and drew back his fist. Considering his small, slight stature, it was a vain attempt, but he was done caring.

His arm swung to strike the much larger, much stronger man, who looked down at him bemused. Zagreb’s inevitable retribution would come later, Kibure knew. But with shocking speed, Kibure’s fist moved toward the target, Zagreb’s chest.

A wave of heat washed over Kibure as his fist continued forward. But as his closed fingers approached Zagreb’s body, a surge of—something—pure energy?—shot out from that very same fist. The strike never directly contacted Zagreb’s body, but the energy sent the slave master hurtling fifteen paces through the air. Zagreb’s scream radiated both shock and pain as the air was forced from his lungs. Then he slammed into the hard desert floor. Displaced dust floated into the air around his body.

All was still and for a moment, Kibure thought he had killed the man. He let out a breath when Zagreb groaned and rolled to his stomach, calling to the overseers for help.

Kibure stood there somehow buried to his calves in the rock-hard sand, which had become more like overripe drogal fruit, thick, mushy, and malleable. He pulled his legs free then fell to his knees. That was where he remained until two of Zagreb’s true-blood overseers approached cautiously from either side to take hold of him. Kibure spotted Zagreb a safe distance away, holding his chest, hatred oozing from his expression.

The men secured the shackles slowly, hesitantly, but Kibure did not resist; he couldn’t. Whatever otherworldly power had come over him in those moments of passion had fled his body the second he realized what he had done.

 

Author bio:

Derrick Smythe is an American fantasy author. He has been fascinated with all things elvish, dwarfish, and magical since his days of running through the woods with sharpened sticks in defense of whatever fortification he and his brothers had built that summer. After consuming nearly every fantasy book he could find, he was driven to begin work on one of his own. When he isn’t dreaming up new stories, he can be spotted hiking the Adirondack Mountains or traveling the world. He currently resides near his hometown in Upstate New York with his enchanting wife, ethereal daughters, and his faithful-if-neurotic Australian Shepherd, Magnus.

Derrick’s debut novel, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑂𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐 (Dec 2019), is the first installment in his epic fantasy series, Passage to Dawn, which was a Pinnacle Book Achievement Award winner, IPPY Awards runner-up, and a Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards finalist.