Quest — 22 Stories of the Hero’s Journey
Edited by B. A. Turnage
Cover Art & Design by B. A. Turnage
Published by Fantasy-Writers.org
Available in Kindle or paperback editions from Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk
(also available on Kindle from other regional Amazons)
The second anthology from the online writers’ group Fantasy-Writers.org, Quest — 22 Stories of the Hero’s Journey features stories by seventeen members, each one based around a stage in the classic Hero’s Journey, as defined by Christopher Vogler. From high fantasy to sword & sorcery, urban fantasy to comic fantasy, and even science fiction, this book covers a full range of genres.
I have two stories in the anthology:
In The Shape of a Legend, a young queen must choose between love and loyalty — but her destiny has its own ideas.
In Wyrmbane, a warrior must eternally slay dragons and be slain, only to be resurrected, till a dragon offers a way out.
An excerpt from The Shape of a Legend:
Queen Shalla’s heart was pounding as she slipped out of the postern to find the mount she’d secretly ordered saddled, bridled and waiting for her. Her favourite mare, Blaze, one of the fastest horses in the royal stable. She could reach the northern army by nightfall. Better not to think any further than that.
Swinging up into saddle, in the way her father always used to call unladylike when she was a child, Shalla settled herself and then handed down a couple of coins to the stable-lad holding the rein. “For your loyalty. And if the King asks, you never saw me.”
The boy gaped, and most likely not just because of the small fortune she’d handed him, probably worth three months’ wages. King Carrom was universally loved throughout Dunsell, and going against him would be difficult. But she’d chosen this boy — only a few years younger than her, really — because she knew he had a crush on her and would want to please her.
Shalla kept her hood pulled forward as she cantered away from the palace and into the streets of Tassna, hoping no-one would recognise her. Somebody might recognise Blaze, of course, but it wasn’t unusual for the young queen to go riding alone. As long as word didn’t get back to Carrom before she was well on her way.
She didn’t really think it would take Carrom long to work out where she’d gone, but maybe that would be just enough of a lead. What would he think when he realised? Shalla tried not to imagine.
The Fantasy Worlds of Nyki Blatchley 