Note from the Author

 

And so we have reached the end of A Warrior’s Curse. But for Cutter and his companions, I am afraid it is only just the beginning.

For the kingdom of the Known Lands is sick, dying, maybe. Yet still, like a patient writhing upon his sickbed under the ministrations of healers, it might yet be saved, might yet be brought back to health.

But the road back, as with the patient twisting beneath the healer’s bloody knife, will no doubt be a painful one.

Cutter, the greatest warrior of his age, journeys with his brother into the Black Wood, an alien place of old magic and older feuds, a place of the Fey, a place of death.

Meanwhile, in New Daltenia, Cutter’s companions have saved Matt, the king, from the Feyling Emma’s possession. But that possession was only one small piece of what they face, and the work has only just begun.

All that has come before was only but a prelude. Here, then, is the true story. Now begins the Saga of the Known Lands.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who made a tremendous difference in the writing of this book or, in the case of my wife and children, my life in general. Thank you to my baseball-bat-wielding son, Gabriel, for making sure daddy was wide awake to write by the shortcut of hitting him in the knees a few times when he wasn’t paying attention. Thank you to my daughter, Norah, whose refusal to sleep at night has educated me on just how long a man can go without sleep of his own. And thank you, of course, to my wife, Andrea, who has chosen—I never said wisely—to embark on this journey of life with me. Pray for her, if you can. I’m sure she could use it.

I also want to thank my beta readers who have so graciously offered their time and energy to help my books be better and have even done so with a minimal of name-calling which, no doubt, I would have largely deserved.

And lastly, thank you, dear reader. You who, with your support and comments and reviews always make me want to strive to do better, to be better. I can’t promise I will be—but I promise I’ll try. So stick around, alright? It only gets better from here…

Probably.

 

Until next time,

Happy Reading,

Jacob Peppers