About this Book

Once you land on the island, death is your only way off...

It began on a sunlit day in Cherbourg, France. In 2055, the future has arrived and the past is departing as the last steamship in the world prepares to cross the Atlantic on its final voyage. Alongside, a great glittering solar-powered vessel sails, too—a beautiful ship filled with beautiful people. On board the steamer are eight teens—some dreamers, some desperate—for whom the last voyage of the S.S. Sir Guy Carleton is only a step on a longer journey.

Soon the ship is far out at sea, and every layer of modern technology fails. Each teen must rely on their own special skills to survive—but where? What is the strange island in the Atlantic, where no island exists? Who are the men who speak an ancient tongue who capture the survivors of the stricken ship? With every breath a new mystery appears, and the desperate dreamers of the Carleton must find a way to live, or escape, the Lost Republic.

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~ excerpt ~

With hammers and chisels the chains were struck off. Julie swore at the blisters around her ankle. Leigh glanced to both sides of the road, judging how fast he could sprint into the safety of darkness.

Jenny caught his arm. At her glance, he saw archers atop the wall, watching them. He wouldn’t get five steps without being riddled with arrows.

“Where do you come from?” Antoninus Valerius asked the Carleton people.

Chief Steward Bernardi, looking a bit puzzled, said, “We come from—from—many places. We arrived—by sea.”

“It matters little now. You will soon become citizens of the Republic. Obey and prosper.”

Valerius turned his horse around to lead them into the city. France thought of the hanged man at the crossroads.

Obey and prosper. The unspoken counterpart of that advice: Disobey and die.

Slowly, with exhausted limbs and sore feet, the survivors of the S.S. Sir Guy Carleton entered the Eternal City.

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About the Author

Paul B. Thompson is a freelance writer and novelist. He co-wrote sixteen novels in the popular Dragonlance series and has authored nine books for Enslow Publishers, Inc., including a three-book fantasy adventure series The Brightstone Saga. He has published widely in magazines and online. Mr. Thompson lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his family. In his spare time, he builds catapults and antique scientific devices like Leyden jars and Tesla coils.