John Royce – Page 22 – THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT HORSE trilogy

Publication of Book III: Into the Dark

Into the Dark ($19.95, hardback) is just out today, and is currently available through major retailers (by ordering) or through online booksellers …

Book III: Into the Dark | The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy (bookcover)

Here’s the new bookcover for Book III: Into the Dark!

Each of the original ‘Great Horse’ characters were created by artist Marti Adrian, and are placed around the central figure to correspond to the story’s chronology. The text layout was created by Carolynne Smith of Pixelgraphix. Cool, huh!

Into the Dark ($19.95, hardback) is just out today, and is currently available through major retailers (by ordering) or through online booksellers … the major ones being:

» Into the Dark on Barnes & Noble.com

» Into the Dark on Amazon.com

Amazon has a delay listed for shipping … the book shows full availability on Barnes & Noble.

The Great Horse, Rafi

The Great Horse, Rafi “Meagan found herself growing angry; no one seemed to know how to care for the animal properly. She wanted to brush the horse’s unkempt coat, to oil his cracked hooves. Her eyes fell to a plaque. It was a metal sign with raised letters, fixed to a podium before the plexiglass stage…” – Into the Dark (excerpt)

The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy is an adventure through history―on horseback. Into the Dark (Book #3 of the Legend of the Great Horse trilogy) was honored as a Bookwatch Selection for Young Adult Fantasy.

In this excerpt, Meagan has stumbled into a strange, horseless world …

“God forbid I should go to a Heaven where there are no horses.”

—R.B. Cunningham-Graham (1852-1936)

Meagan ignored the speech around her as she moved through the audience. She could see the top of a clear plexiglass wall above the heads of the crowd, but it wasn’t until moving closer that she saw it encircled a platform of artificial turf—upon which stood a living horse.

“Look!” hooted a spectator. “How would you like to clean up after that, honey?”

“I want to pet it!”

“No dear. It’s cruel to them.”

The manure had not been cleaned from underneath the horse, and there were no water buckets or haynets visible. The animal’s smooth gray coat had lumps of scurf from poor grooming and his halter was fitted too tight. Meagan recognized the horse’s Arabian breed by the dished profile of his diamond head and the long tail which draped from his level croup. The animal’s muzzle narrowed to a mouth that could almost “fit in a teacup.” Dark, expressive eyes turned their faraway gaze to Meagan. The Great Horse, Rafi.

The gray stallion was held between handlers in upbeat yellow shirts, standing before a small crowd of helpers wearing matching green Animal Hero t-shirts. Meagan found herself growing angry; no one seemed to know how to care for the animal properly. She wanted to brush the horse’s unkempt coat, to oil his cracked hooves.

Her eyes fell to a plaque. It was a metal sign with raised letters, fixed to a podium before the plexiglass stage…

__________

Quick Links:

» See All Excerpts from The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy.

» Read the 1st Chapter online.

» Check out Reviews for the trilogy.

» See the Media Kit for more information about the trilogy.

“To Fly without Wings”

Into the Dark - bookcover image of Stroller “The stadium erupted in cheers when the pony trotted out before the crowd. Programs fluttered onto the arena floor as the crowd’s appreciation drowned the loudspeakers’ sound. The pony looked around the filled stadium, seeming not to understand what all the fuss was about.” – Into the Dark (excerpt) Book #3 of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy

In this excerpt, Meagan is coming close to her time … and finds herself at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

When God created the horse,
He said to His new creation:
“Oh, Horse, I have made thee as no other.
Thou shalt fly without wings
and conquer without swords.”

—attributed to the Koran

Excitement rippled through the in-gate. Every head was turned to the entry corridor, watching a young woman in a black hunt cap. Her small, pale face could barely be seen over the spectators. As she glided forward, her horse’s tiny dark ears became visible. Meagan, standing beside the in-gate, saw the girl was not riding a horse at all, but a pony. The saddle pad bore the flag of Great Britain. These were the Individual Show Jumping medalists.

“De Gran Bretaña, Marion Coakes y—Stroller!”

Meagan knew of this pony, a famous jumper of the twentieth century. He was Marion Coakes’ childhood mount, a pony talented enough to outjump every full-sized horse in the world on one occasion or another. Something else Meagan remembered: Stroller’s tail had been in constant danger of being plucked bare by souvenir seekers …

There was doubt the brave pony could handle the huge fences, but Marion and Stroller were simply too popular with the public to leave off the Jumping team for Great Britain.

Proving doubts wrong, the pair had won the Silver medal, putting in one of only two clean rounds of the entire competition. This insured a spot in the British line-up for the final event of the 1968 Games now in progress: the Team Jumping.

The stadium erupted in cheers when the pony trotted out before the crowd. Programs fluttered onto the arena floor as the crowd’s appreciation drowned the loudspeakers’ sound. The pony looked around the filled stadium, seeming not to understand what all the fuss was about.

Perhaps his eye stopped on Meagan before he walked on … perhaps it was only her imagination. Not since her Mongolian mount Targa had she known a Great Pony. “Good luck,” she whispered.

__________

Quick Links:

» See All Excerpts from The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy.

» Read the 1st Chapter online.

» Check out Reviews for the trilogy.

» See the Media Kit for more information about the trilogy.

Into the Dark (Book #3): Encountering the reality of history

Into the Dark (bookcover) WWII cavalry horse Cavalrymen knew the situation: there were no waves of doomed galloping charges against superior weaponry as enemy propaganda claimed. However in countries such as Poland in the early days of WWII, there was no time to adapt, and tragic scenes of onslaught–metal against blood–gave mankind’s insensate use of horses in battle its final tragic setting. – Into the Dark: The Legend of the Great Horse (Book #3)

Into the Dark (bookcover) WWII cavalry horse
This bookcover image by Marti Adrian Gregory is perhaps the most difficult horse character of Into the Dark.

It is of a cavalry horse wounded on a WWII battlefield.

Horses on this battlefield probably did not suffer more than on others, but the ultimate folly of war was shown most clearly—and further folly too—as our ancient partner fell to man-made machines.

In the early 20th Century, the bright hope of liberating humanity from the tyranny of fanaticism, corrupt wealth and war was darkened by those same forces … in this era technological change swept away the last major remnants of mounted cavalry.

Horses were already being replaced by motorized horsepower when war came … the saying that ‘Generals always fight the last war’ was tragically played out as mounted units and draft animals mingled with tanks, artillery fire and aircraft.

Cavalrymen knew the situation: there were no massive waves of doomed galloping charges against superior weaponry as enemy propaganda claimed. However in countries such as Poland in the early days of WWII, there was no time to adapt, and tragic scenes of onslaught–metal against blood–gave mankind’s insensate use of horses in battle its final tragic setting.

The last part of “Into the Dark enters a recent historic change that seems to be already blended in memory with ages past; we are careless with our history. The scene is only three short pages, included because it was a turning point in the modern world that should not be forgotten.

Into the Dark (Book #3 of The Legend of the Great Horse) is to be published on July 20th, 2012 … the book’s new cover images and excerpts from the book will be shared in the run-up to the launch date…