THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT HORSE trilogy | Blog – Page 10 – Eclipsed by Shadow • The Golden Spark • Into the Dark

Canadian artist Marti Adrian to complete the Great Horse series

Promise had grown into glossy youth and looked every inch a thoroughbred. Her slender neck swiveled as she eyed the crowd, velvet nostrils flared. The air around the delicate filly seemed to quiver.―Eclipsed by Shadow

Into the Dark - Book #3 of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy - Bookcover (straight-on, drop shadow) 142px by 203 px

Canadian artist Marti Adrian is soon to complete the Great Horse series with the horses from The Golden Spark!

The popular equine artist painted the special “miniatures” for the 1st and 3rd books of the Legend of the Great Horse trilogy with the plan of finishing–we anticipate new Adrian artwork soon!

The news is an inspiration to launch a series about all the Great Horses from the story … starting with the main horse, Promise, who takes to more than the air with the greatest of ease.

The Great Horse: Promise Promise is the main character Meagan’s horse, born at the beginning of the trilogy as a palomino foal.

She is an American Thoroughbred–a remarkable breed, one with inner fire and superhuman abilities to contain her spirit.

Meagan loved and took care of Promise from her beginnings as an orphan foal, but knew to respect her strength as the filly grew into a mare.

It is only unfortunate such love led Meagan to expect too much from Promise, so she forgot her horsemanship … much to her discomfort.

NYC could honor horses with small “Horse Village” in Central Park

The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy was inspired by man’s partnership with horses … the following is a response to an exceptional challenge to the horse’s place in society today.

Introduction

The NYC carriage horse situation has given me the idea to ask the horse welfare activists to help with a project for the future of horses—by helping reconnect the public with their equestrian roots.

A New Era

The recent move to ban horse carriages in NYC follows a number of controversies involving the place for horses in modern society. The struggle against horse slaughter, the fight to keep free-running mustangs in the American West, and, for me locally, the disbanding of the Boston police horses and detached dismanagement of Suffolk Downs—these issues point to a need for an informed public conversation about horsemanship’s role in the modern era.

This is a conversation for our time. The discussion couldn’t have been had in 1900 when cavalry competitions in Jumping were new and gaining unprecedented popularity with horse-experienced audiences. In the following decades the ‘horse and buggy’ was being replaced by automobiles and made into a cliché of being old-fashioned and obsolete. A conversation about the future of horses wouldn’t have been hopeful in the WWI & II years as 21 million US farm horses were summarily ‘retired’ in favor of tractors and horse cavalries were being disbanded the world over. Even as new recreational forms of horsemanship were growing in the post-war era, it was too soon to see whether popularity would sustain or how the new forms would develop.

Today we have the evidence that human interest in horses goes beyond their use in transportation and war, and valuable experience in how humane forms of horsemanship can continue to benefit mankind. We are at a historic crossroads and, as the challenges to the horse’s presence in society are showing, we need to have that conversation for the good of our horses and future generations.

My proposal is to ask Mayor de Blasio to set aside in perpetuity a quiet 1.5 acre plot in the 840-acre Central Park for a ‘Horse Village’ dedicated to sharing horses with the public.

Continue reading “NYC could honor horses with small “Horse Village” in Central Park”

Eclipsed by Shadow (Book #1) excerpt: The Tournament Knight

This excerpt is from Eclipsed by Shadow, Book #1 of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy, an adventure through history―on horseback.

The scene is set in 1240, Eastern Europe, when Meagan first discovers she is riding with the Mongolian army of Genghis Khan.

“The great art of riding,” the Knight began in a loud voice,
waving his right hand as he spoke “is to keep…”
Here the sentence ended as suddenly as it began,
as the Knight fell heavily on top of his head
exactly in the path where Alice was walking.

– Lewis Carrol (1832-98) Through the Looking Glass

Qualifying rounds took place in the outer fields, where the tilting courts took all comers. It was Henryk’s chance, and Meagan did everything she could to help. Chouchou had never been sleeker and his old saddle had been soaped and oiled into new life. Looking at Henryk sitting on Chouchou, his blond head sticking out from borrowed chain mail that hung in loops, Meagan felt the glow of a horse show mother.

“Here, Henryk,” she said, handing up his shield. “And remember to keep your heels down. That’s why you keep losing your stirrups.” She took a dilapidated lance with peeling paint from where it leaned against a tree.

“Merci, Meagan.” Henryk adjusted the lance so it stood straight in the air, balanced on its stirrup rest.

There was only one thing left to do, and Meagan tried once more to persuade Henryk against it. “Do we have to, Henryk? It just seems so … well, stupid.”

“Tak! Meagan, please the foldblind.”

Meagan looked out over the fields filled with blindfolded horses. There was no barrier between the contestants as there would be in later years of the joust. At this point in history, two knights simply rode their blindfolded mounts together with all possible speed.

“It is just so dangerous, Henryk.” Chouchou scratched his massive head against Meagan as she tied the blindfold over his eyes. “It looks silly, too.”

Eclipsed by Shadow (Book #1 of the trilogy) won national awards including the Eric Hoffer Award for best Young Adult Fiction, and the Mom’s Choice Award for best family-friendly Young Adult Fantasy.

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Links:

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

» Read the 1st Chapter online.

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

» Order Books

Check out the trilogy’s page on Facebook!

INTO THE DARK: paperback published Dec 3rd

Galloping into view … the paperback version of Into the Dark, book #3 of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy is officially being published December 3rd!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Robert Hall
R_Hall@MicronPress.com

Into the Dark, Book III of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy by Award-Winning Author John Royce Releases December 3rd

LOST IN HISTORY: Equestrian heroine gallops home

BOSTON, MA – Nov 27, 2011 | Saddle up for another gallop across history! The paperback edition of Into the Dark, the third and newest installment in award-winning author John Allen Royce’s Legend of the Great Horse trilogy will be released December 3 through Micron Press.

The 280-page book continues the epic equestrian adventures of 17 year-old Meagan Roberts, warned by a mysterious elderly eccentric, named Mrs. Bridgestone, that her beloved filly, Promise, was a legendary Great Horse come to “wing its rider into the dark.” The young equestrienne and her horse find themselves catapulted back through history, relying on little more than Meagan’s intrepid horsemanship to help them survive, as they “jump” ever closer towards home and their own time.

Royce’s first two installments in the trilogy, Eclipsed by Shadow and The Golden Spark, chronicle – with historic and equestrian accuracy – encounters with 20,000 B.C. horse-hunters, 100 A.D. Roman chariot racing, 13th century Mongolian hordes, knights, conquistadors, and courts of the Renaissance. Into the Dark opens with Meagan, separated from Promise, leaving 18th century England just as she learns the secret to finding the filly and awakening in 1860s Texas, where she must continue her search for clues to the Great Horse legend.

The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy has won consistent praise and awards for storytelling interwoven with historic accuracy about peoples and lives of ancient times. The Golden Spark earned the 2012 Written Arts Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy and was a 2011 Independent Publisher Highlighted Title. Royce’s first Great Horse book, Eclipsed by Shadow, won the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Young Adult Fiction and Mom’s Choice Award for Young Adult Fantasy, earning praise from US Review of Books as “Thrilling and intelligent fantasy,” and “Page-turning… a vivid historical tale through the ages,” from the Historical Novel Society.

“I started writing these books from a long-standing desire to share horses with the public, mixed with a feeling of alarm over the loss of history in our society,” says Royce. The genesis of his Great Horses began with an equestrian-targeted television project that, he explains, “Never got off the ground. The story began to ‘take the bit between its teeth’ and become much more than I first imagined. Now I see the story as a way to show the fascinating partnership we have with horses and their deep connection to human history.”

Again illustrated by Great Horse cover artist Marti Adrian, the paperback edition of Into the Dark will be available in time for the holidays for just $16.95 through all major booksellers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

To learn more about the Great Horse trilogy and read the first chapter of Eclipsed by Shadow free, please visit TheGreatHorse.com.

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Media | Self-proclaimed ‘Equinista,’ L.A. Pomeroy, is an award-winning (2011, 2010 AHP Best Freelance Equestrian Journalist Print/Online, 2012 AHP Best Service to the Reader finalist, 2008 AHP Best Feature finalist) photojournalist, digital correspondent, style columnist and publicist specializing in compelling writing with a twist that celebrates the timeless allure of the equestrian lifestyle.

December 3rd – Book #3: INTO THE DARK to be published in paperback

The final volume of the award-winning trilogy, The Legend of the Great Horse, is being released in paperback on December 3, 2013.

Into the Dark brings the historical adventure to triumphant conclusion as hoofbeats thunder into the modern age. The new paperback version is a revised 2nd edition.

The book will be available through bookstores and major online booksellers in the US, and released to international distribution in 2014.

Book I: Riding with Genghis Khan

This excerpt is from Eclipsed by Shadow, Book #1 of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy, an adventure through history―on horseback.

The scene is set in 1240, Eastern Europe, when Meagan first discovers she is riding with the Mongolian army of Genghis Khan.

Hast thou given the horse strength?
Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?
– Holy Bible, Job 39:19-24

Meagan sensed excitement in the camp. An undercurrent ran through the people and the horses pranced nervously. Throwing her saddle pad over Targa, she saw something had been added: an odd-looking pole now hung from a loop of leather on her saddle. Then she saw the sharp point and realized she had been given a spear.

Leaders rode through the lines of horses, each with a string of knives hanging from one arm. Meagan took one and examined it, confused. The others were sliding theirs into belt pouches. It seemed a dangerous place to carry a knife, but she did the same.

Horn answered horn throughout the camps. A rippling change went through the horse nation. The few not yet mounted swung aboard. Meagan’s group moved out. The camp leaders rode ahead, each holding a blazing torch.

The pitch of the horns was changing, signaling back and forth down the black mass of horsemen covering the plain. The tight lines of the nomads were dissolving into chaos, melting and running in streaks. Horses were breaking from easy canters into full gallops. When the call reached Meagan’s group, Targa sprang forward, her legs stretching in exhilaration of the run.

One in a sea of horsemen, Meagan saw buildings of a settlement ahead. Tendrils of smoke rose pale against the clear sky …

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Links:

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

» Read the 1st Chapter online.

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

» Order Books

Check out the trilogy’s page on Facebook!

The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy - book cover images

The End of Cavalry

The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy is an adventure through history―on horseback. Into the Dark (Book #3) was named to the Midwest Book Review Bookwatch and listed as a Highlighted Title by the Independent Book Publishers Associate (IBPA).

In this excerpt, Meagan finds herself on a World War II battlefield during an attack…

Thou shalt be favored above all other creatures, for to thee shall accrue the love of the master of the earth.

—attributed to the Koran

The ground twisted and heaved. A swath of sand lifted and fell to earth in the near distance. Curtains of spray rose in lines from the earth. Aircraft seared the sky, flying low with black trails following, like the rising dust of other marauders from long ago.

In all directions Meagan saw multicolored forms, misshapen and sprawled, but her eyes would not focus, could not comprehend the thousand squirming remains of a massacre. Shapes of animals—both man and horse—lay crushed and struggling, or else staggered blindly across acres of death.

Screaming came from the sky and Meagan instinctively ducked lower as mechanical whines grew and planes dived, releasing packages to detonate in flashes and thunder around her. On the horizon, a line of gray tanks dipped and bobbed over uneven ground as they came. Her thoughts flashed to another battlefield, another time … the chariots were coming…

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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.

Benefits of Horses series on Horse Owner Today

Hyracotherium vasacciensis skeleton, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., USA. - Jeff Kubina / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA 2.0 — *Hyracotherium* (formerly *Eohippus*) skeleton – Jeff Kubina / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA 2.0

I’m beginning an informal series on the benefits of horses to humans … Horse Owner Today magazine has posted the 1st one!

Excerpt

Watching Horses is part of being Human

To say mankind evolved watching horses is simply reporting evidence. Incredibly, the sight of horses is older to humanity than the use of fire … or even tools. Horse-watching by humans predates their even walking upright.