Eclipsed by Shadow • The Golden Spark • Into the Dark
Ebook editions of “Eclipsed by Shadow,” the award-winning 1st volume of “The Legend of the Great Horse” trilogy, will be available through major outlets on May 1, 2010.
Eclipsed by Shadow, the award-winning 1st volume of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy, will be available through major outlets on May 1, 2010 in the following formats:
– iPad (Apple)
– Kindle (Amazon)
– Sony Reader
– Nook (Barnes & Noble)
Distribution is through the innovative service, Smashwords, which allows readers to sample and download the book in multiple formats.
The horse is prey and never forgets it: his motto is to ‘run away to live another day.’
The horse is prey and never forgets it: his motto is to ‘run away to live another day.’
Horses are built for speed over distance, and with a good headstart he is safe from his natural predators.
The only hole in the equine’s survival program is the time it takes to reach top speed. To solve this problem horses come “fully-loaded” with highly advanced bio-technology to detect predators.
The Super-Human Horse
An equine’s sense of hearing and smell rivals that of a dog, with additions of swiveling ears and a canyon of a nose that sifts the wind with every breath. Their eyesight is much different than our own, featuring extreme motion-detection ability and a field of vision of almost 360 degrees, with only a few blank spots right behind and in front (which is why you never walk up behind a horse, and why jumping is such a challenge).
Equine abilities extend beyond the human experience. A horse’s legs serve as a sounding board to feel ground vibration, and can even recognize a person by their walk. Horses also have an amazing “photographic” memory and are able to see well at night.
Horses don’t see the world as humans see it
As you ride, the horse has mapped out the robin in the hedge 100 yards away, noted a freshly-painted mailbox and the spot where a dog barked seven years ago … even as feels the rumble of a distant train and responds to your cues.
We don’t share the outlook of horses, the same mind or same senses–we hardly share the same world. Yet somehow, implausibly, a close partnership was made … and is still kept.
Photo: Bureau of Land Management / Wikimedia / Public Domain
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Copyright © 2010 John Allen Royce, Jr.
The Golden Spark, Book II of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy, will be published on this Fall 2010.
The eagerly-anticipated sequel to Eclipsed by Shadow continues the historical adventure with a journey through the Renaissance.
The story follows the main character, Meagan Roberts, as she struggles to survive history and find her way home.
A pre-publication edition will be released during the World Equestrian Games (September 25 – October 10, 2010). Review copies and a special pre-publication edition will be available this summer.
The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy is filled with horses galloping through history — but the story is not about horses. It is about us: for it is ourselves we find in horses, for better or worse.
The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy is filled with horses galloping through history — but the story is not only about horses. It is about us.
Horses are strange and fascinating creatures, but it their adaptation to our endeavors that bring them into our world. And of course, it is humans who take the prize for strangeness.
It is humanity that put armies of thundering, gleaming chariots in the service of ancient empires … and we ourselves who built the Circuses of Rome to race those chariots in the madness of the world’s first major spectator sport. We were the ones who decked our mounts with leather, armor and gold, charged them into battle, elevated our partnership into art and were inspired by their beauty and power.
We have been entertained and healed and recreated by the horse … we have shared in his speed and strength. Yet Nature remains Nature, brought higher by our good works or brought to destruction by our brutality; the horse remains a horse, always. It is ourselves we find in horses, for better or worse.
History may be seen as a record of bad ideas improved upon, then forgotten, and relearned again. Mankind has suffered countless dark ages, and it is ourselves who slowly reclaim the good ideas of the past; and then forget why. The horse has been only our silent witness, an innocent participant in man’s follies, waiting patiently for us to learn and remember once more.
Book II of my fiction trilogy about horses and history is being published soon. So why did I write about horses?
The main reason is they teach us about the world, and they’re lots of fun. Here are some reasons I think horses are an interesting subject:
Horses have always been with us
Since Stone Age man first put paint to rock, horses have fascinated and assisted mankind in some capacity: for food, weight-bearing, load-pulling, travel, status, inspiration, therapy, sports, recreation, gambling, war … it’s amazing how many roles the horse has taken.
The horse and our partnership is filled with paradoxes
So much of life isn’t what it seems and horses are no exception. For example:
– A timid prey animal, the horse was history’s most feared engine of war.
– A humble servant, the horse ennobles mankind.
– A century after engines made the horse “obsolete,” there are more horses than ever before.
– Horses can gallop miles with a human on its back and pull tons of weight, but can perish of a missed feeding.
(And they let people ride them!)
Horses haven’t much changed since the Olden Days
Horses have been tamed, but they retain their basic character and instincts. Prehistoric man could have raised a prehistoric colt, put a saddle on him and trained him to gallop and jump. What is the difference between then and now?
It took thousands of years to learn to ride horses (and we seem to have forgotten several times). I wonder why it took so long to figure out … unless we had to change…
The Mom’s Choice Awards® has named Eclipsed by Shadow: The Legend of the Great Horse ~ Book I of III among the best in family-friendly media, products and services.
March 21, 2010 | The Mom’s Choice Awards® has named Eclipsed by Shadow among the best in family-friendly media, products and services.
The Mom’s Choice Awards (MCA) is an awards program that recognizes authors, inventors, companies, parents and others for their efforts in creating quality family-friendly media, products and services.
Parents, educators, librarians and retailers rely on MCA evaluations when selecting quality materials for children and families. The Mom’s Choice Awards® seal helps families and educators navigate the vast array of products and services and make informed decisions.
An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts including Dr. Twila C. Liggett, ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of PBS’s Reading Rainbow, and Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project.
MCA judges are bound by a strict code of ethics which ensures expert and objective analysis free from any manufacturer association. Entries are scored on a number of elements including production quality, design, educational value, entertainment value, originality, appeal and cost. The end result is a list of the best in family-friendly media, products and services that parents and educators can feel confident in using.
For more information on the awards program and the honorees, please visit MomsChoiceAwards.com
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Eclipsed by Shadow is the first book of the new trilogy, The Legend of the Great Horse, an award-winning literary adventure about the colorful role of horses in civilization.
Further information may be found at TheGreatHorse.com
Contact: Robert Hall
Tel. (617) 301-2901
R_Hall@MicronPress.com###
The heroine of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy is resourceful, quick-witted and brave … her name is Meagan Roberts.
The trilogy follows the development of horsemanship in human history, and horses have given the world such rugged male icons as cowboys (and indians), knights in shining armor and cavalry charges, not to mention Ben-Hur. Yet my initial main character “Michael” kept dismounting to let Meagan aboard.
The story concerns a modern-day rider, and it is an unfortunate fact that young men in America today do not dedicate themselves to horsemanship in nearly the numbers that young women do … this comes after the majority of human history depicted horsemanship as a strictly male pursuit. Times change and horsemanship changes with it.
Discovering and writing a female hero was natural enough, as my former experience teaching riders meant coaching battalions of young women for every male. My idea for Meagan is the young college student who stays up all night grooming horses in return for a trailer ride to the next day’s competition. Meagan is the excited young girl whose straight-A report card finally convinces a carpool-weary parent to add one more stop at the stables. She is the shy adolescent whose eyes light up with confidence after a good round, the dependable ingénue who quietly keeps herself and her horses glowing, the serious junior who quietly listens and plans her way to success.
Horseback riding has historically been a respected, even hallowed method of youth development, turning out thoughtful, responsible leaders with empathy and depth of character for millennia. Meagan is a compilation of the qualities that horsemanship imparts: she is resourceful, diligent, fair-minded, and brave, and able to lead while engaging in both teamwork and strategic planning. These heroic qualities are all human virtues to be improved in the sandy classroom of our great teacher: the horse.
