{"id":2647,"date":"2010-07-06T10:17:34","date_gmt":"2010-07-06T14:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thegreathorse.com\/?p=2647"},"modified":"2016-10-22T11:33:37","modified_gmt":"2016-10-22T15:33:37","slug":"10-do-you-believe-in-legends-dear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/2010\/07\/10-do-you-believe-in-legends-dear\/","title":{"rendered":"#10 – “Do you believe in legends, dear?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following excerpt is from Eclipsed by Shadow<\/strong><\/em>, the award-winning 1st volume of “The Legend of the Great Horse<\/strong>” trilogy.<\/p>\n

Book II: The Golden Spark<\/strong><\/em> will be available Fall 2010.<\/p>\n

\nAfter lunch, Mrs. Bridgestone adjourned to a warm room whose coziness made Jennifer wonder if brandy and cigars would be forthcoming. A low fire burned in an ornate fireplace, below a polished marble mantle inscribed with flowing letters in a foreign language. Dark leather punctuated with brass fasteners covered couches and stools, and framed art of horses filled the walls.<\/p>\n

Beside the door, a pedestal bore a brass sculpture of a bearded, trident-bearing man mounted on a flipper-tailed horse. Meagan stood before it and reached out a finger.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t touch, Meagan,\u201d Jennifer warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, let her, Jennifer. The child won\u2019t hurt it.\u201d Mrs. Bridgestone walked slowly to a pair of facing couches in the center of the room. \u201cThat is a statue of a Hippocampus, dear. They were the mounts of Poseidon, god of the sea. The ancients believed the horse came from the deep ocean wearing the froth of the waves for its mane. Do you like it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, ma\u2019am,\u201d Meagan answered quietly, and walked in wonder to an antique vase set upon a white pedestal. A team of horses charged over the curved surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may touch the vase, dear, it is only a copy. The original is sixth century B. C. Do you see the images of black horses over the red background? It was an early, crude form of vase painting called \u2018black figure.\u2019 Red figures were developed later, but I like the severe lines. Personal taste.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meagan softly agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were interesting people, our forebears the Greeks. That particular vase shows a four-horse chariot called a Quadriga. Chariot racing grew so popular under the Roman Empire that it was considered a form of madness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meagan walked on to an antique globe, hands clasped behind her. Dancing curlicues of fanciful horses adorned its colorful seas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI obtained that piece in Delhi, dear. I have a friend who believes the horse is the only animal to have reached Nirvana. He says Allah placed fear in the horse so that he would remain earthbound, to be an inspiration and guide to mankind. You find religion and early horsemanship very much intertwined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer moved to sit across from the woman. \u201cIt\u2019s very nice to be here, Mrs. Bridgestone, but I am still not sure why. As lovely as this has been … I thought this meeting might be school-related?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you mean education-related, yes. Horses are said to be excellent teachers and only so much can be taught in a classroom.\u201d The woman cleared her throat delicately. \u201cDo you believe in legends, dear?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Copyright \u00a9 2008 John Royce<\/small><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

« \u201cHorse Talk with Mrs. Bridgestone<\/a>\u201d || \u201cA Strange Library<\/a>\u201d »<\/div>\n
\nThe above excerpt is from \u201cHome<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d the 1st section of Eclipsed by Shadow<\/em><\/strong>, and is set in modern-day California. (p. 48 Hbk)<\/em><\/p>\n

The Legend of the Great Horse<\/strong> trilogy is an adventure through history … each section is from a different time period.<\/div>\n

Eclipsed by Shadow<\/strong><\/em> (Book #1 of the trilogy) won national awards<\/a> including the Eric Hoffer Award<\/em> for best Young Adult Fiction, and the Mom’s Choice Award<\/em> for best family-friendly Young Adult Fantasy.<\/p>\n

\n

__________<\/p>\n

Quick Links:<\/strong><\/div>\n

\u00bb See All Excerpts<\/strong><\/a> from The Legend of the Great Horse<\/strong> trilogy.<\/p>\n

\u00bb Read the 1st Chapter online<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00bb Check out Book #2 of the trilogy: The Golden Spark<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00bb See the Media Kit<\/strong><\/a> for more information about the trilogy.<\/p>\n

\"\" Check out the trilogy’s page on Facebook!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf you mean education-related, yes. Horses are said to be excellent teachers and only so much can be taught in a classroom.\u201d The woman cleared her throat delicately. \u201cDo you believe in legends, dear?\u201d —excerpted from Eclipsed by Shadow<\/b> (Book #1 of ‘The Legend of the Great Horse<\/em>’ trilogy (p. 48)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[161],"tags":[118,70,165,164,166],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2647"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14633,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647\/revisions\/14633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}