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Beneath the Lanterns
No good deed goes unpunished.
The historian Kel Cam enjoyed a pleasant life in Azera, the colorful capital of the Azere Empire. In the dark days, he taught classes at the University. In the bright days, he traveled the wide steppes to visit Blue Order communities, seeking clues about the mysterious, long dead civilization of the Elders in their libraries of ancient texts. However, when his best friend, Lefe Sol, the son of the ruler of Azere, discovers that his father has arranged his marriage to Ren Loh, the fourth daughter of the Empress of Jasmyne, Kel offers to stand by and help Lefe deal with his unexpected, and unwanted, bride-to-be. Kel soon finds himself caught up in the intrigues of empires which not only upset his well ordered life – they lay it to ruin.
Beneath the Lanterns is an old fashioned novel of adventure and travel set in an imaginary land – a land of colorful cities, sweeping steppes, and lush valleys littered with the ruins of a lost advanced civilization. It is a world of sixteen days of day light under the Yellow Lantern and sixteen days of night lit by the Blue Lantern. And across this wide and wild world under the Yellow and Blue Lanterns, Kel Cam finds that he must flee for his freedom, if not his life.
Beneath the Lanterns is C. Litka’s fifth novel. As with all of his novels, this new, stand alone story, features richly drawn and engaging characters, imaginative settings, humor, and lighthearted adventure.
The historian Kel Cam enjoyed a pleasant life in Azera, the colorful capital of the Azere Empire. In the dark days, he taught classes at the University. In the bright days, he traveled the wide steppes to visit Blue Order communities, seeking clues about the mysterious, long dead civilization of the Elders in their libraries of ancient texts. However, when his best friend, Lefe Sol, the son of the ruler of Azere, discovers that his father has arranged his marriage to Ren Loh, the fourth daughter of the Empress of Jasmyne, Kel offers to stand by and help Lefe deal with his unexpected, and unwanted, bride-to-be. Kel soon finds himself caught up in the intrigues of empires which not only upset his well ordered life – they lay it to ruin.
Beneath the Lanterns is an old fashioned novel of adventure and travel set in an imaginary land – a land of colorful cities, sweeping steppes, and lush valleys littered with the ruins of a lost advanced civilization. It is a world of sixteen days of day light under the Yellow Lantern and sixteen days of night lit by the Blue Lantern. And across this wide and wild world under the Yellow and Blue Lanterns, Kel Cam finds that he must flee for his freedom, if not his life.
Beneath the Lanterns is C. Litka’s fifth novel. As with all of his novels, this new, stand alone story, features richly drawn and engaging characters, imaginative settings, humor, and lighthearted adventure.
282 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 13, 2018
About the author
C. Litka
40 books13 followersI write romances. Romances in the old meaning of the word; that meaning being an adventure novel set in exotic locales, remote from everyday life. The fact that I set my stories in the future and in imaginary locales mean that they can be classified as science fiction, but what I really write are first person narratives that feature likable, modern characters, in lighthearted, realistic adventures, told with humor and a bit of that other type of romance as well.
In my teen years I read hundreds of science fiction books and since then many other types of novels; detective and mysteries, humor, adventure, military, sea stories, as well as light literary fiction, many of which were written in the first half of the last century. Having lived a perfectly ordinary and, thankfully, an uneventful life. these are the stories that have shaped the style and themes of my own stories,
I live in a small Wisconsin city. I’ve been married for as long as I can remember, with two grown children and a couple of grandchildren. Besides writing, I paint impressionist landscapes and ride my bike each day, outside when it’s warm and inside during long the Wisconsin winters with the bike on a stand next to a window.
In my teen years I read hundreds of science fiction books and since then many other types of novels; detective and mysteries, humor, adventure, military, sea stories, as well as light literary fiction, many of which were written in the first half of the last century. Having lived a perfectly ordinary and, thankfully, an uneventful life. these are the stories that have shaped the style and themes of my own stories,
I live in a small Wisconsin city. I’ve been married for as long as I can remember, with two grown children and a couple of grandchildren. Besides writing, I paint impressionist landscapes and ride my bike each day, outside when it’s warm and inside during long the Wisconsin winters with the bike on a stand next to a window.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 2, 2023
In Beneath the Lanterns, the readers are introduced to a slightly different world to that of our own. Through prose that could easily place this book among the classics of literary fantasy, we have unique time keeping and the otherworldly feeling that only skies with multiple sources of different colours can achieve. The time is counted in seasons (and because I am bad with numbers, I couldn’t quite figure out what a season amounted to but it made things all the more excotic as opposed to being an element of annoyance), and the sky is a firmament with blue and yellow lanterns, and there are Dark Days and Bright Days. I believe they would work similarly to the polar day and night, but in this case we do not have a cold northernly feel to the atmosphere. In fact, the atmosphere is warm and vibrant and lively.
Amidst the books with all the frantic axe wielding and guts flying, intense magical systems and gods and what-nots, this title delivers a gentle adventure. It’s like an elfish garden of serenity with just enough excitement for the road. Note, there are no elves in this story. This book is not doing anything for the shock factor’s sake, it delivers twists and surprises without making them feel shoehorned and over the top. The conflict of the book is about political means by marriage. It’s about forced duty that one does not want. And it’s about dealing with consequences of wanting to be selfish, free, happy. But! The way it’s delivered feels gentle. Beneath the Lanterns presents a case for a freedom that even women in high places deserve- such as the freedom to marry for love if they so will, the freedom to stand up against the shackles of their society, the freedom to enjoy life, the freedom to look the way they feel comfortable with and the freedom to act ’out of sorts’ or different than what is epxected. And, be positively badass whilst doing so.
What might not work for some readers? The prose. I don’t know what it is that makes readers shun lyrical prose these days. It’s like an insurmountable mountain that masses, looking for quick and easy gratification, are unwilling to climb. But when you get into the prose, when you start to go with the flow, when you give it a chance, the reward is worth it. I wouldn’t say this title is overly descriptive, it is exactly what it advertises itself for – an old fashioned novel of adventure.
For all of the above mentioned, Litka strikes me as a confident author. Confident in what he does and how he wants to tell this story. He doesn’t need to rely on the shock factor to keep the hooks in the reader. For one, I was quite invested. He has given the reader a steady drum of solid scenes which take us from A to B, during which the characters flourish and reveal themselves. I read 100% of Beneath the Lanterns and was left with a satisfied sigh at the end.
Amidst the books with all the frantic axe wielding and guts flying, intense magical systems and gods and what-nots, this title delivers a gentle adventure. It’s like an elfish garden of serenity with just enough excitement for the road. Note, there are no elves in this story. This book is not doing anything for the shock factor’s sake, it delivers twists and surprises without making them feel shoehorned and over the top. The conflict of the book is about political means by marriage. It’s about forced duty that one does not want. And it’s about dealing with consequences of wanting to be selfish, free, happy. But! The way it’s delivered feels gentle. Beneath the Lanterns presents a case for a freedom that even women in high places deserve- such as the freedom to marry for love if they so will, the freedom to stand up against the shackles of their society, the freedom to enjoy life, the freedom to look the way they feel comfortable with and the freedom to act ’out of sorts’ or different than what is epxected. And, be positively badass whilst doing so.
What might not work for some readers? The prose. I don’t know what it is that makes readers shun lyrical prose these days. It’s like an insurmountable mountain that masses, looking for quick and easy gratification, are unwilling to climb. But when you get into the prose, when you start to go with the flow, when you give it a chance, the reward is worth it. I wouldn’t say this title is overly descriptive, it is exactly what it advertises itself for – an old fashioned novel of adventure.
For all of the above mentioned, Litka strikes me as a confident author. Confident in what he does and how he wants to tell this story. He doesn’t need to rely on the shock factor to keep the hooks in the reader. For one, I was quite invested. He has given the reader a steady drum of solid scenes which take us from A to B, during which the characters flourish and reveal themselves. I read 100% of Beneath the Lanterns and was left with a satisfied sigh at the end.
December 17, 2020
There are really only two important characters in this book: scholar Kel Cam and the eccentric Ren Loh. Brought up by her father as one of his Imperial Lancers, Ren is dead set against the marriage her mother has arranged for her. Kel’s friendship with the prospective bridegroom gets him entangled with Ren early in the book, and the rest of the story is about how the two of them work things out while eluding the clutches of those who want to drag Ren back to the politically expedient marriage. Kel is serious and methodical; Ren is an adventurous risk-taker. To escape discovery, the two disguise themselves as caravan guards and later as pilgrims to a mystical city. More than once, Kel hopes he’s seen the last of her, but chance, and eventually loyalty, keep bringing them together. Engaging secondary characters include a dog with personality and a couple of horses.
Well, there is another noteworthy “character,” and that is the world in which the action takes place. The landscapes and urban scenes reminded me of old China, but the long days and nights under the Yellow and Blue Lanterns suggested a different world. Places called Cauldrons, of unstable ground and toxic gases, resemble volcanic features, but not exactly. Remnants of the Elder Civilization are also tantalizing, for example the building material called “poured stone” and the enormously tall Blue Lantern Tower. That’s another thing–the story is full of colour, starting with the two Lanterns. There is a White City, a Green City and communities of something called the Blue Order. I would love to learn more about this world.
As the author’s description says, this is indeed an old-fashioned adventure story, with comradeship, conflict, hard choices, and narrow escapes. It reminded me of movies like High Road to China and Romancing the Stone. I hope a sequel is in the works.
Well, there is another noteworthy “character,” and that is the world in which the action takes place. The landscapes and urban scenes reminded me of old China, but the long days and nights under the Yellow and Blue Lanterns suggested a different world. Places called Cauldrons, of unstable ground and toxic gases, resemble volcanic features, but not exactly. Remnants of the Elder Civilization are also tantalizing, for example the building material called “poured stone” and the enormously tall Blue Lantern Tower. That’s another thing–the story is full of colour, starting with the two Lanterns. There is a White City, a Green City and communities of something called the Blue Order. I would love to learn more about this world.
As the author’s description says, this is indeed an old-fashioned adventure story, with comradeship, conflict, hard choices, and narrow escapes. It reminded me of movies like High Road to China and Romancing the Stone. I hope a sequel is in the works.
Want to Read
March 11, 2024This is not a full review. I read through the beginning of all 300 SPFBO9 contest entries. This was a book I wanted to read more of.
A historian returns home to the Valley of Azera in this richly detailed and imagined, wonderfully written fantasy/sci-fi that wow’d me in no time at all with gorgeous natural descriptions. And it’s FREE!
This is beautiful. I feel myself melting into the rhythmic, descriptive prose. I am completely disarmed. I’ve read little more than a page, but already I feel I could read this all morning.
I feel as if I am just waking up inside the story, softly roused by the tap of our travelers staff and pad of his tread as he makes his way down into the sweeping Valley of Azera, returning home through the warm, stretching twilight shadows.
There is the lake in the valley’s lowest hollow. There the specks that are boats plying between the city and its six, pine-dark pleasure islands.
I am a lover of classics. Of great diction as well as pulp fiction, and everything in between. So far, this reads like the work of any of the greats. It is measured, steady, the world unfolding through the eyes of our knowledgeable viewpoint narrator.
The narrators voice - intellectual, but self-conscious of his tendency to turn a simple story into a lecture - emerges in short order. This has obviously wow’d me.
I don’t know yet where the story is going to go, what conflicts are going to develop, how the dialogue will land, etc, but I feel I would follow this prose anywhere. Time will tell.
Sincerely, go have a look at this opening right now. Heck, the book is FREE on Amazon. Get it! I’m in!
A historian returns home to the Valley of Azera in this richly detailed and imagined, wonderfully written fantasy/sci-fi that wow’d me in no time at all with gorgeous natural descriptions. And it’s FREE!
This is beautiful. I feel myself melting into the rhythmic, descriptive prose. I am completely disarmed. I’ve read little more than a page, but already I feel I could read this all morning.
I feel as if I am just waking up inside the story, softly roused by the tap of our travelers staff and pad of his tread as he makes his way down into the sweeping Valley of Azera, returning home through the warm, stretching twilight shadows.
There is the lake in the valley’s lowest hollow. There the specks that are boats plying between the city and its six, pine-dark pleasure islands.
I am a lover of classics. Of great diction as well as pulp fiction, and everything in between. So far, this reads like the work of any of the greats. It is measured, steady, the world unfolding through the eyes of our knowledgeable viewpoint narrator.
The narrators voice - intellectual, but self-conscious of his tendency to turn a simple story into a lecture - emerges in short order. This has obviously wow’d me.
I don’t know yet where the story is going to go, what conflicts are going to develop, how the dialogue will land, etc, but I feel I would follow this prose anywhere. Time will tell.
Sincerely, go have a look at this opening right now. Heck, the book is FREE on Amazon. Get it! I’m in!
May 19, 2021
Promises much, delivers little.
Did Not Finish
August 6, 2025DNF at 10%. Everything felt pretty surface level to me, and the dialogue was stilted. I don’t think it was horrible, just not something I was going to love.
March 26, 2026
I liked it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews