The Stone

by Bryen O'Riley

Brothers, Etan and Tad, have grown up in comfortable seclusion, protected by their mother. Now adults, their paths will take them away from family, village and each other to be schooled in opposing magical systems and beliefs and steeped in hatred fostered by centuries-long enmity.Tad is sent on a mysterious quest to find the Stone. He has no idea what it is or who to trust. He soon learns that men of untold power, the Quatists, want to destroy the Stone before it can take back its control over the world and that one of the most powerful Quatists that has ever lived, his father, is seeking to destroy him. Tad meets impossible characters who destroy the very fabric of the Science he has always been taught, as he finds himself caught up in a revolt against Quatist rule.Etan is schooled in the mind-bending ways of Quat only to realize that the very men who have mentored him would slaughter him and his family if they knew the significance of his true identity.Tad must find a mythical Stone. Etan must assimilate into the Quatist establishment, to conceal and discover more about his parents. They both must succeed for the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

267 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 11, 2019

About the author

Always with a notebook in hand growing up, everyone insisted that Bryen should become a writer. She refused. She wanted a “real” job— which by her teenaged definition, was a job that required a business suit. So she went on to study International Relations, interned at the Department of State and moved to the District of Columbia (a beautiful old apartment a few streets behind the Capitol) and got an 8 – 5. She even had to ride the metro to work! For a girl from rural Ohio, this was big city life! It didn't take long for the commute, the suit, and the hours to make her wonder what was so terrible about a job which could be done at home in pajamas and Bryen began to reconsider writing.

Her first foray into writing came in 2003 in the form of a screenplay. Several more followed. But while Bryen likes screenplays and movies in general her real love are books. She decided to try her hand at writing fiction.

Hearing that romance is the easiest genre to enter, Bryen started there and had a short story published under a pseudonym. But her favorite genre is fantasy and pretty soon she wanted to create her own worlds and systems of government (put that International Relations degree to some use!).

The Chronicles of Quat is her first fantasy series.