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Maj: Ark of the Ancients
On Asar, history has become myth. Millennia-old experiments have become races of beings with cultures and dreams of their own, and their creators, an advanced race from afar, have birthed myths and legends, abandoned ruins and technologies, and a destiny on which the planet's future balances. A few still walk the planet as gods.
A prophecy speaks of one who will be born, one with the blood needed to reawaken the abandoned technology of the ancient Zemurians who fled the planet in shame long ago. But few have time to contemplate prophecy in a world torn by war, ravaged by a savage despot.
The Panjatai Hegemony rules most of the known world. It wages war with its neighbors, fighting to subdue the wild warriors of the Ferghana Steppe and the tiger men of Oujda, the Ukar'a lizard-men of Thibur and the desert dwellers of Ashmara. The Panjatai ruler's lust for power is complete, but a nightmare haunts his sleep. A nightmare of one who will end his reign. A boy, wielding a Zemurian blade, at the head of an army the likes of which Asar has not seen in three thousand years. The one foretold. The Hegemon will stop at nothing to change the fate he suffers each night in his sleep.
Maj is a simple boy, raised in a mountain village far from everything, on the outskirts of the Hegemony. To those around him he is an outsider: though his da is from Kalmat, his ma was unknown, a foreigner. Trained as a warrior by his da, Zoltan, whose skill with a blade is legendary though the source of that skill a mystery, Maj is caught between forces he cannot control bent on his destruction, his life depending on his companions, his innate gifts, and the guidance of a god.
Fleeing across Asar with death on his heels, Maj must race against time, through deadly jungles and sprawling cities, ancient ruins and vast oceans, searing deserts and dark fortresses, to learn to control his power, discover the legacy of the ancient ones, and fulfill his destiny.
A prophecy speaks of one who will be born, one with the blood needed to reawaken the abandoned technology of the ancient Zemurians who fled the planet in shame long ago. But few have time to contemplate prophecy in a world torn by war, ravaged by a savage despot.
The Panjatai Hegemony rules most of the known world. It wages war with its neighbors, fighting to subdue the wild warriors of the Ferghana Steppe and the tiger men of Oujda, the Ukar'a lizard-men of Thibur and the desert dwellers of Ashmara. The Panjatai ruler's lust for power is complete, but a nightmare haunts his sleep. A nightmare of one who will end his reign. A boy, wielding a Zemurian blade, at the head of an army the likes of which Asar has not seen in three thousand years. The one foretold. The Hegemon will stop at nothing to change the fate he suffers each night in his sleep.
Maj is a simple boy, raised in a mountain village far from everything, on the outskirts of the Hegemony. To those around him he is an outsider: though his da is from Kalmat, his ma was unknown, a foreigner. Trained as a warrior by his da, Zoltan, whose skill with a blade is legendary though the source of that skill a mystery, Maj is caught between forces he cannot control bent on his destruction, his life depending on his companions, his innate gifts, and the guidance of a god.
Fleeing across Asar with death on his heels, Maj must race against time, through deadly jungles and sprawling cities, ancient ruins and vast oceans, searing deserts and dark fortresses, to learn to control his power, discover the legacy of the ancient ones, and fulfill his destiny.
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About the author
J.R. Johnston
1 book2 followersJ.R. Johnston is a writer, anthropologist, teacher, explorer, and doting dad.
He has lived in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, excavated Minoan ruins, found the last speakers of endangered languages in the Amazon and documented their lives, sailed the Caribbean, lived in an itinerant workers hostel in Budapest, volunteered with the elderly in Kyoto and at a Sikh Gurdwara in London, and completed research for two masters degrees while working with the homeless.
He also enjoys coaching his kids soccer teams, gongshi and Zen Aesthetic principles, writing poetry and travel articles, teaching anthropology, worldschooling his kids, climbing mountains, and other stuff.
He has lived in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, excavated Minoan ruins, found the last speakers of endangered languages in the Amazon and documented their lives, sailed the Caribbean, lived in an itinerant workers hostel in Budapest, volunteered with the elderly in Kyoto and at a Sikh Gurdwara in London, and completed research for two masters degrees while working with the homeless.
He also enjoys coaching his kids soccer teams, gongshi and Zen Aesthetic principles, writing poetry and travel articles, teaching anthropology, worldschooling his kids, climbing mountains, and other stuff.
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November 1, 2020
This is an epic fantasy with a dusting of Sci-fi, fitting for readers who like long, inhabitable stories in richly imagined worlds, following characters who you care about, on a journey epic in scope.
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