Justin’s Comments (group member since Aug 19, 2015)

Justin’s comments from the Twilight of the Faerie - Official Group group.

Hello all, I am proud to announce that the second volume of the dark fantasy saga "Twilight of the Faerie" is due for imminant publication by Ionic Books!

Available for pre-order now at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019... and due for release on February 26th!

Set in the war-torn lands of the Fae, "Volume 2: Summer" follows the ongoing struggles noble Sidhe prince Elhart and the stalwart half-blooded farmgirl Rowan as they fight against time to bring together the scheming Faerie courts. Can these ancient families, so long set at each other's throats, put their age-long battles aside and turn their attentions to the deadly, nightmarish new threat that endangers the very world of human dreaming?

Written by horror novelist Justin MacCormack, author of the bestselling "Return to 'Return to Oz'" and "Diary of a gay teenage zombie", "Twilight of the Faerie" is a dark fantasy epic that merges contemporary young adult genres, vibrant characters and break-neck adventure to create a surreal, evocative exprience that is both dream-like and nightmarish.

Set a date on your diary for the online release of the second volume of the dark fantasy saga "Twilight of the Faerie" with our Facebook event at https://www.facebook.com/events/11893... or on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/...

"With her brother imprisoned for a crime he did not commit and facing execution in three days, it falls to Radiance, eldest daughter of the proud and noble Fiore family, to find the strength to resist the challenges that threaten not just her family, but all of the Faerie kingdoms.

But time is running short, and although love has been found between them, the star-crossed couple Rowan and Niamh struggle to find an aging Satyr who can lead them to the only person in the enchanted lands who knows the terrible secret behind the invading force that threatens to crush the very life of the dreaming itself.

Will they be able to enlist the aid of the mysterious Pale Lady, matriarch of the suspicious and mistrusting Winter Court? Or will they be helpless as the great capital city of Meridian falls to a threat far darker than any could ever imagine?

Following on from volume 1: Spring (already available at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z...), this second volume brings more excitement, more adventure, more danger and more thrills in this dark world of dreams and nightmares."

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Searching for 'like' button for fan artwork... :D

TWILIGHT OF THE FAERIE
Available Now!
Follow us on Facebook, at https://www.facebook.com/Twilightofth...

"A powerful, hard-hitting saga... Utterly exciting!" - "The best fantasy action since 'Game of Thrones'!"
TWILIGHT OF THE FAERIE - BOOK 1: SPRING
Grab Your Copy Today!
http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Faerie...

Dwelling in a land built from mortal dreams and fueled by magic, the Faeries are a race born of mists. Within their world, their courts are caught in an eternal cycle of war, as each season struggles for supremacy.
Elhart Fiore is no stranger to misery, or blood, and of death. Born of the ruling Spring court, he cut his way to notoriety in the brutal war against the forces of Winter while still only a boy. Now, he faces his greatest trial ever, as he is thrust into a war against the greatest enemies that the realm of the Faerie has ever faced, as a nightmarish enemy from beyond the dawn-time claw their way across the land, threatening to destroy all with their corrosive touch.
Can he unite the courts to fight off the threat to the very nature of dreams itself? Or is the age of the Faeries finally at its twilight?

From the pen of bestselling horror author Justin MacCormack, creator of the bestseller "Return to 'Return to Oz'" and the award-winning "Diary of a gay teenage zombie".
Book One: Spring, is the first in the Twilight of the Faerie series - a gritty, dark fantasy saga of courage, magic, hope, intrigue and betrayal.

Grab Your Copy Today!
http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Faerie...

Hi Garry, was great to run into you at FFFest last year. Megan, this book has a lot of horror moments as well - what are dreams without a bit of nightmare mixed in? I'd love to read some of yours sometime though!

(This is a little short story, made about a year ago. It shows a much darker, more primal impression of the faerie folk than is commonly seen in contemporary society, far more in accordance with their mythological origins. It served as the piece that I based much of 'Twilight of the Faerie' upon, going so far as to adapt the prologue of the first book from this tale. Consider this a free serving - Enjoy!)



"Thorns"
by Justin MacCormack


He ran.

Gasping for air in heavy, ragged wheezes, he ran through the undergrowth. His arms, slender and as smooth as moonlight, tried desperately to push the branches away, but they would not give.

He pushed his way onwards, his chest heaving, struggling to draw in enough air, his mouth expelling thick plumes of steam. His bare feet pounded hard against the ground, each footstep causing the snow beneath him to crunch.

He tried to resist the urge to turn to look behind him, to see how close they were. But he knew that if he did, it would only slow him down. If he wasn’t looking where he was going, especially this deep in the thicket, he could trip. Fall. And that would be the end.

He ran.

The branches broke sharply against his body as he charged his way through them. They were thick, he realised. They would only slow him down. The thorns ripped against his clothes, cutting deep gashes in the fabric, drawing forth his blood.

Small droplets of the red of his blood echoed a trail on the snow in his wake, and he ran onwards, deeper into the thicket. The thorns cut into his flesh, as he tried to push his way through the thicket, and he felt the pain sharp enough to bring tears to his eyes, were they not already drenched with panic. He clasped his hands around the branches, forcing them back so that he could push just a few inches onwards.

He could hear them now. They bayed behind him. Their voices guttural, rasping, howling. Maniac voices that sounded less like the cries of a pursuer and more like the ruptured squeals of the howling dead. The cries grew louder.

The leather of his shirt tore at his shoulder, ripping the material away and he felt the cold air against his shoulder. He barely gave the sharp frostbitten cry any attention. His feet, he realised, were bleeding; he must have cut them somewhere during the pursuit. That would leave a trail. They would find him.

He knew that he wouldn’t be able to escape.

He ran.

Ducking his body down, trying to keep his already short frame as close to the ground as he could, he pushed onwards, his bare arms slicing their way through the branches. He scrambled against the bark of the trees, leaping and diving his way over each upturned root that he caught sight of through his blurred eyes. The snow in the air stung his face, leaving quicksilver beads in his mess of hair.

Their crying was getting louder.

His breath caught in his throat, and he realised that he couldn’t hear himself breathing anymore, the baying of his predators drowned it out. There was no path up ahead, no road to run on, no easy way home. The undergrowth roomed up around him as he ran, thick and brutal and cutting.

Agony filled him. Not simply in his body, he realised, but deeper. The ache of the thorns seemed to fill him, drive his entire being. That was when he realised that there was nowhere further to run.

That he was lost.

The bracken eased into a small clearing, and with a final push he stumbled from the undergrowth, his once-smooth skin painted with crimson and sweat and snow. He took one more step, his energy draining from him, his breaths escaping him with the same aching inevitability as his loss of hope. He took another step, then another, and finally collapsed.

Then they were upon him.

The howling filled his ears, cries of glory and victory and terror. He felt the ground tremble as they closed in, and then a pair of thickly muscled hands grabbed his bleeding shoulder.

With a cry, he was pulled upright, jerked roughly onto his knees. One of them, tall and as thick as a wall, stood to his left; another, equally large and his flesh etched with scars was on his right. Both grasped his shoulder, holding him in place. He didn’t have the strength left to resist, it lay ripped from him on the thorns of the undergrowth.

The third strode over, his body large and powerful, muscles tightly packed. He didn’t have the strength to look up at the third, but he knew who it was. The third one was the tallest, the most brutal, and the cruellest. The third’s skin was a murky blue, and dressed only in the tattered brown leather that made him realise that his own clothes were now cut to ruin. Their stitching was rough and course.

The third cupped his face in a hand the size of the man’s chest, and yanked his gaze upwards. He saw, upon the heads of the towering mammoth creatures surrounding him, slick red leather skullcaps, wet and tight to their skin. He realised that no, the creatures were not extremely tall, they were no greater in height than himself – they were simply broad, thick with muscle. Their flesh was etched with scars and tattoos of an unknown fashion, in hues of red and orange. They all wore pieces of jewellery, fashioned from thin strips of rope and leather, and he realised to his horror that the arm that clutched his face held a bracelet knit from the teeth of what could only be children.

His eyes were forced to meet those of his predator. Behind the third, two others strode into the clearing. He realised that it had been foolish to try to run from them.

“Pathetic” said the third. “Tried to run through the Hedge.”

A ripple of laughter passed between the five creatures. The third let go of his prays head, which dropped down weakly to hang between his shoulders. The third looked down at him with unrepentant disgust. “Bet it’s cut everything from you, hasn’t it?”

He tried to look up. Something about that made sense to him. Something about those words, it was almost as if it brought something to his memory.

That was when he realised that he couldn’t remember why he had run into the undergrowth in the first place.

The towering, blue-skinned creature smiled, the thick cords of his neck straining as if to restrain his bloodlust. “Poor bastard,” he growled, “I bet you can’t even remember your own name.”

A shock of panic rose inside him. He hadn’t noticed this, he hadn’t had the chance to stop and think. The creature was right. The realisation flooded through him; he couldn’t remember his name. He couldn’t remember who he was. He couldn’t remember what he had been doing. He didn’t know who these creatures were, or why he had been so desperate to get away from them that he had fled into the undergrowth.

His body began to shudder, his muscles heaving with powerful, resonating shivers. The only thing he was certain of was that he had left every memory, every moment of his life before this moment, on the barbs of those thorns.

The creature snorted, derisively. He reached his powerful hand up, and slipped the red leather cap from his head. It left a slick visceral mess in its wake. The creature turned to his companion, “Finish it.”

One of the creatures moved up beside him, and pulled a hefty silver blade from his scabbard. Shaking, trembling in the snow, he barely even noticed or cared as the creatures that surrounded him slit his throat. He looked down, his eyes starting to fade as he watched his blood trail down, splashing first onto the creature’s red leather cap, and then pool into the frost-etched snow. He crumpled to the ground, as the creatures took turns to slick their skullcaps in his thick blood, but all he could look at was the white of the snow.

From the upcomming fantasy saga "Twilight of the Faerie"

Get to know... Niamh

Born as one of three identical sisters, Nimue carries with her the mark of sadness. As a frost fae, she is native to the Winter Court. For the longest time, her court held dominance over the lands of Faerie, ruling with a chill and frostbitten hand. A keen reader, the quiet and unassuming Niamh’s whispering voice hides a powerful skill with the magical arts. Now, though, the forces of Spring have cast off the cold throne of Winter, and Niamh and her sisters are left scarred with the knowledge of their defeat. Hated by many across the lands, Niamh finds herself tasked with a task of vital importance by the ruler of the defeated Winter Court, the Pale Lady herself – a task which is not only of great importance for the court, but for the fate of all of the lands of Faerie itself.

From the upcomming fantasy saga "Twilight of the Faerie"

Get to know... Parthas

Advisor to the noble Fiore family, Parthas has seen much and experienced it readily. A satyr by birth, his youth was a dizzy and intoxicating blend of fine wines, hot nights filled with bonfires and dances, and the love of many partners. Those days are behind him now, though, and age has tempered the satyr’s fiery heart. But as the advisor to Lord Altus Fiore, newly-crowned ruler of the lands of Faerie, Parthas finds his fealty thrown into a new nest of challenges. For years he has been teacher to the Fiore children, with Elhart in particular looking to the aging satyr as an uncle figure. But Parthas is not as innocent or as doddering as he may seem. Beneath the surface, he is a skilled mage and a calculating politician, capable of the most cunning of manipulation. Now, though, he finds his loyalties tested to their limits as he is forced to persevere the darkest threats he could possibly imagine.

Great to meet you Wade, hope you find a lot to enjoy! SL, your blog is awesome and it's great to have you here!

From the upcomming fantasy saga "Twilight of the Faerie"

Get to know... Rowan

Born to two different types of fae, Rowan has always known that she was a half-breed. She can’t exactly hide it, as her heritage has left her marked with blue tattoo-like marks across her body – and even if she could hide them, the other children wasted no time in letting her know, regularly, that she was an outsider. Rowan’s birth parents died during the war to overthrow the forces of Winter when she was too young to remember them. Raised by her grandfather, a powerful and honourable troll who worked as a blacksmith in the small farming village of Hemm’s Rest, Rowan grew up with little experience of the outside world. Always fascinated with the promise and mystery that awaited her in the greater lands of Faerie, Rowan dreams of one day experiencing all that there is to do and see.

From the upcomming fantasy saga "Twilight of the Faerie"

Get to know... Elhart Fiore

Born of a noble fae family, Elhart Fiore is the youngest son of Lord Altus Fiore, patriarch of House Fiore, known throughout the kingdom of Faerie as the house of flowers. From a large family including four brothers and sisters, Elhart was always seen as the hot-headed upstart of the family and, when he was given the chance to fight in the Spring Court’s army against the forces of Winter, he jumped at the chance. Eventually he earned considerable recognition for his valour at arms, but at a great cost. Haunted by the treacherous murder of his mother, Elhart has struggles to contain both his grief and his latent anger – anger which, when he loses control, seems to seethe out from his very body. Can he ever come to terms with his anger and become the noble ruler he was born to be?

And this little thread here, we can use to discuss the books. The setting, the characters, the events, talk about it all here.
But, rules being as they are, no discussing any of the many, many spoilers throughout the series. Hard to do I know, with so many characters who die horribly and all that...

And this little thread here, we can use to discuss the books. The setting, the characters, the events, talk about it all here.
And best of all, this thread is totally cool for spoilers. Like, you remember that bit where you-know-who totally killed the other guy, but you couldn't tell anyone? Now you can!

So hey, let's get this all rolling. Post here to say who you are, what you like, how you stumbled across this little group, but not any spoilers for the books, shhh!