The Black River Chronicles Series

It is a Time of Legends It is a Time for Heroes It is Time for Last Stands To speak of a time before the Summer of Fire, a time truly before the cacophony of events that chose to confluence in those short months, is to speak of a time more than four hundred years gone by. Very few have a genuine understanding of what lead to the time known as the Summer of Fire, of the rising powers that had grown with the patience of mountains, over centuries. Only in looking back could scholars completely understand the full scale of events that preceded it. It is particularly difficult to distinguish what came 'before', as this is a relative term. Each individual will have a point in time that they consider to be the time 'before', after which their life will have irrevocably changed. General consensus suggests that by 1099 AC it was already too late. But for some, it started long before that. For some of them will live, some of them will die, and some of them will last forever.

The Summer of Fire has burned away. The younger gods and their champion have defeated Krynok the Hunter, General Salamander has been destroyed, and slowly Tartaria is reuniting to heal the Clans and the land. The world has been left dazed and flattened, trying to pick up the pieces. Those who survived find themselves standing amongst the ruins with empty hearts, waiting for faces they will never see again. It has not occurred to many that this might be the greatest challenge of all. For once the glorious struggles of the Summer are over, they will have to find their way through the Winter That Follows.

Any who believe the Freetown Bridge to be a monument to freedom have sadly misjudged the dark intent of the Frisian Inquisition. Thousands of slaves have been snatched to help with its construction, and the fears of its purpose are building across the continent. Shrouded in mystery and heavily guarded, the Bridge nears completion. A small group of adventurers from the renegade City State of Aberddu seek to join those who would destroy it. A ragtag gang of mercenaries, priests and greenskins, they prepare to stand up to the might of the Red Inquisition. But is the enemy closer than they realized?

Mulligan is not the best thief in Aberddu, but he is a man with a plan. After he finds Min and her friends scraping a living on the streets of the Poor Quarter, he knows he's going to be quids in. Together, Mulligan and the girls build up a rock-solid ruse. As the Fortescues, they hold the key to the homes of the city's great, good and filthy rich. It seems like the perfect scheme - if Mulligan can avoid getting married off - but nothing this good can last forever. The game they are playing is more complex than they first suppose, and soon enough they are plagued by enemies harder to run from than the militia. Greed, resentment and disloyalty take their toll on the gang. With Min and Mulligan enjoying the high life and Angel disappearing for hours at a time, it seems like they might spoil things for themselves before anybody else has a chance to rumble their little ploy. As four street kids and a con-man take on Aberddu's aristocracy, who exactly is playing whom... and will anybody come up smelling of roses?

Five years have passed since the Summer of Fire, and the downfall of General Salamander. The outside world has begun to heal, but inside Tartaria, where brother fought brother and whole clans were wiped out, the wounds still run deep and raw. Fear and suspicion have made rebuilding hard, and rumours of a new threat rising in the shadows of the steppe have reached Aberddu. Once again, the Aberddu Adventurers Guild find themselves heading to Tartaria. This time they are in the company of two powerful but eccentric wizards, ostensibly engaged in an attempt to expand the continental portal network.  Cosseted and used to their own way, the wizards have little first-hand experience of the world outside the walls of the Mages Guild, and have much to learn about life in the war-torn shell of a once-great nation. The adventurers will have to teach them that there is more to be feared than bad manners, fisticuffs, and unsatisfactory bathroom arrangements as they travel together down the Fireborn Road.

The first three books in L.G. Surgeson's 'Black River Chronicles', a series of fantasy novels, now available in one volume! Summer of Fire: To speak of a time before the Summer of Fire is to speak of a time more than four hundred years gone by. Very few have a genuine understanding of what lead to the time known as the Summer of Fire, of the rising powers that had grown with the patience of mountains. Only in looking back could scholars completely understand the full scale of events that preceded it. It is particularly difficult to distinguish what came 'before', as this is a relative term. Each individual will have a point in time that they consider to be the time 'before', after which their life will have irrevocably changed. General consensus suggests that by 1099 AC it was already too late. But for some, it started long before that. For some of them will live, some of them will die, and some of them will last forever. The Winter That Follows: The Summer of Fire has burned away. The younger gods and their champion have defeated Krynok the Hunter, General Salamander has been destroyed, and slowly Tartaria is reuniting to heal the Clans and the land. Those who survived find themselves standing amongst the ruins with empty hearts, waiting for faces they will never see again. It has not occurred to many that this might be the greatest challenge of all. For once the glorious struggles of the Summer are over, they will have to find their way through the Winter That Follows. The Freetown Bridge: Any who believe the Freetown Bridge to be a monument to freedom have sadly misjudged the dark intent of the Frisian Inquisition. Thousands of slaves have been snatched to help with its construction, and the fears of its purpose are building across the continent. Shrouded in mystery and heavily guarded, the Bridge nears completion. Unable to stop themselves, a small group of adventurers from Aberddu seek to join those who would destroy it. A ragtag gang of mercenaries, priests and greenskins prepare to stand up to the might of the Red Inquisition, before they discover that the enemy is closer than they realised.