Marilyn Bowen

My name is Marilyn Bowen and I am writing a medieval fantasy saga. The first book, Siblings & Secrets, is being published by Tate Publishing Enterprises LLC and will be in bookstores in late April or early May. This is my first novel and I am very excited that a traditional royalty publisher has accepted it for publication.

To the de la Mysta family sorcery is not a choice. Their arcane abilities are inherited. The knowledge of how to use them is not. Since they live in a kingdom where the use of magic has been banned for over 100 years, acquiring training for their talents is a slow and secretive process. The de la Mysta siblings and their kinsmen are trying to change this state of affairs and the mind-set of the populace against magic. If they are unsuccessful, it is likely the century-old prophecy of the sorcerer, Zarcon, will some to pass.

The Prophecy of of Zarcon

I am Zarcon, a sorcerer from Southrealm, and I have had a vision.

I have seen dark times wrought by the vanity of high clergy in the north. I have seen much yellow sackcloth and heard the screams of auto da fe. I have smelled the burning flesh of mages at the stakes of penance for being born arcane. A century will pass before this madness abates.

Peace will come again, but it will be a false serenity. It will last but a moment. An arrogant wizard seeking to destroy his enemies will fan the flames again and bring back the Knights Inquisitors. The realm will be torn asunder from within and invaded from without. The Horsemen will be loosed with impunity.

Like a spirit from the flames a great sorceress will arise. She will seek to protect her home from the ravages of those wars and will use her limitless power to defend those she loves. Her church and those deemed faithful to it will brand her "witch" and seek her death. She will not bow to them and will find allies in her cause. A man from the south will become her champion. He will take her east to seek asylum and rest.

When the sorceress is revealed so are her kinsmen, among them the king and his confessor. The church will feel its power threatened having crowned a king and ordained a priest heretical under the edict. The clergy will seek to depose them and exterminate their bloodline. To accomplish this, seers will be found in secret and forced to expose all mages. Even sorcerers who ally with the church and deny their birthright will be spared no cruelty. Many will flee the realm and some will go into hiding. The seers will know their fate when their usefulness is finished and will turn to the king for protection. They will find little comfort there. The days will darken further, the sun itself shadowed by smoke from fanatical fires.

Like phoenix from the ashes, the sorceress and her champion will rise to rule the darkness. They will seek to rekindle the light of knowledge in an ignorant realm.

I am Zarcon and I have seen this vision. It will be as it is foretold.

And so the de la Mysta siblings and their allies begin their quest. Their journey unfolds as the saga continues in books 2 and 3, The Two-Headed Snake and A Force Beyond Reckoning.