By the Light of the MoonsI’ve mentioned before that my husband participated in National Novel Writing Month in 2010. It was a tough month for our family but at the end of it he went from an outline to 50,000 closer to his first novel. Now after a year of writing and another year of revisions his first novel By The Light of the Moons is finally available for Kindle. It will be available for Nook and other e-readers in the next few weeks and in paper form in time for Christmas shopping.

While it has been difficult for me to watch my husband achieve something in so short a time that has been a long held dream of mine, I am immensely proud of him. He gave up his lunch break at work every day for months and his evenings and weekends as well. He wrote with a consistency that I have never managed to accomplish. His ideas were fresh and new, even to someone like me who doesn’t read a lot of fantasy (save Naomi Novick’s Temeraire series).

“Nothing in this world was ever supposed to die.”

Adain is haunted by those words. His mother told him it was the oldest legend of their world, Sirith. But he is more consumed with finding ora.

Most people in Sirith have never heard of ora. For those who have, they know it helped win a war, but little else. Adain encountered the mysterious substance years ago and is certain of its power. He desperately wants to extract more of it, but the meric priests have thwarted his every attempt to be a part of the ora economy. When only the king’s approval will suffice, Adain embarks on a journey to prove his worthiness.

Along the way he is joined by his brother Taeric, a soldier who once valued duty above all else, but now only finds solace at the bottom of a mug of ale; the excommunicated meric, Kereth, who always seems to know more than he says aloud; Maive, the beautiful and enigmatic wanderer looking for her home; the woman locals call “The Forest Lady,” who has a tragic past and can see the future in riddles; and a man of a nearly extinct race whose mere presence makes warriors tremble. These unlikely companions travel together, but pursue their own ambitions, as they uncover their interwoven pasts and unearth Sirith’s forgotten history.

If you enjoy fantasy, I would encourage you to check out By The Light of the Moons. I realize that I’m a bit biased, since I was involved in the editing and revision process, but I think that the characters are real and compelling and the plot keeps the readers attention.