Synopsis:

Does your heart go bump in the night?

14-year-old Simon Warner isn’t having a very good October. To start with, he drowned, and then the real trouble started. Next thing he knows, he’s back among the living, and face-to-face with a ghoulish-looking man who kidnaps his adopted father. Enter Nathan Tamerlane, a bonafide wizard, and soon Simon is deep in the hidden world of the supernatural, walking among the Freemancers: a secret society of wizards, and the stewards of all magic on Earth. Soon the truth is revealed: Simon’s birth parents are wicked sorcerers who betrayed the Freemancers years ago before going into hiding. Making matters worse, a cruel and xenophobic warlock named Silas Darrow is gathering his followers (some would say worshipers) to lead an assault on the non-magical world. Now, if Simon ever wants to see his adopted father again, he’s going to have to join Darrow’s cult. Easier said than done. All it takes is one moment of weakness, and a powerful evil will infest Simon’s soul forever.

Blurb:

Meet Simon Warner, a fourteen-year-old who drowned. Death was just the beginning. Dying awakens an angry and malevolent force inside Simon–magic, and before he can comprehend his mystical transformation his adopted father is kidnapped during a mysterious fire that destroys their home.

Within hours Simon is violently yanked into the supernatural world, where the real trouble starts: he is the descendent of an evil sorcerer, and the magical community isn’t exactly welcoming of him. Making matters worse, Simon finds himself on a collision course with the forces of the deranged Silas Darrow, a charming yet xenophobic warlock who fears humanity will one day eradicate all magic. In order to protect “his” people, this false messiah intends to strike first.

Magic–it may have saved Simon’s life, but it may have just doomed the world.

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Meet the author:

I’m Clay Held, a refugee from wild world of video game testing, currently a project manager passing my days in the wild (and very flat) plains of Central Illinois. Once upon a time I was the editor for Grassroots Literary Magazine at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where I earned my Bachelors of Arts in Creative Writing. Today I help make sure software ships on time, and at night I’m busy making things up and writing them down.

In my spare time (what is that again?) I like to read and cook and play with my cats and maintain my blog. When the weather is right, I go storm spotting. Illinois is good like that.

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