Series: Immortal Treachery #1
Publication date: January 2nd, 2013
Synopsis:
TARMUN VYKERS
His awestruck opponents call him The Reaper, an iron-willed man with no memory of his past, a ruthless champion who has risen to the level of death incarnate.
But The Reaper has collected a legion of enemies as he cut a bloody swath through the greatest of heroes and villains. And these dogs have finally had their day, exacting a revenge both cruel and creative.
Wandering lost, horribly disfigured and unable to fight, Vykers stumbles across the ones of a half-buried skeleton that can transform his ruined body in an inconceivable way. But first he must make a devil's pact with...
ARUNE
A secretive, ghostly sorceress with ambitions of her own. If Vykers wants to wield a sword again, he must surrender to Arune that which he holds most dear. But can he trust this ethereal enchantress to hold up her end of their dangerous bargain?
Vykers has few good choices, and he must make them quickly, for an impossibly talented and savage wizard has arisen to threaten all of humanity...
THE END OF ALL THINGS
Once an autistic boy hardly able to speak, The End has evolved into a supernatural terror bent on extinguishing all life. A fearsome and unequaled tactician, The End is the only person who doesn't fear "The Reaper."
To have any hope of defeating this bloodthirsty mage, Vykers must gather the strangest, most dangerous cohort of killers ever assembled. Then he must seek out the only weapon that can defeat this terrible adversary...
THE EPIC BATTLE
Behold the greatest clash of men, monsters, and Fey that the kingdom has ever known. Vykers, at the head of his outnumbered contingent, launches a desperate attack against The End, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
But The End is a creature worthy of his name. He has forged a secret weapon, a wicked and terrible instrument that will break through Vykers' defenses and exact a devastating toll.
Only one thing is certain, this extraordinary battle will end in a way that no one could have predicted.
Series: Immortal Treachery #2
Publication date: December 27th, 2013
Synopsis:
Three years have passed since Tarmun Vykers' victory over the man sorcerer who called himself the End-of-All-Things. But they've been three long years, confined to a sick bed with a grievous wound that will not heal, cannot be healed by any means known to man. And then something unthinkable happens, and Vykers is summoned once again to save the kingdom.
This same mysterious event ensnares Long Pete and his companions, reuniting them for a mission whose consequences none can anticipate and not all will survive. Will Vykers master his wound, or will it finally end him? Can Long Pete serve both his Queen and his family? And what of the A'Shea, Aoife, who finds herself torn between her faith and her powerful attraction to the Reaper? In a world in which the gods play with the fates of men as mischievous boys torture insects, nothing but strife is certain.
Series: Immortal Treachery #3
Publication date: July 18th, 2015
Synopsis:
Betrayed by his closest friend, someone who has also stolen his most precious possession, Tarmun Vykers wants revenge.
Kittins wants revenge, too, against the all-powerful Queen, who's been manipulating and dictating his every move for far too long, to devastating effect.
Long Pete wants revenge against the slavers who murdered his wife and even now hold his only child captive.
And many others too numerous to count want revenge as well, for slights both real and imagined.
One thing is certain: punishment is coming.
Follow the Reaper again, as he fights through the worst winter in ages to deal out revenge that leaves his victims corpse cold.
The Abject God by Allan Batchelder
Series: Immortal Treachery #4
Publication date: December 22nd, 2016
Synopsis:
Vykers once killed some of the Emperor's soldiers; now, the Emperor has crossed the sea with all his legions to exact a revenge that will impact not only the Reaper, but Kittins, Spirk, Eoman, and even the Virgin Queen herself. Meanwhile, pieces to the puzzle of Vykers' origins begin to fall into place, revealing people and purposes both unexpected and heretofore unimaginable. And then there is the long-suffering Long Pete, who must now contend with an utterly reshaped reality that threatens his very existence.
Series: Immortal Treachery #5
Publication date: October 30th, 2019
Synopsis:
Tarmun Vykers, the Reapers, has battled his way across time and two continents, toppling kingdoms and empires alike and killing untold thousands in the process. And he has never really known why.
But he's about to find out.
And with this new knowledge must come a reckoning--with the Queen, who has manipulated Vykers every step of the way, with the Emperor, who would take what is rightfully the Reaper's, and even with the gods themselves.
It is time for the Reaper to do what he does best.
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Steel, Blood & Fire Book Trailer
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Excerpt from Steel, Blood & Fire
Long Pete was a gigolo. He had been a lousy farmer, an inept fisherman, a hopeless blacksmith's apprentice and a middling soldier. In the dearth of men after the wars, he became very popular with the local womenfolk. Well, perhaps "very popular" was overdoing it. He became necessary, and that was good enough for him. That he could pleasure himself and a woman and make money at the same time was more than he had ever hoped for. Still, he couldn't escape the feeling that he ought to be doing something, when he wasn't doing someone. And the other men in town weren't exactly fond of him. What he wanted--what he needed--was a higher calling, some way to earn their respect and eternal gratitude. There had once been a statue in the town square, some honorable so-and-so, but the locals had been forced to smelt it down for swords, armor and arrowheads during the war. But they couldn't do that to the statue Long Pete hoped to have someday, if it were made of marble.
"Ho there, Peter!" Long Pete was shaken from his daydream by the voice of his too-constant companion, Janks. At his side was their friend, Short Pete, wheeling himself along in his specially made cart. Short Pete, whose real name was "Frayne," had lost both legs in battle, but not his sense of humor. If Long Pete was somewhat vain, the existence of a Short Pete would surely temper him.
"Shall we make merry this morning?" Janks bellowed.
"I'm a bit the worse for wear after last night's... celebrations, and I've work to do later."
"Work, is it? Work! I should be so lucky!" Short Pete replied. The fact was that, while Long Pete was tall and somewhat chicken-like, and Janks resembled nothing so much as a pig, Short Pete would have been a fine specimen, indeed, if not for the lack of legs.
"Lucky? I'd trade it all in a heartbeat for a title and a piece of land. Some of these women are impossibly demanding. The great Mahnus himself couldn't please them."
"Well, they do say he had two peckers." Janks offered.
"I'd rather have kept that image out of my head all day" said Short Pete. "But you couldn't work a bit of land to save yourself."
"I didn't say anything about working it. I just want a buffer to keep the riffraff out."
"But you are the riffraff!" Short Pete objected.
Long Pete choked. "With friends like you..."
"Got anything to drink about you?" Janks asked.
Long Pete sighed and pulled a flask from his vest. "Go easy on that, Janks. I won't be able to refill it 'til I see the widow Sorensen tomorrow night. Anyway, why don't you go over to the inn and drink your fill there?"
"I..." Janks began.
"He's got no credit left. Owes Arnet too much money." Short Pete said.
"It's true, it's true, and a terrible thing it is when honest men can't earn a decent wage." Janks lamented.
"Honest men?" Long Pete sneered. "Where? And why should the indecent earn a decent wage?"
"A man's gotta do something for money, hasn't he? Look at you!"
"I happen to perform a valuable service!"
"For yourself, maybe. I doubt all them widows'd miss you if you went off to war again."
Long Pete was indignant. "For your information, mate..."
"Ladies! Ladies!" Short Pete interjected, "This is boredom talking. What we need is some sort of cause, or purpose. We can't sit here drinking and whoring forever."
"They're not whores!"
"You know what I mean, Long. We don't have any goals. You want that title and piece of land, you'll have to earn it."
There was a long silence and then Janks said "I might have an idea..."
Allan is a professional actor, educator and former stand-up comedian. In addition to Steel, Blood & Fire, he's also written plays, screenplays, online articles, dialogue for computer games, greeting card sentiments and more. He holds a Masters of Fine Arts in acting from the National Theatre Conservatory and a Master's in Teaching from Seattle Pacific University. He is a huge fan of Shakespeare, Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie, Glen Cook, George R.R. Martin, Tad Williams, and R. Scott Bakker. Allan lives in Seattle with his wife and son, where he enjoys walks on the beach, reading in the garden and puttering around on his computer. Oh, and naps. He LOVES naps.
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