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The Forbidden Star: Excerpt

He will remember the sound of the Carun drums suddenly, the memory stabbing through him like a dagger and twisting, brutal, cruel. He will push her away, his body betraying him as fear and grief and anger seize and make a puppet of him. He will shout at her as if she were the one who had ruined him before he had begun. He will flee like a coward when her eyes - golden, pure as the Cleansing Moon - fill with tears, as her lips begin to tremble, as her fists clench, as the Sun of Grace dies right before his eyes. He will fall to his knees after he has left her. He will remember the face of his mother as she lay dying by the most sacred river, lovely and haunting. He will remember watching his people burn beneath a sneering sun. He will remember the monster atop his dark stallion, watching him be swept away by the river, held tight in Her embrace, half-dead, alone in a hateful world. 

He will remember the sound of the Carun drums.

He will weep at the beauty.

He will weep at the suffering.

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We are the girls who were meant to be forgotten.

Nalita, The Forbidden Star

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A GIRL BORN TO DIE.

A PRIEST CURSED WITH SIGHT.

A WARRIOR LED ASTRAY.

A PRINCESS FORCED TO BOW.

WE ARE THE RECKONING.

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Burn the children. Burn the lambs. Burn all who are pure and true and untouched by the sins of earth and flesh, lest they too be swallowed by the darkness to come.

Stonespeaker Ishrada, The Forbidden Star

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Inspirations #2: Movies and TV Shows

1. Game of Thrones

2. Spartacus

3. Gods of Egypt

4. The Prince of Egypt

5. 300: Rise of an Empire

6. Avatar: The Last Airbender

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Inspirations #1: Books

1. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabha Tahir

2. The Lost Valor of Love by E. A. Carter

3. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

4. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

5. Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

6. Blood of Azura by Scarlette Drake

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Part One: Fall of a People

Beneath the sneering sun,

when not even the wind dared to whisper,

the queen of rivers ran red with blood,

and her people wept.

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Premise

In the White Yelessa River Valley, two kingdoms grapple for power and a dark prophet rallies an army in the name of his strange gods. A war between the earth and heavens looms like a storm on the horizon, and a dying spirit guides a princess, a slave, a refugee, and a sacrifice to the Forbidden Star, coveted by gods and spirits and kings, where the secrets of the past are said to dwell.

For  the return of the dark things that once ruled Elakuria has been foretold.

A return that would begin with the fall of a people.

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A cover I created for THE FORBIDDEN STAR, the first book in a fantasy epic set on the continent of Elakuria, a world inspired by Mesopotamia and Ancient Africa.