From my earliest memories, I’ve been a voracious reader of two kinds of books: science (yes, I happily wrote elementary school book reports on nonfiction) and fantasy. From the Book of Three and A Swiftly Tilting Planet to Pawn of Prophecy, The Eye of the World, and (right now) Tess of the Emerald Sea, I love coming of age in strange new worlds. (Of course, the rich grimness of Malazan or Midderland or the City of Stairs have their own appeal. And the big SF ideas of The Diamond Age, Dune, Hyperion and The Left Hand of Darkness… too much good stuff!)

So I thought I’d stop scratching that itch as a reader and try writing a story of two…

High in the mountains, far from the gleaming cities of the western coast or the endless empire beyond the desert, Hunzuu dreams of being free from the life of a village farm girl. Egin, eldest son of the local baron, tries desperately to escape dreams filled with the horrors of his time in the war. The foolish Prince Faminanian charges headlong into the prophecies that have guided his entire life, protected from himself by his endlessly loyal manservant Lazany. And beneath the frozen waters of the Great Lake, Rivotra lies in perfect stillness.

Their lives are changed one winter when Hunzuu stumbles across a nearly frozen stranger in the woods. The stranger tells of a mysterious caravan trapped somewhere in the deep snows of the high mountain passes and hunted by something twisted and terrible. When the Baron refuses to risk lives in search of survivors, Hunzuu must draw the others together to find the caravan and rescue the survivors. But the mystery deepens as imperial spies, western arcanists, and mischievous spirits join the hunt.