Soldiers of Winter (The Aielund Saga, #0)

by Stephen L. Nowland

Overview

A lie discovered in the night. Friendships long-forged broken through discovery. A turning of roads—will their paths intertwine once more?

Aiden is a curious intellectual, constantly at odds with his parents. He'd rather read a book than plow a field or swing a sword. Between that and his fascination with a magical interaction years ago, he's the family's odd duck.

Pacian is the drunkard baker's son, his family name little more than mud. Yet, when he discovers the truth behind the death of his best friend's brothers, a dark history of violence in his past won't let him look the other way.

As Pacian attempts to recover a trinket of sentimental value to Aiden, tragedy strikes and the beginning of their story unfolds. Their lives have been upended, because Pacian had to help his friend.

This story is the beginning of the Aielund Saga, where these simple choices taken by a couple of country boys will lead to massive change for the world.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940156008506
Publisher:	Stephen L. Nowland
Publication date:	03/08/2019
Series:	The Aielund Saga
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	438,604
File size:	594 KB

About the Author

I was one of those kids who daydreamed his way through school. All the little adventures I'd concoct in my mind were far more interesting than math or tests or sport. Somehow, I passed the important bits (art and english) and moved on, but always with a creative perspective to my life.

It was around 1992 when the magic of reading really sunk into me, for it was then I discovered fantasy novels. Feist, Salvatore & Eddings showed me worlds that fired my imagination, and from that point on I knew I wanted to write the stories that flitted around the recesses of my imagination.

Unfortunately, I spent most of the next fifteen years dealing with poor health, including resultant chronic fatigue syndrome which interfered with my life immeasurably, but gave me ample time for thought. An abortive attempt to create a story happened around 1996, but I look back on such things as stepping stones on the road to where I wanted to be.

My first complete novel was actually done back in '03, but it was a derivative work based on elements from other stories, something I didn't realise until after I'd written it. The mind can do funny things if you don't keep it on a tight leash! Still, there were some unique points to the story I kept, so I scrapped the rest and began a completely new for Neverwinter Nights, that RPG video game thing you may or may not have heard of.

The story was so successful (filled with rich, creamy character development) that I lamented that only people playing the game would ever see it. In 2009, with my health improving, I resolved to novelize the stories I'd written, in addition to developing the world in which they exist as the basis for a new fantasy series.

I consider those stories to be merely the first iteration of the saga, for my novels have evolved far beyond the original scope, in terms of detail, plot and character building. Looking back on it now, I can see my style has evolved a very long way from those humble beginnings indeed.

Oh, I also paint. You can expect to see more cover art with each title, becoming more technically sophisticated each time.