Leper Errant

A DEATH WORTH DYING Afflicted with leprosy and doomed to die by the year's end, Baldwin IV has abdicated his throne, choosing a life of exile over a death unworthy of remembrance. He is inspired by the epics of ages past and strives to earn his place among legends yet to be written-a dream bordering on delusion. He embarks on the Old Road with nothing save the Broken Blade sheathed across his back, and his favorite troubadour, Gipi, to chronicle his every misadventure.Such an aimless course will take Baldwin far from the Cathedral City, from the plague quarters of Nedlergate to the slave markets of Othello. For in the shadow of the silver hour, Death herself watches from afar, eager to shepherd the ailing king to either greatness or the grave, heroics pending. Meanwhile, a new power rises on the horizon, threatening to conquer the Holy Land he's left behind. The Vermillion Empire, with its musketeers and clockwork engines, seeks to expand its dominion across the known world, its legions led by the Fool General, Pierrot-who Baldwin must contend with many times before the journey's end.Set four hundred years before the Geist series, Leper Errant is a stand-alone odyssey that will captivate readers with chivalric escapades, historic landscapes, and no shortage of existential dread. Return to the world of Geist through a lens of pike and shot, and join Baldwin on his quixotic crusade. Will he make his mark upon the annals of kings? Or will he fade into obscurity, his deeds forgotten as the futile aspirations of a madman? Diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome at a young age, Fallon O'Neill has been writing since his sophomore year of high school. These scribblings and vignettes would eventually become the earliest drafts of his debut novel, Geist: Prelude. Dedicated and passionate, Fallon has worked his novels with the Blue Moon Writer's Group for over seven years, culminating in winning second place at the Will Albrecht Young Writers Competition of 2012, and publication in the eighth issue of the Blue Moon Art And Literary Review. His favorite pastimes include grabbing a beer (or four) at the local bar, blasting soundtracks into his skull, and watching German movies from the '20s to keep the existential dread at bay. A Cyberpunk Series