Separated in time and place, a young woman and three young men are united in their goal: to protect those they care for from the destruction of battle. The odds are against them.

Darkling Plain, fantasy tales about young people in times of conflict.

This series also contains Princeling, fantasy novels set in a world where war has lasted for generations, From Hell to the Stars, aloose translation of a medieval science fiction classic, and Main Stream, a sampling of suspenseful historical fantasy stories.

This series is part of Dusk Peterson's Main Bookshelf | More fiction by Dusk Peterson | About the author | Contact information | Site content label (with minor spoilers).

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CONTENTS

Resources.

Darkling Plain: Right or Right | Crossing the Cliff | Night Shadow | Wizard of the Sun.

From Hell to the Stars: Freezing in Hell.

Princeling: Noble | Petty.

Main Stream: Rebirth 1: The Breaking. | Rebirth 2: Tops and Sops | Queue.

RESOURCES

What Does Darkling Mean? | What is Historical Fantasy?

Darkling Plain

¶ Series content label (with minor spoilers).

Right or Right

Linnet is trouble. Everyone agrees about that. Driven from her native barony, she arrives at Goldhollow in hopes of beginning a new life, only to discover that she cannot escape her past.

As Linnet is drawn into memories of a dark young man she once knew, she must deal in the present with a boy who is headed toward danger, as well as a child-like baron who may force her to betray her past.

¶ Novella: 18,000 words.

EXCERPT – Right or Right: Excerpt.

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Crossing the Cliff

After ten years as apprentice to a Peacesteward, the one thing Erastus is sure of is that he's ill-prepared to become a master. Unfortunately, he's about to discover just how ill-prepared he is.

When he and his master stray into forbidden territory, Erastus is thrust alone into a community that is on the brink of war. His only hope for bringing peace is to ally himself with a young boy . . . a boy who has stolen what Erastus values most.

¶ Novella: 21,000 words | Fantasy | Genre tags (with minor spoilers).

BOOKTRAILER

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ONLINE EDITION

Crossing the Cliff.

Night Shadow

A prince who could see beyond his borders but not see the people around him. . . . An enemy who would take any measure to get what he wanted. . . . And now a stranger has brought news to the prince of an approaching danger.

¶ Novelette: 8,000 words | Fantasy | Genre tags (with minor spoilers) | Reviews.

E-BOOK EDITIONS

Night Shadow (ePub e-book). Free; right-click to download.

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Also included in Love in Dark Settings Omnibus (HTML e-book).

ONLINE EDITION

Night Shadow.

Wizard of the Sun

When Tyne's father makes plans to rid himself of his dull-witted son, fourteen-year-old Tyne climbs the wizards' mountain, hoping to find there an answer to his troubles. What he receives there brings him joy beyond measure. Gradually, however, he comes to realize that the land of his people lies in danger. Tyne therefore sets out to fight the danger, though he realizes that in doing so, he risks losing the power he has gained and returning to the lonely life he led as a young boy.

EXCERPT – Wizard of the Sun: Excerpt.

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From Hell to the Stars

A loose translation of a medieval science fiction classic.

¶ Series content label (with minor spoilers).

Freezing in Hell

This is the tale of a bumbling but well-meaning fan who wants nothing more than to tag at the heels of his favorite author. Reluctantly, he follows that author into the prison of the damned, only to find himself in a world of cold mud, frozen lakes, and icy-hearted spirits. The fan (whose name is Dante) realizes to his horror that he is destined to be imprisoned in this frigid dungeon.

To escape from his self-imposed fate, Dante agrees to journey to the center of the earth, climb the highest mountain in the world, and travel through outer space. In the process, he will search for the man he once was, for the woman he loved and lost, and for the Emperor whose presence brings supreme joy or everlasting torture – depending on where Dante ends his journey.

This loose translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy seeks to restore the epic to its rightful place in early science fiction literature.

¶ Work-in-progress novella (16,000 words so far) | Historical fantasy (medieval science fiction).

EXCERPT – Freezing in Hell: Excerpt.

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Princeling

In a world where war has lasted for generations, in which only the pitiless nobles who wage war hold power, and those who cannot fight must suffer or seek slow death . . . What would you do if you were a noble, and you lost the ability to fight?

Princeling, fantasy novels set in a world where war has lasted for generations.

¶ Series content label (with minor spoilers).

Noble

When Corbin is taken hostage by York, the King of Fossenvita, he refuses to surrender to the sadistic King's demands that would allow York to win the war between the world's two kingdoms. Only thus, Corbin believes, can he help the petties of Tascania, on whose behalf Tascanian nobles such as himself are fighting the Fossenvites. Rather than lose his honor, Corbin accepts York's "gift": a wounding that will prevent him from ever again fighting with his blade.

But Corbin lives in a world that has been at war for generations, in which only the nobles who command the battles and raids are considered to have honor. Stripped of his title and his ability to fight, Corbin begins to see that the petties alone may hold the answer of how he should live his life. Maimed as he is, though, Corbin cannot seek answers from the petties unless he receives the help of one man: York's son Firmin, who has warned Corbin that he will betray him.

¶ Novel: 60,000 words | Fantasy |Genre tags (with minor spoilers).

ONLINE EDITION

Noble: Chapters 1-4 | Noble: Chapters 5-7. | Noble: Back Matter.

Petty

As far as the world knows, Corbin is dead. He is simply the latest of many victims of violence in the generations-long war that the Tascanian and Vovimian nobles have been fighting to determine who will rule the world, at the expense of the petties who are subject to them.

Corbin has a purpose for hiding from public view, a purpose that has not even been guessed by his closest confidants: Firmin, the devious son of Corbin's greatest enemy, and a pettywoman who will offer Corbin a chance to voice his thoughts to others. Yet Corbin cannot hope to fulfill his purpose without the help of other petties . . . and he cannot hope to live if they guess that he is the man who has destroyed their lives.

EXCERPT – Petty: Excerpt.

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Main Stream

A sampler of suspenseful historical fantasy stories.

¶ Series content label (with minor spoilers).

Rebirth 1: The Breaking

The prisoner knew that the Eternal Dungeon was a place where suspected criminals were broken by torture, and he was prepared to hold out against any methods used against him – except the method he could not anticipate.

¶ Series: The Eternal Dungeon | 27,000 words | Historical fantasy | Genre tags (with minor spoilers) | Reviews.

ONLINE EDITION – Rebirth 1: The Breaking.

Rebirth 6: Tops and Sops

The torturer was naive, inexperienced, and lacking in knowledge of the world. The prisoner was tough, worldly-wise, and had an infallible plan that would give him escape from this place. So why did the prisoner feel as though the torturer had the edge?

¶ Series: The Eternal Dungeon | 11,000 words | Historical fantasy | Genre tags (with minor spoilers).

ONLINE EDITION – Rebirth 6: Tops and Sops.

Queue

Depositing money in the bank was always the worst problem.

¶ Series: Prison City (a series that blends historical fantasy with science fiction) | 500 words | Science fiction | Genre tags (with minor spoilers).

ONLINE EDITION – Queue.

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This text, or a variation on it, was originally published at duskpeterson.com as part of the series Darkling Plain. Copyright © 2002-2010 Dusk Peterson. Some rights reserved. The text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0). You may freely print, post, e-mail, share, or otherwise distribute the text for noncommercial purposes, provided that you include this paragraph. The author's policies on derivative works and fan works are available online (duskpeterson.com/copyright.htm).

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