The Umber Lord: An alien bloodline that has lain dormant for an age is about to reveal itself. The pope, Crindle Novarkis, must prepare for the coming ... Lord (The Fallen Star Trilogy, Book 1))

Nick May

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An alien bloodline that has laid dormant for ages is about to reveal itself.

The holy land of Eastvole, ruled by the Solcine Church, is in turmoil. Toads rain from the sky and flesh-eating locust strip the countryside of both crop and flock. Rumours of a dreaded plague, not seen in centuries, are spreading.

To confirm the common folk's notion of impending catastrophe, a comet appears in the eastern sky - the Serpent's Tongue. Valashians remain locked indoors, believing the anomaly poisons the air and the water supply.

Lord Patriarch Crindle Novarkis knows the significance of the Serpent's Tongue. It heralds the coming of the Umber Lord, a being straight out of a child's bedtime storybook. But who is he, and more importantly, what does he want?

Yet Crindle should have died years ago. A tumour in his neck left him with a tracheotomy and a hopeless addiction to valerian, a narcotic leaf. One man keeps Crindle alive: his brilliant physiker, Vincent Quellock. Expelled by his college for ungodly practice, Vincent finds Crindle to be his perfect foil. After all, who better than the lord patriarch himself to provide him with the two things he desires most - corpses and privacy?

The story follows Crindle and his ever-present companion, Quellock, on their journey to unravel the mystery of the Umber Lord. But his secrets will not be unearthed easily. Firstly, they must find the Mosaic Man. Only by deciphering the code hidden in his flesh can the true path be discovered.

The Umber Lord is set in the fantasy world of Taer, a typical medieval world. The narrative is heavily dosed with medicine and intrigue. There are themes of drug use and addiction. A physician myself, I am fascinated by the history of medicine through the centuries in all of its barbarity and naivety.

Readers who like Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes should enjoy my story.

The Umber Lord is the first book of the Fallen Star trilogy, a tale that spans two worlds and countless lives. A blood feud between two great houses on one world spills onto another in a war of chaos and annihilation from which there is no escape. After all, blood is thickest when spilled.

"Wow. As you can imagine, I read quite a lot of books. This is hands down my favourite project in months. You mix elements from all the hate here: Game of Thrones, Da Vinci Code and even Harry Potter in the end. I really like that there are no "good" characters. Everyone is flawed in some way, and you do a great job of making the reader sympathise with Crindle and Quellock, who at time can come across as evil." Nick may, lead editor at TypeRight.