James D. Macon
Shadowed Feline Publishing
01
Hello and Welcome My name is James D. Macon. If you enjoy fantasy with a touch of mystery you have come to the right place. My writing is for young adults and adults. I believe my stories are appropriate down to a reader in the 4th grade but will still challenge and interest the mature reader.
As he is growing up, Qwen discovers he is not like everyone else. However, he is unaware that this difference has placed him and his family in the path of great danger.
Qwen meets and befriends Tempest, a mischievous creature of air, and also Lucky, who leads a life full of mystery.
Forced to leave his home to protect his family, Qwen wonders if he'll ever be able to return. How will he keep those he loves safe, let alone himself? He must solve the riddle of who and what is hunting him and
find a way to eliminate the threat.
If he fails, more than just his life hangs in the balance.
Welcome to The Phosfire Journeys series
In the port city of Arlanda, Zeal, an orphan with a mysterious benefactor, is an Apprentice in the shadowy organization known as the Trade. Through his training, mentorship, and natural skill, he rapidly becomes adept at procuring possessions and secrets that belong to others.
When one of his fellow apprentices is kidnapped by a group preying on Arlanda’s children, Zeal’s Mentors discover to their surprise that the kidnappers are using the conjuring arts to carry out their nefarious plot. Although the Apprentices are instructed to stay out of the matter and not endanger themselves further, Zeal and his fellow novices cannot stand aside. How can they, when their specific, intensive training can be used to help their friend?
Against their Mentors’ wishes, and in accordance with their lessons, they plan and act in secret. As they fight the threat to their Trade family, Zeal and his cohort meet adventure at every turn, while Zeal discovers he has unusual powers of his own, including the ability to talk to the dead.
In this exciting sequel to Purveyors and Acquirers, if apprentice Zeal has any hope of learning how to control his explosive Phosfire talent, he must travel to the city of Havensharth and face the difficult challenge of becoming a Practitioner of the Arts. As he leaves behind those he loves, including Iris, the Temple of the Ladies of Life, and the Trade, who have all sheltered and protected him since he was an infant, he is joined by his best friend, Tulip, who decides to accompany him and study the Warrior’s Arts, herself.
Furthermore, the Shadow Cat, Kit, claims Zeal as her own and surprises him with her decision to travel along. Zeal soon learns the risks associated with his bond to this beloved, intelligent, yet fierce creature.
Zeal and Tulip are taken into the care of strangers: Master Ice, Zeal’s Mentor as a Practitioner, and Lady Mirada, a retired mercenary. While the young apprentices expand their skills and make new friends, their newfound abilities may not be enough to enable them to survive the dangers that await them.
In this eagerly awaited sequel to Practitioner of the Arts, Zeal and Kit seek out the cause of Mother Essmee’s distress only to discover Master Feneas is dying. Zeal must confront a frightening question-what happens when the bond between a Shadow Cat and its bond-mate is shattered? Tulip and Tallen offer to help save Master Feneas and Mother Essmee, but even working together, the four Apprentices could fail against the dangerous obstacles barring their success.
To make matters worse a compulsion to open the hidden door, discovered in the Repository’s Archive, has taken hold of Zeal. Ignoring the wisdom offered by Deena and his Mentors, Zeal takes rash actions that threaten the success of the quest and set him on a perilous path.
Is Slag dead? The rare ring found on a body burned beyond all recognition suggests the Trade Master of Arlanda has been killed. Zeal, an apprentice Practitioner of the Arts, and Tulip, a Mercenary apprentice, are summoned to Arlanda to help discover the truth regarding their former mentor.
Zeal and Tulip, together with the Shadow Cat, Kit, and the apprentice Bard, Tallen, join with the Trade’s forces to investigate. If they fail to resolve this mystery, the continued existence of the Trade in Arlanda is threatened.
Unbeknownst to everyone, a powerful organization is working to destroy the Trade, and its members are willing to kill in order to succeed. The search for answers soon turns deadly.
Zeal, a new-made Master Practitioner of the Arts, answers a summons from his Mentor, the living statue, Iris. When he travels to see her in the Mausoleum of the Temple of the Ladies of Life, where he’d spent his early seasons, she reveals knowledge that has been kept not only from him, but from every living person she’s encountered throughout her many seasons.
Zeal is shocked and awed when he learns of the integral role he has played in the Temple’s creation and his Mentor’s life path. Iris tells him the time has come for him to fulfill his critical obligation, which requires his going into the past. But how?
Charged by Iris with this daunting task, Zeal, her Champion, turns to his bonded Shadow Cat, Kit. Together, they seek guidance from those who are wiser than they. Allied with his friends, Tallen, the bard and the mercenary commander, Tulip, Zeal hopes that everyone’s combined knowledge and talent will help him accomplish… the impossible.
The fate of Iris, the Temple, and generations of children falls on Zeal’s shoulders. Indeed, the continued existence of his world is at stake. If he fails, everyone and everything he values will be lost.
