Sample Chapters

The story

Lilly and Marshall are going forward with their wedding plans, and Valaura and Evan join them in New Orleans. It is a happy time despite the fact that one of the twins has been left behind in the other dimension. Through the offices of a marble tile pentacle design in Lilly and Marshall's new home the four adventurers are pulled through into The Land of the Pentacle.

Despite their joy at the re-uniting of the young family, they can't help but notice that everything on this side of the dimension is a mess. King Nicholas looks old and tired, and his brothers are worried. And everyone is tired of the occasional wars that pop up.

The story

Marshall and Lilly have separated, mostly due to Marshall's inability to deal with his 'problem', which he is convinced he will have for life. Evan and Valaura are married in Chicago, and the night of their wedding, Marshall and Lilly are reunited -- but only for the night. What they don't know is that Lilly becomes pregnant from that one night stand.

Months later, Marshall invites his three friends to come to Cairo, to see STOCKHOLM perform at an international peace festival. Evan and Valaura have been fighting about having children, and it doesn't appear as if it will be resolved.

When Marshall looks into his luggage after arriving in Cairo, the chalice has transformed itself into a sword with a crystal in the grip and provided its' own scabbard. Marshall wears it as part of his costume, and when a riot breaks out in the middle of the STOCKHOLM performance, turning the 'peace festival' into a gang war between Moslems and 'infidels', he uses the sword.

Off the four go to The Land of the Sword, and another adventure on the other side. This time they must rescue an enchanted city and its' women from brutalization by the hideous and savage Slamites, people who worship a deity named Mudmat and devote their lives to cruelty and barbarism.

(Published December, 2006)

The story

Evan wants to buy a little time, and it didn't escape his notice that he and his friends aged not a minute on their first time through the dimensional barrier. He wants children while they are still young enough to have them, and a whole year has passed since their last trip. He and Valaura are in love, but she is unwilling to marry, and he believes that another trip to the magical dimension may provide the answer. Suspecting that the Wand won't work for them a second time, he has an artisan rework the metal and the jewels into a chalice.

(Published March, 2006) 

The story

Four people in Chicago, one weekend in June, all go to the same gift shop in the Galleria and examine an ornamental crystal wand. Rock star Marshall Storme, fantasy author Evan Stone, architect Valaura Bennet and fast-food worker Lillian Curtis all look at the wand, though only Marshall and Valaura are seriously interested in purchasing it. They are all transported to a parallel dimension, a place where the myths of earth originated, and live as real, if unusual, beings.