The Wanderer’s Tale: Book 1, the Annals of Lindormyn

Bilsborough aims high but falls short in his debut, set in the world of Lindormyn. Drauglir, the canonical down-but-not-out Dark Lord, and his mob of unhygienic evil creatures are making a comeback 500 years after noble warriors known as the Peladanes defeated them. While the forces of evil have regrouped, the Peladanes’ descendants have gone soft. When warriors Nibulus and Finwald attempt to raise an army after Appa, a cleric, has a vision of Drauglir’s return, soldiers and friends alike laugh them off. Only Nibulus’s old companion Methuselech and a mysterious hooded mercenary are willing to join them as they follow Appa and Bolldhe, the oddly ordinary destined slayer of Drauglir, into the dangerous northern land of Vaagenfjord Maw. Unpronounceable names and sesquipedalian prose abound. Hopefully, the promised sequel will venture into less predictable epic fantasy territory. (July)