C L Murray
Charles Laurence Murray was born in 1989 and grew up in San Diego, California. He spent many days lost in the humming, spark-scattering clashes between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, caught up in a charge with the Riders of Rohan, and enthralled by the cadence and poise of Doc Holliday emerging from the shadows to face Johnny Ringo. When he was thirteen, he became obsessed with the idea of an eagle-riding, sword-wielding hero and developed it over the years into an epic, four-part fantasy series called The Tale of Eaglefriend.
He published his first novel, A Facet for the Gem (The Tale of Eaglefriend–Book One) at the end of February, 2016, and it has been featured on ten Amazon Top 100 lists, ranking at #2 in Kindle Teen Epic Fantasy, and at #5 in Kindle Adult Epic Fantasy. Podium Publishing, the award-winning audiobook publisher whose first fiction title was Andy Weir’s The Martian, picked up the audible rights to The Tale of Eaglefriend five months after its debut, and narrator James Foster brings the first installment to life with a stellar performance.
On November 1, 2018, after weeks of severe illness while beginning the final three chapters of Eaglebreaker, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had metastasized to his lungs. The ensuing months of chemotherapy and other treatments were highly effective, and finally in August of 2019, after learning the cancer had spread to his brain and enduring a string of seizures from the hemorrhaging, he completed the book. Thanks to California’s remarkable health care and the expertise of his doctors and nurses, he has a long, happy life to look forward to.
A Facet for a Gem
Summary
When the mightiest eagle finally meets a rider worth carrying, a young man becomes a legend. Join all the readers soaring through this action-packed epic fantasy.
In a land of eagle-riding knights, bloodthirsty beasts, and a ruthless tyrant, young Morlen retreats from thousands of snapping jaws with the stolen Goldshard in his grasp. Its power to bestow strength and invincibility is just a panicked whisper away, and he’d feel naked without it while he fights the sinister forces that follow him at every turn.
Fortunately, he gains a few peculiar allies: a legendary warrior reluctant to leave his sheltered paradise, a wizard tormented by his past, and the untamable bird of prey that kings and heroes have sought for centuries.
A Facet for the Gem is a coming of age fantasy that brings Morlen from distant kingdoms to sprawling aerial battles, into the fiery breath of a stony dragon and side-by-side with a lady knight who is the last person to need rescuing. Fly with him as his epic adventures culminate in a final showdown against swords, fangs, and greatest of all: his own fear.
This book is one of the BBNYA semi-finalists, a contest run by book bloggers to vote for their favourite indie-published book. To read more about BBNYA, click here.
