Ashen Rider

A Dusk and Dawn Novel by James D. Mills

I DREAM OF HELL, DEAR READER. PANDEMONIUM AWAITS.

When her mother is claimed by Death a second time, Kateryna is forced to abandon her afterlife and descend into Pandemonium—a shattered underworld shaped by pain, memory, and buried sin. To save her mother’s soul, she must join forces with her estranged father, whose devotion to a fallen goddess set this all in motion. Hunted by Morgana, the Goddess Corrupted and her chosen griffin-riders, Kateryna must journey through the shadows and confront the reality of her own dark past—because in Pandemonium, death is only the beginning.

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After her father's blind devotion to a fallen goddess leads to her mother's second death, Kateryna is forced to abandon the stability of her tortured afterlife and decend into Pandemonium—a fractured, hellish world where the dead are not allowed to rest.

To reclaim her mother's soul, Kateryna must join forces with the last person she trusts: her estranged, fanatical father. Together, they navigate turgid seas, haunted fields, and dive into the heart of a city ruled by the Demon King to escape the ever present gaze of Morgana, the Goddess Corrupted who no longer cares for the balance of life and death.

Pandemonium is not like the mortal world—it reflects the pain they carry and the sins they've buried; the consequences of the choices they made in life. As Kateryna's journey spirals deeper into shadows, she'll have to confront not only the horrors of hell, but the truth of her own past.

Fans of Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen and N.K. Jemisin's The Broken Earth Trilogy, will love this gripping tale. ASHEN RIDER is a dark and mythical meditation on perseverance, fractured family, and the cost of redemption in a world where death is only the beginning.

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For Readers

The Inspirations Behind Ashen Rider

I wear my inspirations on my sleeve. I am also well known for preaching to other writers the importance of balanced inspirations to fantasy. Here are some of mine so you may determine if I'm a hopeless hack or an artist paying homage where its due.

Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard:

While I don't consider Ashen Rider to be a Sword & Sorcery, I do love the 20th century pulps. During the early drafting phase, I spent a lot of time reading Howard's original Conan stories. A professor who had a hand in revising Part 1 was also an avid Conan fan, and thus we found a lot of common ground.

"Griffin Rider" by an 11-year-old James D. Mills:

It's no surprise that I became a fantasy writer. I've written countless "chapter ones" to countless books I dreamt up as a child. My favorite was "Griffin Rider," a story about a young boy, who was totally not just Percy Jackson in a trenchcoat, that befriends a griffin in a church and flies through the roof to escape a boring sermon. Yeah... I never got that one out of my head.

Malazan Book of the Fallen (and the Novels of the Malazan Empire) by Steven Erikson and Ian C. Esslemont:

Unabashedly my favorite fantasy of all time. I went to school to write because I wanted to write like these authors. Luckily, I found something I like better...how to write like me.The core component I've stolen from Malazan is the breadth of POV, I love narratives that include the perspectives of many different people, especially when you see the same scene play out from different characters' perspectives.

The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin:

Jemisin rocked my entire world with this trilogy. I've been captivated by how she managed to use all three popular styles of POV (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Person) in the same story. I've always enjoyed playing with persecptive, seeing a master do it gave me permission to experiment. As discussed prior, one professor loved this project, but another said "I can't imagine an editor in the right mind who would ever buy this book" due to my insistence on keeping my wild narrations.

Greek, Roman, and Egyptian Mythology:

While I can't point to any one story as a direct influence (Orpheus and Eurydice might be the closest, if you were to press me), I took a lot of cues from Homer and Ovid in the delivery of this tale. Sometimes, as in the prelude, "The Scarlet Chair," that meant writing my own epic poetry. At other times, its layered in the tone. I wanted this book to feel like a true epic myth. Though the mythological imagery and content is mostly Greek and Roman inspired, my understanding of the Underworld and how to escape it mostly comes from my foggy recollection of Egyptian myth.

The Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost:

This will come as no surprise to anyone whose read these iconic works of verse. I've stolen much from Dante and Milton (some intentional, some unintentional). At the time of publishing, I've yet to complete my dives into these classics, so allow their inclusion here to stand as testament to the extent we've absorbed these stories into our collective unconscious (or, our implicit knowledge).

Dungeons and Dragons and Tabletop Gaming:

The primary narrator's name is not revealed until nearly the end of the book—this is partially because he is highly relevant to the world of Dusk and Dawn, but mostly because he is highly relevant to a select few people who know him from our gaming days. Further, Ashen Rider began as an adventure module I was writing in 2020. It then became a series of short stories, written and rewritten countless times until I settled on the book you see here.

Set the Mood

Originally, the plan was to preface every section with a quote from the songs that inspired the tone of the book. If you know anything about copyright, that's a big no-no. Instead, you can listen to the following songs to understand how Rock, R&B, and Folk songs shape the world of Dusk and Dawn.

• The Scarlet Chair: "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers (1971)
• Part One: "Riders on the Storm" by the Doors (1971)
• Part Two: "A Horse with No Name" by America (1971)
• Part Three: "A World So Full of Love" by Roger Miller (1970)
• Part Four: "Prairie Fire" by Mary Robbins (1960)
• Part Five: "Cleanse Me" by O'Brother (2011)

Map of Kaldea

The map of Kaldea in the fifth century, as seen in What Lies Below, was illustrated by Eden Louisa, my wonderful wife and creative partner. While Ashen Rider takes place well before the borders of this map were established, it does well to reflect the change in borders caused by the Kaza'duran invasion.

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Details and Metadata

ISBN (Paperback):

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Size: 5" x 8"

Genre: Epic Fantasy, Mythological Fantasy

BISAC Categories: FIC009070 FICTION/Fantasy/Dark Fantasy; FIC009020 FICTION/Fantasy/Epic; FIC009120 FICTION / Fantasy / Dragons & Mythical Creatures

Tropes: psychological, multiple POVs, family, redemption, wizards, mythological creatures, dragons, griffin, pegasus, angels, goddesses,