PEKOs Blog...the tides of everyday living.: AUTHOR INTERVIEW

PEKOs Blog...the tides of everyday living.: AUTHOR INTERVIEW:   What is the name of the book and when was it published? HALF A LION by PALLE E.K. OSWALD published on January 27, 2022. What’s the boo...

An Excerpt from my upcoming debut novel HALF A LION

 

Below is an excerpt from my upcoming debut novel HALF A LION. Stories and songs have been favored staples of the oral African traditions passed down the generations. In this book, I combine two of my great loves; history and poetry. Happy reading and watch this space.

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Mansah loosened his sword in its scabbard and checked the arrows in his quiver. Then he wrapped his robe tighter around himself and settled down to listen to a group of warriors chant A Song of Blood and Feathers.

“Long ago, lived a warrior with dreams untold

With hair of glowing coal, eyes of a fiery gold

His blade was fine and bow of pine

Into the darkness, he braved the cold

 

The White Garden held a fate unknown

 For what was beyond, he longed to own

A haunted boy ached for honor's sake

 And in the jungle, you wish you take

 

Blood on stones, pinch of scathing daggers

The warrior climbed, each step on weak boulders

The Garden fought back with flashes in the dark

Yet willing hearts triumph where strength staggers

 

Under the moonlit shower, the injured bird lay

Words unhurried, to beg and pray

For a chance to see the eagle dance

And the moon blinded in a feathery trance

 

 

Far away, a dozen winged beasts soared

And in the twilight, the great warrior roared

They came swooping to answer a master's call

Where no one dares, there you will find your all.”

 

“Feels good to hear the words of our forefathers,” someone said behind him.

Mansah looked over his shoulder to see the chief frowning. He had not even heard the man approach. He sighed. “The songs always talk of glorious victories, but never of untimely deaths, my chief,” he said, thinking of the tribesmen who had screamed for help as the bushfires seized them.

Kheng sat down beside him, his armor creaking. “The songs are not meant to remind us of death, but to celebrate a great life,” the chief said. “The skyfather makes some people faster, some louder, some stronger. But in death, one skeleton is the same as the other. It is the gift of life that matters, the hearts given to each of us, and what we do with it. When it is all done, the skyfather will ask you what you did with that strong heart he gave to you, that keen nose, that sharp eye. The songs of the tribe will answer for you.”

Debut novel: Half A Lion

 

UPDATE: Half A Lion

I hear only good things from my beta readers 📚 It is quite humbling. To think the young black kid who would split open his toes playing soccer barefoot on the stony streets of a ghetto now leaves footprints in the minds of readers all over the world. We rise only as high as our dreams. Dream big dreams 🧠

It is an honor to add to the plethora of African literature. It might be a drop in the river, but I believe without it, the river would be missing something. I always had a fascination with the origin and meaning behind our African culture and legends. I created a world from it.

Fun fact: At the risk of sounding like a misogynist, with all the gore and dark themes in this manuscript, I had a secret worry it was going to put off women. I'm glad I was so wrong. The most lavish praises have been from you 🙈

A summary of the manuscript:

The jungle simmers with discontent, inhabited by desperate people in an insufficient land. In the middle of the unrest is the Lion tribe, ruled by a family as brutal and ruthless as the land they inherited. However, the Lion chief is dead. Across wastelands and sweeping forests, the tribes stake their claim. 

It is a tale of shamans and warriors, chiefs and wanderers, shapeshifters and bleak omens. Here, a disinherited Prince wants the loyalty of sworn enemies; a young woman seeks conquest; a tribe of wildebeest riders smell a price; a fourteen-year-old boy undertakes a perilous journey to find his way back home. 

As folklore comes alive and old spirits walk the mountains, amid tragedy and victory, honor and betrayal, everyone must gamble for that most elusive place of all - survival

Concept art by Byron J. Hamilton 

#HalfALion #writingcommunity #writersofinstagram #amwriting #writerslife #readersofinstagram #readerslife #bookstagram  #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookworm #africanvoices #darkfantasy

More exciting news to come. Watch this space.