IS THIS THE HILL ON WHICH YOU WANT TO DIE? That is the question on Garak-Nur's mind every time he draws his trusted sword Blacknife. A battle-hardened mountain orc, he knows when to turn from an unwinnable fight—and when to face death head-on, sword in hand. Garak-Nur is ready to meet his fate, but the rest of his clan is not. A Witch King has risen to power in the north, assembling an orcish army by force. To preserve their freedom, Garak must lead his orcs into the wilderness to start a new clan. But the challenges they face are great, and the lands they must cross are teeming with peril. Dwarves, dragons, and rival orcish war parties all stand in their way of finding a new home. Even if they do manage to start a new burrow, their fledgling clan may still not survive the winter. One day, Garak-Nur will climb his last hill and meet the fate that awaits him. But for the sake of all those who look up to him, that day must not come a moment too soon. This book is rated M! according to the AO3 content rating system.
Author
Joe Vasicek fell in love with science fiction and fantasy when he read A Wrinkle in Time and The Neverending Story as a child. He wrote several unfinished novels in high school and took Brandon Sanderson's writing class at Brigham Young University. He first came onto the indie writing scene in 2011 with his debut novel Genesis Earth. Since then, he has written more than twenty novels and novellas, including Genesis Earth, Gunslinger to the Stars, The Sword Keeper, and the Sons of the Starfarers series. His stories have been published in Perehilion, Mirror Dance, Sci Phi Journal, Uprising Review, Kasma SF, and Leading Edge. As a young man, he studied Arabic and traveled across the Middle East and the Caucasus Mountains. He has also traveled across the United States, and has lived in Texas, Illinois, Massachusetts, California, Utah, Washington DC, and Iowa. Wherever he goes, though, he's always writing.
