Hello and welcome to all lovers of fiction! My name is Marc R Micciola and I am the proud author of Ascension, the first book in The Age of Shadow Saga. I wrote this awesome book in my hometown of Brampton, Ontario, Canada. I live there with my two dogs, Ace and Rielly, who help me a bunch in managing my mental health. Writing has always been a huge outlet for me, so I finally decided to try it out as a career and here I am! My favourite movies, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, are based on books by my favourite author, JRR Tolkien. I had read many fantasy books before, but seeing those films really made me fall in love with the genre. When I decided I was going to finally write a novel, I just knew it had to be set in a fantasy world.
Ascension’s world took me a few years to create. Actually, I’m still creating even as I write book number two in the series! I’m working on a history of Midstad, the world in which Ascension takes place, that stretches a few thousand years. Bits and pieces of that history can easily be found on my website, with more pieces set to be added as I get to them. As for the book itself, Ascension is a story of resilience, war, and passion that follows five main characters. These characters have their own chapters written via their point of view, something I know isn’t too common in fantasy apparently. I went with that style because I felt it brings a high level of intimacy to the characters and really allows the reader to connect with them. All the character names and location names are inspired by Scandinavian culture and language. Each character has their own journey that coincides with the main story. Iver, Einar, Otti, Elouera, and Sigurd all have their own voice and their own outlook on life. When I set out to write Ascension, I had one goal in mind; a character driven story in a deep and enveloping fantasy world. Personally, I think I did a kickass job in achieving that goal.
I first fell in love with fantasy after reading Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle, and I like to think I wanted to be an author since I first picked up book one (Eragon). Being an author, however, wasn’t the most practical career path and so I saw myself steered away from it. The wonderful thing is that my creativity and imagination never took a hit from that. I even took a creative writing class in high school, something that I think sparked my interest in the writing industry yet again. However, it wasn’t until a few months ago, I think, that I finally admitted to myself that I want to make writing fiction a career. It’s scary to make that decision, and believe me my anxiety is through the roof most days, but I just freakin’ love writing. It’s always been a passion of mine, and I poured all the joy and excitement I experienced creating this story into Ascension. I hope all my hard work pays off, and you’re taken to a world you enjoy being in. I hope you connect with the characters and appreciate and respect their journeys. Most of all, I hope you enjoy reading Ascension as much as I enjoyed writing it. That’s all from me, I’m off to finish up on book two in the series! Fingers crossed for a late December, early January release date! Wish me luck! Happy reading!
This sounds like a great read/
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