Eternity's Reach

The road to redemption is long, peppered throughout with self-deprecation, extreme bodily injury and crotchety sorcerers. Lincoln Maxwell will soon learn these and other lessons as he is born into Idalore, a mythical world already lying in ruins. But this birth must begin with death. Pushed to the depths of depression, Lincoln commits the seemingly irredeemable: his suicide. He does not suspect, however, that this foolish act will set him on a new path, one that labels him a hero and his enemy the impossible.

Corvus, the Black Sorcerer, has cut a rift into the land of Idalore, leaving only ash in his wake. The only individual capable of stopping his purging flame is the Hero of the Sword, a being chosen by the Sword of Eternity to accomplish an insurmountable task. The previous hero has fallen, forcing the magical weapon to choose a new host. But any hero will not do. A new face is needed in this dying land, one who is Corvus’s spiritual equal and intellectual match. The sword knows who it must choose, but this man is worlds away, stuck in a prison of his own making. Lincoln Maxwell, the Legal Proofreader, lives his daily life in soulless routine. Manipulated by his ex-girlfriend, ridiculed by a chauvinistic co-worker, and unlucky with his secret crush, Lincoln is the embodiment of failure. He sits by while his job, his love and his passions slip away. Deciding he has had enough, Lincoln commits the greatest atrocity and leaps from the top of his apartment building. Certain that his end will finally bring peace, he is instead brought to Idalore. Coming upon the Sword of Eternity amidst the fall of their final stronghold, Lincoln is marked as the next Hero of the Sword. It is a fate he rejects. But, with a weapon that will only respond to him, and a society seeking a savior, he has no choice but to take the first steps away from a life of failure, towards one of redemption.

Mitch Rowland’s earliest writing memory was of his childhood comics. Though they began as an excuse to draw, each successive issue produced smaller characters and set pieces to make room for the encroaching words. Deciding, just out of high school, that he wished to tackle the epic fantasy, Mitch began a journey to transcribe Lincoln’s story. Originally one novel, ‘The Sword of Eternity’ was written and revised as a personal project during the summer breaks, between semesters, and was finally completed in November 2011. For marketability purposes, the book was later broken in half and re-titled “Eternity’s Reach” and “Eternity’s Redemption” respectively. Mitch hopes they will serve as a strong foundation for a series of novels, as well as a career in speculative fiction writing. He currently lives in Michigan with his wife and family.