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John Lawson’s imagination was born in the fires of the exploding Death Star, was raised in the uncharted wildernesses of Narnia, and exhibited a healthy disregard for the Prime Directive. It feasted upon giant peaches, blitzed through phantom tollbooths, and wagered heavily upon the outcome of the Westing Game. It retired skin jobs, tried to save Sarah Connor, and quested for the Holy Grail. It knew better than to press its face into a recently opened alien egg, it understood how a simple rafting trip could result in an extended dinosaur vacation, and it wept when Lowell and Huey died aboard the Valley Forge. It knows you’re not supposed to shoot a person’s gun and never give cigarettes to trees. It totally understands Wolverine’s anger issues and would like to buy him a drink at the Corova Milk Bar, where they could discuss whether or not the Snouts had it coming. It raided a dragon’s lair for treasure, doesn’t believe ROUS exist, and flipped a coin a hundred times and always came up heads. And it isn’t sure if Keyser Soze exists, but it’s afraid of him anyway.

Before writing Sorrow, John wrote two other books, Witch Ember and The Raven, to which Sorrow is something of a sequel, [Editor's Note: though Sorrow can be read quite nicely on its own]. He asks that you please read them both. Not because they’re good, but because he asked nicely. The Raven can be purchased from several online sources (see here).  Witch Ember shall soon be republished by Drollerie Press.

Officially, John is a technical writer and online help developer, working for one of those really big software companies. When he is not working, commuting, spending time with his wife and kids, serving as the Submissions Editor of the creative arts webzine TenThousandMonkeys.com, reading, eating, sleeping, or goofing off playing computer games, he can occasionally be found writing.

If you’d like to know more about John, Witch Ember, or The Raven, you are cordially invited to visit his website.

Sorrow


Return to Lawson’s world of Witch Ember with a new tale of darkness, intrigue, and violence. A tale of Sorrow.

A new killer stalks the palaces of the EroBernd Empire, striking down prominent members of the gentry and clergy, seemingly at will. No amount of security is an impediment, no number of bodyguards a deterrent. This killer enters unseen and departs untouched, leaving behind scenes of butchery and blood. Duke Valven of EroBernd decides to send his chief assassin, Count Hashii, to the boutique province of Vestiga to resolve the matter before it can cause any further embarrassment. Locals have already contrived a name for this assassin, based on descriptions from victims who lived long enough to tell the tale: a wraith of shadow–a countenance of immeasurable remorse–and eyes that wept black tears.

It is a contest of assassins. One discreet and renowned, an artist tempered by years of service–the other a savage neophyte, ephemeral and unstoppable–both ruthless and deadly. Can the infamous Lord Ash stop the bloodshed and discover the identity of the assassin known as Sorrow?

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