Orizon: The Flame of the White Sun [Paperback]

A collision between ancient and modern. Greek myths for the sci-fi generation.

Very entertaining and vivid. A novel that all fantasy readers will enjoy!

I couldn't help but find myself totally absorbed. A fundamental of fantasy, which so few others seem to achieve.

A very ambitious and brilliantly conceived novel. An epic work. Congratulations!

A book that all parents should ask their children to read and vice versa.

Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined what she was told that day, but at the same time it did make sense of the exceptional talents that she had possessed all her life. And so she finds herself transported from her house in London, to the Land of the White Sun, a low-tech paradise, where the conflict between good and evil is not some abstract idea, but an increasingly harsh and puzzling reality. Populated not just by humans like herself, but also by legendary heroes and mythical creatures, it is a land where war and myth are realities, but where little is as it seems - and where the future of two worlds is at stake! And with her unique combination of intelligence and sensitivity, Rebecca just may be the one to heal old wounds and forge a brighter future for both the Land of the White Sun and the Earth.

Told with vivid imagery, Orizon is an epic allegorical fantasy. It uniquely combines fairytale and adventure with mythology and romanticism permeated with deeper thoughts and insights. An international bestseller with a powerful message for our times.

I felt the need to write a story which would give my readers the chance to be distracted from everydays routine and enjoy traveling into a fantasy world, while at the same time they'd be given to study a philosophical critisism of todays society.
Many thanks to my readers in Greece who made my book a bestseller, and also to my Publisher for believing that it can do the same in the UK.

Mario Routi was born in Greece in 1970.
He has been writing since childhood, completing his first short fantasy at the age of ten and a theatrical script when he was thirteen.
At seventeen he received an honourable distinction in a national literature competition.
After his national service, he studied marketing and economics, rising to prominence in major business sectors of his country.
He has published articles and short stories in many newspapers and magazines.
Orizon is his first novel, becoming a best seller in Greece within a month of its publication, and currently in its 16th edition.
The author resides in London, devoting himself to his two children and his passion for writing.

Excerpt from the first chapter:
"In the beginning, when I first took over the leadership of Beast,
Lord Life and I used to travel together to see the Mythical Gods. On one of our visits, while we were eating dainty morsels and drinking rare wine with the Gods, I asked why the Creator had made some things on Earth the
wrong way round. They almost choked. They stopped stuffing the faces and telling racy stories and demanded that I explain
myself.
"I said, ‘The Creator leaves the Earth bare and uncovered to shiver in the icy winter. In spring, when it is warm and no protection is needed, he dresses her up, clothing her in colourful dresses. In the summer he undresses her again. Her skin is scorched and cracked from the heat. He should have attired her
warmly in winter, covered her lightly in summer and left her bare during spring to enjoy both the cool breeze and the sweet warmth. Only in autumn is she properly half-naked; the only part of the year that’s right. Then the people till the soil, digging and hoeing it. The Earth is glad when they scratch her back, massage and tickle her. She breathes deeply and unites with the seeds.’
"Well, their eyes bulged and they gulped whole jugs of wine
to recover, but I kept going:
‘What is the use of sly poisonous snakes, crafty scorpions, sickly obstinate mosquitoes and filthy, irritating flies? Or of wild stormy seas that drown fishermen and sailors? Why are people born cursed with lifelong disabilities? Why do epidemics and diseases exist? And if He severely punishes humans with murderous earthquakes, violent floods, hailstorms, hot-tempered typhoons, thunderbolts and volcanic eruptions, what have the innocent animals and plants that die with them done to deserve this fate? And why does He send the rising and falling waves to drown thousands of innocent children? What is the point of rain at sea when huge expanses of land suffer chronic catastrophic drought? It’s as if God used his watering can on the oceans while neglecting plants and animals. It makes people resort to litanies and sacrifices, pleading with their Gods. And why, in order to survive, must one living creature devour another, so that life can only continue through death?’
"As I spoke, their jaws dropped like those of bulldogs waiting for the signal to pounce and mangle me. But I felt lightened, like a pregnant woman who gives birth when the foetus has come to term and she can’t keep it in any longer. What they heard had been growing in me for a long time. It had swollen
up, almost choking me, and I finally brought it forth with all
the pain of childbirth.
"There was uproar. The Gods were furious! They cursed me and forbade me to visit them again without permission. I was disgraced and banished!