The Mark Of Ran [Paperback]

'If there is a sub-genre of Naval Fantasy, Paul Kearney is its master and commander...He is to my mind one of the very best writers of fantasy around. And recognition of that is long overdue.' - STEVEN ERIKSON 'Impressive for its human insights, its unusual take on the use of magic, and its fine blending of historical elements with sheer invention' - LOCUS magazine 'Powerful stuff, intelligently written...Kearney does not only write good battles - he remembers the causes that battles are fought for' - amazon.co.uk 'One of the best fantasy works for ages...tough, muscular realism...Kearney paints the gore, the sex and the lust for power in vivid colour.' - SFX

Gripping start to a great new fantasy series by one of the UK's best writers in the genre.

The world is dying, forsaken by its Creator. Man schemes and plots and makes wars across it, forgetting that this turning earth does not belong to him alone. Another race once dwelled here. Some believe they were the last of the Angels, banished to this world for a forgotten crime; others that they were demons imprisoned here by a disgusted Creator.

Rol Cortishane’s quiet life is about to come to an end, for in him runs the blood of this Elder race. Driven from his home, he seeks refuge in the ancient citadel of Michal Psellos, where he is trained to be a killer of men, an assassin without pity. His tutor in murder is the beautiful and deadly Rowen - one whom he loves without hope.

THE MARK OF RAN is the beginning of Cortishane's story. A tale in which he journeys across the breadth of this teeming, wicked world and finds a legendary Hidden City where the desperate and the dispossessed fight for survival. This is the first of the chronicles of Rol's great voyages, and those of his compatriots; a band of outcasts who took to the wide oceans of the world when every nation of the earth set its face against them. Ussa’s Orphans they were called, the Beggars of the Sea...

Paul Kearney was born and grew up in Northern Ireland. He studied English at Oxford University and has lived for several years in both Denmark and the United States. He now lives by the sea in County Down with his wife and two dogs. His other books include the acclaimed Monarchies of God sequence. He is currently at work on the second Sea Beggars adventure.