FINALIST FOR ForeWord Magazine's

Best Science Fiction of 2005

Co-editor and contributor of the award-nominated Fantasy Writer's Series, Valerie Griswold-Ford presents her debut novel, Not Your Father's Horseman.

Earth is a Balanced Land–Shadow Magic and Light Magic interweave to form a world where magic is known of, but not well. Most of the population figures that magic is some form of technological trick – a misconception the Council of Nine encourages. Earth is also the meeting place for the other Lands – the Shadow Lands and the Dawn Lands both have enclaves scattered about its surface, keeping all the Lands in Balance. Shadow Lords, Earth Lords and Dawn Lords – all work to keep the Balance steady.

Or that’s the rumor. In actuality, the Shadow Lord Andreas is working to disrupt the Balance, shift it towards him so that all the Lands fall into Shadow, giving him more power than anyone ever imagined.

Yet, there are those who have come to stop him, most notably Nikki Jeffries, a young woman with a shadowed past and an uncertain future. With the rumor running that the Four Horsemen have already been summoned and unleashed on the Earth, will Nikki and her friends have time to stop Andreas, before chaos envelops them all?