Spirit Rider

This is my oldest series, the first real set of books I came up with. The idea first formed in the approach to Christmas 2007. Ideas and the barest strings of a plot had begun to form a little while beforehand, but I held off writing anything until Christmas, when I was due to get my first laptop. Christmas came and went, Spirit Rider: The Royal Problem had begun.

And then, over a year later, on the Friday 13^th of February 2009… it happened. I suffered some severe computer trouble and had to “wipe” my laptop. In the commotion Spirit Rider was lost. All that work, the book nearly half completed, was now gone. From that day forth it became known as The Great Loss.

But I prevailed! I started over, rewrote everything even better than before! Trust me, looking back, I’m glad of The Great Loss. When I remember the first draft, I remember Sam in a leather jacket and a whole chapter spent clothes shopping. Seriously.

March 2010 marked the end of the journey. Sure I’ve added minor revisions since then, but the mass of the story was done and written.

Upon first glance, you’d be forgiven for calling Spirit Rider ‘typical’. It’s the story a boy who has to go a quest, in order to beat an evil Magician and save the world. Sure, you’ve probably heard it a thousand times before, but why do you keep hearing it? Because people are always reinventing the idea – and Spirit Rider is no exception.

Though it’s undeniably fantasy, the whole thing has an entirely… casual feel to it. Never lazy, but certainly casual. There’s no complicated magic system and the politics are simple at best. Paralex is a world of creative convenience, not accuracy. The setting is overtly medieval, but they still have modern kitchens, bathrooms, and fashion. Not to mention our main character is a pretty simple guy, hardly the dashing puritan hero you’d imagine. But more on him later.

But enough with behind the scenes nonsense, you’re here for plot.

Acheron Dae-Cache Beachis, a powerful Luceurge, a Magician who specialises in death and torture, has been causing trouble for some time. Rather out of the blue, the Grim Reaper comes to Sam Martyr, announcing he’s due to become the world’s latest Spirit Rider, the person destined to best Acheron. The only catch is, he needs to collect six legendary Artefacts required to make him fully become the Spirit Rider. From there he and the Grim Reaper set out on the journey of a lifetime, questing for the Artefacts and making their main base of operations in the Palace of Paralex, with The Queen becoming a fast ally. But Acheron waits around every corner, always ready with a new way to kill Sam and new plot that threatens the world. From trying to assassinate The Queen to working with an ancient family of Demons, there’s little Acheron won’t try.

There are currently four books planned, with the first two already written: 

- Spirit Rider: The Royal Problem
- Spirit Rider: The Army of Bones
- Spirit Rider: The Demon Invasion
- Spirit Rider: The Tenth Plague

Did you enjoy that? I did. Now… onto the characters….