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Eskkar & Trella – The Beginning (659 pages) –  the latest novel in Sam Barone’s bronze age historical series in the tradition of Conn Iggulden, Bernard Cornwell and Jean Auel.

In Dawn of Empire, Eskkar the warrior and Trella the keen-witted slave girl come together in a mighty struggle to survive a barbarian invasion and build mankind’s first walled city.

But Eskkar’s story began many years earlier, when his family was brutally murdered in a blood feud. His name and heritage obliterated, young Eskkar flees his clan and the only life he knows. Condemned as an outcast, he learns to survive, hunted by his own kind, and hated and feared by all others.

For fifteen years, Eskkar wanders the Land Between The Rivers, home of his hereditary enemies, fighting to stay alive and to reach manhood. All the while he is learning the skills that will one day make him not only a true warrior, but a leader of men on and off the battlefield.

Trella, too, witnesses her family destroyed in a single night of vengeance, and her life of ease and privilege lost. Captured and sold to a slave trader, she must use her keen mind, extraordinary perception, and perfect memory to regain control of her life. While appearing to serve her masters, Trella learns to manipulate the powerful men who now own her body. Soon she becomes the unseen influence whose knowledge and training guide the way to the founding of an empire.

Eskkar and Trella join together and form a unique bond that enables them to overcome the limits their world has placed upon them.

These are the stories of their journeys toward one another and to their shared destiny – an enduring love that changes civilization forever.

Book I  (New) - Eskkar & Trella - The Beginning - (659 pages) Available now at Amazon.com in Kindle and print editions! Follow Eskkar’s struggles to survive as he grows from a boy to a warrior, and read the story of Trella’s misfortunes.

Book II  - Dawn of Empire - (483 pages) Eskkar and Trella’s rise to power, the building of the great wall to defend against a barbarian invasion, and the first steps on the road to civilization and empire.

Book III - Empire Rising - (465 pages) – Continues the story of the struggles to save mankind’s first walled city. Eskkar’s city of Akkad is captured by enemies within the city, and his pregnant wife is forced to kneel at the feet of her new master. Eskkar returns to save his city, new-born son, and his only love.

Book IV - Quest For Honour / Conflict of Empires - (618 pages) – The rise of city states in the Land Between The Rivers brings a new enemy and threat to the city of Akkad.  Eskkar and Trella must build the world’s first professional army in a desperate effort to save their city from a Sumerian invasion. Available in UK as Conflict of Empires / Quest For Honour.

Book V  - Battle for Empire - available Summer 2012. More than thirteen years have passed since the war with the Sumerians. Now a vastly more powerful foreign invader threatens the entire Land Between The Rivers. Eskkar, Trella, and the city of Akkad must overcome this new conqueror. At the same time, they must find a way to win back their rebellious son Sargon, whose wild and dangerous behavior threatens his parents’ rule and even his future kingdom.

Interested in the backgrounds, my personal thoughts, historical facts, and actual excerpts from any of the  stories? Follow the links to learn more . . . including the prolog and first chapter of Eskkar & Trella - The Beginning, about Eskkar’s journey from boy to wandering mercenary as he travels the Land Between the Rivers, always struggling to stay alive.

Winner 2010 Literary Contest 
Arizona Authors Association 
First Prize - Published Fiction

UK Century’s dramatic cover

UK Century cover

Two years after Empire Rising, Eskkar and Trella build the world’s first professional army in a desperate effort to save their city.

Cover illustration by
Steve Stone

Conflict of Empires
    Released in US as Quest For Honour
                       April 2011
Published by Century/Arrow, a division of Random House

Please email the author with questions or comments at: barone@sambarone.com. Remember to include the name of the book in the subject line, and please, no attachments.