Beyond Hope and Despair

“Beyond Hope and Despair” is the second in the Galanor Saga Series. It picks up exactly where

Volume I (“Beyond Good and Evil”) leaves off. It is a novel written in three parts (Books One.

Two and Three). Each can be read as a separate work or, as designed, as part of the complete

novel.

Book One finds Galanor (who is now the commander of an elite mercenary corps known as the

Panther Legion) on the field of a recently fought battle. He has lost his will to live and, since the

death of beloved Kara, and her entire universe, by his actions, insane with guilt and despair.

Azool visits Galanor while he wanders among the dead, and renews his demand (only now with

more vigor) for Galanor to join him in his struggle to “free” reality from “order.” Following

Galano’s rebuke Azool visits the Legionnaires with sudden madness. This causes them to turn

on one another. The most affected by this is Pharon, who, under Azool’s influence (which

continues throughout the novel) turns on his lifelong friend. Galanor finds himself swept up in

court intrigue and falling in love with the empress, whose husband had commissioned

Galanor’s Legion to defend his borders. This put Galanor at direct odds with the empire’s High

Lord General, Sargon. Sargon aligns himself with a wizard, who has a personal grudge with

Galanor dating back to Atlantis. Together they plot to kidnap the empress and destroy Galanor

in the process. After a long series of devastating encounters Galanor, on the verge of death, is

sent into the desert to die. He is rescued by a shadowy, mythical figure who begins his road to

mental and spiritual recovery, outside the bounds of reality.

Book Two finds Pharon and the entire remaining members of the Panther Legion, in prison

awaiting death at the hands of Sargon (who has taken control of the empire from the feckless

emperor, who grieves over his wife’s absence). Azool has been visiting Pharon, who has now

become his agent. Galanor, having left the care of his benefactor, has taken on a new

companion (who had been given to him while he was being healed). He is a powerful, sleek dog

named Anubis, whose spiritual and physical presence helps Galanor cement some of the soul

saving lessons he had learned (though he cannot recall how). Together, they meet a young

warrior and priestess who are on a desperate mission to save their city from sure and certain

destruction at the hands of a vast, marauding army. Galanor must choose between returning

back for his comrades or going forward, in search of the kidnapped empress and helping the

young couple and their city. He chooses the latter while conceiving a plan to do the former.

After a devastating battle to free the now enslaved city, Galanor is swept into the arms of a

goddess who wants him for her own. He also discovers an old and trusted friend along the way.

His friend, Enkidu, tells him of a “world beneath the world” that might help his kidnapped

love. It is a place where only the dead may enter. He and Anubis do so.

Book Three finds the young warrior in search of an old friend and warrior chief whom

Galanor and Pharon had rescued during a sea battle. This man and his band of elite stealth

warriors, agree to help the young warrior free the Legionnaires before their execution. Galanor

and Anubis cross into the land of shadows and emerge in a land not far from where the

empress has been imprisoned by the insane wizard. Pharon and the Legionaries are freed and

with the aid of the stealth warriors, become the agents of fate. Galanor encounters Azool one

last time in a battle of wills. He defeats an old enemy and does battle with the wizard to rescue

the woman he loves.

As “Beyond Good and Evil” was a novel about the power of love and commitment, “Beyond

Hope and Despair,” is a novel about the power of redemption.