Traditionally, copies of a new book appearing before the actual print edition comes out are known as Advanced Review/Reading Copies (ARC) and these are only sent to people in the trade who need to have time to read and then review a book in traditional media outlets. Of course, times have changed. People don’t like waiting for new products to come out. So we thought, why not let the general public in on this arrangement so that anyone who wants an early bird look at the novel can have access to the e-ARC or paper ARC a month or more before the book goes into general circulation in bookstores and on Amazon. Lord of Darknessis available exclusively at our website for instant download starting today in both Kindle or epub (Nook/iPad) format for $9.99, or as a pre-publication trade paper ARC for $25.Most of Silverberg’s notable body of work falls chiefly under science fiction. The novel is one of Silverberg’s rare ventures into historical fiction, but in describing the conception of the book in his introduction Silverberg said: “… I would be writing a kind of science fiction novel—for science fiction was the main pursuit of my life—in which I would be inventing not the future but the past, and bringing to life an alien civilization every bit as strange as those that had been imagined by the great science fiction writers.”

Lord of Darkness is set in the 17th century and based on a true-life historical figure, this novel is a swashbuckling tale of exotic lands, romance, and hair-raising adventures. Andrew Battell is a buccaneer on a British ship when he is taken prisoner by Portuguese pirates. Injured and ailing, Andrew is brought to the west coast of Africa where his only solace is Dona Teresa, a young woman who nurses him back to health. Andrew’s sole hope to return home is to first serve his Portuguese masters, but it is a hope that dwindles as he is pulled further and further into the interior of the continent, into the land of the Jaqqa—the region’s most fierce and feared cannibal tribe—overseen by the powerful Lord of Darkness. This story demonstrates the timelessness of any great adventure and the determination to persevere at any cost.

Lord of Darkness will be officially published October 31 during Halloween. See this page to purchase it now. To read the first chapter for free, see this page.