Staryk

Dark Clouds Rising is the first book in the Black Star series exploring the fantasy world Crux, a world of ancient falsehoods and broken nations. Within all this chaos, heroes rise to a calling even they cannot fully understand. In Flesh and Dreams, Stephen, an amnesiac, is found in a forest, wounded. Adopted by a group of dragonslayers, Stephen travels in their quest to rediscover their fervor against Dragons.The quest takes them through the ruin of raided cities, the hall of a corrupt noblewoman, the fire of a battle against a barbaric horde, and the heart of the enemy's lair. All the while, Stephen searches for his past, but a shadow grows in his heart that whispers gleeful memories of bloodlust and rage. In Reflections, Captain Serdis of the Nessus Law-enforcers hunts a cult that kills for pleasure.The religious cult worships a god of death from the country of Boncawa to the north, a country that warred with Serdis's beloved nation. He knows the cult would like nothing better than to start a war again, and Serdis plans to prevent such an event, but fate has assured his failure.

C.J. Staryk was born in Newport News, Virginia, in 1978. In the third grade, he wrote his first short story, and a dream was born. Staryk graduated from Christopher Newport University in 2000 with a B.A. in English. C.J. Staryk now resides in Hayes, Virginia.