Thus Spake Iridan


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Harken thou to the pale whisper of Iridan, the Seer, the Oracle ... Iridan who was once the man, living and breathing, even as thou -- but no longer. For long and long have I been air and sorrow, the wisp of smoke, the whisper of the wind, neither captive nor free.

Then, harken thou, for Iridan sees all things as he has known all men, since the glory days of the Old Kingdom ... and the days of Ruin which haunt the steps of living men.

Long ago, do I recall that great kings dwelt in the Outer Capital. But Zeheft is gone now, lost to the sea, where the porpoise and the crab shall hold dominion. Vayal will follow -- soon, so very soon -- but Iridan shall grieve but little for the line of its sovereigns. For a hundred generations have I watched the evil of Vayal grow and prosper, until the light of hope has flickered almost out, like the candle too long neglected.

Shall I tell thee of the great days of Diomedas, King of Zeheft, the seventh son of Aeson, and of the sons of Diomedas? Astonished wouldst thou be, if I were to tell thee that the blood of Diomedas lives on even now, while Zeheft lies sunk beneath the ocean. Royal Zeheft, that was the birthright of Diomedas's sons ... Zeheft that should have been their right of inheritance, and my own, but now gives lease to the turtle and the shark.

Yet Iridan knows the secrets of Zeheft as surely as does the last fair son of the line of Diomedas. Tall has he grown, and beautiful as the dawn light of Helios. Filled with health and the strength of youth, is this boy -- and with the power that comes to him from the line of ancient kings whose names have been expunged.

Not even the evil of Imperial Vayal can strip the power from him, though men would try, if only they could lay hands on him.

He also knows the secrets of Zeheft, and would die before he told one word of them. So he runs and hides, as his old teacher insists. He has lived all his life in the shadows, growing to young manhood while all of Vayal would wish him cold and dead for what he is.

They fear him, and well they should. But Iridan watches him still, as I have watched over him since he came into the world. Seventh son of the seventh son, of the ancient line of Nepher and Amon. Oh, he lives, and Vayal should sweat in dread.

I see Ruin. I see the fragmented kaos of the heavens themselves raining down upon the broken heads of men ... and I see such love as legends are made of.

For they are men now -- Faunos and Soran, grown to young manhood in a land where fear snaps upon the heels of happiness, and joy is a fleeting moment wrested out of the maw of dread. Love alone is worth the struggle of life. Iridan knows this, and Faunos suspects, though Soran has yet to savor the sweetness of wild honey, feel the sting of the locust, and yearn for what he cannot have.

Oh, I see love, though they have never met. I watch them both, though they have no inkling that a guardian spirit rides their shoulder. The old man knows, but he will not tell, and the young have no ears for such as Iridan. Not yet. Not until the Zeheft is engulfed and Imperial Vayal itself is lapped by green waters where the dolphin flies and the albatross sleeps on the wing...

Soon. Too soon.

But harken thee now to Iridan, Oracle. Eat of the fruit of patience, rest a while, and wait.

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About Legends...

This story has its roots in the 1980s. About the time I signed with GMP, I was kicking around the idea for a massive novel -- the problem being, I had no time to develop it. At the time, one of my "literary friends" was Lane Ingram, who passed away some years ago. When Lane volunteered to develop the narrative from my storyline, I was surprised and very agreeable; and a version of it was circulated on a small scale, to a very appreciative audience!

Lane had no aspirations to be a professional novelist, which meant writing was fun, and remained fun, while I did battle with "style" and "technique." And then one day Lane was gone, without leaving much of anything to mark the place in the world which had once bee occupied by an individual who was large in every sense of the word.

Let's change that. I'm bringing LEGENDS "to the screen" in a form which preserves as much of Lane's input as I possibly can, while at the same time properly developing it, bringing it up to full professional standard ... cutting and trimming, correcting the errant, though enthusiastic, amateur ... polishing it to the professional sparkle you've come to expect from Mel Keegan.

LEGENDS will be Lane's memorial. Here's to you, kiddo, wherever you are: enjoy.

Ebook screenreaders:


Downloading LEGENDS and reading from the computer screen? Join the club! Most people are stuck in the same situation ... and it's a right-royal pain. At this time, MK also is still trying to make the transition to one of the ebook screenreaders. The price of most of them is still high, but in the course of shopping around, Mel has found two that are coming under extremely close scrutiny. The Bebook and the Sony look like being the best deals at this time. In due course, we'll be reviewing them right here. Mel Keegan has decided it's going to be one of these two -- but they're very comparable, so ... take your pick. Either one would be perfect for reading LEGENDS, or other digital novels.

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ABOUT THE LEGENDS ART...

The art appearing on this site, illustrating elements of this novel, is by Jade, my cover artist from DreamCraft.

Soon you'll be able to order prints, treeshirts, mugs, mousepads and a lot more, featuring this artwork and manufactured in the US by Zazzle.com.

The portfolio is still growing, and a gallery is online. Return to this page now and then to see new addition...

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The NARC novels are now at Amazon!

Research Tales

A great deal of research for this novel was done, and subjects Atlantean most often begun with a study of the Trojan wars.

Why? Because the iLiad is one of the very oldest bodies of writing which is also extensive enough to be useful. The problem with the iLiad is -- unless you're fluent in Ancient Green (and who is?) you'll be working from the translations ... and the "disagreement" between them is counfounding for one who's not a Homerian scholar!

The solution? Track down a book that translates the translations -- gets them out of the rich, ripe, flowery language of poetry and into a solid historical context. And in this, MK lucked out. Such a book exists: The Trojan War by Barry Strauss. It reads like a novel, and if you wanted something to get your teeth into ... perhaps after watching the movie, Troy, or after reading Legends -- this is the book you've been looking for.

There's another very scholarly work, The Flood From Heaven by Eberhard Zanger, which "deciphers the evidence" and places Atlantis at Troy! Now, Legends is about five thousand miles from Zanger's work (literally -- due west!) but having said that, Zanger is to Plato what Strauss is to Homer, and the work was extremely helpful.

Now, working even further back through time, you want a "scholar" (and note the quotation marks on that word) who spent a lifetime researching (ouch!) Atlantis. And again, MK lucked out, because there is such a man. A very brilliant man by the name of Ignatius Donnelly, whose "pop-science" book, dating from 1882, is still in print today, in several editions! It's thorough, it's astonishing, and it makes ... quite a case for Atlantis. Not that anyone believes in such things. Right?

There are also some good documentaries on DVD, if this is altogether far too much reading!

And of course, if you want to get into the spirit of the thing (!) you can always put on Troy and let Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana and company provide the inspiration! Speaking of which, have you seen the director's cut? Highly recommended.

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION: Legends is copyright 2009 by Mel Keegan. Please do download the whole novel, which is in HTML format, compatible with your screenreader, PC or Mac. However ... please don't gift it to your friends. Instead, give them the url of this page and recommend that they download it for themselves. The reason is simple: author's income is earned via the adverting on these pages. If they're not loaded, nothing is earned. MK has bills to pay too, and for your cooperation ... thank you kindly!

Note that Legends is NOT covered by the "Creative Commons." This work is the intellectual property of Mel Keegan. If you would like to use parts of it elsewhere, please contact MK via this blog.






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