Qvamp's note: I'm glad to welcome the first full-fledged novel to this site. Because of the length, the first nine chapters of the book are available here as a zip file, or as a set of HTML documents.

Also note, the referred to site 'Prose Garden' no longer exists.

Authors note:

Given the focus of this site, I thought it best to let everyone know well in advance that Tremble In The Balance is, largely, a fantasy novel with a strong vampiric thread, and that the aspect of homosexuality is, in this first book of 6, only tangential. It's not even touched upon until chapter ten. However, Tremble is the foundational story for a series of five, in which the thread is woven into a rope.

Tremble In The Balance (or at least its foundation) is, in fact, an old RPG campaign of mine, twisted into a literarily viable shape. Now, I've often heard that these kinds of projects never pan out well, that games simply can't be translated into a viable literary format. Well, to that I say horse-hockey. Albeit, many games can't be, simply because they rely on copyrighted campaign settings, contain material and scenarios that a non-gamer simply wouldn't understand, or are based on a premise that simply wouldn't work well as a novel. However, I think I've read enough fantasy over the last 20 plus years to know what will. Add to that the fact that the world and milieu in which Tremble is set is uniquely and wholly "my" own creation, and purposely about as far away from those of T$R and its peers as one can get, and I think all the aforementioned concerns are rendered moot. In truth, I think the whole Agenarian milieu serves better as a literary setting than it does an RPG, for it lacks all the conveniences of gods and an elaborate, illogical, and often conflictive system of magic. Anyone who's ever written an RPG campaign will understand what I mean -how crucial these things are to plot development and a feasible adventuring campaign.

Now, I'll warn you ahead of time; this is a long book -what would be about an 800 page paperback, 53 chapters in all. One more note: I've included a full appendix; this includes the custom Agenarian words, places, etc. I did this as a courtesy, for I made it a point to work in a definition or explanation right there in the book itself of any unfamiliar term I used. But if you need to reference the glossary, by all means, do so. A final warning; this story contains alternative sexuality (no kidding?), strongly irreligious material, strong language, rape, and graphic violence. I kept it all to a minimum, but it IS there, so you have been duly warned. The first nine chapters are available here, as well as on The Prose Garden; if you'd like the rest, just drop me an e-mail, and I'll happily send it along. Comments and feedback are always welcome, provided, of course, that it's constructive. Flaming me for concept or content is pointless, but then again, you probably wouldn't be on this site if such things offended you.

Well, that's it. I hope you enjoy Tremble as much as I enjoyed writing it (when I wasn't pulling my hair out, that is).
:)

Nicky Lewis
Varsala@yahoo.com