Paternus: Rise of Gods (Paperback or Softback)

#1 BESTSELLER IN THREE CATEGORIES

Book 1 of the completed Paternus Trilogy

Described as American Gods meets The Avengers and Supernatural meets The Lord of the Rings, Paternus combines myths from around the world in a modern story of action and intrigue that is “urban fantasy on the surface, but so much more at its core!”

“Epic, innovative urban fantasy. A great read!” –Mark Lawrence, Gemmell Award Winner and international bestselling author of Prince of Thorns and Red Sister

“Wow! Ashton’s story is a crucible in which myths are melted and remade to thrilling effect.” –M. R. (Mike) Carey, author of The Girl with All the Gifts and the Felix Castor series

Even myths have legends. And not all legends are myth.

When a local hospital is attacked by strange and frightening men, Fiona Patterson and Zeke Prisco save a catatonic old man named Peter—and find themselves running for their lives with creatures beyond imagination hounding their every step.

With nowhere else to turn, they seek out Fi’s enigmatic Uncle Edgar. But the more their questions are answered, the more they discover that nothing is what it seems—not Peter, not Edgar, perhaps not even themselves.

The gods and monsters, heroes and villains of lore—they’re real. And now they’ve come out of hiding to hunt their own. In order to survive, Fi and Zeke must join up with powerful allies against an ancient evil that’s been known by many names and feared by all. The final battle of the world’s oldest war has begun.

*****

“Terrific! Paternus is intelligent, intricate, suspenseful, and epic.” –Nicholas Eames, Gemmell Award winning author of Kings of the Wyld and Bloody Rose

“Paternus is an imaginative, exhilarating ride. A refreshing take on contemporary fantasy.” –Anthony Ryan, NYT Bestselling author of Blood Song and The Legion of Flame

“Probably the most imaginative idea for a fantasy series I've ever encountered. Don't miss this, it's brilliant.” –Alan Grant, Inkpot award winning writer on Batman, Judge Dredd, and Lobo

“A stunning debut. If you're a fan of urban fantasy or mythology in your stories, you MUST give this book a try.” –Booknest.eu

“Ashton is a bloody, terrific genius. The action sequences are truly mind boggling.” –Fantasy Book Critic

“One of my favorite reads of the year.” –Alec Hutson, author of The Crimson Queen

“A war of the gods unlike any you've read!” –Michael R. Fletcher, author of Beyond Redemption

“A wild romp through every religion, myth and culture, uniting them all in some sort of late night urban fantasy pan-dimensional smackdown ... Paternus brings it on.” –Pornokitsch

“An adventure packed riot of action, fast paced and definitely furious.” –Lynn’s Books

*****

Paternus: Rise of Gods is the critically acclaimed debut novel by Dyrk Ashton, and the first book in The Paternus Trilogy. Labeled as both epic urban fantasy and mythic fiction, readers have compared it to works by such diverse and celebrated figures as Neil Gaiman, Joss Whedon, Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne, Dean Koontz, Roger Zelazny, Grant Morrison, and Alan Moore.

*****

Genre: Contemporary Fantasy / Urban Fantasy / Mythic Fiction.

Market: Adult to New Adult (as opposed to Teen or YA, though savvy 16 or 17 year olds might survive without permanent damage).

Dyrk Ashton was born in Athens (Ohio, not Greece), on a chilly Halloween morning. He whiled away his adolescent years and teens reading Stuart Little, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, everything Verne, London, Kipling, White, Lewis, Doyle, Burroughs, Poe, Howard, Fleming, Lovecraft, Tolkien, Zelazny, and generally ignoring school -- though he somehow managed excellent grades (except in Algebra, of course). He earned a BFA and masters degrees in filmmaking at The Ohio State University, which lead to working in film production in Columbus, OH. He then headed to Los Angeles where he wrote and pitched scripts but fed and clothed himself as a "jack-of-all-trades” in film production. Mostly, however, he made his living as a SAG/AFTRA actor, appearing in nothing you've ever seen. And if you have seen it, he was probably in it so briefly you missed him. After nearly six years scraping by in L.A., he realized he probably wouldn’t, in all actuality, die if he never got to make a big Hollywood film, so he moved back to the Midwest and went to Bowling Green State University for a PhD in Film Studies. He wrote a dissertation on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies. And they gave him a diploma. Shocking. After four years in a tenure track position he began teaching entirely online, and found he actually had time to read books again -- fiction, sci-fi, fantasy -- not just academic journals and textbooks. Then he realized he actually had time to write. And so he did, bringing to bear his lifelong fascination with mythology and storytelling and gathering together (some clearly ridiculous) ideas he’d had for years. The result is Paternus, the first in a trilogy of contemporary mythic fantasy adventures for grown ups. And yes, Dyrk Ashton is his real name. His father is of (mixed) English decent, and his mother (mixed) Scottish, (a Campbell, no less, though her father always emphasized they were highland Campbells, not lowland. The highland Scots fought against the English, the lowlands sided with them, you see). Anyway, Dyrk’s mom liked the way the name looked when spelled with a “y” instead of the more common “i”. Dyrk currently resides in NW Ohio, where he geeks out on movies and books, and writes about regular folks and their trouble with gods and monsters.