The Rise of the Azure Spire (Paperback or Softback)

War has come to Alluria.

With King Darnashi under the control of necromancy wielded by Prime Magus Encheron, the Wizardlord's must pledge their allegiance or face the costs of treason.The Elves of Venda have thrown their support behind Prince Kal, but Kal might be more Allurian than they bargained for. When Kal's dreams connect to the tortured soul of his brother, King Darnashi - the war takes a much deadlier turn. An army of the dead has risen and Encheron wields their commander. While Venda and Alluria fight their war, Encheron is making deals with the Shadowland to ensure his own claim over Alluria, but when he promises the Heart of Creation in exchange for his power, he may have doomed them all.

Inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin's writing style, particularly The Wizard of Earthsea, of The Earthsea Cycle Series, J. Edward Hackett has created a world of magic and adventure, sprinkled with philosophical musings and what it means to stand up for what you believe in.

J. Edward Hackett, Ph.D. is an academic philosopher at Savannah State University who rather than engage in metaphysical speculation in process metaphysics is off building magick systems in his world of Apeiron. Fantasy fiction is itself an exploration of concepts in extreme for him. In fantasy this exploration is limited only by the imagination in much the same way that philosopher employs the intellectual imagination to solve problems that science, common sense, religion, or art cannot solve on their own.In his debut novel, Flight of the Ravenhawk, Apeiron is a world as boundless as its origin coming from Anaximander's fragments. Wizard nobles vie for power in the Allurian Empire. Airships shoot lightning cannons. Elven archers fly atop griffins, and a dwarven kingdom is buried deep in the mountains far from elven or human spires. At the same time, Ed's fiction cannot help but be inspired and instantiated by concepts that come from ancient, modern, and 19th and 20th philosophical systems of thought. It's in his blood.Ed grew up scattered across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states. Born in Lakewood, NJ and spending most of his life north of Pittsburgh, PA, Ed has been traveling to other worlds since he bought the Star Wars D6 RPG book by West End Games and Mage: the Ascension from White Wolf as a teenager. He grew up on Magic the Gathering, 80s fantasy movies, and many comics of the 90s amidst the rust belt of Western Pennsylvania.Although a professor, Ed still goes to imaginary worlds with his friends at the age of 39. He's in a classic AD&D game. His philosophizing meshes with the sensitivity to imaginary worlds. Just recently, he contributed an article about environmental ethics and the animated movie Wall-E in the upcoming Disney and Philosophy. He's edited another pop culture and philosophy volume called House of Cards and Philosophy, co-edited an academic volume on phenomenology entitled Phenomenology for the 21st Century. He also published his first solo academic book called Persons and Values in Pragmatic Phenomenology (2018). When asked if she was a philosopher once, the great Simone De Beauvoir said, "No, I'm a writer." Upon hearing that many years ago, Ed has tried to write for many audiences and emulate her example.Ed has been married to his wife, Ashley, since July 30th 2006. They live in Savannah, a magickal place in its own right and before that they lived in Cleveland. They have two cats: Olive and Lulu. Ed absorbs the sunlight of the beach, practices zazen, and while writing and teaching philosophy and other courses in the humanities, he shoots landscape photography. Despite all of this, his greatest joy is teaching and writing. "Writing fiction is simply being philosophical with narratives rather than directly talking about concepts."Don't forget to connect with J. Edward Hackett on social media! You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and on his blog, The Horizon and the Fringe.