The Nectar Trilogy

Lane Gray

“He’s a smart kid, really smart, but there is a sadness around him that keeps him locked inside himself.”  That’s what Ms. Mitchell, Lane’s homeroom teacher, says about him.  It wasn’t always that way.  Before his mother died, Lane was a happy little boy, full of life and the wonder of discovery.  Ever since that tragic day life has been different.  His father turned to alcohol to medicate the pain of his loss and Lane’s world imploded.  From then on Lane’s life has consisted of watching out for his little brother, reading, and trying to survive at home and school.  His only true friends have been the characters he reads about in the library of books his mother left him.  Now, a junior in high school, his only hope of a better life is to earn an academic scholarship to a good school and get out.  There’s only one problem.  If he goes to school, who will protect Josh from Dad?

Owen Gray

Once a successful and well loved professor of philosophy at the university, Owen’s life has fallen apart.  He blames himself for the death of his beloved wife.  If only he hadn’t had so much to drink at the faculty party that night, then she wouldn’t have been behind the wheel and she would still be with us.  These thoughts haunt Owen every moment of his life.  He lost his job and his identity, and each day the anger spews out on his two boys.  Most nights they are locked away when he gets home and he finds himself passed out on the couch in the morning.

Josh Gray

A seven year old bundle of wide-eyed questions, Josh adores his big brother.  Only a toddler when his mother died, Josh knows only the care of his older brother, and the fear of the large man that lives down the hall.

Gustov

The perpetual optimist, and the leader of the Deltonian tribe, Gustov desperately tries to keep the fires of hope burning for his oppressed people.  He was a boy when the Altanians invaded and conquered his tribe.  Images of the brutal slaughter war against his optimism.  A lifetime of forced labor has made his hands calloused, but he has determined to keep a soft heart and a vigilant hope that someday the promised Pleroma would come and deliver his people from their oppression.

Jethro

A skilled fighter in his own right, he was the natural choice to train the warriors for the great festival.  At first he counted it a privilege to be the one man who could bring a single glimmer of hope to the Deltonians.  But now, enduring years of sending one warrior after another to their inevitable death, the hope has been replaced by cynicism.

Quinn

At first glance he is the crazy old hermit that lives in the rocky crags that line the upper ridge of the Waste.  Years of exile may have effected his behavior, but his mind is as sharp as ever.  Inside his smoky cave, hidden in the rocks, lie the secrets that Lane needs to survive.

The Bellator

The Beast.  That’s what the Deltonians call him.  He is a giant; grotesque, and three times larger than any tribesman.  When this creature fell from Amo’s heaven, everything changed.  Under the ruthless goddess’s direction, the Bellator led the Altanian tribe down from the mountain and into a reign of terror that brought the once peaceful tribes into slavery.  Now, the Great Festival that stood for Tribal unity has been transformed into a bloodsport.  Every year each tribe sends one warrior to challenge the Bellator, and every year another valliant warrior dies a brutal death in the presence of the horrified and oppressed crowd.

Exapator

The high priest of Amo and leader of the Altanians.  He is the mouthpiece of the goddess.  He alone can conjure up her image, and he alone speaks her will to the tribes.  With the power of the Bellator leading the war machine, Exapator sits at the top of the world, high on the summit of Amo, and lords it over the tribes in the valley below.  In the eyes of the Deltonians, he is evil personified, and all he wants from them is…the Nectar.