Necropolis
By Xina Marie Uhl

     An amnesiac prisoner, possible peace-bringer and instrument of ancient evil, hidden in the apartment of a prison guard, both of them in danger of their lives. An ancient city, not unlike Judaea or Jericho, on the brink of war with its closest neighbor. A bored streetwise girl and her savvy mother, who shares some chemistry with the guard, who's a shell-shocked veteran of war. A scheming councilman with dark magical powers. A doomsday prophecy threatening the release of "the Old Ones," who are gods or demons depending on who you believe. A group of necromancers watching the action, and a band of ruthless unearthly assassins wreaking havoc. And a city that holds the threat of the Apocalypse.

     Xina Marie Uhl's Necropolis goes beyond the usual sword-and-sorcery warmed-over Tolkien fantasy rehashes, delivering characters as nuanced and plots as intricate as Robert Jordan's Whell of Time series. The sense of dread and terror in this quasi-Roman Empire city of Eretria, conducting negotiations with their enemy Cyra while plots and counterplots reign, is as persistent as chemical weapons in Iraq, and the political situation is twice as explosive. And amnesiac priest Dru may hold the key…the problem is, Hillary-Clinton-clever imprisoned councilman/magician Gilas, who has it in for Pontius Pilate-corrupt councilman Zelos Denay, cannily guards Dru's secret, even from Dru.

     Meanwhile, Dru's presence and recovery give restless street-smart teenager Valeka and her beautiful mother Jesra more excitement than they bargained for when Valeka discovers Dru in the slovenly (think single guy first apartment) home of prison guard Conyr Elarrin, a Vietnam-War-type vet of the conflict with Cyra. Conyr, whose emotional state is as chaotic as his living space, at first resists Valeka's, Dru's, Gilas's and even Jesra's encroachment on his lonely and miserable life, but in true hero fashion, rises to the challenge of protecting Dru and defending Eretria. Thanks to the added blessing of a romance with Jesra, Conyr heals his grief over a past betrayal and the horrors of battle that haunt him still…just in time for the unlikely group of allies to face unimaginable peril and destiny in the terrifying Necropolis.