Hartselle author pens fantasy novel

By Staff
Staff reports
When Hartselle resident Brannon Hollingsworth helped form The Wandering Men, a group of adventuring authors, he did not expect his first novel, Skein of Shadows, would attract the attention of acclaimed author Keith Baker, who penned the widely popular Dreaming Dark series of novels (The City of Towers, The Shattered Land and The Gates of Night). But even before the group finished their novel, word had gone out to Baker of their unique series of stories wound together in a single large plot.
Published by Dark Quest Publishing of New Jersey and sold through Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, Borders, Walden Books, and others, Skein of Shadows is the first novel published by Hollingsworth’s group, The Wandering Men.
It features his novella, Tenet’s Tale, a story about a truth-bound investigator who races against time to save his beloved city of Crown from the sadistic manipulations of a foe who is yet unknown to him.
As Tenet frantically pieces together the mystery left in the wake of the other four characters’ actions in the novel, he is drawn inexorably towards a final conflict upon a mysterious ship in the city of Crown’s bustling harbor.
Recently, Hollingsworth joined the Wandering Men in Akron, Ohio, for the first of many publicity appearances supported by their publisher. Fortunately for Hollingsworth, the remaining appearances will be much closer to home, with book signings and conventions set next in Chattanooga, Tennessee, followed by Birmingham, Mobile, Indianapolis, Indiana, and finally Atlanta, Ga.
The Wandering Men was formed as a group of explorers who apply their experiences to their writing. From hiking on the Appalachian Trail in the snow to climbing through abandoned mines in Alabama to kayaking across the Mississippi River to explore the Spanish built ruins of Fort St. Philip in south Louisiana, Hollingsworth has gathered a broad base of experiences which he uses to enliven his stories with rich, empathetic detail.
While Skein of Shadows is Hollingsworth’s first novel, he has been published numerous times in the past in the role-playing games industry. Hollingsworth is now setting his sights on the novel world. Already, the Wandering Men have begun work on a sequel to Skein of Shadows and the eclectic group has several other projects in work as well.