A Story of Ilium

Forced to give up his life as a humble farmer, Podarces of Phylace unwillingly finds himself in the city of Troy, where a death in the family has thrust him to the forefront of a legendary battle-and getting home to his wife and child could mean risking a death sentence for desertion.

Meanwhile, Nireus of Syme seems to have it all. But despite good looks, a small fortune built on the black market, and a cushy assignment away from the front lines, his only wish is to be the star of his own great epic-killing a Trojan in open combat, and getting all the glory and battle scars to go with it.

A recipient of a prophecy that seems ever closer to coming true, Eumelus's only hope is to hear the wisdom of the equally doomed Achilles. But when he finds himself in the company of a lesser-known deity instead, he must look past a negative attitude and frustrating ambiguity to find the answers he's been looking for all along.

Equally comic and tragic, this imaginative work provides an unusual glimpse at three lesser-known characters from Homer's "Iliad"-and how they came to end up together on a suicide mission to infiltrate the unbreakable city of Troy.