In this tale I introduce you again to Hemetuck, the White Dwarf, court jester and general adventurer much addicted to japes that oft backfire to his discomfiture. He again finds himself with a challenge all too common for those of his ilk in that he must travel across a difficult waste full of dangerous barbarians and vicious demons. It is long ago, but he still inhabits a world where successive Empires have risen and fallen for eons. History has faded into fantasy and myth, but a history where competing barbarian hordes see the old cities as a source of wealth and plunder. In many ways this novel, as well as the other five in the series, are a return to my first writing roots. I grew up on a reading diet of epic sword-and-sorcery; the tales of Howard, Tolkien and Vance were as formative as my studies in history. As a result, my first four novels were set in such a world in the fantasy genre-and Dirshan, the lead character in that series, is my e-mail handle to this day. A potent mix that I think will make for interesting reading. As time goes on you'll find more back matter and details on the website www.talesofthewaste.com. Enjoy this novel and, if it intrigues you, the rest in the series. They combine the best of epic fantasy-history, maps, language, glossaries and interesting tales-with a variety of writing styles and viewpoints. I've learned a lot in my writing career, this is the result.