The novel is about Roge Callan, who to escape his father’s despotic claw, changes his name to serve as a sergeant under a banished RangerKnight. They live among former enemies, the Skinweavers, who seek help to find a path out of their barbaric tribal past.

But the benevolent Widow Witches and their sentient Yetis have gone missing, and only someone with Widow Witch blood can find and rescue them. Unbeknownst to Roge, he has the blood and is the League of American Castles’ only option. In a hobbled and sabotaged swiftship called the Drunken Stork, Roge pulls together a small crew of misfits and travels from Mitteleuropa to Russia to the Middle Kingdom. They confront along the way ambushers, pestilence, vicious chimeric predators and titanic storms.

However, Roge is not the only one with problems.

Thousands of dead Han soldiers keep disappearing after battling brutal steppe invaders. Plus, alien-looking outlanders are stalking the Middle Kingdom in powerful skyships no one can match. All the while, court intrigue, well-guarded secrets and backstabbing keep Luminous Emperor Zhong Ren from learning the meaning of his diviner’s mysterious predictions.

The novel includes pictures of the Drunken Stork, maps and a Weir family tree that covers all the generations.

This is what editorial reviewers are saying about THE LAST SKINWEAVER:

The world-building here is intricately done, well thought-out, and believable, with multiple cultures interacting according to their own particular views and needs…The story is full of action, with excitement and danger at every turn, and the main plot unfolds as a series of little events whose relevance and relation to larger events is revealed, bit by bit, as the story goes on. In the end, mysteries that have been hidden since the beginning of the series are revealed, and the epic drama comes full circle and finds a solid and satisfying resolution. — Catherine Langrehr for IndieReader.

Over the course of the novel, Hladky offers prose that’s measured and assured, and his action-packed narrative enhances the story’s enjoyable mix of court intrigue, dirty politics, well-guarded secrets, and backstabbing. Although the story echoes many other dystopian tales (including the almost middle-earth-ish settings), Hladky manages to carve out new territory for himself, constructing a story that is able to stand on its own. His knack for blending the fast-paced lingo of paramilitary thrillers with the intriguing worldbuilding of sci-fi and fantasy keeps the pages flying. Throw in the sharply drawn characters, atmospheric setting, and the roller-coaster pacing, and you’ve got a winner. Readers will be enthralled. – The Prairies Book Review.

The post THE LAST SKINWEAVER — 4th novel in The Book of Ruin series is out first appeared on W.G. Hladky Author.

“Is that the west door?” he said, referring to a nearby entrance.

My buddy broke out laughing. He pointed to the setting sun whose rays illuminated the door. “What do you think?” With GPS so pervasive, I fear many people soon will forget how to read a paper map.

If modernity does collapse into a Dark Age, which occurs in my novels, we may never again figure out how to navigate the vast Pacific using just the sun, stars, seasonal currents and tides. We must figure out, however, how to survive without industrialized medicine and manufactured pharmaceuticals. Doctors will return to the time when they receive their training through apprenticeships. Apothecaries must once again learn about botanical drugs. If they do not, life will become nasty, brutish and short.

Most people (including me) can’t name the species of plants in our backyards, and which one cures or poisons. So, when I run across examples of folk or low-tech medicine, I plug them into my storyline.

For example, humans have utilized the yarrow herb since the Trojan War. The flowering plant has been used to staunch bleeding from war wounds. An excellent styptic, yarrow is an anti-inflammatory, pain reliever and antimicrobial. Yarrow can be dried and stored as a powder. Fresh leaves, after a quick chew that activates its clotting properties, can also stop bleeding.

Similarly, Hedge Woundwort – a coarse hairy foul-smelling weed – has been used since the Roman times to heal wounds. It also reduces the ache in joints when made into an ointment.

In my first book, THE BOOK OF RUIN, a healer treats a sword wound with moss that contains penicillium molds. Many ancient cultures independently discovered the useful properties of fungi and plants in treating infection. Chinese and Greek physicians pressed moldy bread against wounds to prevent infection. In Egypt, they utilized crusts of moldy wheaten bread and medicinal earth.

The healer in my story also sedated a wounded ranger with wine infused with belladonna juice. Belladonna is a plant that has been used medically for millenniums. Also called nightshade, the plant is poisonous. Assassins have placed its juice in drink or on the tips of arrows. Processed correctly, however, the belladonna can be used as a sedative and a surgical anesthetic.

In my second novel, THE FLASHFALL SWORD, tattoos on my hero’s back reminds an acupuncturist where to insert needles to reduce pain from an old injury. The idea came from the tattoos found on the Iceman; a mummified man found in the Italian Alps 5,300 years after he died. His tattoos were simple horizontal or vertical lines. Scientists believed the tattoos served a therapeutic or diagnostic purpose because they clustered around the lower back and joints — places where the Iceman suffered from joint and spinal degeneration. One researcher said approximately 80 percent of the tattoos overlapped classical Chinese acupuncture points. Researchers also believe tattooing alone might relieve pain.

Two low-tech practices I describe in my books come not from ancient history but from treatments that arose out of the Afghan and Iraqi wars. At the end of THE BOOK OF RUIN, a cleric treats the hero’s PTSD by having his eyes track a finger moving back and forth. While doing so, the hero describes a recurring nightmare. This treatment is called EMDR, or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, and it seems to reduce traumatic anxiety. Researchers are uncertain about how it works. Some suggest EMDR is similar to REM, rapid eye movement, which occurs during sleep. REM helps process memories and leaves the person refreshed after sleep.

In RANGERKNIGHTS, currently being written, warriors use auricular acupuncture on the frontline to decrease pain. This idea came from discovering that the medics use battlefield acupuncture to reduce the opioids given to wounded soldiers. Small needles or darts are inserted in five specific sites in one or both ears. They supposedly influence how the nervous system processes pain. This auricular therapy also may cause the body to release chemicals that encourage numbness and fight inflammation.

I describe battlefield acupuncture to a longtime practitioner of Aikido. She pulled out of her bag a plastic case containing the auricular needles. She brings them to Aikido class in case a student is hurt and needs relief from pain. Obviously, not everyone is estranged from the natural ways of our world.

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