Begin the Journey

“This is a different kind of book. One that not only invites you to come along for its journey, but to participate in its story. There are places in these pages you have forgotten exist. It is time to remember."
 
This is the introduction to the new novel Painted Oxen. The novel is being released by Homebound Publications on April 02, 2019.
 
The official book launch happens April 06, 2019, at 2pm at Sundance Books & Music in Reno, NV.
 
Painted Oxen is the story of two men, one young and one old, on pilgrimages that are separated by distance and centuries, yet mysteriously connected through a dream world that reaches across time and dimension.
 
The stories are equal parts internal and external.
 
There are four winds, four elements, and four seasons. In this spirit, the novel is arranged in sets of four. Two of the four parts are the stories of the travelers, titled Scylla and Charybdis, after the dual perils faced by Homer’s Odysseus.
 
The third part is a series of dreams. Presented as fragments of interrelated stories, these visually lush vignettes act as connective tissue for the two main stories. Because we must smuggle our dreams into the waking world, these chapters are titled Praeda, which means stolen goods.
 
The tales of the two pilgrims, together with the dream stories, make up a trinity of vignettes. Each of these trinities carries a theme, introduced to the reader by a character from the 22 major arcana of the Tarot -- a deck of cards that dates back to at least the 15th Century -- thus creating the fourth dimension and squaring the set.
 
One of these 22 cards is the Fool. Like our two protagonists, the Fool must leave the safety of his home in order to embark upon the journey of Life. Likewise, each Tarot card represents a stage in life that we must pass through on our journey to the Sacred Mountain.
 
The novel is about the two travelers. But reading it you will discover it is also about you.
 
As I mentioned, this is a different kind of book. If you accept its invitation, you must understand that -- like the characters in these pages -- you will find yourself transformed by its end.
 
Begin the journey.
 
Order now:
 
https://homeboundpublications.com/product/painted-oxen-by-thomas-lloyd-qualls/
 
https://www.amazon.com/Painted-Oxen-Thomas-Lloyd-Qualls/dp/1947003364
 
 
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Thomas Lloyd Qualls is a writer, a condition that is apparently incurable.
 
His second novel, Painted Oxen, is released on April 02, 2019.