Vesuvius is a volcano located in Italy, nearly six miles east of Naples (Parthenope).  Steeped in culture and rich in history, there are literally thousands of legends and myths that abound concerning Vesuvius and the volcanic landscape around Naples, on all sides, all the way out to the islands.

The Crystal Crux book series is centralized on Naples (Parthenope).

In the first book, Betrayal, we get an early flashback to the cataclysmic eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD.

I placed the ancient god of fire and brimstone, Hephaestus, in Vesuvius.  Blacksmith of the gods, he is the one who oversees the making of the five conscious crystals for the fallen warrior, Bellerophon.

Before the five crystals can be brought together to serve their ultimate purpose, a black dragon named Ophis interferes.  A battle breaks out inside Vesuvius between the dragon and Bellerophon.  The separating of the five crystals causes a powerful rift that ignites the volcano’s latent energy – and Vesuvius erupts.

“As time moved forward and the grey ash of the great volcano Vesuvius settled into history, the memory and existence of the Bellerophon crystals sank even further, almost forgotten beneath the convoluted oceans of legend and myth… With or without the Bellerophon Crystals, the wasting of innocent life continues, the collateral damage still speaking to the gods against us, the blood of our blameless dead still dripping into the core of the world, endlessly coating stalactites and stalagmites with crimson slime.  Hephaestus is quite pleased with his work and his trophies.  Ophis is still crazy mad.”

My current WIP is a prequel to The Crystal Crux series.  In this coming tale, the main character must enter Vesuvius and meet with the god, Hephaestus.  I’ve been weighing over this part of the book and trying to find an appropriate way for these two to interact.  It is challenging.

I thought I’d have this work done before the holidays, before the end of 2018, but time has not been on my side.  Progress has been steady but slow.  I’m actually coming up on the anniversary of when I officially began working on this project.  That’s a lot of time and energy invested into one story.  I hope everyone enjoys it when I finish.

Be sure, in the meantime, to check out the original three volumes of The Crystal Crux, Betrayal, Blue Grotto and Cold Knight.

CLICK HERE to see Allen M Werner’s Amazon author’s page