Bound in Stone: Volume One

Bound in Stone: Volume One (Cover art, Author's Notes and Forward)

The central image of this cover is derivative art based on the image provided by user Lviatour (Luc Viatour) on Wikimedia Commons. The author has permission from the image owner to use the original image for cover art. The original image is published under the following licenses, and therefore the central image of this cover is also licensed the same: GNU Free Documentation License, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3. 0 Unported, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic. The use of the original image does not imply an endorsement of the author's work.

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Third Edition, October 2011

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Author's note and content warning: This Wattpad serial version is rated PG 13. The Soulstone Chronicles series, however, is meant for an adult readership and it contains GLBTQ content and horror elements. There will be certain sections that I will not post on Wattpad, at which point I will leave a notice stating where to find the free ebook for those readers who are 18+ and want to read the missing scenes. If you are 18+ and want to read the entire novel of Bound in Stone: Volume One now, it is available free on Smashwords and Amazon.

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/KMFrontain

http://www.amazon.com/Bound-Stone-Soulstone-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006G4O5QO/

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Author's Foreword

The Soulstone Chronicles began as a set of questions inspired by a game, Dungeons and Dragons. Something we Dungeon Masters noticed― something I myself was guilty of when I first played the game―we discovered it was a habit of new players to want perfect characters. Perfect charisma, perfect agility, perfect speed, strength, wisdom, intelligence. You get the idea.

Strict dungeon masters allowed one roll of the dice to determine the strength of each attribute of a player character. As you can imagine, a bad roll could be a really upsetting occurrence for a novice.

Oh, no! My thief has five speed!

And suddenly the planned character cannot be a thief. Suddenly one isn't sure if one likes Dungeons and Dragons. Maybe playing it isn't all that fun.

Most Dungeon Masters, at least most of the ones I've met, have allowed three dice rolls per attribute, and the player could pick the best of the three or had to use an average. For newcomers, this salvaged many player characters and made the game worth playing. But we Dungeon Masters always smiled our wry smiles.

Yeah, who wants to play a flawed character? Really?

Experienced players sometimes do. It's a challenge. But new players to the game usually don't want a flawed character. Yet they should have fun; and so, the best of three rolls.

But still, I thought, way back when, what happens if someone really is perfect, has perfect speed, perfect strength, agility? What if they are perfectly beautiful and have absolutely spectacular charisma? Off the chart charisma? So much charisma they might wish maybe they hadn't any at all?

Could such a state be a curse to a super being?

And that was the beginning of my epic. Let's make a god, I thought, and play with a few questions. Let's see how he really likes being gorgeous, irresistible, indestructible. What happens if he's truly immortal or as close to it as possible? Does power really corrupt, especially if one has plenty of time to think how best to use that power? Is heaven real? Could there be a true hell? Is the soul real? If it is, is it a form of power too? Does it take precedence over matter, the rules of matter? What happens if a soul doesn't pop in for an occasional revisit to the place of creation?

What if you discover that everything really is your fault?

Now mush in a bit of science and ecology while world building, dump my character into a position where he has all that power, but then give him no control of it. Make him absolutely ignorant of his true potential. Let's see what happens.

And there you have my Kehfrey, the mortal avatar we meet at age seven, child prodigy in a world that would better match ours in the seventeenth century, a god who doesn't remember he is one. I had a lot of fun messing him up. I shoved him into an untenable situation and let the story unfold. I hope you enjoy his journey as much as I did.

All the best,

K.M. Frontain