By Erin Winters

Book: The Cost of Humanity

Genre: Epic Christian Fantasy

Erin Writes…

I’m excited to share with you my new release, The Cost of Humanity, and the passion that drove me to write this story!

In this book, the main character is Enouim an ordinary waitress who prefers to live a calm, predictable life. When her home is threatened and she stumbles into a quest of mythic proportions, her security disappears and everything she has ever known tailspins out of control.

I have always loved fantasy stories.  I love how we can escape into beautiful realms so unlike our own and take our imaginations on a gorgeous ride as we picture cinematic landscapes and incredible creatures. Yet, what ultimately keeps me in the story is not what is different from our world, but what is the same. I relate to characters, emotions, and dilemmas in the story. 

I love this quote by G. K. Chesteron: “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

The idea is not to shy away from difficult things, but to show us how to face challenges of many shapes and sizes. The story of The Cost of Humanity has a number of spiritual elements. There are civilizations with wildly different standards of living: Gorgenbrild values honor and strength. It follows “an arm for an arm” and “tooth for tooth” rather literally. Kalka’an rejects this brutality, but prizes wit and strategy above all else, so lying and stealing are acceptable. Levav deals with the heart or motivation behind actions. Representatives from all these societies end up on the same quest with a common goal. On the way, they must learn how to interact and ultimately save Gorgenbrild from the dangerous Tribesmen threatening to eradicate them forever.

How do we understand our standard is not better or worse than someone else’s standard, because we are both creating them subjectively as humans? What do we do when we discover the great and only truly objective Standard which is above and beyond any we could create and has authority over all humanity? My deep and personal relationship with Jesus, both through Scripture and personal experience, consistent with Scripture, informed these answers as I built the world you will discover. I find such beauty, peace, and acceptance at the feet of Jesus despite struggling to know why certain things must happen the way they do.

This book is more subtle in its allegory than The Chronicles of Narnia, but more obvious than The Lord of the Rings.

It’s a story about friendship, emotional vulnerability, and undeserved mercy.  It is an epic quest filled with excitement, sword fights, ancient legends, and fascinating creatures and places!  As you are swept up in the quest and follow Enouim on a mission meant for elite warriors who are facing the challenge of saving their homeland, discover how you can survive the difficulties in your own life, fueled by a power not your own.

Full Synopsis

Enouim struggles to live a carefully controlled, safe life, but one blunder leads to another and soon she is caught up in a quest for something that may not even exist.

Tribesmen from the surrounding areas are uniting under one man and have begun cutting off trade routes. As a last resort, Gorgenbrild sends an elite body of warriors after a legendary weapon that could turn the tide, and the leader is less than enthused to have an unqualified addition to the team.

As Enouim faces down dangers she never imagined, her life tailspins out of control and she’s forced to consider that everything she was ever taught about life and honor may be wrong.

Purchase the Book

• Amazon

Connect With Erin

• Website: www.erinwintersauthor.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/erinwintersauthor
• Instagram: @erinwintersauthor
• Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/erinwinters