Community Corner

Avon Lake Resident, Editor Launches Fantasy Fiction Book

Todd Shryock now working on sequel to The Fly Guild

An Avon Lake author has put a new spin on the age-old question, “What happens when a good person gets put in a bad situation?”

Writer Todd Shryock recently released The Fly Guild, a dark fantasy fiction e-book based in the fictional Star Gleam City.

The Fly Guild centers around the character of Quinton. An orphan before he turned 10 and running the streets to survive by 12, Quinton finds himself under the protection of a group of ruthless thieves called The Fly Guild. After surviving a ritual that nearly killed him to join, Quinton will do whatever it takes to survive and win his freedom, even if it means compromising his beliefs.

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“His daily chore is to go out and steal food, money, anything,” Shryock said. “It’s based on a quota system; he has to fill a bag every day.”

Shryock describes Quinton as a “good person in a bad place” with nowhere to turn.

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Shryock created Star Gleam City, “once the destination for thousands of immigrants from the eastern lands looking for a promising future.” The only promise the medieval-style city now holds is one of oppression and death. Divided by a great wall, Star Gleam City hosts the brutal working class on one side--under the reign of The Fly Guild--and the wealthy, privileged class on the other side.

The uneasy truce between the sides is broken when Quinton secretly stabs the son of the wealthy overlord, Lord Wren, and both sides begin a fight for control.

As the story develops, readers can see the struggle between good and evil.

“I wanted to write a story that focused on the idea of what would happen if a good person was constantly placed in bad situations,” Shryock said. “Would a good person surrounded by violence and bad influences be able to persevere? What would someone endure to stay true to their heart?"

The book is a bit of a writing departure for Shryock, who has more than 20 years experience as a writer and editor. He is currently the managing editor at Westlake-based Smart Business Magazine. He said he enjoyed his first venture into book writing.

“It was a lot of fun to write,” he said.

Although he had a general outline and knew how the book would end, Shryock said writing The Fly Guild was an adventure.

“Sometimes it was a surprise to me which way the situation was going to go,” he said. “I knew how the book was going to end, but there was a hundred different roads that could get there.”

The book contains numerous violent incidents and is not a children’s book. Shryock said he would rate it “PG-13,” saying it was geared more toward adults.

Shryock, who resides in Avon Lake with his wife and daughter, is currently writing a sequel to The Fly Guild.  

The Fly Guild is available to download for $2.99 from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble (www.bn.com) and Smashwords.com. For more information, visit www.theflyguild.com.


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