Philos: Before the Shadowlands (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781963718683)

PHILOS: Before The Shadowlands, is set on a distant planet in the future that has been colonized from Old Earth. Stephen Hardy, the adoptive name of the protagonist, is an orphaned youth raised on hard labor in a quarry on the fringes of the colony of Philos. One morning, he is forced to flee from a group of older boys and as they close on him intending to deliver a beating. Scrambling up a rock scree to the upper edge of the quarry, beyond which the quarry boys are not allowed to go, he kills one of his pursuers. With that, he is forced to escape "over the top" and out onto the desert floor. After several days alone in the desert, he is rescued by a scholar, explorer and archeologist from the main Philonian colony, Professor John Hardy. The novel narrates this youth's gradual integration into the higher civilization of Philos, his struggle to adapt to the rigid, Platonistic class rules, and his determination to avenge on two members of the Patrician class the beating and rape of the girl he has fallen in love with. As with The Shadowlands, PHILOS' narrative is woven through with historical issues and ideas of religion, philosophy and ethics, drawing on both Christian and Taoist-Buddhist traditions. (Really, like any good spaghetti Western, it's a simple revenge tale.)

Don Schley is a writer living in Colorado. Professionally, he is a multi-lingual and widely traveled scholar and teacher. In addition, he holds certifications as an over-the-road truck driver (with endorsements in singles, doubles, triples, tankers and hazardous materials), and is a developer of various kinds of projects. In his early life, he was a boxer and a motorcyclist. His hobbies include hiking, camping, hunting and shooting, and he is an aficionado of the lore of the Old West. His works are published under the auspices of Aeon Project Development, LLC.