Product Description "Better to Live than to Die" was published in the anthology Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues. About this story, author John Gwynne says, "The Banished Lands has a violent past, where men and giants clashed in a war for supremacy and near-extinction for the vanquished. Now men rule the land, giants little more than a memory, lurking in the wilds and dark places. This tale takes place ten years before the events of Malice, book one of The Faithful and the Fallen, within the Darkwood, a great forest that splits the western realms of Ardan and Narvon. It recounts a key moment in the life of a young bowman, Camlin, who is part of the Darkwood Brigands—a moment that has far reaching consequences for the great conflict to come." About the Author John Gwynne was born in Singapore while his dad was stationed there in the RAF. Up until he retired that meant a lot of traveling around, generally a move every three years or so.He lives with his wife and four wonderful (and demanding) children in East Sussex. Also three dogs, two of which will chew anything that stands still. He has had many strange and wonderful jobs, including packing soap in a soap factory, waitering in a french restaurant in Canada, playing double bass in a rock n roll band, and lecturing at Brighton University.I stepped out of university work due to my daughter's disability, so now I split my time caring for her and working from home - I work with my wife rejuvenating vintage furniture, which means fixing, lifting, carrying, painting and generally doing what my wife tells me to do...And somehow during this time I started writing. I've always told my children stories at bed-time, and they pestered long and hard for me to write some of it down. At the same time I felt that my brain was switching off a little - vintage furniture is my wife's passion, whereas my passions are geekier!