"About This Dark Lord" is a Fantasy book grounded in traditional themes. Loyalty and honor, temptation and corruption. It starts with the lost love of a small town boy. His sweetheart has been promised to another in an arranged marriage. The heartbreak, jealousy, indignity, and rage tempt him into dark thoughts. Dark thoughts draw dark beings to him. Dark magics. Skeletals and goblins; witches and necromancers. Events are colored by his feelings, both selfish and selfless. His impulses call to him. His dignity restrains him. Caleb's love is tested by new opportunities, new lusts, new temptations. The boy must choose between "suffering the skills of honorable conduct" or the "joy of victory through violent force." His choices give rise to new opportunities in either direction. The test is constant. Along the way he uncovers treasures that promise even more. His friends teach him something of love and honor. His treasures teach him the possibilities of power and conquest. This is the beginning of an epic series that starts small, as most of our lives are lived. The politics of the world are distant and unimportant, as is often true for the young. Until, of course, they're not. The Dark Lord's influence looms over all who live and all that is done. The hero's call is more often imposed upon us than chosen.