Wilmington novelist's latest delves into fantasy inspired by Eastern European legends

Since retiring to the Wilmington area, New York lawyer Frank Amoroso has enjoyed a busy second career as a novelist.

His output has included "Behind Every Great Fortune," a picaresque history of the enigmatic financier Otto Hahn; "Dread the Fed," a contrarian version of the founding of the Federal Reserve; and "Wopper," a multivolume saga about the young Babe Ruth.

Amaroso has now ventured into the realms of fantasy with "Stefan and the Celestial Sword."

As he explains in his foreword, Amoroso and his wife became involved in the North Carolina-Moldova Bilateral Partnership through local librarian Donna Flake. They traveled to the former Soviet republic, on the borders of Ukraine and Romania, and Amoroso heard stories of Stefan the Great, the Moldovan national hero.

Stefan was an actual historical figure, a warrior who ruled Moldova as voivode (prince) around the time Columbus was sailing toward North America.

He earned his "Great" title through hard-fought victories over the Turks and Hungarians. Stefan was actually a cousin of Vlad "The Impaler" Tepes, whose ruthlessness earned him identification as Count Dracula. (Vlad is a side character in "The Celestial Sword." As Amoroso makes clear, if you'd seen your own father butchered in front of you, you'd likely be moody and ruthless, too.)

Stefan, however, turned to the bright side of the Force, and eventually became an Orthodox saint.

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"Stefan and the Celestial Sword" follows the legends rather than the details. In the novel, young Stefan is forced to flee when his father, the voivode, is slaughtered at the annual harvest festival by his bastard half-brother. (Portions of East European history make "Game of Thrones" look like a pickleball tournament.)

To save his land and gain his inheritance, Stefan must embark on a classic, Joseph-Campbell-style hero quest.

He must find the pieces of the Aparator, the great sword that fell from Heaven and was broken in battle with the primordial giants. He must take the pieces to the Forges of Ezrok for repair.

It's a formidable task. Fortunately, Stefan has allies, including Isabella, a lady in white with a magic flute, who talks to fairies, and "Telly," a talking, telepathic octopus.

Amoroso is no J.R.R. Tolkien. His dialogue is a mite jarring, mixing 21st century idioms like "hey, guys" and "drama queen" in with the usual medievalisms.

Still, lots of stuff happens in "Stefan and the Celestial Sword" and it should appeal to fans of old Ray Harryhausen movies like "Clash of the Titans." The content is a little graphic and anatomically correct for younger readers.

BOOK REVIEW

'STEFAN AND THE CELESTIAL SWORD'

By F.L. Amoroso

Wrightsville Beach: Simply Francis Publishing, $24.95 paperback

UNCW author's 'Cold War'

Routledge has published an updated third edition of "Cold War: An International History" by former University of North Carolina Wilmington history professor Carole Fink.

The new volume adds material on developments since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, including the possibility of a new Cold War, and the changing roles of Russia, China and the United States. Fink looks behind Europe to cover developments in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: F.L. Amoroso's fantasy novel Stefan and the Celestial Sword a fun read