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Cover of The Salt Road That Fed the Dragon by R. Keith Parker

The Black Salt Cycle · Book One

The Salt Road
That Fed the Dragon

An Old-World Gothic Fantasy of Salt, Iron, and Hidden Debt

A complete old-world Gothic fantasy set within the larger world of The High Pass Chronicles. No previous reading required.

Six negotiators entered the forbidden lake valley. None returned.
Read on Kindle — $2.99 ↗Enter the Cycle ↓

Main description

Every bargain
leaves a debt.

When an expedition follows their salt road into a floating city, it discovers that trade is governed by ancient witness law, every bargain carries a hidden debt—and something beneath the lake has already claimed the road.

The Salt Road That Fed the Dragon is an old-world Gothic fantasy of salt, iron, lost peoples, forbidden trade, and the terrible cost of an empire’s prosperity.

Readers who enjoy dangerous expeditions, dragons, hidden civilizations, ancient mysteries, political intrigue, supernatural laws, and old-world Gothic fantasy can begin the journey here.

Available now

Choose your road.

Kindle is the simplest way to begin. Print editions are available for readers who prefer a physical copy.

Primary editionRead on Kindle$2.99Begin now ↗Print editionBuy the Paperback$17.99Amazon ↗Case laminateBuy the Hardcover$29.99Amazon ↗
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Enter The Black Salt Cycle

The salt road was built to carry prosperity into the empire.
It carried something else back.

Beyond the last lawful milestone lies a forbidden valley, a floating lake-city, and an authority older than the trade agreements written in its name. Every measure of salt is witnessed. Every bargain is remembered. Every hidden debt eventually comes due.

Begin with Book One. No previous knowledge of The High Pass Chronicles is needed.

The Black Salt Cycle continues

Book Two

The Fountain
That Stole the Years

In active development

Twenty chapters of the next Black Salt Cycle novel are complete.

The expedition beyond the lake continues into a land where age, memory, and survival may be measured by powers older than the road itself.

“The road beyond the lake is growing darker.”

A publication date will be announced after the manuscript and final editorial passes are complete.

Follow Book Two’s Progress ↓