about the author:

Michael J. Bertolini was born on June 15th, 1984 in New Britain, Connecticut. The oldest son of David and Linda Bertolini, Michael grew up with one passion: dinosaurs. His earliest dreams were of moving to Montana to become a paleontologist. As time passed though his dreams of becoming a paleontologist began to fade and his love of history grew. When it came time to apply for college admission he decided to study to become a high school level history teacher.

Michael graduated from New Britain High School in 2002 and went to Central Connecticut State University. It was at CCSU that he was first introduced to a fantasy role-playing game called Dungeons and Dragons. It became a mild obsession for him; even after the weekly game sessions ended he was filling his time with fantasy books. He read all of R.A. Salvatore’s early work and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the first time. During this time he wrote the first version of The Cold Tower and created Amras Oronar.

As his time at school progressed he decided that teaching was not for him. Now needing to take a minor he chose archaeology, a course of study that reminded him of his early dreams of paleontology. Both history and archaeology gave him insight into the human world and inspired much of Scyllia.

He graduated on December 22nd, 2007.

In 2006 he first to write at least 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month competition. In 2008 he won NaNoWriMo and completed the first draft of The Cold Tower, though it would be nearly a year before he returned to the work to edit it for publication.

Michael lives in Connecticut where he continues to write, always looking for new ideas for the upcoming books in his debut series, The Dark Heritage Saga.

THE BOOKS

The Cold Tower is his first published work. The book has since recieved great reviews: Chelsea Perry of Apex Review says "The Cold Tower is a grand, sweeping fantasy epic. In the vaunted tradition of Tolkien and Herbert, author Michael Bertolini combines imaginative characters with compelling plotlines to create an engaging tale with strong spiritual undertones...a cant-miss thriller for fans of quality fantasy fiction."

Before TCT was published he had already completed the first draft of his second book, The Shadow Road. After a few edits he published the new book on June 11th, 2010. Like its predecessor, The Shadow Road has received excellent reviews and is considered by many to be better that The Cold Tower.

The Lost Worlds was published in spring, 2011. Soon after, the books in the series have been published in Ebook form in response to the growing market in electronic books.

He finished writing The Keeper's Gate in late 2011, it is scheduled to be editted during spring 2012; after which time it'll become available in both print and electronic formats.

Michael's short story, Solitary, was included in I Believe in Werewolves, an anthology published by Netbound Publishing; inspiring him to write more short stories, most of which haven't been published in any format. Some of his stories, and his novels, are available for download from Smashwords and other ebook retailers.