title: The Secret Miracle: The Novelist's Handbook
author: Daniel Alarcon
description: "The miracle of this book resides in the editing, an invisible art itself. There is specific expertise in corralling disparate writers and writing styles, coordinating an array of opinions, and crafting a cohesive narrative out of the jumble. Alarcon has done just this. He dovetails the author responses one after the other like a well-edited film, and the effect is a seamless literary conversation." - <i>Bookslut</i>
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  _![](../images/00001.jpeg)_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is a work of fiction. All the characters, organizations, and events
  portrayed in this novel are products of the author’s imagination.
  
  
  **The Burning Tower**
  
  
  Book 1 of The Secret Journey
  
  
  © 2017 by Colin Glassey
  
  
  All rights reserved
  
  
  Print ISBN: 9780998578309
  
  
  Ebook ISBN: 780998578316
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _For Gene Wolfe,_
  
  
  _Roger Zelazny,_
  
  
  _J. R. R. Tolkien,_
  
  
  _and Lord Dunsany_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _If I had seen one miracle fail, I had witnessed another; and even a seemingly
  purposeless miracle is an inexhaustible source of hope, because it proves to
  us that since we do not understand everything, our defeats—so much more
  numerous than our few and empty victories—may be equally s_ _pecious._
  
  
  ~Gene Wolfe, _The Sword of the Lictor_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Table of Contents
  
  
  [Acknowledgments](part0005.html#_idTextAnchor000)
  
  
  [Maps](part0006.html#_idTextAnchor001)
  
  
  [Part One ](part0010_split_000.html#_idTextAnchor002)
  
  
  [Kelten