“Rumors of dead cities, usually loaded with riches, had been heard by Dirshan when he lived in the villages. He dismissed them; men will always talk wildly of things they have not seen. Still, he thought as he looked at the slow-moving current, one never knew. There were more things locked in the past than legends, and the dead were not always as still as the grave would imply."

Being declared apostate by The Order, Dirshan has eked out a meager existence outside the fringe of the civilized world. A marauding desert tribe led by another member of The Order ends his solitude launching him on a mission of revenge. Traversing the known world Dirshan follows his prey to the isolated Shrine of Lerios, home of The Order. His companions are the Princess Karinth of Alithar and the swordsman Teos; together they face danger in many forms. There is action and adventure throughout, from a lost ancient city in the desert, to a sea voyage rife with pirates, to a final race against time to reach the Shrine of Lerios.

In 1973 Doubleday Publishing printed The Lerios Mecca by Gene Lancour. I cannot say how the book was received at the time, but the lack of information about the author or book online seems to tell its own story. Personally I became aware of both from a beat up hardcover copy of The War Machines of Kalinth, which is book two of the Saga of Dirshan the God-killer.

How had a heroic fantasy series like this escaped my notice all these years? Where was book one? Was there more?

Even though I have only seen that one copy in the wild, copies are available online. Although not very many. Which leads me to believe that the series had a limited print run and only in hardcover.

In 2015, new titles by Gene Lancour began appearing on Amazon. Lancour even had a new website that spoke of how he was returning to writing and promised new adventures of Dirshan. With the advent of the reprinted books he changed the series title to The Tilter of Worldes. Lancour published two more Dirshan novels before going silent again.

The Lerios Mecca is fine as a standalone story. Although, with each new book the continuity begins to fray more and more. There are six books total: The Lerios Mecca, The War Machines of Kalinth, Sword for the Empire, The Man-eaters of Cascalon, The Lost Prince, and Exiles to Glory. Reprints available from Amazon currently at fantastic prices.