Gatekeeper

John Beresford is a British science fiction & fantasy author who has been writing his whole life, but let his family and career get in the way of publishing for the first fifty years. Now retired, he writes full-time and has several works to his credit. Seven novels (a science fiction thriller about what happens when GM food goes wrong, and two fantasy trilogies set on the world of Berikatanya), two volumes of poetry, a book describing the "writing challenge" he undertook after publishing his first novel, and two albums of songs. He is presently working on a series of horror short stories. The Berikatanyan Chronicles trilogy was conceived with the premise: "what if Earth's first planetary colonisation missions discovered the world they chose was already occupied?" followed by the equally compelling twist: "...and what if those indigents had magical powers?" The first volume - Gatekeeper - follows five characters who join the colonization mission, each for their own very different and very personal reasons. They arrive on the new world to find that it's not only the native population who can manipulate the traditional elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Some of the colonists develop powers too, though no-one understands why. Their ship has arrived in the midst of a centuries old conflict between the two centres of a medieval civilisation that has recently escalated. This war plays out during the course of the story, involving each of the five in different ways. In the second volume - Water Wizard - the final colony ship arrives from Earth bringing with it more surprises for the band of Elementals. The conflict sparked by these events escalates into an even greater peril than our heroes faced in book #1, and long-lost Elements and their powers are rediscovered. The trilogy concludes with Juggler, in which the final terrifying power is unleashed to save or damn the population of Berikatanya - both natives and colonists. In the Second Chronicles our heroes escape to the north, where they find new communities and new challenges.