David Fitzgerald is an author living in Dublin, Ireland, and the founder of Dark Legend Books. A graphic designer by profession, he has been fascinated by epic fantasy from a very young age, and writes sword and sorcery in the vein of David Gemmell, Joe Abercrombie, Mark Lawrence and Steven Pressfield.

His first novel, Dark Legend: Beyond the Mountain (2025), opens The Dark Legend Saga. It began with a question about the myths of heroes who return from the dead at their people's hour of greatest need - King Arthur, Robin Hood and the rest - and what would happen if one actually did. In it, the Hardukai Empire has overrun the old kingdom of Arkonia, whose greatest hero, Rezak Al-Brega, was betrayed and mortally wounded decades ago and spirited away to the sacred mountain of Lyfanya. Almost forty years later a confused, disorientated man stumbles down from the Dorchadas mountains, certain of one thing: that he is Rezak the Returned.

Dark Legend: The Heretic's Heart, the second book in the saga, followed in May 2026. Arkonia is in chaos, and its last hope rests with three unlikely heroes: Robard, cast out from the only life he has known and entrusted with a vital mission; Vilpes, shrewd, self-serving and lightning fast with a blade; and Nayfa, a sightless mystic who is still one of the deadliest swordsmen of his age.