Pharos History Through Fiction · Course 2

Beyond the
Fading Darkness

Virginia in 1775, in a novel and in the record. Read the novel, then test it against speeches, journals, newspapers, proclamations, letters and memoirs.

For grades 7–12 · Virginia, 1775 · 12 weeks

Coming soonStart with Lessons 1–2
Pharos History Through Fiction
The Beyond the Fading Darkness course cover.
The Pharos History Through Fiction lantern emblem.

The course cover and the Pharos History Through Fiction lantern. The novel is sold separately.

One year.
Protest to war.

  • 12 weeksOne lesson a week, about 3–4 hours.
  • 12 lessonsFour sessions in each, 45 to 60 minutes.
  • 9 unitsFrom Patrick Henry at St. John’s Church to Quebec on the last night of the year.
  • History and ELAWith Civics, Geography, Economics and Math.
  • A capstoneA final assessment, about two weeks. It can overlap Weeks 11 and 12 or follow them.

Two ways to work

Online or on paper.
Or both.

Every purchase includes all 12 lessons as PDFs. Pharos Terminal subscribers can also open the course online.

The Beyond the Fading Darkness course in Pharos Terminal.

Online · For Pharos Terminal subscribers

In Pharos Terminal

The course inside Pharos Terminal, alongside the rest of your student’s week.

  • Lessons 1–2 included with an active Pharos Terminal subscription.
  • Buy the course, and all 12 lessons open online while your subscription is active.
  • Students see the student part only. The part for the parent or teacher stays with you.
  • The 10 Nexus Points for this course come in the regular Pharos Terminal feed.
Page 1 of Lesson 1 of the Beyond the Fading Darkness course PDF.

PDF · Included with every purchase

The lesson PDFs

All 12 lessons, the capstone and the course guide, yours to keep. No subscription needed.

  • Print them, or read them on any device.
  • Four sessions in each lesson, 45 to 60 minutes each.
  • A “For the parent or teacher” section in every lesson: answer keys, discussion guidance and a rubric.
  • A separate Grades 7–8 prompt for every writing task.
  • The PDFs stay yours if a subscription ends.

Left: the course in Pharos Terminal. Right: Lesson 1, page 1, as it appears in the PDF.

The course

Nine units. Twelve weeks.

Each week pairs chapters of the novel with primary sources.

  1. Week 1Lesson 1Liberty or death. Did Patrick Henry really say it?
  2. Week 2Lesson 2Committees and loyalty. The committees: liberty or mob?
  3. Weeks 3–4Lessons 3–4The shot heard round the world. News at the speed of a horse · Gunpowder, Lord North and taking up arms
  4. Weeks 5–6Lessons 5–6Frontier diplomacy. The Shawnee choose again · Dating the Clay killings
  5. Week 7Lesson 7Riflemen march north. Morgan’s riflemen
  6. Week 8Lesson 8The Connolly plot. The real Dr. Connolly
  7. Weeks 9–10Lessons 9–10Freedom offered by the enemy. After the Proclamation: Great Bridge · Runaway ads of 1775
  8. Week 11Lesson 11Printers and the press. Printers and the press
  9. Week 12Lesson 12Quebec. Quebec, December 31, 1775
The week-by-week schedule in the Beyond the Fading Darkness course guide.

Every lesson

Twelve lessons.

Each lesson is one PDF with four sessions: read, then background; primary-source work; discussion and writing; a short assessment.

Lesson 1 · includedDid Patrick Henry really say it?The most famous speech of 1775 and the record behind it
Lesson 2 · includedThe committees: liberty or mob?How the Continental Association was enforced in 1775
Lesson 3News at the speed of a horseHow word of Lexington and Concord traveled south in April and May 1775
Lesson 4Gunpowder, Lord North and taking up armsVirginia’s spring and summer of 1775, in the record and in the novel
Lesson 5The Shawnee choose againFrontier diplomacy at Fort Pitt and the Shawnee towns, summer 1775
Lesson 6Dating the Clay killingsA real frontier tragedy, a county history, and a novelist’s changes
Lesson 7Morgan’s riflemenWho the Virginia riflemen were and what the march to Quebec cost them
Lesson 8The real Dr. ConnollyA Loyalist plot to split the colonies, and the man behind it
Lesson 9After the Proclamation: Great BridgeDunmore’s offer, Virginia’s answer, and the battle of December 9, 1775
Lesson 10Runaway ads of 1775What the Virginia Gazette’s ads reveal about the people who fled
Lesson 11Printers and the pressWomen printers, paper money and counterfeiting in 1775
Lesson 12Quebec, December 31, 1775The assault on Quebec and the men who survived it

Real or invented?

Test the story
against the record.

Every lesson asks the same question in a new way: what in the story is real, what is invented, and how do we know?

Read the novelRead the assigned chapters before Session 1.
Into the sourcesSpeeches, journals, newspapers, proclamations, letters and memoirs.
Sort fact from fictionWeigh conflicting accounts. Where the novel invents a person or a group, the lessons label it fiction.
Write it upA writing task every week, with a separate Grades 7–8 prompt, and a short assessment.

Included with an active Pharos Terminal subscription

Start with Lessons 1–2.

An active Pharos Terminal subscription includes the first two lessons. Buy the full course for Lessons 3–12, the capstone and the course guide.

Lesson 1Did Patrick Henry really say it? The most famous speech of 1775 and the record behind it.
Lesson 2The committees: liberty or mob? How the Continental Association was enforced in 1775.
Lessons 3–12The rest of the course, the capstone and the course guide are part of the full course.
See Pharos TerminalComing soon
The cover of the novel Beyond the Fading Darkness, by Zac Northup.

The novel

Beyond the Fading Darkness

The second book of the Fading Darkness series follows fictional and real people through 1775, from Patrick Henry’s speech at St. John’s Church in March to the assault on Quebec on the last night of the year.

The course uses the novel as a doorway, not as the record. Its Historical Notes explain many of its choices; the course tests those notes too, and points out where the novel and the record part ways.

Sold separately, on Amazon in print and Kindle.

About the novel
Zac Northup.

Your guide

Zac Northup

Zac has written and published under his own name since 1996. From 2016 to 2021, he ran an educational nonprofit that taught rural high school students to launch their own small businesses. He holds an M.A. in History from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Pricing

The whole course.
One payment.

Beyond the Fading Darkness$249One payment. One family license.
No subscription needed.

Included

  • All 12 lessons as PDFs
  • The capstone final assessment
  • The course guide with the 12-week schedule
  • A “For the parent or teacher” section in every lesson

Not included

  • The novel, Beyond the Fading Darkness (sold separately)
  • The 10 Nexus Points (included with an active Pharos Terminal subscription)

Pharos Terminal subscribers: $179 — includes all 12 lessons online while your subscription is active, plus the PDFs.

Coming soon

Pharos Terminal is $399 a year for one student ($299 for each additional student) and includes Lessons 1 and 2. Refund policy

Questions? Answers.

Who is it for?

Students in grades 7–12. Every writing task has a separate Grades 7–8 prompt that asks for shorter, more structured work.

Do we need a Pharos Terminal subscription?

No. On its own, the full course will be $249 for every lesson, the capstone and the course guide as PDFs. Active Pharos Terminal subscribers will pay $179 and can also open the lessons online. Lessons 1–2 are included with an active subscription.

Do we need the novel?

Yes. Each lesson assigns chapters. The novel is sold separately, on Amazon in print and Kindle.

Do we need to take Through the Fading Darkness first?

We recommend Through the Fading Darkness first, but it isn’t required. Beyond the Fading Darkness is the second book in the series. Taken in order, its twelve weeks follow the eighteen weeks of Through the Fading Darkness.

How long does it take?

Twelve weeks, one lesson a week. Four sessions a week, 45 to 60 minutes each, is the default pace, or about 3–4 hours a week. The capstone takes about two weeks; it can overlap Weeks 11 and 12 or follow them.

Is any of it hard to read?

The novel and the sources describe war, raids, the killing of children, tarring and feathering, and slavery. Lesson 6 is the hardest and opens with a content note for the parent or teacher. Preview Chapter 35 before assigning it to younger students.

How does it connect to state standards?

Each lesson’s part for the parent or teacher lists the West Virginia standards it addresses, for planning and records. Citation is not an endorsement by the West Virginia Board of Education or the WV Department of Education.

Real or invented?

Beyond the Fading Darkness · $249 · For grades 7–12 · Coming soon

Coming soon

Standards are cited for planning and record-keeping; citation is not an endorsement by the West Virginia Board of Education or the WV Department of Education. Amazon and Kindle are trademarks of their owners.