Gaslamp Fantasy, Heroic Adventure
As summer rolls along, here are some events where I’ll be meeting new readers. They’re all first-time events for me, and I’m excited to be a part of them!
Looking for more fey-based (or fae or fairy) books? The Portalist has you covered with its newly released list of 10 fantasy series featuring lovable (and often times irascible) fey… and not only did they include THE LAIRD OF DUNCAIRN on the list, but they used its cover as the banner image! All credit to City Owl Press for its great series artwork!
Click here to read the list and discover more books.
What do you think of the list? Any favorites missing?
For fantasy fans looking for something completely different: a unicorn, a dragon, a zebra, and a winged cat walk into a tavern… and there the adventure starts! The heroes of Josh Boucher’s new short story collection are nothing if not unique. Read more about them below, and check out Josh’s new boxed collection here!
Sifting Out Sparks
In a desperate search for his sister, a kiffen child named Fools Gold finds himself back against a cliff, cornered by fierce warriors who speak a strange tongue. One of them spares his life and welcomes him to their home: a gladiators’ paradise, the remote, ice-encrusted fortress of the Strait of Vharkhana.
Die with Honor
On the run from a life of slavery, the fireborn pegasus Purity Sweet is on the hunt for new breath. Her muscles burn on the fateful day that the Vharkhanan cities she fled to all this time threaten her execution. That which follows will either define or kill her, and she no longer cares which will come to pass.
Bolted to Dreams
The Vharkhanan revolution is not over. Although it changed lives, now it will give breath to life where there is none at all, as a pegasus warrior teams up with a soulless on a daring quest. The goal: the machine’s sentience. Captures, revelations, and a battle like no other await the duo before the cliffs of Vharkhana echo with the new name of the soulless bestowed upon her: Brokkhild.
Of Flaming Contrition
Life has never been easy for the earthborn blacksmith Ilrapnir. From day one, she has faced one trial, one tragedy after another. The deepest loss to ever scar her strikes on a should-be warm summer afternoon. So the firestone has whispered her whole life, and nothing she can do will stop it. The following days will determine whether she is strong enough to serve the cliffside fortress of the Strait of Vharkhana as their blacksmith.
I had a great time meeting new readers at the Marion County Fair last weekend! Looking forward to a few other events this summer; more details to come!
Happy also that Thralls of the Fairie was a hit! Check it out on Amazon if you haven’t already: eleven tales of Sword & Sorcery and Heroic Adventure.
And as July flies by, I’m happy to share some additional collections of fantasy novels for your perusal. Click on the image to explore the collection.
Looking for a great summer read? Happy to share with you these collections of fantasy novels, many of which are discounted! Click on the image to explore the collection.
Thralls of the Fairie and Other Tales is now out in the wild and on sale for its release week! Looking for some Sword & Sorcery adventure? Some heroic fantasy? Something to pair with those final season 4 episodes of Stranger Things? Celebrate the holiday weekend with these eleven tales where thieves quest, the abandoned hunt, and commoners struggle merely to survive!
Click here to buy on Amazon for only $0.99!
A new anthology from Craig Comer – ebook available for pre-order. Eleven tales of Sword & Sorcery, low fantasy, and high adventure.
I’m excited to say that Thralls is now also available in print – Get yours here!
Broken into three sections, I’m sharing more about each in turn:
TALES OF BALDAIRN MOTTE – Far away in Baldairn, the king is dead. As armies march and lords grasp for an empty throne, the villagers of Burn Gate find themselves caught between protecting their families and defending their lands. For the crofter, Trask, the decision is simple, but the cost will shape the fortunes of those he loves.
Baldairn Motte started as a question posed by author Ahimsa Kerp, who wondered how the men who fought for Sauron in Lord of the Rings were tricked into believing they were in the right. That idea melded with one of my own, where I pondered over the impact a large medieval battle would have on the local populace—the farmers and villagers who had to deal with trampled fields, slain livestock, and a sea of rotting corpses. Not to mention the loss of life and the struggle they faced between honoring their duties to their lords and protecting their families.
Along with author Garrett Calcaterra, we set out to explore these topics in a slightly different manner—we would each create our own story based around a common set of “factual” events. In this way, each of us would tell a different point of view of the same conflict. The original result was the three novellas of The Roads to Baldairn Motte, with my tale called Thralls of the Fairie. To that mosaic novel, we added a few interstitial documents—made-up chronicles and letters—to help flavor the wider world and help setup the core conflict of our tales.
When our first publisher, L&L Dreamspell, closed its doors we had the opportunity to republish Baldairn with Reputation Books. Our editor there asked for more short pieces to color our world and characters. “An Ambush at Plum Grove” was one of these tales, and serves as a prologue to the expanded edition. “A Morning Storm” was a cut bit from an initial draft of Thralls, when there were several additional point-of-view characters. It serves now as a resolution to the ill-fated Orren of Burn Gate.
Now with Knight Owl Publishing, Baldairn has grown and morphed throughout the years. But at its heart it remains a collection of tales, not of destined heroes or mighty lords, but of simple folk trying to survive and find happiness.
A new anthology from Craig Comer ebook available for pre-order. Eleven tales of Sword & Sorcery, low fantasy, and high adventure.
I’m excited to say that Thralls is now also available in print – Get yours here!
Broken into three sections, I’m sharing more about each in turn:
TALES OF KUTHAHAAR – In Kuthahaar, the Sultan lords over imprisoned oracles, wraith-like assassins, and underground rivers filled with the dead. For Saja and Akil, uncovering these mysteries will seal their fates, whether they wish it or not. For Rajheb, it is enough to wander the city, and remember what was.
“The Kultar’s Lost Hand” was the city of Kuthahaar’s first appearance. The story came of wondering what happens to young heroes when their bodies age and exploits are forgotten. But the city, with its Sultan and boatmen, shaded palaces and cults of mystics, spawned so many other thoughts that soon I had a whole series of tales that further flushed out the mightiest city in the world. The fabled capital of a largely desert empire, Kuthahaar is not quite Arabian, but certainly not stock European. The city lives somewhere in-between, in a time not yet faded into myth.
In “The Dream Thief of Kuthahaar” and “The Augurwraith” questions of fate and agency carry forward Kultar’s themes. If magic exists, will it help or hinder the lowborn? Will it be an equalizer or another tool for oppression? “The Blood of Khalid Al’Tahir” is a more straight-forward tale, but still with its own twist of fate. This play between heroes and rogues, fate and agency, is one I find fascinating, and I hope you, the reader, will as well.