Newly Released: The Hades Cycle

“Eurydce Otherwise” is a complete short story about a mountain nymph who clashes with the lord of the underworld. But it’s also the first chapter in the saga of Lord Dìs.

Artemis in Chase is a complete novella in which the goddess of the hunt seeks vengeance for the murder of one of her retinue. But it is also the second chapter telling of Dìs’ further fall from grace.

And so it goes for the rest of the seven-tale series.

Now all seven tales are collected in one book to form the braided novel that is the more correct term for the larger story.

He chose hell to preserve his brothers. Will his choice prove his destruction?

Lord Dìs hungers. After millennia expending his immense strength to sustain hell and its shades, the dark god of the dead craves light, love, and life. But this arrogant king of the underworld is stunned when the mountain nymph he steals to be his queen—a glorious creature of sun and breeze—repudiates him and threatens his throne.

Infuriated and desperate, Dìs hunts down a forest nymph to siphon the leaf-dapple and quietude from her soul and replenish his ebbing power. But one such banquet demands another, and as Dìs extinguishes spirit after spirit to feed his ravening need, he drowns beneath an inward tide of darkness, desolation, and death.

Dragging a chain of evil deeds behind him, will Dìs seek redemption? Or will he embrace perdition with the damned?

The Hades Cycle is a braided novel of mythic fantasy. Tales of lovers, friends, and enemies twine through Dìs’ saga to reveal secrets otherwise hidden. If you enjoy deep mythology brought to vivid life, heroes of passion and will, and epic sacrifice, you’ll love this gripping story of the old gods.

Read The Hades Cycle to redeem the accursed today!
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My First Audiobook!

I’m thrilled! My novel The Tally Master is now available as an audiobook! And its sequel Sovereign Night will follow soon.

This has been a dream of mine for over 10 years. Since 2012 I’ve repeatedly looked for options to get my work into audio, and repeatedly the logistics have defeated me.

Let me tell you how the barriers came down.

Apple is pioneering the use of AI narration for its catalog of ebooks, and this August they opened up the program to indie authors like me.

I was skeptical at first. It seemed too good to be true. But when I looked into the program, it was legit. And I really liked the voice sample for the female narrator. She sounded human, and she sounded good. I entered The Tally Master as a candidate for audio, and in early September it went live!

When I listened to the first few pages, they sounded even better than I’d dreamed possible. I’m an expressive reader myself when I read aloud, but Madison the AI does a better job than I could. I’m so, so happy with the result, and I’m eager to make more of my work available through this channel.

When you must dwell in the citadel of your enemies, do you join them? Depart toward exile and death? Or raze their dark tower to the ground?

Gael tries to ignore the significance of his actions. Managing supplies for a warlord’s arsenal, the cursed mage purposefully evades the fact that he’s enabling the destruction of his former people. But when he discovers the precious metal needed to craft the weapons is being stolen from under his nose, he resolves to find the culprit at any cost.

Relentless and driven, Gael follows the trail of clues to expose not just a thief but a chain of heinous treacheries. When he unearths the roles his friends have played, he’s no longer certain whose side he should be on. Especially when his master orders him to destroy a magical artifact that could save them all.

With his protégé imprisoned and facing a death sentence, and his mentor sacrificed to the warlord’s policy, Gael must decide where to place his loyalty. Will he discern and choose what is right, or will he forfeit his last chance at redemption?

The Tally Master is the gripping first novel in the Gael & Keir fantasy mystery series. If you like characters who seem to step right off the page, twisty plots, and vivid world-building, then you’ll love this engrossing tale.

Listen to The Tally Master to choose senseless hope or sober treason today!
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Newly Released: Were It Only Exile as Promised

In a world of silenced voices, one champion vows her sister will not go unheard.

Thania inhabits a far future in which digital goods and virtual reality substitute for physical products and experiences. Thania has always accepted the constraints of her culture, but when her beloved sister discovers real paints and canvas—banned as hazmat—Thania’s complaisance starts to crack.

After Claro publishes her subversive illegal art—putting both sisters in danger—Thania begs her to return to the safe digital work that originally brought Claro fame.

But Claro knows that sometimes the life of the spirit trumps that of the body, and Thania must learn this lesson too or risk losing her soul. Along with everything else.

Were It Only Exile as Promised is a dystopian SF story of art, algorithms, and censorship. If you’re a creative looking to lance the modern boil by plunging into its worst case, this nightmare scenario offers the terrifying catharsis you seek.

Read Were It Only Exile now to seize the comet’s tail!
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Newly Released: Illumine Hades

Darker than dark, ruinous and ravening, the realm of Hades ravages its lord . . .

As ruler of the damned, Lord Dìs sustains the bounds of hell that prevent its shades from escaping to batten on the living. But the drain on his strength, immense as it is, requires him to steal life from the innocent. When Dìs’ wife Persephone insists he refrain from his cruel ritual theft—and he fails—she leaves him.

Alone and broken, Dìs renews his vow to fulfill his duties without the replenishment he craves. But the burdens of judging the newly dead and preserving them from extinction, all while anchoring hell itself, inexorably grind Dìs beneath a crushing weight.

Dìs must learn that merely refraining from evil redeems nothing. Unless he can restore those he destroyed, madness will claim him and the bounds of hell will implode.

Illumine Hades is the concluding tale in the exhilarating Hades Cycle. If you seek heroic sacrifice, redemptive love, and the terror of the ancient gods, you’ll love this cathartic finale in which all the series threads weave together toward glory.

Read Illumine Hades now to plumb the depths and kiss the heights!
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Cover Reveal: Illumine Hades

Illumine Hades will release soon!

Initially it will be available on Amazon for purchase and in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription service for free download.

Illumine Hades is the last of seven tales in The Hades Cycle.

Some months after Illumine Hades is released, all the stories in The Hades Cycle will leave the KU subscription service and be available for purchase on all major e-tailers, including Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Amazon, and more.

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Newly Released: Queen’s Cusp

Does she love him enough to forego her heart’s desire?

As queen of hell, Persephone revels in the freedom granted by darkness. She finds meaningful work in the release she provides shades seeking repentance and atonement. But when her mother bids her beware Dìs’ cruel side, Persephone’s newly won assurance falters.

After her husband invites Persephone to again witness ‘the dance’ at his side—a sadistic rite essential to his rule over Hades—she sees its horror with fresh clarity. And knows she can no longer condone this torture of innocents.

But if her scheme to provide Dìs another source of strength fails, Persephone will confront an impossible choice. Unless she forfeits the god she loves most—and the wellspring of her own strength—the macabre ritual must persist forever.

Queen’s Cusp is the sixth tale in the vivid Hades Cycle. If you enjoy lyrical mythology that moves quickly, keeps you guessing, and magnificently captures the terror and passion of the ancient gods, you’ll love this twist on the story of Hades’ king and queen.

Buy Queen’s Cusp to seek courage over cruelty today!
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Cover Reveal: Queen’s Cusp

Queen’s Cusp will release February 7, 2023!

Initially it will be available on Amazon for purchase and in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription service for free download.

Queen’s Cusp is the sixth of seven tales in The Hades Cycle.

Some months after the seventh tale is released, Queen’s Cusp will leave the KU subscription service and be available for purchase on all major e-tailers, including Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Amazon, and more.

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Newly Released: Persephone Errant

She buried herself to escape her past, but now it’s followed her down to hell…

The dark queen anchors her soul in power—power as her husband’s beloved, power as the guide for shades seeking absolution. When the hero Orpheus invades hell to pluck the heartstrings of its rulers, his song reminds Persephone that beneath her sovereignty lurks weakness she persistently ignores.

Orpheus proves but the herald of another illicit visitor to the underworld. Confronted with her memories in the person of an old enemy, Persephone resolves to bury her past anew.

But hidden amongst congealed impotence, frustration, and swallowed rage lies an opportunity the queen banishes at her peril. If she refuses the challenge, she who saves the souls of the damned will lose her own.

Persephone Errant is the fifth tale in the enthralling Hades Cycle. If you enjoy deep mythology imbued with an intimate focus, you’ll love this rite-of-passage story in which a goddess confronts the choice that will define her for the ages.

Buy Persephone Errant now to face hard truth head on!
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Cover Reveal: Persephone Errant

Persephone Errant will release January 7, 2023!

Initially it will be available on Amazon for purchase and in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription service for free download.

Persephone Errant is the fifth of seven tales in The Hades Cycle.

Some months after the seventh tale is released, Persephone Errant will leave the KU subscription service and be available for purchase on all major e-tailers, including Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Amazon, and more.

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Newly Released: The Smith and the Hermit

With the hot breath and snapping jaws of the hounds too close behind, he runs . . .

Beran creates magical marvels at his forge. Obsessed with his art, he ignores the people of his household and town. When a corrupt and jealous rival falsely accuses the smith of a dangerous crime—and makes it stick—Beran lacks allies.

Turned over to a violent religious sect for execution, Beran refuses to go tamely, but the manhunt on his heels makes escape unlikely.

Unless Beran learns to value human connection—to choose it—the hounds will tear him down in his tracks.

The Smith and the Hermit is a fairytale of my fantastical North-lands. If you enjoy the urgency of the hunt, the once-upon-a-time style of Andrew Lang’s Red Fairy Book, and that magical moment when a character embraces change, you’ll love this story of invention and resource.

Buy The Smith and the Hermit to confront isolation’s snares today!
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