"When Gods Wake" by Kendall Kirkbride

The gods have been dead for centuries. Caldris built an empire from their remains.

Dr. Sera Voss has spent eleven years studying the anatomy of Aestra, the dead god beneath the city. She knows every vessel, chamber, and impossible structure carved into the divine body. More importantly, she knows dead things don’t move.

Then a cutter dies inside a chamber that shouldn’t have been able to kill him—and something shifts beneath Sera’s hand.

Sera orders the excavation shut down, but the Crown wants its bloodstone, the Ministry wants an explanation, and neither is willing to accept an answer that threatens the industry keeping Caldris alive. As the evidence becomes increasingly difficult to dismiss, Sera is pulled deeper into the secrets buried within Aestra and closer to Ronan Vale, a man who challenges every boundary she has fought to maintain.

Someone knows what is happening beneath the city. Someone has worked very hard to keep it hidden. And if Sera is right, Aestra may not be the only god who was never truly dead.

"When Gods Wake" is Book One of The Dead Gods series by Kendall Kirkbride, an adult-themed dark fantasy published in September 2026.

About the Author

Kendall Kirkbride is an Ohio-based independent author writing psychological suspense, crime thriller, gothic mystery, and dark fantasy. Her published works include The Quiet Between Us, Book One of the Elliott Mercer series, and When Gods Wake, Book I of the planned five-book Dead Gods series. She is currently developing future installments of both series.