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Showing posts with label Contemporary Fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Contemporary Fantasy. Show all posts

Sunday, October 18, 2026

"Forged Slumber" by Gerard Stahl

What if the person you were meant to love existed in a world you were never supposed to find?

Bennett Tiggs has always believed in heroes.

But when a strange dream leaves him haunted by a word he cannot explain—Renderis—his ordinary life in the coastal town of Cobalt Cove begins to unravel.

A mysterious connection to his hospitalized friend Addie draws Bennett toward secrets surrounding an ancient magic known as the Veil, the boundary between the living world and something far darker. Soon, Bennett finds himself pulled into Renderis a twisted reflection of his hometown, where lost souls wander, memories can be manipulated, and nothing is quite what it seems.

There, Bennett discovers that he is not alone.

Five friends. Five mysterious roles.

The Sacrifice.

The Destined.

The Keeper.

The Vessel.

The Beacon.

As the boundaries between dreams, memories, and reality begin to collapse, Bennett finds himself drawn closer to Nate in a way neither of them can explain. What begins as an impossible connection becomes something deeper—a love that exists beyond the physical world and threatens to change everything Bennett thought he understood about his own life.

But someone created this connection.

Someone has been manipulating the story.

And the magic growing inside Bennett may be the key to either saving those he loves—or destroying them.

When the truth about Renderis finally emerges, Bennett must confront the person behind it all and decide how much he is willing to sacrifice for the people who have become his family—and for a love that was never supposed to exist.

Enter Renderis.

Where dreams have consequences, souls remember what the living forget, and love may be the most powerful magic of all.

"Forged Slumber" is Book One of the Tides of Renderis trilogy, a fantasy romance of magic, mystery, found family, impossible love, and the dangerous space between life and death.

 

About the Author

Gerard Stahl is an author, educator, husband, and father who has spent more than twenty-five years helping young people discover the power of storytelling.

Gerard writes stories about ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances, characters shaped by friendship, love, loss, difficult choices, and the secrets people carry. His psychological thriller, "The Paper Cut Manifesto", explores the darker corners of the human mind, while his fantasy series, "Tides of Renderis", blends mystery, ancient magic, found family, and slow-burn romance across two connected worlds.

When Gerard isn’t writing or teaching, he can usually be found spending time with his family, dreaming up new characters, or wondering what might exist just beyond the world we can see.

Saturday, December 13, 2025

"Sage, Smoke & Fire" by Ryan Kurr

The world has fallen out of energetic balance.

In the Deep South there is a remedy that is both powerful and dangerous—witches.

At the peak of summer, Nina is living a fast-paced life in New York City. But when the earth’s gravitational pull activates a gene—making her and a few others capable of magic—she is called to duty in southern Louisiana to lead a coven of witches and restore balance to the world through magic.

By autumn, witches are turning up dead and she has but one choice—defend the coven. And when she witnesses extraordinary powers beyond those of any known witch, Nina sets out on a magical quest through the dark and sultry swamps, voodoo shops, right-wing churches and alternate planes of consciousness to uncover the source of the dangerous gifts; All while trying to create peace not just within the coven, but with the people who knew her in the life she left behind.

"Sage, Smoke & Fire" by Ryan Kurr is a standalone esoteric fantasy book.


 

Below: An Unboxing Video featuring "Sage, Smoke & Fire" by Ryan Kurr.

 


 

 

 

Friday, December 12, 2025

"Herrick's End" + "Herrick's Lie" by T. M. Blanchet

"Herrick's End" + "Herrick's Lie" by T. M. Blanchet are the first and second books in The Neath Trilogy. The third book, "Herrick's Key", completes the trilogy.


Herrick's End:

"You did nothing. You were nothing. And so, you shall remain here, until the end of your days. As nothing."

Ollie's only friend disappeared a few days ago, and now, he's frantic to find her. But he doesn't have much to go on until a mysterious note arrives, which reads:

"Still looking for your friend? I know where she is."

Unfortunately for Ollie, the trail leads to the last place he'd ever expect.

Somewhere dark.

Somewhere deep.

The kind of place where magic spills like blood, vengeance is merciless, and escape seems all but impossible.

Worse still, it soon becomes clear that someone-or something-was expecting him.

Now, time is running out.

If Ollie has any hope of ever seeing home again, he's going to have to summon every last scrap of courage, smarts, and tenacity he can find. And none of it will matter if he can't get some help. Fast.

Because Ollie might not know much about the vast underworld that's ensnared him, but he does know this:

He'll never make it out alone.




Below: An Unboxing Video featuring "Herrick's End" + "Herrick's Lie" by T. M. Blanchet.



Tuesday, August 05, 2025

"Where Memories Lie" by Irene Lee

Memory is the crime scene.
Magic is the weapon.

One fractured partnership stands in the way of a magical conspiracy that threatens the system holding society together.

Special Agent Elias Sinclair is a memory magic specialist with the FBI. Eighteen months ago he made a tragic mistake and seven agents died. His partnership with Alexander Sutton was destroyed, and ever since he has blamed himself and questioned his own magic.

Special Agent Alexander Sutton, a combat magic specialist, was injured the same night. He went back to the job without the partner he once called his best friend.

Now a wave of magical terrorism in Chicago forces them back together. The hunt for a terrorist reveals something much older and far more dangerous than anyone expected. As the city teeters on the edge of panic and secrets long buried are uncovered, survival may depend on whether they can learn to trust each other—and their magic—again.

Where Memories Lie is an urban fantasy thriller about broken friendships, weaponized memory, and the dangerous ties between magic and power.

Perfect for fans of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London and HBO’s True Detective.

 


Thursday, November 07, 2024

"Secret Society of Kings, Witches and Spirits" by Farhana Uddin

EXCERPT FROM "Secret Society of Kings, Witches and Spirits" by Farhana Uddin:

 

In their centuries-spanning marriage, Lana and Lucien had endured their fair share of blessings and curses. But the famous royal duo have never encountered anything quite like this before.

“Lana? Hello! … The line’s a touch scratchy… Are you there?”

“I’m here alright,” Lana spat into the receiver. “I’m standing right next to your body.” She stared down at her husband’s form – youthful, beautiful and unmoving – as she spoke to him on the phone. “Your seemingly dead body… which brings forth the question: Where the bloody hell are you?”

An uneasy little laugh came from the other end as Lucien proceeded to explain his unique supernatural situation.

By the time he finished, Lana’s face was twitching in irritation. “You’re telling me you’re trapped… No, scratch that, someone has trapped you intentionally and indefinitely in the circles of Heaven.”

“The higher circles, but yes,” said Lucien from the other end of his celestial call.

“I swear, this could only ever happen to you.” Lana shut her eyes briefly in irritation. “Ever since we met, you’ve attracted such madness and brought it into our lives on the regular! For once, I wish you’d behave like a normal person. Can’t you ever be normal?!”

“I am a Divinely chosen being with limitless power wedged into a mortal meat-vessel of a body, whose soul was assigned to enter the terrestrial realm for the sole purpose of creating and leading the greatest empire ever known to man. I can turn absolutely nothing and everything into the most precious of gold. I can create electric storms across the realm with one mere thought. I can send bolts of lightning two Kingdoms over and get them to report back to me. If I so please, I can hear a butterfly flapping its wings on the other side of the planet. If I so wish, I can fly straight to the Sun without ever once having to stop on the Moon. … With all that in mind, the answer to your question is a profound, No… No, I can never be normal.”

“All that power and yet you can’t find your way back into your own body?”

A stilted silence stretched between them, until Lucien finally broke out with, “Well, I can’t be expected to do everything by myself now, can I?”

The Queen glared down at her Husband-King’s body. With her realm at risk and her mate trapped in another dimension of time and space, Lana must weave through a secret society of mystical Kings, witches and spirits to get him back. She didn’t know what to expect, but she knew this much: she’d kill whoever did this to her man, and once he was awake, she’d kill him too.

Lana hated the inconvenience of it all. What she hated even more was that she loved him enough to go through with it.


Release Date: October 25th 2024.


 

 

Thursday, September 05, 2024

"Axis Mundi" by Luna Alva

ABOUT THE BOOKS

Book 1 of Axis Mundi: Wind Weaver of Dreams

You don't realize the Planet is collapsing until you go to a rock concert.

Joanna is afraid she's losing her mind. When she learns the source of her nightmares and visions are linked to a demon she defeated in a past life, her only hope is to bring back those memories, however painful they might be. Along with her best friends and the members of her favourite band, who also share a link with the Lord of Thunder, they will try to stop him before he unleashes the full forces of the Abyss upon an unsuspecting world.

Will Joanna find a way to change the future? Or will she succumb to a Demon’s wrath and the collapsing of the Axis that holds the planet in balance?

Book 2 of Axis Mundi: Fire of Life

I stood up and looked them in the eye, although their face was empty and white like a cloud. I closed my fist conscious of the lapis lazuli against the back of my hand. “I have questions.”

The entity disappeared. I looked around helplessly hoping they would appear again.

She has questions. The priestess has questions. Answer. No! Don’t answer.


“Please!” I said, raising my voice. Unlike the entity, my voice didn’t echo. “If you help me we can save the planet from a demon called Raijin! Please!”

The Lord of Thunder. The Abyss. We don’t care. We want to live.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Luna Alva started writing at a young age. Her fascination for poetry and short stories began with the poem Annabelle Lee by Edgar Allan Poe. As she continued writing, she unleashed the restraints of her imagination, and the rest is history. She is a horror enthusiast, which has given her writing a dark and chilling touch that makes her stories one of a kind in their genre. Luna was born and raised in Mexico City. Later, she spent several months in Tokyo, Japan, and soon after, she established in Canada. She is the author of the dark fantasy series Axis Mundi. When she isn't writing. Luna enjoys listening to music, drawing, painting, and creating digital content.


Thursday, August 22, 2024

"Sparkle" by Arin Lee Kambitsis

Sparkle:

Something evil is hidden in the woods outside of the beautiful town of Sparkle, PA, the kind of thing Peter and Alyssa Huffy, newly arrived in town, do not believe in. Little do they know that something is happening in Sparkle, something that hasn’t occurred on Earth since the destruction of Camelot a millennium and a half before, and the forces of good and evil are going to collide. 

Twelve-year-old Derek Windward is the sole keeper of Sparkle’s oldest secret. He is the only one who has witnessed the evil hiding in the darkest part of the forest, and how terrifying the power it wields truly is. It is the Bunyine - a giant, tormented creature born eight-thousand years ago in the Garden of Eden and harboring an ancient grudge for the betrayal of its masters Adam and Eve. One morning, Derek receives a cryptic message carved into a tree. A message from the beast itself. Though what the Bunyine wants is unclear, what it would do to get it is unthinkable.
 
Sparkle brings together the charm and wonder of fantasy and the thrills of horror, creating a unique experience for readers of both genres, and all ages. 
 
Color drawings inside the ebook!
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Arin Lee Kambitsis is a 47 year old writer and ex-musician from Pittsburgh. His first novel, Days of Yore, won the silver medal for fantasy/sci-fi at the 2011 Independent Publishers Book Awards. 

A sample of Arin's work is also available in Issue #2 of Peasant Magazine.