Hello reader – what brings you here? Oh? You’re looking for a read that will sweep you off your feet, let you delight in the darkness of human nature, or perhaps get lost in the worldbuilding of a place far from our own?
Welcome to my cluttered hut of wonders. Sit down by the fire. Mind the monsters, they can get underfoot when curious. Here’s a hot beverage – I promise it’s not poisoned, and it is exactly what you need – and let me regale you with a collection of bloody good reads.
Do you like to live deliciously? Do you enjoy court intrigue, with a side of the sensational, complete with a quest to fulfil the needs gifted to you by a god? Kushiel’s Dart – along with the rest of the books in the series – is a tome for the ages, something to enjoy with dark wine and chocolate while the firelight shadows flicker around you.
Mayhap you wish to transcend realms, instead. Does your curiosity take you into the underworld where you might stumble upon what the High Lord of Hell is up to? Perhaps you seek destructive power thrumming on the brink of explosion. When Daemon Sadi discovers that the longed-for Queen and Witch now walks the realm, he is determined to find her – kicking off a destiny that will transform an entire empire.
Yet, if cities full of lies, magic, and pain corruption speak to you, Felix Harrowgate offers to be your guide. When a magical ritual goes wrong, leaving Felix fighting for everything he has earned and gained, he must call on the thief Mildmay for help – if only the two of them could get along.
Are your eyes are drifting to the open road, your heart of hearts longing for a sword at your hip, a good draught of ale, and a way to… defend your morals? Bah! What morals? In this world, faith shapes the landscape and the delusional and insane hold the most power when their visions become flesh. But be prepared, for it is a dark and bloody road you head down… and your friends are liable to stab you in the back.
Too rich for your palate? Are you overwhelmed with dark sweetness and horrors too much to bear? Yet the open road still calls and a desire for sword and sorcery is unmatched. Follow Rhapsody on her quest to escape her past, only to end up fighting for her life in an epic voyage through a world where music shapes your fate.
You shake your head. No, your tastes run to a more… well, necromancer type of tale. Not zombies. Not flesh eating demons. Spare me your vampires. But something softer, where death magic is just as accepted and part of the world as the sword at your side. Join Sabriel as she embarks on a journey to find her father, where her necromancy bells are her only defense against the evil that waits for her
A visual reader, perhaps? Someone who delights in the artwork just as much as the written word? Looking for something a little esoteric, a little unknown, a short dessert to enjoy? Join Dahlia. When she wakes in what feels like a post-apocalyptic wasteland and journeys to a haunted gothic house full of witches, she learns she might possibly come into a power all her own
Does the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max appeal to you? Do you seek the strange and unusual, the uncanny and odd? In a world divided between the Before and Now, a god manages to resurrect himself and seek out a family long lost. All the while, a gunslinger wanders the body-transforming desert, a young girl holds unknowable power, and betrayal waits around every turn.
Fantasy doesn’t mean you have to step into a brand new world. Instead, your enjoy the familiar, fully aware the supernatural resides around every corner. When two fishermen set out to discover the mysterious Dutchman’s Creek, they never expect to discover an ancient evil reaching across time, ready to make a pact that will turn everything they think they love upside down.
No! You want it all! You want a slice of everything all at once! This collection serves you what you need, all different tales full of the macabre and wild, describing transcendence and horror. Nineteen short stories will provide you the richness of prose alongside the shiver of the unknown and that sweeping finale of dark fantasy.
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GWENDOLYN N. NIX is a professional editor and author, penning the Celestial Scripts series (The Falling Dawn, and Seams of Shadow), Sharks of the Wasteland (Cataclysm Cycle), and the forthcoming I Have Asked To Be Where No Storms Come, releasing from Crystal Lake Publishing in July 2022. She is also the editor of the Marvel Xavier's Institute: School of X anthology. A member of SFWA and Horror Writer's Association, her short fiction has appeared in a variety of anthologies, such as Pileaus Symphony No. 1, Where the Veil Is Thin, and Apex: Worlds of Dinosaurs. She lives in Montana with her partner, young son, and a wild gray Labrador. Find her online at gwendolynnix.com, on Twitter at @gwendolynnix or Instagram at @gwendolyn.nix.