Novels in progress
Judgement
A magical heist story of sacrifice, love, and revenge.
Dara was barely old enough to hold a knife when his mother convinced him to take her life. But the Judge, the god who bestows magic based on sacrifices, refused to reward him with the powers necessary to escape poverty. Twenty years later, Dara is one of the finest thieves in Kraythe. However, skill is no guarantee of safety in the gangs that run the city. After losing everything, a desperate sacrifice gains him magic at last.
Using his new powers, Dara infiltrates the deadliest gang in Kraythe to undertake his most daring heist yet: steal a scepter that will let him get revenge on the Judge for his mother’s death. But a mysterious power of icy shadow haunts his steps, and the gang’s lethal Lord seems to know far too much about him. Dara is helped along by Ravien, a second-generation immigrant with a straight rapier and crooked spine who’s torn between self-loathing and the drive to protect the weak.
Set against the backdrop of a city built on falsehoods and brimming with the deprivations of sacrifice and slavery, Dara and Ravien must navigate gang politics, revolutionaries, and the secrets of the past to achieve their goal. But in the end, Dara might have to choose between avenging the dead and his duty to the living.
Seeking agent representation. Complete at 140,000 words.
“When people don’t see a legitimate path to happiness – whether that’s out of poverty, out of sorrow, out of the devastating monotony of a mediocre life – they take whatever chances they can. Because the alternative, a life without hope for change, is unbearable.”
Aspect of Gods
Long ago, the gods retired from the affairs of humans, leaving only their magical gifts behind. But survivors of brutal raids whisper that Yhearth, the Fallen God, is building an army of deformed creatures in his mountain fortress, and is almost ready to descend upon the continent Om-locke. In the shadow of war between an unjust empire and a power-hungry god, three unlikely heroes are tossed together in a story of resilience, self-determination, and revolution.
Toshin has never seen the sun. His people have been trapped in caves for generations, forced to harvest a substance that enhances the powers of the mages who conquered their ancestral land. When a prophecy from an ancient salamander prompts him to escape, Toshin’s own destructive magic ignites. Captured and taken to the university run by his oppressors, he works to stay out of trouble and master his abilities so he can one day liberate his people. But students keep disappearing, and Toshin is unwillingly pulled into the resistance against the High Council that runs Om-locke.
Braeza is a poor oyster diver forced to care for her ailing mother. But when she’s struck with the previously unknown ability to influence the minds of animals, her skill with Dreadmounts draws the attention of her city’s tyrannical knighthood. Ripped from her old life to work in the stables, she trains her abilities in secret while trying to avoid the attention of a predatory knight – and ignore strange dreams where she’s visited by a pale dragon. As the snare tightens, Braeza and her Dreadmount companion must flee across a landscape haunted by Yhearth’s creatures – to the university, which may hold answers.
Ambra is a princess, trained since birth in the royal arts of combat and painting. But when a stunt intended to gain sympathy for the kingdom’s poor causes her mother to excommunicate her, she’s forced to flee her home country. Destitute on the shores of Om-locke, she joins a band of revolutionaries who reignite her spark to fight for a better future.
The first in a planned trilogy. Complete at 270,000 words.
