A spellbinding debut about one woman’s fight for both freedom and a connection to her ancestral past

Tal Ch’kola wants to be free. Free to live her life. Free to help her people. Free from her service to the Starlan army. Unfortunately, she’s a maega, one of the rare few with innate magical ability—and she’s also Eru, one of the indigenous people in lands taken by the Starlans. No Airion maega ever gets out of the army.

Despite this truth, Tal hasn’t stopped dreaming of one day being free. Nor has she given up working to make it happen, even as each of her plans has ended in failure.

Now she’s in a small town on the edge of the Starlan Federation, home to one of the most valuable resources in all of Deseria.

Her new scheme is just starting to show promise when three Starlan matrons are found murdered. The killings reek of spirit magic, and it just so happens that Tal has a little of her own. If the Starlans find out about this, she might be blamed for the murders. Will Tal’s hope for a better tomorrow lead to her doom?

“As a crime novel contained within the trappings of high fantasy, the book should satisfy fans of both genres. An immersive thriller set in a stratified fantasy world.” —Kirkus Reviews

Free Promotional E-Book Excerpt
(First 83 Pages)*
Author Website  (PDF)*  (EPUB)*

* You can send ebooks to your Kindle or Kobo. Simply follow the links for instructions.

E-Book Versions (US)

Author’s Website ($10.99; Available as PDF and EPUB)*  **

Amazon: Part I ($5.99) Part II ($5.99)

Barnes and Noble ($11.99)

Kobo ($11.99)

Google Play Books ($11.99)

Apple Books ($11.99)

     *You can send ebooks to your Kindle or Kobo. Simply follow the links for instructions.

     **Note on Ebook Full Version: Visit the Downloads page to grab your copy of the ebook that you purchased.

Trade Paperback (US)

Author’s Website ($14.99 [US and UK])†

Amazon ($18.99)

Great British Bookstore (UK)

Hardcover

Author’s Website ($18.99)†

Amazon ($30.99)

† Click on recent orders to see the status of your physical book order.

If you see a typo resulting from these modifications, submit an error discovery report and you could receive an acknowledgement in the next book (if you’re the first to call out the error).

A Word or Two on Pricing and Supporting the Author

If you’re concerned about seeing the author get the most from your purchase, the ebook on the author’s website, though $1 USD cheaper than on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and others, nets the author the largest portion of the purchase (26% higher than Amazon), though the convenience of Amazon Kindle is something readers might consider (not having to send the file to your Kindle or Kobo is a thing [and is part of why Amazon has such market power]).

In terms of the paperback, ordering from the author’s website results in a 40% higher return for the author despite the paperback being 20% cheaper on the author’s website, though Amazon’s print on demand is much faster (delivery inside a week whereas on the author’s website it can take over one and sometimes two weeks to get the book).

It is a similar story with the hardcover. The book is 35% cheaper on the author’s website and the author receives 24% more on the purchase, though the Amazon book will arrive more quickly.

Sadly, the author gets more from the $11.99 ebook than the $30.99 hardcover on Amazon (which feels wrong).