Fantasy Realism

*** Global Book Awards Supernatural Gold Medal Winner 2024 *** Esther dropped her handbag on the dinette table and hustled into the kitchen to heat water for tea. “What are you reading, Mamma?” “Oh, that little book of yours. I’m glad you finally found it, dear. I still think it reads funny, the language and all, but I kind of like it for some reason. It seems to calm me, somehow. You know what I mean?” “What little book, Mamma? My book was stolen, you know that.” “Well, I thought maybe the police recovered it for you. It was lying right here on the end table like always ...

Alys Stevens is running out of familiar road. Approaching the same age as her mother’s death and muddling through a messy divorce, the 40-something home renovator has lost the control she so deeply craves. So when her siblings show up demanding a girls' night full of fun, the three brew up an ancient family cocktail...and accidentally unleash powerful magic.

The mages push Earth closer to a war that no one can win. Kristen and her team are all that stands between them and the utter annihilation of everyone she loves. But the mages may not be the worst threat she has to face! In the shadows, someone lurks, manipulating others for his own gain. The Mage assassins are no longer content to hide in the shadows. Their day has arrived, and they will rise to remake the world into a place without dragons.

Moon Water & Mango Thirst She thought she was just glowing. Turns out… she’s pregnant with a prophecy. Soléna lives on an island where flowers bloom at her feet and the ocean answers to her moods. She didn’t ask for love. She definitely didn’t ask for a man with abs, emotional discipline, and ancestors that bow when he walks. But when Elian arrives, she lets herself be taken—softly, slowly, sacrally. And when she wakes with a glow in her womb and a pulse that isn’t hers… she knows: this is no ordinary child. She’s carrying a Key. A weapon. A wild, chosen soul that speaks in...

It all starts with the radio. Dorothy's husband has left for work, and she is at the kitchen sink washing the dishes, listening to classical music. Suddenly, the music fades out and a soft, close, dreamy voice says, "Don't worry, Dorothy." A couple weeks later, there is a special interruption in regular programming. The announcer warns all listeners of an escaped sea monster. That afternoon, the seven-foot-tall lizard man walks through Dorothy's kitchen door. She is frightened at first, but there is something attractive about the monster, and the two begin a tender, clandestine affair.

Down on your luck doesn't always mean down and out When an Oklahoma cattle rancher hires P.I. Buck McDivit to investigate a gory murder committed by something not quite human and a rural community populated by pagan women, he has to think fast or end up dead. Though no choir boy, Buck is unprepared for his role as the lone male participant in a spring equinox fertility ceremony. The only thing worse for the paranormal cowboy than having no woman is too many women - or maybe being eaten alive by a supernatural black panther.

Happily ever after is just another beginning. Five years after the birth of her children, Queen Seren Firethorn is enjoying life as a wife to four amazing men and a mother to four beautiful children. But this fairy queen was never meant to sit idly on a throne. Her work may be done with the Goddess Danu, but Seren is part human and as such, she's also bound Danu's twin brother, Anu. The God of Earth is far from done with the Twilight Princess. Anu calls upon the ex-Ambassador to take up her sword again and fight for his people. A thief has stolen a Fey relic, one that grants wishes, but ...

A Fantasy Short Story Amidst a world where only the powerful leaders hold the ability to grant wishes, Rachel, a curious young woman, stumbles upon a crystal that gives her the power to fulfill her deepest desires. With her newfound ability, Rachel must grapple with the immense responsibility and potential consequences that come with her actions. Will she risk everything to fulfill her own wishes, or will she find a greater purpose in using her powers for the betterment of others? “The Forbidden Wish" is a must-read for anyone who enjoys fantasy short stories of adventure, self-discovery,...

When best-selling author Carrie McClelland visits the windswept ruins of Slains Castle, she is enchanted by the stark and beautiful Scottish landscape. The area is strangely familiar to her but she puts aside her faint sense of unease to begin her new novel, using the castle as her setting, and one of her own ancestors, Sophia, as her heroine. Then Carrie realizes her writing is taking on a life of its own and the lines between fact and fiction become increasingly blurred.

Ben... "There. He heard it again. Something had woken him from a deep sleep. Normally he was a sound sleeper unless one of his girls needed him, and this wasn’t them. It sounded like a small wounded animal of some sort, or maybe a child, although he couldn’t even imagine how that was possible. The ranch had patrols out every night and a watch team monitoring electronic feeds covering all approaches. Surely if there was a child out wandering around they would have spotted them? Well, shit. He was awake anyhow- He might as well check it out. He carefully extricated himself from a sleeping...

The tongue is mightier than the sword. The magic of Danu has become unstable. As a realm built on magic, instability could have disastrous consequences so all of Danu is anxious to find the source of the trouble. When Amara and Everan investigate the problem, they find a far more serious matter, one that weakens Amara at the worst possible time. In the midst of her endeavors to help Danu, a Triari relic—the Silver Tongue—is stolen and Amara is called back to Earth to help defend the Triari Embassy. But that battle is not as it seems either and Amara finds herself pulled away from Danu, ...

Better the enemy you know than the enemy you don't. Queen Morgana presents me to her people as the heiress to the throne. Meanwhile, my earthly friends and I are settling into the day-to-day life of this world. But we all know what is coming. King Auberon is hellbent on replacing Morgana on the Avalonian throne. As the key component in a desperate bargain for peace, I’m the only one who can stop the impending war. A war I fear will tear the magical realm of Gwyn Fanon to shreds. Auberon is not the only threat, however, and I can hardly separate friend from foe anymore, as invisible ...

Where did the Brothers Grimm get the inspiration for their classic fairy tales? Maybe from their own encounters with the strange and magical… Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm never believed in magic—until their mother fell ill, and tales of a rare and powerful magic that can bring back the dead became their only hope. Desperate to save her, the brothers venture into the dark forest, where myths come to life and danger lurks behind every tree. A water sprite speaks in riddles of love spells and lost souls. A witch lures children to a house covered in breads and cakes. An infuriating girl named ...

For generations, the Olivares women have sought to control their daughters’ destinies, starting with their names. In life, Olvido constantly clashed with her carefree daughter. Then teenage Angustias discovered she was pregnant and left her mother’s home in search of her own. Ten years later, Felicitas finally meets her estranged grandmother and is terribly disappointed when Olvido is nothing like a grandmother should be. She is strict, cold, and…dead. Now, Olvido is convinced the only way her spirit will cross over is if she resolves her unfinished business.

In 1804, shortly before the Caribbean island of Saint Domingue is renamed Haiti, a group of women gather to bury a stillborn baby. Led by a lesbian healer and midwife named Mer, the women's lamentations inadvertently release the dead infant's "unused vitality" to draw Ezili - the Afro-Caribbean goddess of sexual desire and love - into the physical world. As Ezili explores her newfound powers, she travels across time and space to inhabit the midwife's body - as well as those of Jeanne, a mixed-race dancer and the mistress of Charles Baudelaire living in 1880s Paris, and Meritet.

When 38-year-old Conner O’Rourke returns to Ireland, he’s running from his past. His advertising agency in Sydney is going broke, the bank is foreclosing on his mortgage, and he’s hearing voices in his mind urging him to return to Inis Mór. His grandmother, whom he hasn’t seen in years, has contacted him saying she's critically ill and must speak with him, but when he arrives on Inis Mór, a wild, windswept, rocky little island some 30 miles off the West Coast of Ireland, she’s already passed, leaving him a cottage and a dilapidated sailing boat.

The shadows of the past come alive. After twenty years of silence, Dina returns, driven by an insatiable hunger for power and revenge. Her eyes are fixed on the legendary scarab, the key to an ancient power that can reduce the world to ashes. Lillian and Roy Sawyer are the only ones who know Dina's true intentions. But as the swinging sixties are in full swing, Dina's next move remains a mystery. Will they uncover her plans before it's too late, or will Dina finally triumph and plunge the world into a new era of darkness?

The World-Strider goes to Heaven! As a Queen, Seren has been able to do a lot of good for her people, both humans and fairies. She's especially proud of her Fairy Fostering Program which places orphaned or abandoned children with childless fey couples. So when children who have been selected for the program go missing, Seren immediately launches an investigation. But while she searches for the missing children, Angels are searching for her. A cave carving in Hell gave Seren the title of World-Strider, foretelling her visit to each of the known worlds. She has set foot on all but one, and ...

Jon thought it was over...he was wrong. It was just the beginning. When he defeated the beast tide, he thought peace would come. But whatever he thinks never happens. The expansion he triggered attracted a much larger threat that he can't control.

Everything changed the day I saved his life. I used to hide my magic. Mainly because I didn't want to be persecuted. I mean, even more so than I already was for being human. Humans aren't supposed to have magic. It's what makes us susceptible to the Corrupter's infection. And I don't just have one type of magic. I have all the elements, even Spirit—the element only Wraith Lords control. At best, the other races of Varr would see me as a mutant. At worst, a threat. Then the Corrupter attacked our village. Two Wraith Lords came to defend us, but despite their superior skill with swords and ...