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Light from the Deep Duology

Ocean-Conscious Science Fiction

Robbed of their green-energy aspirations by military-backed billionaires who misled the whole planet, Ryn embraces new dreamsโ€”fighting deep sea threats alongside unexpected allies and a giant cephalopod, then working together to build a new, cephalopod-inclusive community: a science fiction future filled with hope, understanding, and a budding ace relationship.

โ€œNo one writes solarpunk like Clara Ward.โ€ โ€”Annalee Newitz, bestselling author of Automatic Noodle and The Terraformers


Book 1: Dream the Deep

Five days until a new world.

Robbed of their green-energy aspirations by military-backed billionaires who misled the whole planet, Ryn embraces new dreamsโ€”fighting deep sea threats alongside unexpected allies and a giant cephalopod. Dream the Deep is a community-focused sci-fi adventure of kindness, compassion, and resilience.

Book 2: Dream the Light

Having escaped to a mysterious ocean world, Ryn must navigate social spikes, uncertain allies, and unfamiliar cultures. Resident cephalopods offer friendship, creative communications, and new perspectives on science and history. Dream the Light is a sci-fi future filled with hope, a budding ace relationship, and the building of community.ย 

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emma burnett

emma burnett
Photo by Hugh Warwick

emma burnett is a researcher and writer. She has had stories in Nature:Futures, Mythaxis, Northern Gravy, Radon, Uncharted, Flash Fiction Online, Apex, MetaStellar, The Forge, and more. She also has a serialised novella in Grimdark Magazine, co-written with Miles Cameron.

emma has a PhD in agricultural economics, and a deep love of food in all its forms (except maybe nutribulbs). You can find emma @slashnburnett.bsky.social and emmaburnett.uk.

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The Gray Assassin Trilogy

Dark Fantasy

Grayshade, the best assassin in the shadowy city of Cohrelle, takes his most dangerous action yet: asking why. In the fallout of everything heโ€™s known now seen as lies, he finds what remains true: his skills, his companions, and his own determination to see his new mission through. Beyond the city of his upbringing, he travels mountains, plains, the dread Bloodmarsh, and into the heart of the grand city of Tellisar, determined to do what he must. A thrilling tale of swift swords and silent death, The Gray Assassin Trilogy is unflinching, philosophical, and hopeful, a necessary reminder in these times that we find truth and faith in love.


โ€œAll the action and wondrous magic youโ€™d expect but so much more. The theme of redemption, of owning your past to build a better future, is front and centre, especially for Grayshade himself, lending a depth and compassion to this story. I loved it. You will. Highly recommended.”
โ€”Julie E. Czerneda, author of the Nightโ€™s Edge series from DAW Books

“The Gray Assassin Trilogy is a gripping tale, a superb fantasy adventure wherein real characters stride off the pages to spend time with you, a bright hoard of gold and gems. Seize yours now!โ€
โ€”Ed Greenwood, internationally bestselling author and creator of The Forgotten Realms

Book One: Grayshade

For ten years, the assassin Grayshade has eliminated threats to the Order of Argoth, the Just God. Within the towering walls of Cohrelle, all bow to the Orderโ€™s authority, even while the city officials publicly distance themselves from its actions.

As the supreme executor of the Order’s edicts, Grayshade dispatches his targets with protocol and precision. But when an assignment breaks these rules, he does the most dangerous thing an Acolyte of Argoth can do: he asks why. Now a target of the Order he so long served without question, he must use all of his skills not only to killโ€ฆbut to stay alive.

Grayshade is a novel of violent faith and shifting loyalties, a story about whether we can rise above our pasts to craft new futures.

Silver Award Winner – Independent Book Publishers Association 2023 Benjamin Franklin Awards: Science Fiction and Fantasy

โ€œFilled with political intrigue and with a main character struggling with his religious convictions, this is a great read for fans of dark gritty fantasy.โ€ โ€” Martha Wells, New York Times bestselling author of The Murderbot Diaries

Book Two: Renegade

For six weeks, the assassin Grayshade has walked, alone, away from the streets of Cohrelle on the banks of the Silver Coast and through the mountain pass to the basin lands of Silarein. Somewhere, in these unfamiliar lands, he must find what he seeksโ€”answers.

Previously the Order of Argoth’s most skilled assassin, Grayshade remains their target. His goal: learn the true threat to the people of Cohrelle, and protect those who remain there. Used to the patterns of human nature, but not the secrets behind the yellow eyes of a panther, the whispers and lies of dreams, nor the sunless gloom of the infamous Bloodmarsh, Grayshade will need everything he hasโ€”outside and insideโ€”to stay alive.

Renegade is a novel of defiant resolve and deep bonds, a story about whether we can find our way through trauma to hope.

โ€œRenegade is the middle volume of a trilogy, but I read it on its own and loved it. In this story, Grayshade, the former assassin, is seeking truth and justice. The familiar trope? Not at all. In the hands of this author, Grayshade is a complex and fascinating person, real and sympathetic. The world-building is rich as well, adding immensely to the story. Did I mention a mysterious panther? Well done and highly recommended.โ€ โ€” Julie E. Czerneda, Hall of Fame author of the Nightโ€™s Edge series from DAW Books

Book Three: Heretic

The renegade assassin Grayshade has brought his companions and his quest for answersโ€”or vengeanceโ€”to the heart of the Order of Argoth, in the grand city of Tellisar. Neither Grayshade nor the Order will rest until the other is vanquished…no matter the cost.

And Grayshade is not alone. As he walks the markets, the districts, and the rooftops of the city, allies and enemies of unexpected origins reveal themselves, seeking to help or hinder him. Grayshade has seen enough of death. But can his determination to forge a new future, for himself and those he cares for, save him from the failures of his past?

Heretic is a novel of discovered love and ultimate sacrifice, a story about whether we can rise from the shadows into the light.

“Heretic is an exciting novel of redemption through community. Wilsonโ€™s strength as a storyteller shines through the vividness of the city of Tellisar, the backdrop of the assassin Grayshadeโ€™s quest. This is a great read for anyone who loves classic fantasy TTRPGs and dagger-filled adventures.” โ€” Darcie Little Badger, author of Elatsoe

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Andrew Hiller

Andrew Hiller smiling behind a microphone.

Driven by curiosity, Andrew Hiller‘s stories always begin with a “Huh?” or a “Ha!” A long time reporter and producer for public radio, his novel A Halo of Mushrooms was selected as Best of the Year in 2019, his short story “Half-Lives” won Escape Pod’s Flash Fiction Contest in 2022 and in 2024, Amazing Stories named his story “Time of the Critic” Best of the Year, but his geek heaven period may have been writing skits and voicing them with the original Jim Henson gang. Hornytown Chutzpah is Andrew’s first collaboration/novella with Atthis Arts.

andrewhiller.net

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Jubilee Cho

Jubilee Cho

Jubilee Cho (1998-2024) is a fairy tale writer from Anaheim, California, who will always be a princess at heart.

Jubilee planned to embark on a career in writing joyful tales for children, and use her experience as a trans, disabled, Asian-American woman to advocate on topics of equality including trans rights and disability awareness.

While she did not survive to do this, we have this beautiful story so that her joy – as well as her advocacy – live on, with each of us who see and honor it.

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Joyce Chng

Joyce Chng lives in Singapore. Their speculative fiction has appeared in The Apex Book of World SF II, We See A Different Frontier, Cranky Ladies of History, and Accessing The Future. Joyce also co-edited THE SEA IS OURS: Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asia with Jaymee Goh. Their novels span across wolf clans (Starfang: Rise of the Clan), vineyards (Water into Wine) and swordmaking forges (Fire Heart) respectively. Joyce also wrangles article editing at Strange Horizons. Alter-ego J. Damask writes about werewolves in Singapore. Star Pattern Traveller, a novella about first contact, was published in February 2024.

awolfstale.wordpress.com

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Cheryl S. Ntumy

Cheryl S. Ntumy is a Ghanaian writer of short fiction and novels of speculative fiction, young adult fiction and romance. Her work has appeared in FIYAH Literary Magazine; Apex Magazine; World Literature Today; Best of World SF Vol. 3 and Yearโ€™s Best African Speculative Fiction 2022, among others. Her work has also been shortlisted for the Nommo Award for African Speculative Fiction, the Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize and the Miles Morland Foundation Scholarship. She is part of the Sauรบti Collective, which created a shared universe for Afrocentric speculative fiction, and a member of Petlo Literary Arts, an organization that develops and promotes creative writing in Botswana.

cherylsntumy.wordpress.com

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Just Duology

Comedic, Slipstream Fantasy

The Just Duology is a set of fifty weird, comedic, slipstream episodes by E.D.E. Bell. Emily hopes that they will bring a smile to your face.


Book 1: Just Bart 

Bart is just a simple folk trying to get by. With a posse comprisinโ€™ of a sparkle-loving horse, an unsettled ghost, and a magic old whiskey bottle, they wander from town to town in search of some needed coin, and maybe a brighter day.

GOLD WINNER โ€“ Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MIPA) Book Awards, Fiction: Fantasy/SciFi/Horror/Paranormal, 2021

โ€œDeadpan humor, clever wordplay, and sweet aphorisms that stick with you long after youโ€™ve turned the last page. But, more than anythingโ€ฆa sense of camaraderie, of hope, and of a genuine desire to be loved and appreciated within any life one is given.โ€ โ€” Poet Marsalis, 5 Stars

Book 2: Just Chad

Chad is just a robot from Future Town. With xyr family network of Angel, a cocktail glass, a flirty phone, and a partying unicorn, xe explores the streets of the city in search of hard-core adventures, and maybe a bit of the realness.

Duology Bundle

Receive both books: Just Bart and Just Chad at a discount.

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Valya Dudycz Lupescuย is a writer, poet, and editor living in Chicago. She is the author of the The Silence of Trees, a magical realism novel drawing upon Ukrainian folklore and history, as well as co-author of the nonfiction books Geek Parenting and Forking Good. The first volume of her new graphic novel trilogy, Mother Christmas, was published by Rosarium Publishing in 2022. Valya earned her M.F.A. in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her work has been published in The Yearโ€™s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Kenyon Review, Gone Lawn, Jersey Devil Press, Strange Horizons, Mythic Delirium, and others. She is the founding editor of Conclave: A Journal of Character and co-founder of the Wyrd Words Storytelling Workshop. Valya has been making magic with food and words for more than 30 years, incorporating traditions from her Ukrainian heritage with practices that honor the Earth.

Olha Brylovaย has lived in Dnipro, Ukraine, since her early childhood and cannot imagine living in a city without a big river. She has studied Japanese language and literature at Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, translated Japanese poetry into Ukrainian, and written several novels; recently, she has been writing screenplays for TV and video games. She dreams of becoming a showrunner of a big SF TV series and is sure that one day she will become one. Olha doesnโ€™t fixate on any one particular genre โ€” she has written fantasy, space opera, speculative fiction, and her next big thing is a detective story. She is also a huge cinephile and runs a blog about movies and TV series in partnership with her son Arseniั–. She loves cats, including the one that is nibbling at her toes right now.

Iryna Paskoย lives in Dnipro, Ukraine. She graduated from Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, a candidate of philological sciences majoring in Ukrainian literature. She taught at her alma mater from 2013 to 2022, and now works at the New Ukrainian School media and at the Dnipro Art Museum. Iryna has been shortlisted for the Proะœะธะฝัƒะปะต historical short story contest three times; and she has twice won the Starfort (ะ—ะพั€ัะฝะฐ ั„ะพั€ั‚ะตั†ั) fantastic short story contest. In 2021, Iryna was a finalist in the all-Ukrainian poetry competition Granoslov. In 2021-2022, she participated in the โ€œIndependence Agencyโ€ project, a collection of fantastic stories dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the restoration of Ukraineโ€™s Independence; and Legendarium of the Wonder Cities (retellings of fairy tales). In 2022, Iryna wrote the online comic โ€œThingsโ€ (โ€œะ ะตั‡ั–โ€) about the experience of living the war in a relatively safe city, and she co-organized the fantasy-poetry competitions at the ะะปัŒ ะœะพั€ festival (2022) and the story competition #ั€ะฐะบะฑะพัั‚ะธััŒะฝะต_ะผะพะถะฝะฐ (2022-2023). Before the full-scale war, Iryna collaborated with the Book Space Dnipro and Gogolfest (in Dnipro and Mariupol), as a lecturer and tour guide.