On Aleyi, the Creator originally made one sentient race, but magic affects those who dare risk insanity to cast it. Spells for light decrease the caster’s need for it. Healing spells wreck the health of if not kill the caster… Using magic to diminish another’s life increases your own.
And those side effects are inherited by mages’ children. Between those only somewhat predictable effects and the likelihood of mages to go insane, most folks opt not to use magic.
Some people don’t have that choice.
Chronicles of Marsdenfel (novels)
- Book 1: A Fistful of Fire
- Book 2: A Fistful of Earth – coming soon
Tales from Aleyi (short stories)
Chronicles of Marsdenfel
Book 1: A Fistful of Fire
- Tagline:
- Tales of loathsome tyrants, seduced maids, and prophesied saviors aren’t nearly so appealing when you are a royal bastard with a prophecy hanging over your head.
- Rating:
- T (Teen)
- Blurb:
- Evonalé Yunan has never cared for tales of loathsome tyrants, seduced maids, and prophesied saviors. She herself is supposed to somehow free her grandmother’s enslaved queendom. But she’s merely a child, and her father is the powerful fire mage who subjugates the realm.
- Evonalé has therefore fled home, her two half-siblings, and the father who really should’ve been her uncle. (She would flee her lethal but not quite insane faery godmother, too, if she could get away with it, but that’s a side issue.)
- Unfortunately, it’s the middle of winter. Fortunately, following her mother’s directions puts her in another king’s hunting grounds. To Evonalé’s bewilderment, that king picks her up and gives her a place in his palace. The prince seeks her out to tease and befriend. Then one of Cook’s daughters starts teaching her magic, and a scullery maid proves herself immune to poison—making Evonalé realize that she isn’t the only one with secrets.
- What’s Said About It:
- 4 stars: “the most different classic fantasy story I’ve ever read” (by TL Jeffcoat)
Book 2: A Fistful of Earth
Coming soon!
- Tagline:
- Lallie Nonsire has the magic and lineage to save her friends’ lives — but it’ll cost their trust to do it.
- Rating:
- T (Teen)
Tales from Aleyi
“Driven by the Deadline”
- Tagline
- Honovi’s options for fighting the looming insanity are limited—and she’s running out of time.
- Rating:
- MG (Middle Grade).
- Blurb:
- Honovi knows she’s going crazy. It’s only a matter of time, since she’s stuck in a monochromatic land of creepy.
- She’s a shade, stuck in a plane of reality separate from the primary one—and completely incapable of manifesting a body in the primary reality. With someone killing off the felven royal heirs, Honovi’s been asked to play godparent. She’d love it, a distraction from the grayscale monotony that’s her life.
- But can she get there without her realm’s shadows stopping her?
“Of Her Own”
- Tagline
- When the Queen’s Own come for a girl who’s been abandoned by her guardians, where can she go?
- Blurb:
- All young Lallie Nonsire wanted was a quiet life, minding her own business and ignoring what she was by birth.
- After her magic betrays her by saving a friend’s life, she’ll settle for escaping Saf before she’s turned into a live torch.
- But where can the child of a despised race go?
- ***A short story of 2,600 words or 11 pages.***
- CONTAINS:
- Some violence.
“Butterfly Boots”
Unavailable.
- Tagline
- To use magic is to risk insanity in Aleyi, and some kinds are more susceptible to that than others. (A flash fiction vignette of 1,000 words.)
- Rating:
- MG (Middle Grade)
- Why “unavailable”?
- It doesn’t make much sense unless you’re already familiar with Aleyi, so I intend to re-release it at some point as a bonus feature in another project.
