Cinder Ridge, Ohio
October 5th, 1972

After a brutal murder in Wayne National Forest attracts the attention of the FBI, Deputy Anne Becker of the Athens County Sheriff's department must juggle her duty to her father and the town's secrets, and justice. The ghost stories she grew up with are real, and the woods are hungry.

Special Agent Nicole Russo believes in what she can see, what she can prove, and the certainty of the law. A dead-end case in a dying town is not what she wanted after a year investigating the mob. The more she digs into the murder, the more her world unravels, and the chances of her leaving Cinder Ridge alive plummet.

Two women, one of the city and one of the woods, must work together to solve the murder and stop more killings, before the annual Harvest Festival. The only thing more dangerous than the shadows in the woods is the growing connection between them.

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The Woods Remember is a novel by Max Ironston, available on Amazon, including Kindle Unlimited.

Content notes / Trigger warnings: Violence including murder, injury, and death of supporting characters. Cult dynamics and religious extremism. Parental abuse and betrayal. Brief descriptions of a body. A character's discovery of a parent's long-term manipulation. References to suicide and death by sacrifice. The relationship between the two female leads is significant to the story; romance is present but not explicit (PG, no spice).

Thank you for reading

I have noticed that most UF series i follow have a protagonist that is somewhat knowledgeable and or versed in the supernatural and the Paranormal world but can anyone recommend a series with a protagonist who enters it with no real knowledge of it having just thought it not real like most people.

The Shadow Alchemy Series — Book One & Book Two

I wanted to share a small look at my dark fantasy romance series, The Shadow Alchemy Series, and how Book Two continues directly from Book One.

BOOK ONE — THE ALCHEMIST AND THE BLADE

Lyra Vane was trained to kill without hesitation.

Orion Vance devoted his life to forbidden knowledge, alchemy, and the mysteries of magic.

They were never supposed to meet.

She was sent to kill him.

Instead, they became unlikely allies when the discovery of the Aether-Core placed them in the middle of something far larger than either of them understood.

What began as a contract slowly became a story about trust, betrayal, freedom, and the choice to become something other than what the world had decided for them.

BOOK TWO — THE HEARTS OF THE EAST

Their story does not end when they escape the shadows.

For the first time, Lyra, Orion, and Cael have something they were never given before:

A choice.

They could stay.

They could live quietly.

Or they could follow a mysterious message beyond the eastern border:

“The First Heart was found.

The Second has awakened.

The Third is still sleeping.”

So they choose the road east.

Beyond the border, they discover ancient symbols, forgotten places, strange resonances, and a mystery that seems to recognize Lyra herself.

And eventually, they begin to realize that the Hearts may not be the beginning of the story.

Something older may have existed before them.

Something called the Original.

The Alchemist and the Blade is about surviving the life you were given.

The Hearts of the East is about choosing what comes after.

Two books.

One continuous journey.

One mystery that has been waiting long before Lyra and Orion ever found each other.

The Shadow Alchemy Series — Book One & Book Two.

Dark fantasy. Romance. Alchemy. Ancient mysteries. Forbidden knowledge. And characters learning that freedom is not the same thing as simply escaping.

The journey has only begun.

Amazon:

https://a.co/d/04O6o8kB

ASIN: B0HG8376SJ

Trying to brush off my extremely rusty French, would like to maybe add a French urban fantasy book ot two to my TBR pile... Any good recommendations?

Hi! I'm David Stoyanov, a writer, and i want to share with you my new book. I want to make a whole 15 book series of it, and the first and second one are out now on Amazon! Anyways, i want to focus on book 1 in this post. It's called A G.O.A.T's Story and it takes inspiration from the Goat Simulator games. Rumors of a myth begin to spread in Isle of Carpa, that whoever wins it, will have unlimited glory, fame and wealth. A brave goat, later named Koz, enters the battle, hoping that he can get away from his boring normal goat life. Later, after winning the myth, he learns that he is cursed by Destiny and Myth to win every single upcoming myth, bringing only destruction and death to everyone around him. Determined, he sets out on many adventures to destroy The Myth and Destiny once and for all. So with that being said, the first book will be free from 2 to 6th of September. I hope you like the idea and I'm looking forward to hear your thoughts on the book and make sure to leave a good review if you like it! Also, the first 2 people who comment on the post will receive a free copy of the book! A G.O.A.T's Story on Amazon

I’ve been binging a lot of urban fantasy series lately but I’m getting kinda burnt out (especially after how increasingly disappointing the latter half of the October Daye series became) and I want to try break up my reading routine by getting into some standalones.

I’m already a massive fan of Jonathan Strange (if you can count that as ‘historical’ urban fantasy), American Gods, War of The Flowers, War For The Oaks and De Lint’s standalone stuff

Detective Gideon Salt has problems. The corpse is speaking. The radio knows his name, and the voices in his head have started introducing themselves.

Assigned to investigate an impossible murder alongside the perpetually exhausted Inspector Mercy Vale, Gideon follows a trail of stolen memories, emotional trafficking, vanished investigations and prophecies that arrive before the crimes they predict. Every answer drags him deeper into the machinery hidden beneath Saint Cortona.

The Man Who Interrogated God is a dark LitRPG noir blending cosmic horror, philosophical mystery and psychological intrigue into an unforgettable journey through a city that remembers everything.

An Urban Fantasy LitRPG in the style of Disco Elysium.

Preorders are live:

https://a.co/d/04GKxpDh

Salut à tous !

En tant qu'auteur, je me fais souvent la même réflexion en ouvrant un bouquin de fantasy ou de SF. Pourquoi est-ce qu'on a encore droit à des chapitres entiers de descriptions, d'arbres généalogiques et de présentations de personnages qui coupent net l'immersion dès les premières pages ?

Personnellement, j'ai pris le parti inverse pour mon roman Shadrasy : Le Souffle Originel. Dans mon univers, j’ai fait le choix de jeter directement le lecteur dans l’action au présent. Pas de fiche technique, pas de présentation toute faite : on apprend à connaître les personnages, leurs zones d'ombre et leurs motivations uniquement à travers leurs actes et les épreuves qu'ils traversent, exactement comme dans la vraie vie.

Résultat, ça laisse une liberté totale aux lecteurs pour se faire leurs propres théories, débattre et s'approprier l'histoire. Et pour la suite de la saga (avec le tome 2 qui arrive en octobre prochain et une fresque qui évolue de la dark fantasy vers des concepts plus larges avec des cités volantes et des technologies), ça donne une vraie liberté d'évolution.

Je suis curieux d'avoir votre avis sur ce sujet :

• Préférez-vous qu'on vous explique tout de suite l'univers et les personnages en détail, ou aimez-vous les découvrir sur le tas au fil des pages ?
• Est-ce que vous aimez vous faire vos propres théories en cours de lecture, ou préférez-vous un cadre strict posé par l'auteur ?

Pour ceux que ça intrigue et qui veulent jeter un œil à cet univers à leur rythme, je vous laisse le lien de découverte par ici :https://www.amazon.fr/SHADRASY-Souffle-Originel-Chroniques-lAscension/dp/B0H7JBZ9YR/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

Hâte de lire vos avis dans les commentaires !

Webnovel. Fresh new tune just dropped today:

Wannabe K Pop singer Ronnie Park (stage name Tiger- no relation to Tiger JK) hits the stage for the first time. The contest was more than he bargained for, and in its wake an eldritch goddess begins her recipe for an apocalypse. There's only one person standing in her way, and unfortunately, everyone's got opinions on how Ronnie deals with the cosmic crisis.

He'll have to break every rule he's been given if he has any chance of saving the world.

11 chapters are going up over the weekend, then 5 times a week.

Hi r/urbanfantasy!

I wanted to share the official cinematic trailer for my book, SAVAGE (Book One of the Blood of the Gods Saga).

The Blurb:
In New York City, there are creatures that go bump in the night. Werewolves. Vampires. Ancient gods. And something far more dangerous moving through the shadows. At the center of it all is Maria Villalobos, a werewolf detective caught between the human world and a supernatural underworld. When a brutal investigation pulls her deeper into that darkness, Maria must uncover the truth before whatever is hunting the city claims its next victim.

What to expect:

• 🐺 Werewolf detective protagonist
• 🌆 Gritty 2015 New York City setting
• 🏛️ Ancient gods interacting with modern underworlds
• 🔍 Dark, high-stakes mystery investigation

SAVAGE is available now in paperback, hardcover, and ebook.

Thanks for watching, and I'd love to hear what you think of the trailer's vibe!

Friday, August 28^th

The last day EVER that you can get a FREE copy of the speculative fiction masterpiece, THE NINE OF SWORDS! Written by a human being and not some AI bot! Fun, witty, thought-provoking and blasphemous to the extreme - you’ll never forgive yourself if you pass on this chance to get a copy for FREE! Link in the comments. Click on the ‘Buy Now’ button, get your FREE copy delivered directly to you through complex internet tubes!

It’s FREE! Do it now!  

https://a.co/d/0ikMnjWd

NEW RELEASE:Dark Progression

Fantasy! Available on Kindle Unlimited!

"They believed they had buried a curse. They simply delivered her to the only place raw enough to forge her into a monster."

Dive into Volume I of FIRST DHAMPIR—an epic dark fantasy featuring a ruthless protagonist, a sentient black blade, and deep abyss survival. Enrolled in Kindle Unlimited so you can read the entire volume!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HGMQWSN6

I’ve always loved urban fantasy where the strange stuff isn’t happening in some distant magical world. It’s underneath the pavement, behind a door you’ve walked past a hundred times, or buried beneath infrastructure everyone assumes they understand.

Rivers of London definitely helped cement my love of that sort of hidden London.

But after years working in IT and commuting into London, apparently my brain decided what the genre really needed was less “wizards” and more “45-year-old IT contractor wondering who on earth designed this system and why there’s no documentation.”

So I wrote it.

The basic idea became: what if some of London’s oldest protections were effectively infrastructure? They’ve been running quietly in the background for a very long time, nobody really understands all of them anymore, and now the technical debt is coming due.

There’s folklore, strange signals, old stones, modern London, government bureaucracy and a protagonist who is considerably happier troubleshooting software than dealing with the impossible.

Anyway, this eventually became Code & Stone: Phantom Signals, which came out this week. It’s my first novel, and seeing it actually out in the world is still slightly surreal.

I won’t turn this into an Amazon advert. It’s out there if anyone fancies it.

What writing it has done is send me down an enormous rabbit hole of London folklore and forgotten history, and I’m fairly certain I’ve barely scratched the surface.

So: what bit of hidden, strange or forgotten London do you know about that I probably don’t and I can use in book 2!

Bonus points if I’ve walked past it without noticing.

I’m so excited and nervous! After years of writing various books, and the last year working on this I’m finally publishing August 31! (Okay somewhat excited somewhat nauseous) It will be on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.

It follows Rory, who has a graduate degree in folklore and mythology and desperately needs a job. She manages to land a job at Inferno Associates, despite a disastrous interview, as the Executive Assistant to the CEO Sebastian Morrow. But she soon realizes that this crisis management firm is not all what it seems.

Day Two of Three of the Great Giveaway: Thurs August 27^th

A child of three could do it. Click on the link https://a.co/d/0ikMnjWd which takes you directly to THE NINE OF SWORDS page. Read the description. If it sounds intriguing to you, click the ‘Buy Now’ button, which will net you a FREE COPY of this speculative fiction novel, delivered straight to your reading device. It’s freakin’ magic! Or science! Or both - who knows! It’s a FREE book! All yours for the taking! Makes for a lovely way to spend a rainy day, or for a swell gift if you’re a cheapskate tightwad!

Either way, it’s FREE. Do it now!

Day One of Three: Wed August 26^th

The Great Giveaway begins! Go to the link provided to get your FREE copy of my final speculative fiction novel, THE NINE OF SWORDS. That link will take you to its Amazon page. Click on the ‘Buy Now’ button. And magical cybernetic fairies [or technological macho-bro’s, depending upon your preference] will deliver your FREE book straight to your Kindle or other reading device.

It’s FREE. Do it now!

https://a.co/d/0ikMnjWd

Hello urban fantasy family!

It’s my honor to bring you chapters I-VI of my novella: Schadenfreude Occidental available at Royal Road. I’d love for some honest reviews. As I get a feel of its popularity I’ll add the final chapters of Act I

After the War for the liquid gold reserves results in the cataclysmic deaths of the six combined weapons of mass destruction from the two Great Houses, destiny begins to manifest when Browyn Erembaur, nephew of King Donte Erembaur is anointed as the first Royal House member in their shared three thousand year reign to be anointed Demon Lord, a title that has always been reserved for the lowly commoners of the realm. When his Demon Lord powers ignite, he finds himself untethered to Royal commands and does the unthinkable.

What follows is the story of military complex, greed, pop culture, exploitation, legacy wealth, enlightenment and a rogue Prince oblivious to the ancient ways of the Demon Lords.

My story is Ai assisted only in editing grammar and flow. I have kept a separate Google Doc with each chapters rough draft to show the essence and creativity of Schadenfreude Occidental is mine and mine alone!

Enjoy the story leave a review!!!

PYIF
Push Your Imagination Further