Coming soon!
Status: Available for pre-order now (releases April 4, 2026)!
Check out the book trailer here!
Abandoned by her father, Jezelle grows up on the unforgiving streets of Grafton Notch. Hardened by betrayal and shaped by survival, she learns to trust no one and rely on nothing but her instincts. But when a mysterious power stirs within her, it sets her on a path of discovery and danger. As Jezelle fights to carve a place for herself in a world that has only ever tried to break her, she must decide who she is and what she’s willing to become to claim the future that was stolen from her.
3/13- 7,482 words. New project begins. Just finished the 2nd chapter.
3/20- 19,397 words.
4/2- I’ve been doing a crappy job of updating here, but I’ve been writing hard. Currently, I’m at 46,490 words, so it is about halfway. Being a dark fantasy writer, I’ve killed a lot of characters, but tonight, I cried. This book hits like no other. I feel like I’ve crossed some sort of line as a writer.
4/10- Getting close to the end. It is in sight, maybe 4-5 chapters left. 74,550 words. Hope to have it around 90k.
4/11- 83,674. The 1st draft of Jezelle is pretty much complete. It is all there. I have to go back and add some things, maybe a chapter, but I’ve written the ending. All told, it will probably be in the high 80s to low 90s for word count. It is a rainy weekend, so it will be done and ready for editing by Sunday.
7/16- Forgot to update that I am now querying for an agent to represent Jezelle. Fingers crossed!
11/10- Rewrite begins after feedback from the dream agent.
1/8/26- Happy New Year! After almost two months of an extensive rewrite, I am back to querying. The book grew, but in a good way. 83,674 to ~114,000 words.
2/7/26- It was a good fight, and I came close a couple of different times, but ultimately, traditional publishing doesn’t seem to be in the cards for Jezelle. Time to switch gears. I’m not giving up. Jezelle will be here soon!
2/18/26- After a long haul of edits and revisions, Jezelle: Thief of Forks is now available for pre-order. Releases April 4, 2026!
Jezelle is coming
Next Saturday, April 4, Jezelle: Thief of Forks releases. Jezelle did not begin as a concept for me. I never even planned to tell her story when she appeared in Dawn of the Lightbearer as a secondary character. But as the series progressed, she made her voice heard anyway, and slowly became a view-point character…
NOTICE OF VANDALISM UPON THE STAG AND TALLOW DOOR
HEAR YE. HEAR YE.BY ORDER OF SHERIFF KELSTER OF THE CITY WATCHAND BY PETITION OF MORDECAI, KEEPER OF THE STAG AND TALLOW,LET THIS BE MADE KNOWN, POSTED, AND REMEMBERED. On the pre-dawn hour, when honest folk sleep and only rats keep counsel, there was committed upon HITCHER’S ROW an act of VANDALISM AND THREAT, bold…
PROCLAMATION OF BURGLARY AND FIRE AT THE CANDLEMAKER’S KEEP
HEAR YE. HEAR YE.BY ORDER OF SHERIFF KELSTER OF THE CITY WATCHAND BY COMPLAINT OF MASTER ROFT OF THE CANDLEMAKER’S KEEP,LET THIS BE MADE KNOWN, POSTED, AND REMEMBERED. On the night last past, when honest folk were abed, and lamps burned low, there was committed near FLITCHER’S BEND—hard by the canal—an outrage of BURGLARY AND…
THE EASTERN BUTCHER STALL ROBBED CLEAN
HEAR YE. HEAR YE.BY ORDER OF SHERIFF KELSTER OF THE CITY WATCHAND BY PETITION OF THE HONEST VENDORS OF AMICUS SQUARE,LET THIS BE MADE KNOWN, POSTED, AND REMEMBERED. On the morn last past, beneath fair light and lawful trade, there was committed within AMICUS SQUARE a theft so brazen, so calculated, and so cruel in…
NOTICE OF VAGRANT WHELPS AND MARKET MISCHIEF AT AMICUS SQUARE
HEAR YE. HEAR YE.BY ORDER OF SHERIFF KELSTER OF THE CITY WATCHAND FOR THE PEACE OF GOODFOLK OF THIS QUARTER,LET THIS BE MADE KNOWN, POSTED, AND REMEMBERED. Be it known to all honest souls who trade, toil, worship, or pass through our beautiful AMICUS SQUARE, that the Watch has received MANY COMPLAINTS, sworn oaths, and…
Jezelle: Thief of Forks Book Trailer
Just a quick mid-week post. The weather has been horrendous here in the Boston area, but it gave me a little extra time (two extra work-from-home days while we dig out), so I threw together a book trailer for Jezelle: Thief of Forks. I think it does a good job of capturing the book’s mood…
NOTICE OF A WICKED AFFRAY AT RUBY’S ROOST
HEAR YE. HEAR YE.BY ORDER OF SHERIFF KELSTER OF THE CITY WATCHAND FOR THE PEACE OF GOODFOLK OF THIS QUARTER,LET THIS BE MADE KNOWN, POSTED, AND REMEMBERED. On the eve last past, when honest men sought drink, warmth, and company beneath a lawful roof, a MOST FOUL DISTURBANCE was raised within the chambers of RUBY’S…
Jezelle is available for preorder!
Here we go again! Another book shields the light from its eyes as it steps from the shadows of my mind into the world. The ebook for Jezelle: Thief of Forks is now available for pre-order. It will release on April 4, 2026. This will be my tenth published work. I’m also taking this time…
I swam the market until I hit a rock
I’ve decided to stop my query process for Jezelle: Thief of Forks and switch gears to self-publishing the book. On the surface, that may look like defeat—another swing at traditional publishing and missing—but that’s not what this is. This is me looking directly at how this business actually works, looking at how far Jezelle swam…
Quick Update
First off, Happy Holidays! I hope you are all safe, warm, and jolly. I apologize for the lag in posts, but all my free time this past month has been devoted to rewriting Jezelle: Thief of Forks. I tried to get to this post on Saturday, but it just didn’t happen. Better late than never,…
Pushed deep into Jezelle’s darkness
I’ve been plunging into the weeds of reworking Jezelle: Thief of Forks, the darkest story I’ve written thus far. I’m on chapter 22 of 28, so I’m getting there. Before I began this dissection, I thought it was the best book I had ever written. It is humbling to see how much better it is…
Leveraging rejection to be a better writer
First, I would like to thank you all. After posting that I was stepping back from blogging to focus on rediscovering my passion for writing fiction, I received a considerable amount of support. There was also concern that I may be giving up. Don’t worry. I am still writing. In fact, I’ve been doing it…
Searching for need
I constantly struggle between being a writer and a bookseller. Really, I just want to write, but why write if no one reads it? So, one necessitates the other. I’m a decent writer. I can at least give myself that credit. It is hard-earned after struggling with self-doubt for years. But I’m not such a…
Salt and Lucardia’s magic system
Salt in Lucardia is never merely a seasoning. Across worlds—ours and theirs—it has always been a thing of reverence. Empires rose and fell upon the salt trade; soldiers were once paid in it, their salary stems from sal, the Latin word for salt. It purified wounds, sealed oaths, and guarded the living from what lingered…
Starting Over: What I Learned Scrapping 94 Pages
There’s a special kind of heartbreak that comes from deleting thousands of words you’ve poured your soul into. But there’s also a quiet kind of triumph. A freedom. And sometimes—if you’re lucky—a better book is waiting on the other side. I want to talk about what it means to start over and why I decided…
Preorder Now Available: Duke Rhime of the Spire
After a long journey through drafts, submissions, and soul-searching, I’m thrilled to announce that Duke Rhime of the Spire is now available for preorder, a Lucardian chronicle of power, sorcery, and sacrifice. This book marks a journey back to the early, darker days of Lucardia, set 310 years before the events of the Absolution of…
Defining my world
Recently, I undertook a major project for my website. I’ve always wanted to produce a glossary for my Lucardian world, primarily for my readers but also for myself. Currently, I have completed eight books set in Lucardia (five published and three yet to be published). On top of that, I have about 25-30 other projects…
What Naples Gave Me (Besides Jet Lag and Limoncello)
I know it has been some time since my last post, but I just returned from a much-needed two-week vacation in Naples, Italy. I had planned to schedule some posts before I left, but I simply ran out of time. A week before our departure, I received the line edits and feedback from the editor…
Into the Abyss: Who Is the Dark Fantasy Reader?
Last time, I wrote about how I didn’t set out to write dark fantasy but found myself here all the same, drawn by the arcane, the spiritual, and the broken beauty of stories that don’t look away from pain. I’m still learning the boundaries of the genre (if there are any) and figuring out where…
Dark Fantasy: Rising from the Ashes
I never set out to follow trends, but now that I’m here, I’m curious. My love for the arcane, the spiritual, and the unsettling pulled me into dark fantasy long before I realized that was where I was heading. I’m ashamed to admit, I’m not well-read in it—at least not in the way others can…
What Has My Writing Style Become After 20 Years?
After more than two decades of writing, I’ve started wondering what, exactly, my style has become. It’s not something I’ve spent much time defining, and truthfully, I’m still not sure I could point to a formula or philosophy that guides every decision I make on the page. But the question keeps returning—quietly, persistently—especially as I…
Jezelle and the World That Made Her
I’ve been writing for over twenty years. In the last five, I’ve kicked into overdrive and published multiple novels (7). I’ve built a world—layered, mythic, filled with blood, ghosts, and gods. I redirected from pouring myself into my career and remodeling my house to diverting the flow to writing. Day after day. Year after year.…
Jezelle updates and Audio Books!
If you’ve been keeping your ear to the cobblestones, you know things have been stirring in the shadows. I’m still working away at Jezelle: Theif of Oaks. It is currently at 53,474 words or roughly 200 pages, and I’m in love with how it is unfolding thus far. Jezelle’s story—raw, bruised, and burning with defiance—has…
Sample chapter, but first…
An Author’s Note What follows is a rough draft of the opening chapter of my current work-in-progress—a dark fantasy tale that offers Jezelle’s backstory. For those who haven’t yet stepped into Absolution of the Morning Star (AMS), Jezelle is one of its core viewpoint characters. In Dawn of the Lightbearer, she hints at her traumatic…
Another Dark Journey Begins
I was speeding along writing The Monk of Thanatos, book 2 of my Order of Thanatos series, when another project tapped me on the shoulder, and went, ahem. I’ve been doing this long enough to know that when this happens, you pay attention. So, I paused The Monk of Thanatos and listened to what the…
