“Artists use lies to tell the truth…” – Evey Hammond
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A little something for you!
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Coffee, Magic & Pixie Dust
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Survivorship Bias: When Doing Everything Right Still Isn’t Enough
Fantasy is full of people who “make it.” The chosen farm boy.The lost heir.The mage with a hidden gift who survives every trial and claims their destiny. Even when those stories are dark, they often carry an unspoken promise: if you grind hard enough, suffer long enough, and keep your heart pure, you’ll win. You’ll…
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Stolen Soul-A Friday Short Story
I arrive at the town’s only coffee house fifteen minutes before the meeting time and sigh as the air conditioning washes the sticky heat away. Hits from my childhood crackle through the strategically placed speakers. There are plenty of couches, tables, and even a small area for games. But it’s empty. It is Sunday morning…
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Yugen. What is it?
Readers of dark fantasy aren’t just chasing darker worlds. They’re chasing truer ones—stories where the monsters outside mirror the ones inside, where trauma actually changes people, and where justice is never simple. Yugen sits right in that sweet spot: a dark fantasy novel with rich psychological complexity, centered on Vian—a betrayed Guardian recruit cursed with…
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In Fantasy the Mentor Dies
In fantasy, we’re used to a particular kind of heartbreak. The mentor dies. They go down in a blaze of light or a quiet sacrifice, leaving the hero with a sword, a prophecy, and a grief so sharp it forges them into who they were “meant” to be. Think of all the robed wizards, battle-scarred…
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Burning the Throne: Real Justice in Rotten Systems
When you realize the system is rigged, it’s tempting to give up on justice completely. If abusers keep getting promoted, if complaints go nowhere, if whistleblowers are punished — what’s the point of trying to make anything right? In Yugen, Vian reaches that breaking point. Faced with a god’s empty throne and an institution that…
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Found Family After Betrayal
One of the cruelest tricks of corrupt institutions is convincing you that they are your only home. “That’s just how it is everywhere.”“You’ll never find a place like this again.”“We’re your family.” So when you finally leave — or get forced out — the loneliness can be suffocating. You didn’t just lose a job or…
Got any book recommendations?
Janessa Keeling 