My new Sapphic martial arts fantasy, Destiny’s Edge, is available to read for free via my newsletter. (If you’re already a newsletter subscriber, you can download here).
The most powerful warlord in the steppe sends a convoy consisting of his ten best men and his fourth wife, Chi, to escort his newest bride home—an easy journey. At least, it was supposed to be.
Since losing her family and her right eye to cursed fire, Chi has been adrift, struggling to find her place within the Champion’s household. Unable to bear children due to her family’s blood curse, she has spent most of her married years training the Champion’s sons in the sword techniques she inherited from her father. When an undead monster attacks the bride’s party on the road, killing all ten of the Champion’s men, Chi’s sword skills barely keep her alive, leaving her as the last line of defense for the young bride, Sangya.
The problem with Sangya: after a lifetime cloistered in a remote temple, she is maddeningly inquisitive about everything around her, including Chi. While Chi scrambles to guide the chirpy nun through the wilderness, Sangya slowly pries her way through the walls Chi has built around her soul and wakes something forbidden.
With enemies closing in, Chi realizes that the thing she wants most from life might be the one thing she can’t have. And in the dark of foreign woods, she decides that the best thing she can do for the world is die protecting the Champion’s bride. Better that than face a desire so dangerous.
Some more about this new book
Destiny’s Edge came about within a surprise gap in my writing schedule, during which my other projects were tied up in contract negotiations. While I didn’t have my main project to work on, I sat down to draft a progression fantasy that’s been on my schedule for a couple years now.
Shortly after beginning that draft, I realized I was getting a little too interested in the foundations of the main character’s romantic relationship. So, instead of trying to messily graft a romance arc onto the front of a progression story, I decided to separate the romance into its own book.
Initially, I thought this romance/adventure might fit into a novella. To nobody’s surprise, that ended up expanding into a full novel. If you’re not in on the joke here, Attempted Novella was the origin story for both The Sword of Kaigen (2019) and Blood Over Bright Haven (2023). But I would like to point out that I’m getting better. Kaigen was just under 200,000 words, Bright Haven was under 150,000 words, and Destiny’s Edge is under 80,000. This is what progress looks like!
Editing was a bit of a scramble, but given that I have to pivot back to the main project at some point, I thought it would be fun to have it available for Pride Month.
The cover illustration is by Nyx Aurelia, who you might know from the artwork she did for Blood Over Bright Haven.
You might like Destiny’s Edge if you enjoyed:
- The martial arts, magic weapons, and family drama in The Sword of Kaigen
- The gendered angst in Blood Over Bright Haven
- The Sapphic subplots in The Volta Academy books
- General action, adventure, and romance in a fantasy setting
If you’re interested in a physical copy of Destiny’s Edge, I’ll be hand-selling early paperback copies exclusively at Gen Con and Gamehole Con. For those unable to visit me there, not to worry. I’ll be making physical copies available for purchase online some time in late 2026 or early 2027.