Showing results by author "Jeff Wheeler" in All Categories

All roads lead to Ecbatana, as the trading masters say. This ancient fortress with its multi-colored interlocking walls, vibrant bazaars, and powerful sorcerers who use a mysterious magic called metamorphistry lies in the path of the rag-tag group of refugees from fallen Clairvaux. But as Cimree, Azra, Trinati, and the others soon learn, there is a tradition in Ecbatana both perilous and promising—Ecbatana is periodically ruled by a tyrant queen, chosen to wield absolute power while the scheming nobles react to drastic changes in fortune.

A bargain was struck beyond memory, sealed by an immortal covenant that promised either peace or extinction for humanity. The Aesir will uphold this covenant, whatever the outcome, but the Erlking will do everything in his power to ensure their victory. Two people hold the key to defeating him, but only one of them remembers who they are.

Stories with depth, strong protagonists, and high tension are told while pulling at your heartstrings or making you smile with understanding. Go on adventures with heroes old and young, and visit many new worlds.

The best of Deep Magic: Volume 1—fantastical worlds of space adventures, changelings, and dragons await—stories with depth, strong protagonists, high tension, all told while pulling at your heartstrings, or making you smile with understanding. In this volume, you'll find twenty-two stories, including many novelettes. Go on adventures from deep space to ancient Rome (with magic), to Mars, and many other new fantasy worlds.

What humankind feared the most has come to pass: the Awakening of the Aesir, an ancient race who rose with an implacable vengeance to wage war on mortals through bombardments and plague. Two people gifted with magic and ingenuity strive to stop them. Professor Robinson Hawksley, an elocutionist in the Invisible College, prepares to exhibit his invention to the world. Using sound to defeat the enemy could change the course of the war. It’s invaluable to the military. Even more so to a conniving rival who’ll do anything to prove its patent as her own.

After a pilgrimage to the East Kingdoms seeking a blessing from the Fountain, source of the land’s magic, Sir Ransom Barton returns home in search of two dreams: Claire de Murrow, the heiress he loves, and a patron for his warrior skills. Unexpectedly, Ransom finds himself in the favor of Devon, the notorious Elder King. Brought into the ruler’s mesnie and given two wards of his own, Ransom is devoted to his privileged new position. He’s also privy to the running of the realm and to all its courtly intrigues.

For now, the centuries-long war between mortalkind and the Aesir is quiet. Yet not over. With the coming of winter, a season in which the Aesir thrive, they will resurface. Only two people, united by magic, can stop them. But first they’ll have to survive more imminent threats to their lives. Robinson Hawksley is of the tragic belief that his beloved wife, McKenna, has perished in a sorcerer’s fire—just as he is about to ascend to the highest rank in the magic order of the Invisible College.

Eilean is rising. A foundling raised in an abbey, she was entrusted by its imprisoned druid, Mordaunt, with an ancient tome. Its magical words can change the world. Eilean’s first mission: translate it. Her second: rescue a benevolent Aldermaston sentenced to death as a heretic by the high seer. But wielding power, knowledge, and ambition has now made Eilean the hunted.

Ransom Barton has served three Argentine kings. The new successor to the throne is the ruthless Jon-Landon, a fallible strategist when it comes to war. After losing against the Occitanian armies, the king forces Ransom to bear the blame and removes him from the council. But Jon-Landon isn’t yet through with humbling the honorable knight of Ceredigion.

A devastating disaster has left the Forbidden Court in ashes, its fountains destroyed, and its magic at risk. It was destined as the site of Trynne Kiskaddon’s coronation as empress. Now, all Trynne can imagine is the roar of flames, the cries of Gahalatine’s people, and the smell of cinders in a city gone dark. Tragic as the threat to Kingfountain is, it’s nowhere near as foul as the treachery posed by Morwenna.

Millennia ago, a magical race called the Aesir found a new home on a distant world. Attracted to the cold during an ice age, they hibernated for hundreds of years at a time. With each awakening, however, they saw their world changed by ever-evolving mortals encroaching on their territory and way of life. Two civilizations with opposing magic, poised to clash over and over. Now, the Aesir are awakening to wage a new war—this time to exterminate their enemy once and for all.

Deep in the mountains lies a valley with a secret to immortality—Clairvaux—where the Queen Mother reigns supreme. Hidden within the cliffs and rocky paths and shrouded by waterfalls, the Gallows Tree grows immortal fruit. But only the loyal angel sworn can partake and live forever, weaving magic with grafting wands and bonding to animals to borrow their powers while balancing the good in all living things.

Rumors stir of a hidden child who can stop the devastating plagues — and the race to find her has begun. The ruthless ruler of Kenatos, the Arch-Rike, and the people pledged to stopping him will do anything to make sure they’re the ones to reach her first. Because even though young Phae may be unaware that she is the long-lost daughter of Tyrus — the Arch-Rike’s rival — there is no mistaking her gift.

For three years, Sera Fitzempress has been a pawn in a gilded prison. Disgraced and exiled from society, she has been isolated from the downtrodden she’s determined to liberate. Cettie Pratt has grown into an independent young woman, although she continues to be tested by the high society of the clouds. Advancing in the magic of the Mysteries, Cettie is also a useful tool of defense during turbulent times. The fog of war is drawing in, and with it comes a startling new enemy who may unravel secrets that both women would prefer stay hidden.

Ransom Barton and his wife, Claire de Murrow, have arrived in Legault to reclaim the title that was Claire’s birthright. Claire intends to rebuild a war-ravaged palace to its former glory and to teach Ransom about the magical history of their new home. But when Ransom is summoned to return to King Benedict, his loyalty to Claire is tested. Fealty prevails, however questionable the king’s motives.

If there is anything more dangerous than the Plague itself, it is the journey that awaits those sworn to stop it. Tyrus, the renegade magic-wielder exiled from Kenatos, knows this firsthand. His original mission through the Scourgelands met a tragic end, leaving him as the sole survivor.

When Jonathon Roth and his family are invited by their neighbors, the Beasleys, to join them at a luxury retreat in Cozumel, who can refuse? It’s the perfect winter getaway. Relaxing on the beach, gourmet food, sightseeing, and free accommodations. But if it sounds too good to be true, it is. Villa Sara de Calakmul, owned by mysterious tycoon Jacob Calakmul, is more isolated compound than private resort. Armed guards patrol the jungle perimeters. Pictures of previous guests—long disappeared—adorn the walls.

In a world beset by plagues, Tyrus of Kenatos has made it his life’s work to end the devastation. Yet when he first ventures into the Scourgelands to uncover the secret of the plagues’ origin, he barely makes it out alive after being ambushed by a mysterious, unseen enemy. Tyrus knows the plagues will rise again - more powerful than ever before - and he is determined to complete his mission. To aid in his new quest, he summons his nephew Annon and his niece Hettie - both of whom possess an innate magic called the fireblood - and a pack of unlikely allies.

Rescued from a world of poverty, Cettie Pratt has avoided a bleak destiny—until now. Deceived and manipulated, she has been groomed for the ultimate betrayal: to destroy her best friend and stop peace from uniting two war-torn worlds. Her path leads her to a mysterious underworld where appearances can be deceiving. Sera Fitzempress knows the value she has to her enemies. As heir to the empire, she must keep her foes at bay and prevent them from unleashing a being of unspeakable evil upon the world while fighting a brutal war.

From the moment she was banished by her father, the king, Princess Maia journeyed to seek sanctuary at Muirwood Abbey, the epicenter of magic and good in the land. Now safe for the first time since her cruel abandonment, Maia must foster uneasy friendships with other girls training to be Ciphers: women who learn to read and engrave tomes of ancient power, despite the laws forbidding them to do so.