If you want to start at the very beginning, read Wings of Twilight. If you want a more world-spanning adventure and a more epic scope, you can start with Malediction. And if you just want a stand-alone novel that only obliquely references the previous five novels, but tells a personal tale of a sorceress finding her place in the world once more, read Summer of Crows.
The World of Calliome
Wings of Twilight is the first book in the Foundation of Drak Anor duology. From the back cover: It was a typical day for the crusader Lord Strom Lightbringer, killing draks, stamping out wickedness, and making the world a better place for the righteous. During the course of his crusade, he discovered the location of the fabled Twilight Dungeon, a den of evil shrouded in mystery. No one ever returned from that vile place, so no one knew what lay within. With purpose, Strom and his companions set off to meet their destinies.
It was a typical day for Sarvesh, the demonic-looking leader of the Twilight Dungeon’s defenders, enjoying beer at the pub, flirting with a snake-haired woman, and dealing with invaders to their home. An exceptional goblin proved to be a harbinger of coming changes, and he found his easy life turned upside down.
When the worlds of men and monsters collide in Twilight Dungeon, the lines between man and monster blur. Wings of Twilight is the exhilarating first book in The Foundation of Drak-Anor duology.
Wings of Twilight is the debut novel in a series that will visit all corners of a world filled with myth, monsters, heroes, and villains. Adventures in the World of Calliome will take readers on a journey where not all heroes are good, not all monsters are evil, and sometimes the world itself has a role to play.
Iron Fist of the Oroqs is the sequel to Wings of Twilight and the second book in the Foundation of Drak-Anor duology. From the back cover: Long ago, the World of Calliome was sundered by mortals. Since the Healing of the World, magic and fae folk returned, and primeval wonders of the ancient world began to resurface, along with long-forgotten horrors that dwell deep in the bowels of the earth.
A year after assuming the mantle of Twilight Overlord, Sarvesh is on the verge of making sweeping changes to Twilight Dungeon and ushering in a new era of peaceful coexistence with the surfacers. The leader of the oroqs, however, is determined to fight him, and when the volcano in which they all reside erupts, Sarvesh must come face-to-face with his forgotten past.
Meanwhile, the life Tasha and Lorelei are trying to build in Celtangate is shaken when the sibling of a dead companion comes looking for her brother, and they must all travel back to Twilight Dungeon to deal with the legacy of their past and help make a better world for all who live there.
Iron Fist of the Oroqs is the thrilling sequel to Wings of Twilight and the conclusion of The Foundation of Drak-Anor duology.
The Scars of the Sundering trilogy is the next story in the World of Calliome. The adventure kicks off with Malediction when Pancras the minotaur necromancer and the drak twins, Kale and Delilah must face the consequences of their years of isolation in Drak-Anor. It continues with Lament, as they learn of plots that threaten peace across the continent. The story concludes with Salvation and a generations-old threat is brought to its final end.
From the books’ back covers:
Malediction: Pancras thought trouble waited at the end of his journey.
Shadow demons, chaos rifts, and petty archmages all conspire to disrupt his quiet life. Summoned to face a Mage’s Guild inquest over minor grievances, the minotaur wizard leaves home and travels south with his companions, the twins Delilah and Kale.
Harsh winter weather traps them in an unfriendly city where a run-in with a drunken bully leaves him dead and the trio in jail. Fortunately, the opportunistic prince of the city needs a wizard to curse his unwanted wife. The only catch is Pancras’s sense of honor.
As he stalls for time, the twins involve themselves in an uprising in the city’s salt mines. Pancras left necromancy behind him, but it’s looking more and more like he’ll need to break his moral code–and further anger the Mage’s Guild–to get them out of the city in one piece.
Lament: “The quality of our legacy is measured in the lives we touch.”
Pancras and the drak twins reach Muncifer. The judgment of Archmage Vilkan Icebreaker was swift: Pancras is sent to the far side of the continent and Delilah remains the Arcane University. His penance takes him toward the far north, and is made only somewhat better by the companionship of The Golden Slayer and the fiendling Qaliah. Along the way, events drive Pancras to rekindle his faith in Aita. Bound to the Arcane University, Delilah works to escape, while her brother uncovers an ancient Munciferian secret that will change the very nature of magic as they know it and shake the foundation upon which the Arcane University was built.
Salvation: Life has a way of sweeping you to unexpected destinations, as Pancras discovers as he continues his investigation into the Lich Queen’s return. Enlisting the aid of Justicars, the stern knights in the service of the Divine Tribunal, he tracks a growing army to Badon Hill, the site of the Lich Queen’s last battle.
Returning to Muncifer and burdened with the truths discovered in the Valley of the Iron Giants, Delilah and Kale must bring the megalomaniacal archmage Vilkan Icebreaker to justice. Delilah takes it upon herself to keep the vast arcane secrets she carries safe from the archmage while Kale struggles to balance his desire for adventure with his responsibilities to his mate.
Summer of Crows is a stand-alone World of Calliome novel set after the Foundation of Drak-Anor duology and the Scars of the Sundering trilogy.
From the back cover: Ten years after losing her love at the Battle of Drak-Anor, the sorceress Tasha has settled into a new life in the sleepy town of Curton. Once a prosperous mining community and home to a legendary witch, Curton’s glory days are long past. The mines dried up and the Crow Queen vanished over a generation ago, leaving nothing for Curton but agriculture and clay for pottery. The slow pace of selling herbs from her apothecary seemed boring to some, but it suited Tasha fine.
Then the disappearances started.
Tracking the abductors to an abandoned mine, Tasha and her friend, Knight-Captain Lady Aveline, discover a greater threat to Curton. While Aveline musters their allies, Tasha struggles to discover the secrets of the Crow Queen before those who seek to harness the destructive powers of chaos unleashed by Calliome’s sundering in ages past destroy them all.
The Zack Jackson Series
The Zack Jackson series is an on-going young adult sci-fi series set in the 43rd century. The Earth-Alpha Centauri Alliance is contemplating joining the Galactic Confederation as a young teenager from Wyoming joins the Junior Rangers and eagerly anticipates starting school at Cytherean Academy.
Book 1: The Cult of Athos
It is an exciting time for Earth as the Galactic Confederation considers their application for membership. Interstellar travel is commonplace in the 43rd Century, and humans work and live alongside many alien species from all over the galaxy. Zack Jackson is an ordinary kid from Wyoming, embarking on his first interstellar trip with the Junior Rangers. He looks forward to exploring a strange new world and making friends with the kids in his troop. When an accident strands Zack and his new friends in the hostile wilderness of an alien world, they must rely on their wits and each other to survive toxic snows, avalanches, and deadly predators 260 light years from home.
Book 2: The Cytherean Academy
In his quest to become the first human Galaxy Ranger, Zack Jackson braved the untamed wilderness of a half-terraformed world, was chased by hungry predators, and made friends with strange beings from alien civilizations. Zack thought going to the prestigious Cytherean Academy would be a piece of cake compared to all that. He was wrong. Even though his friends Ix and Jenny would be there, Zack worried about meeting the other students. Would Zack’s new friends be from another part of Earth, one of the colonies of Alpha Centauri, or the other side of the galaxy? And what secrets could he discover in Cytherean Academy’s seven domes?
Book 3: The Hives of Valtra
Life can be complicated even while on school break, especially when one is nearly a hundred light-years from Earth. After a challenging freshman year at the prestigious Cytherean Academy on Venus, Zack Jackson is excited to embark on the Junior Ranger trip to his friend’s home world, the alien jungle world of Valtra. As he explores high-tech arcologies, ancient ruins, and makes friends with species from across the galaxy, Zack encounters clothes-eating insects, oppressive bureaucrats, and natives with bad PR. Yet, despite his excitement, he feels helpless as the lives of his friends unravel before him when they receive bad news from home. Dire tidings can’t disrupt the Junior Ranger trip, though, and while he and his friends explore abandoned ruins, an unexpected discovery brings an old adversary into Zack’s life once more, and he uncovers the secrets hidden—in the hives of Valtra.
Book 4: The Secret of Venus
From the back cover: “Breaking news from Cytherea!”
“Cytherean Security is cooperating with troops from the Devoran Defense Force in a city-wide search for a 14-year-old student. If you see or know the whereabouts of Zack Jackson, please report immediately to the nearest authorities. Under no circumstances should you approach the suspect, he is considered armed and dangerous.”
It was natural for Zack to assume his second year at Cytherean Academy would bring fresh challenges and new friends. However, he never imagined being pursued as a criminal by the Devoran military. Meanwhile, something stirs beneath the city, in the crushing depths under the churning, acidic clouds. What are the Devorans hiding about the secret of Venus?
Book 5: The Ruins of Athos (coming soon)
Book 6: The Ringworld of Sol (planned)