Mist swirled and eddied around Roark’s ankles as he stepped out of the shadowed stairwell that led down into the Cruel Citadel’s first room. The inner bailey was silent, the vitrified surfaces of the battle-scorched and crumbling walls glistening under moonlight, though it was nearly midday at the Vault. Day and night seemed to work differently in different areas of Hearthworld. Here, gloom...
2021-01-28 20:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostLogan spun the wheelbarrow around when he got to the stairs of the Azure Dragon dormitory. He then backed up the steps—bump, bump, bump—just as he’d done so many times before while working at his landscaping job, then rolled into the common room of the Azure Dragon. Each clan had its own residential area for the students, complete with common room and dormitories. Those dorm room...
2021-01-28 15:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostRoark barely made it through smithing a pair of iron counterweights for the first trebuchet before he decided the long train of black hair that had come from his Mega-Evolution had to go. It kept blowing into his face and sticking to the sweat. He could pull it back into a queue, but with the horns, he would just look a bloody fool, so he got out his Kaiken Dagger and started sawing away at it....
2021-01-27 20:12:10 +0000 UTC View Post
First, I'd like to take a minute and thank some of the new folks who just supported me! Welcome to the community, so glad to have you here, and so thankful to you for supporting me and my work. For both new Patrons and old, I always love to hear what you think, so if there is specific content you'd like to see more of, just drop it in the comments and let me know!
Second, the...
2021-01-21 14:58:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone! Thought I'd share this early art we just got in for the upcoming Rogue Dungeon anthology. This isn't the final piece, but it's definitely moving in the right direction. What do you all think?
2021-01-13 22:07:30 +0000 UTC View Post
Drakes can't be tamed, but they'll bond with a warrior who puts up a good fight.
The original G.O.A.T... It's Devil!
2021-01-13 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostRandy Shoemaker stared in disbelief at the halo of chaos surrounding Frontflip. Someone must have called in the SWAT teams, because their trucks were arrayed across the grass and parking lots, their shield wall pushing in toward the ring of Malaika Heralds. Above, more angelic creatures swooped through a violet Hearthworld-esque portal and joined the battle.
“I ca...
2021-01-08 16:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
You're not fighting one clan, you've challenged an empire that will rise again.
This bad boy right here is model after Chief Kolle of the Ak-Hani clan.
2021-01-06 19:00:28 +0000 UTC View PostThough his troops had been forced back into a siege surrounding the Dev’s palace, Lowen had hopes of breaking them quickly. After all, their defending force was incredibly small for such a large edifice; they’d be spread too thin attempting to defend the entirety of Frontflip Studios at once. Accurate numbers were hard to come by—especially with such unreliable spies ...
2021-01-06 16:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostZyra, known colloquially and not a little fearfully around the Troll Nation as “Our Lady of Darkness,” held up the final stretch of webbing she and Ick had woven. She smiled behind her lacy veil as she watched Roark go through the quick and powerful postures to cast the Discordant Inversion hex.
Truth be told, she was admiring the Dungeon Lord. His new Draconic Cha...
2021-01-04 16:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostRoark strode through the troops besieging the Vault. Metalwraiths, Stormbreakers, Corpse Defilers, Bonesnap Behemoths, and Fearstrike Reavers fought alongside untransmuted Harpies, Bloodleeches, Bêtes Ours-Loup, and Rock People. The ones who hadn’t been sent for Respawn in that first assault, in any case. Unfortunately, too many had been sent for respaw...
2021-01-01 16:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Light and Dark are a child's notions. Everything in between rests in Shadow.
This here is one fierce lady and definitely not someone I'd want to run across in a dark alley.
2020-12-30 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe shimmering purple of the mass portal receded as Lowen stepped through onto healthy green grass. All around him, armor clanked and creaked and wings rustled as his forces followed him out into the strangely restrained sunshine of the Other World. It was as if a smoky film hung in the sky, and the air stank of salts and chemicals Lowen wasn’t familiar with. Ston...
2020-12-30 16:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe Vault of the Radiant Shield had gotten its name, Roark assumed, because no matter the time of day, it gleamed like a lit golden lantern. Even now, in the dark of the night, the hivelike structure shone atop its rock chimney as if it were a golden sun stuck there to light the way through the red canyons.
The Vault was easily one of the worst Dungeons in Hearthw...
2020-12-28 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostRandy Shoemaker stood in front of TeaCaravan, watching the passing cars and foot traffic for signs of Helen Rose. The Frontflip campus was only two blocks away. What was taking her so long? He should’ve mentioned it was a matter of life and death when he called her, but he’d been so thrown off by talking to the Helen Rose Douglas on the phone that he’d gotten tongue-...
2020-12-26 16:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
It's hard to invade when your generals keep having the backs of their skulls caved in.
Obviously one of my favorites here, the Shadowmancer! We're planning on doing some veteran cards with the actually book characters, but I love how this one turned out!
2020-12-23 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Roark had finished imbuing the last of the Poser Owners who’d volunteered with Vassalhood, he stepped back and appraised them with a critical eye. He had grown used to dealing with fearsome dungeon lords of a hundred varieties; heroes hardly seemed impressive to him anymore. Small, puny even. Even so, he had to admit that PwnrBwner had rounded up a decent force. Unfo...
2020-12-23 16:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostAfter about an hour’s worth of messaging and digging through his guild’s profiles, Scott Bayani had figured out how many POSes were within driving distance of LA, then mass-sent them a message telling them to meet him IRL.
It wasn’t until he was sitting in a corner of the Starbucks by his apartment with a venti caramel frappucino in his hand that he realized nobody m...
2020-12-21 16:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Alright. I've been waffling here, folks. I really like the plain and simple initial cover... But also. This new one is super, duper ridiculously cool. So what say you all? Which one do I go with??? Please let me know in the comments below.
Hey everyone! After some nudging by friends and readers, I've decided to start a discord server for anyone who is interested. As my Patreon members, everyone here gets an invite. I'll be on frequently, so it'll be a great place to interact with me and some of the other authors from Shadow Alley Press in real time. The link is below, hope to see you all around.
Hey folks, great day for any Lazarus fans out there. The link below is for the complete and edited Red Reckoning--Book 6 in the Lazarus series! This is for real, brand new, never seen before. Came in at a respectable 95K words, about 400 pages or so, and overall I think it turned out really great. The book will go live next week, seriously can't wait to hear what you all think about it. Both ex...
2020-12-18 19:16:47 +0000 UTC View PostFrom the head of the Great Hall’s largest rough-hewn table, Roark stared down the gathered representatives from the dungeons across Hearthworld allied with the Troll Nation. A few shifted nervously in their seats, eyeing his new evolution, while the rest assessed the plans he’d just laid out for them or messaged their Dungeon Lords with what he’d said.
“You ...
2020-12-18 16:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone! Getting pretty close to wrapping up Vigil Bound 1, Vigil's Justice. Very excited for it and wanted to share this rad art -- that's are guy Boyd Knight kicking some monster ass and taking some monster name. What do you all think?
2020-12-17 00:20:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Most lost ones can't survive the swamp, but sometimes the old blood runs true.
2020-12-16 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostLowen von Reich sat perched on the hanging dais of the Dungeon Lord’s Throne in the Vault of the Radiant Shield, staring down his nose at his most trusted spies. One was a tall, heavy-set man with a thick beard who looked as if he should be toiling in a mine with a pickaxe in each fist, and the other was a slip of a woman with flowing red hair and restless, constantly shifting g...
2020-12-16 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostRoark and the Poser Owners finished off the last remaining dregs of Ganksters and Undead creatures summoned by Takumen-Ra, then began to loot the Burial Chamber. While Mac trundled around the corpses, trying to get the heroes to feed him the hearts of creatures he’d killed, Roark searched the Dungeon Lord’s corpse. The Transmutation Core was moderately high level, ...
2020-12-14 16:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostLogan Murray sat up on his cot nestled away inside the utility shed on the Akros Coliseum grounds. He groaned and swung his legs out over the edge of the bed frame. Every bit of his pulpy yellow fungal body ached from the torment of his hellish summer. He would’ve preferred back-to-back boot camps at Fort Sill—freezing cold in February, drenched in sweat by March, wishing for death by April...
2020-12-12 18:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostProfessor Thozz Grimemaw stood before the entrance of the Cruelwood Dungeon, the roots twisted around to make an arch over the muddy steps that disappeared into stygian darkness. The moon, or at least the simulacrum of a stellar object—for there were no true heavenly bodies in Arborea—shined silver light down upon the Tallwood pines of the southeast section of the Xiru Forest. Nocturnal cre...
2020-12-12 17:51:18 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone, the relaunch of Lazarus 5, Brimstone Blues is out in preparation for Red Reckonings (Lazarus Book 6) release in just a few weeks. If you haven't tried the series, its a solid mashup of Supernatural and Dresden with its own unique flavor. For everyone else, here's bookfunnel link for book 5. Enjoy!
A Demon King. An Infernal city. The whole world hangs in the ba...
2020-12-12 02:50:56 +0000 UTC View PostIt was an odd sensation looting heroes’ corpses in someone else’s dungeon—by rights, the spoils should’ve gone to the Dungeon Lord over this place—but Roark pitched in and helped the Poser Owners. It was quick work; on the first death within a dungeon, heroes only dropped one item and a percentage of their overall gold. The second death was the profitable one—a...
2020-12-04 22:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post