A Subtler Magic
A Story of Becoming the Lady of the Lake
Third-Person | Adult Historical Fantasy
It is 1940 and The Honorable Ms. Vivian Llyn, ambulance driver and enchantress, is trying to figure out what she wants out of life. Of course, it doesn’t help that England is being pummeled by the Nazi Blitzkrieg. And to make matters worse, her once-indomitable grandmother, Dame Beryl Llyn, who just happens to be the Lady of the Lake and the most powerful sorceress in the world, seems to be weakening just when Britain needs her most. Torn between duty, love, and freedom, Vivian must decide where her loyalties lie, and quickly: the lives of the people she loves most - not to mention the fate of European Civilization - may hinge on her choice.
Journeying between the war-shattered boulevards of London, the sleepy lanes of Norfolk villages, and the deceptively dangerous spires of Oxford, this story explores questions of duty, authority, romance, and intergenerational conflict while also looking at the essential nature of families - the ones we build and the ones we are given.
Comp Titles: Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile; Jo Walton’s Farthing; and Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London;
“The Full Eldritch Breakfast” or “The Many (Deplorable) Holidays of Mr. Graham Broady”
Short Story Collection| Humor/Parody
After serving his country during the Second World War, Lt. Graham Broady, Junior Fellow of Necromancy at Carmarthen Hall, Oxford, desperately needs a rest. Unfortunately, wherever he goes - a B&B in Cornwall, a house party in Bedfordshire, hotels in Ireland and Torquay, a holiday camp in Wales, even a magical mystery tour across the midlands - he can’t seem to find the peace he’s so earnestly seeking.
And when eldritch horrors are the best part of your trip, it may be time to find a new travel agent …
Comp Titles: “Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar” by Neil Gaiman; “The Inimitable Jeeves” by P.G. Wodehouse; “Fawlty Towers” by John Cleese and Connie Booth; and “Johannes Cabal the Necromancer” by Jonathan L. Howard.