Updated periodically. The Doktor's Spyglass is fantasy noir. It has elements of steampunk, epic fantasy, and classic detective fiction--think of it as Sherlock Holmes meets Locke Lamora. ***************************************************************************** When an eccentric inventor is reported dead, consulting detective Irik Thijis is called in to investigate. He soon discovers that Doktor Keynish Helg is not as dead as he seems, and that something much stranger than simple murder is afoot. The Inspection Service of the holy city of Oridos is about as useful as a horseless carriage when it comes to solving crimes, and Thijis is used to sorting out their cases for them. But what he discovers lurking in the Doktor's mansion soon finds them all out of their depth. As Thijis probes deeper into his strangest case yet, he realizes that blood and death are only the opening gambit in a play that may cost him not only his livelihood, but his life.

Centuries after the Fall, the United States has been wiped away. The crumbling remains of the great American empire are home now only to savage, lawless tribes and packs of ravening Damned-the twisted children of the apocalypse. Most of those few who survived humanity's destruction spend their short lives in a violent struggle for survival. But some light still flickers in the darkness: the Blessed of Bountiful live in seclusion, relying on walls both physical and spiritual to protect them from the Desolation that their world has become. Among them are the Saints, those few men and women born with superhuman abilities that the Blessed see as gifts from God. The violent apostate tribes of the Northeast Kingdom have always been a danger, but up until recently its small size and the vigilance of its people have made Bountiful an unappealing target. As attacks on the community grow harsher and more frequent, however, even the steadfast Blessed are forced to start preparing for the worst. With her home's very existence threatened, seventeen year old Ever Oaks, a Saint with the power to heal, is forced to make a difficult choice, one that may come to define her people's future... Exile was a semi-finalist in Mark Lawrence's Great Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (#SPFBO). Fantasy Faction said it was "extremely cool," and Bookish Lifestyle called it "more than just a story, a journey and an experience." When I'm asked about it, I often describe it as "X-Men meets The Walking Dead." In addition to reading it here for free, you can buy Exile in e-book or paperback on Amazon.com.

The setting for "Men of Winter" is deliberately vague but seems to be Russia, especially Siberia, in the earliest decades of the twentieth century. The protagonist, Hektr Pastrovich, is a journalist and poet who travels to the front of a war his beleaguered country has been fighting for nine years. He's searching for information about a mysterious vagabond who calls himself the "Prince of Ithaka" and along the way he meets a beautiful and charismatic woman. The novel is a sort of sequel to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Visit tedmorrissey.com.

There's a lot of space, and time, out there. It's worthy of a long, close look. But a journey should end. It should lead to arrival at a destination. Or, maybe not.

What if everyone, everywhere, could use magic? What if magic, as a weapon, or healing force, was normal for all? What if there was a magical, mind-bending Demon whose only reason to exist was to kill everyone, everywhere? What if every animal in the World had been warped by the Demon into a weapon, that attacked Humans on sight? What if every Human who died became a slave of the Demon, re-animated faster and stronger than before, as yet another weapon against living Humans? These stories are not feelgood fairy tales for children in search of flashy descriptions of romantic lust and violence. There is nothing romantic about a struggle to avoid the extinction of your entire species, even if you succeed. I'm expanding the scope and size of some of the stories in this collection, taking advantage of what more I've learned of writing. A couple of them are likely to become novellas. For the Shaders. You know who you are.