Tired of feeling locked into a single ebook platform? Now is the perfect time to start building a digital library that’s truly yours. Learn how to take control of your ebook collection, manage it with Calibre, and free your books from retailer restrictions.
A new year begins with fire. The complete Harley Firebird contemporary fantasy series is now available in one volume, bringing together eight novels and novelettes set in the remote town of Falconer—where dragons walk the streets, Old Races live alongside humans, and justice is never as simple as following the law. Meet Harley von Canmore, Falconer’s first Chief of Police, a firebird with fire in her blood and hard choices ahead of her.
Dark fantasy might be having a moment, but it’s not one I’m celebrating. I don’t write sweetness and light — but I do believe in redemption, earned endings, and characters who grow. Here’s why stories full of “losers losing” just don’t do it for me.
Towns don’t just pop into existence because a hero needs a tavern. They grow around water, trade routes, resources—and they carry the scars of their own history. As a writer (and a lifelong map nerd), I can’t help studying fantasy town maps like archaeological sites. If the layout doesn’t tell me why the town exists, where it started, or how it grew, then something’s missing. Let’s talk about crooked streets, suspicious bridges, and why Hobbiton is pretty but perplexing.
I’ve been obsessed with maps since before I knew what fantasy was. The kind you unfold like treasure, with winding rivers, tiny illegible place names, and the promise of ancient secrets hidden in the margins. In my own stories, the map comes first—and sometimes refuses to budge. Which is probably why I have strong feelings about Tolkien’s very tidy mountain problem. Let’s talk about the beauty, the lies, and the suspicious tectonics of fantasy cartography.
Two original stories from Taylen Carver—Roots of the Storm and Sylvalight—are eligible for the 2026 Hugo, Nebula, Aurora, and Dragon Awards. If you’re nominating this year, here are the details.
Wales has been haunting my stories for years — not literally (though that would be on-brand), but mythically. From the Mabinogion to my Welsh grandfather’s voice, the land and legend of Cymru have steeped themselves into my writing. If you’ve read Magorian & Jones, you’ve heard the echoes. And no, I don’t plan to stop.
SRP author Taylen Carver today released the next book in their dystopian fantasy series, The Scorched Lands Saga.
With rumors swirling about The Rings of Power’s potential cancellation, I’m wondering if it’s not a quality issue—but a saturation one. Are lush, expensive fantasy series struggling simply because there’s too much content and too little attention to go around?
This weekend, the four hobbits of Lord of the Rings fame are reuniting at Edmonton EXPO, and while thousands are lining up for a few seconds of face time, I’m staying home with the extended editions and some decent takeout. In a world of high-speed, low-contact fandom, is the convention experience still worth it?
