Sassy and a Book Sale for Troubled Times

July 30, 2026October 12, 2026 / F.T. McKinstry

Greetings!

I hope everyone is doing all right out there. I’d like to share this vintage 70s gem (yeah, I was alive when this was a thing). The kitten’s name is Sassy. She belonged to a photographer named Victor Baldwin, who made her famous. As the story goes, Sassy was tearing around doing crazy kitten stuff, landed on that bamboo pole, and hung there long enough for Mr. Baldwin to get a picture.

To say times are tough is one of those trite generalizations that doesn’t mean much, not only because times are always tough for someone but also because, right now, most of us are floundering in some soup or another. We make the best of it. Do what we can, while an overall climate of madness, gloom, and despair tries to eclipse all good things.

A few years back, I read some woo woo article about a wave of light sweeping over Earth, raising its vibration and thereby causing general upheaval. I’m a sucker for that stuff. So when 2024 started looking like a tear in the time-space matrix caused by a glitch at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, I took note. 2025 will be bad, some said; and 2026 will be way worse. Yes, of course, it will. Sensationalist clickbait…

Or not. We are so screwed. And here I thought I just watched too many scifi horror movies.

Anyway, this year went all Hold My Beer. It’s straining even my dark, prodigious imagination, both personally and collectively. Every time I try processing some shocking event, something even more messed up rolls in behind it. But you know what? There are good things happening too, if you look for them. I highly recommend the Good News Network. Seriously, check these guys out. This will lead you to other good things, you know, to slay the slow-drip parade to hell that is mainstream media.

Good News Network
Genetically engineered marine microorganisms that break down plastic in the ocean
How beavers are reviving wetlands

For my part, I’ve marked the books in the Chronicles of Ealiron and The Fylking down from $4.99 to $2.99. The boxset editions of these series, The Chronicles of Ealiron Omnibus and The Fylking Omnibus are marked down to $5.99.

Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple and Google Play.

In the meantime, be like Sassy.

Dark Night of the Book Sale

March 9, 2025 / F.T. McKinstry

Greetings. I hope you’re all well, and hanging in there.

It’s been a little while since I’ve written here, though not for lack of love and dedication. I have been busy facing demons, crossing chasms, and oh, I don’t know, losing everything I hold dear, at least for a time. And I’m not alone. It seems almost everyone I know is, or has been, having experiences like this in one way or another. Frodo on Mount Doom kind of stuff.

The Dark Night of the Soul, as it is often called, among other things, is something we all go through at some point or another. One could argue the planet itself is in the midst this presently. Nowadays, the Dark Night is often talked about in terms of vibration, frequency, timeline shifts, etc. But it always involves some kind of upheaval that wipes out everything we thought we were, because birth of any kind involves dissolution. Something has to die, fall apart, return to the earth. You can’t get there from here, or you would be there already.

So those lovely YouTube videos with the beautiful clouds, beams of light, and soft images of contemplative, suffering souls, while some guy in the background drones in an exotic voice about the ten stages of spiritual ascension? Spoiler alert: there are a whole lot more than ten and that death thing will be in there someplace, like a trapdoor spider coming after a cricket. Yeah, you’re the cricket. Don’t feel too bad.

In my own defense, I haven’t spent all this time ignoring my work. Nope, I’m still working, albeit a bit more slowly. But I decided a proper book sale would be nice because, well, things are getting expensive. So how about a good deal on a fantasy series that revolves around a protagonist who’s a trapdoor spider in his own right, a Hunter of the Dark Night, and no stranger to personal cataclysm? Ravens follow him around as they do wolves. He leaves them treats.

The Chronicles of Ealiron

An ancient hierarchy of wizards. Votaries of the old powers. Warlords, fiends and shadows. Enter the world of Ealiron, where a highly paid assassin with the skills of a wizard, voices in his head, and a bent toward bringing things to grim ends discovers there are worse things in the dark than him.

“F.T. McKinstry is a master of this genre.”

From now through March 12, the Chronicles of Ealiron Omnibus will be on sale for $0.99 (usually $7.99) on all the major retailers. This edition includes all four books: The Hunter’s Rede, The Gray Isles, The Winged Hunter, and The Riven God. You can get it here:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Apple
Kobo
Google Play

Enjoy, and remember: a caterpillar is a mess of gunk before it becomes a butterfly. True story.

Valentine’s Day Epic Book Sale

February 13, 2023 / F.T. McKinstry

In my never-ending quest to uphold a reputation, I tend to look upon Valentine’s Day with all the warmth of the Winter Warlock. Try to give me a choo-choo and I will sic my monster trees on you.

The thing is, beneath my wintry fortress, I can be a bit of a softie. Despite my curmudgeonly self, I appreciate the people in my life: friends, family, social media peeps, geeks and readers alike. I am grateful.

So, I’ve decided to show my love with a book sale. Depending on what you’re into, it might not compete with chocolate and roses, but hey, that shit’s expensive (especially on Valentine’s Day). A story lasts forever. Dark stories about wizards, warlords, fiends and shadows last even longer. Heh.

February 13-15, all the books in my epic fantasy series the Chronicles of Ealiron will be on sale on Amazon. The first four of these books are normally $4.99.

Want some more chocolate? A Northward Gaze will also be free! In this gothic fantasy tale, an old forest with a dark history, a tryst with an elven lord and a series of grisly, unexplained deaths drives a woman into the labyrinth of a faerie curse put on her bloodline in a centuries-old crossroads bargain.

See? Softie. And choo-choos are cool–especially those elven-made ones.

Love you all. Stay safe and well.

The Hunter’s Rede on Self-Publishing Review

July 26, 2021June 8, 2023 / F.T. McKinstry

The Hunter’s Rede, Book One in The Chronicles of Ealiron, where the Otherworld is alive, nature is sovereign and balance is kept by the sword. The books in this series are driven by an assassin named Lorth of Ostarin, a complex character with a bent toward bringing things to their darkest ends. These books stand alone as individual stories that happen in the same world with Lorth and some of the other characters appearing throughout. Each book includes a map and a glossary.

Below is an editorial review of The Hunter’s Rede from Self-Publishing Review. See it on SPR here.

“A lethal warrior without banner or cause rises to heights of heroism he never sought in The Hunter’s Rede by F.T. McKinstry, a dark and thoroughly fun new fantasy saga.

Tapping into the best elements of high-genre writing, with cryptic wizards, dark powers, and jaw-dropping plot twists, this character-driven knockout is a thrilling pleasure to read. The sprawling new realm of Ealiron is ripe for storytelling, and newly hooked fans will be pleased to know this is only the first in a four-part series.

Lorth is one of the most compelling new fantasy characters in recent memory, summoning shades of Drizzt Do’Urden, Aragorn, and other legendary loners from fantasy lit. Not only is he the most feared and well-paid assassin in the realm, having served the Wizards of Tarth for years, but he is a self-taught practitioner himself, which makes him doubly dangerous, and intriguing.

However, when he falls out of favor with those who have newly seized power, and kills one too many of the wrong people, the enemies begin to close in on him from every side, and fall to his blade. An unparalleled hunter being on the other side of the chase makes for exciting reading, as do the visceral battle sequences and graphic details from this author’s slicing pen. However, this novel is not all sword-swinging and sorcery – there is expert plot-crafting at work as well, not to mention multilevel world-building, original rules for magic, and a compellingly dark streak of philosophy.

The exposition is doled out like delectable crumbs, leading readers gradually deeper into this world, but still ensnaring them fully within the first few chapters. A lyrical meditation on darkness within the human soul, peppered with gripping action scenes that feel cinematic in their effortless intensity, this is a must-read work of fantasy, puppeteered by an author with an ear for authentic dialogue and vivid descriptions. The caliber of the writing deserves additional praise, as the dark mood is rarely broken, and every line of prose feels heavy with intention. “As he waited for Death’s exhale,” or “throbbed with prickling fire, like a glowing coal” are just a glimpse of the subtly brilliant lines that tie this novel together.

There is plenty of “journey narration” in an epic adventure like this, but the frequent twists of language and artful descriptions keep even the longest stretches of travel engaging. There are very few weak points in the writing that stand out – self-referential questions, overuse of internal monologue, and occasional lapses in point of view – and there are some overly familiar tropes and bland narration that could use another editing pass, but these issues are few and far between, and pale in comparison to the sincere pleasure of the reading experience. McKinstry has a masterful pen, one born for this niche of darkly epic storytelling.

All in all, this is a stellar first installment of the Chronicles of Ealiron series, with massive potential to be a heavy-hitting standout in the genre.”

The Hunter’s Rede, Book One in The Chronicles of Ealiron.Only wizards and hunters know the true meaning of darkness. Lorth of Ostarin, a highly paid assassin with the rough skills of a wizard and a penchant for bringing things to their darkest ends, is about to discover there are worse things in the dark than him.