Free Book and a Cheeky Little Bird

March 27, 2026 / F.T. McKinstry

Greetings,

Heh. After a long nasty winter, spring is here! In the north where I live, that’s debatable. But hey, it’s worth a book sale. I know, it’s been a while. In fact, I’ve all but dropped off the face of the earth. Another story.

Okay things have been weird. But I’m still working on my next book, best I can. I’ll post an excerpt soon.

For a limited time, the Chronicles of Ealiron will be on sale on Amazon. An ancient hierarchy of wizards. Votaries of the old powers. Warlords, fiends and shadows. Enter the world of Ealiron, where Lorth, 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 R E E! ———

To get you properly pumped and distracted, Book One, The Hunter’s Rede, will be free! Here, Lorth returns to his homeland and gets caught up in a raft of trouble that he negotiates in badass style. Give it a shot, and you can follow his adventures through the rest of the series at a discount.

“The main character Lorth is a masterpiece.”

Amazon
Amazon CA
Amazon UK

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.

Monsters, Books and Liminal Spaces

October 25, 2023June 20, 2024 / F.T. McKinstry

Greetings, Trick or Treaters!

So I have this new favorite word: liminal. It means relating to, or being in an intermediate state, in-between, not one place or the other. It beautifully describes those mysterious, shady places that occur in nature, such as twilight, the edge of a river or pond, the space where a forest meets a field, or the veil between the mortal world and the otherworld. It can also refer to a state of consciousness or an aspect of life in which a person is in transition, suspended in that frustrating hinterland where everything is still for a time.

October is a liminal time of year, when the sun drifts lower in the sky and shines through tall trees, casting long shadows. The wind is cold, whispery and strong. This shift culminates on All Hallows’ Eve, when spirits and dark things emerge from the veil between the worlds, curious and enraged. This is the realm of not only honoring the shadows, but facing them: the beast in the dark you don’t see coming, or that keeps rising again and again no matter how many times you kill it, and will shred you like a cabbage if it catches you. This can be transformative or terrifying—usually the latter.

Some souls are more attracted to monsters, cliffs and chasms than others. It’s a dirty job. Personally, while I love a good science experiment gone bad, my favorite monsters are those that are themselves liminal: shapeshifters, vampires, elves, draugr, demons and the like. Fae cursing humans. A river or a tree that can devour you. That eerie feeling of being watched from the eaves of a twilit forest.

Naturally, this comes out in the things I write. A shrink might say that’s healthy or even necessary, to give my personal monsters some airtime. Well. Maybe. Assuming I have a choice.

Ahem. Anyway, if you like dark fantasy, here are some offerings:

The Chronicles of Ealiron. This series involves the shady exploits of an assassin who is trained in magic and has an inborn talent for sensing and trafficking with the darker forces of nature. By way of his penchant for getting into trouble with all the wrong kinds of things, you’ll find powerful witches, apparitions, curses, immortal predators, sea monsters, evil gods and wizards behaving very badly.

The Fylking. This series takes place in a war-torn realm occupied by immortal warriors who for millennia have used it as a military outpost. Magicians, shapeshifters and masters of the liminal, these beings maintain an interdimensional portal that has, over the centuries, caused the natural veil between the worlds to thin. When their enemies come to play, all manner of things come to life: tricky gods, sorcery, draugr, goblins, immortal warlocks, elves, demons and an order of witches founded by an ancient king to honor the magic practiced by their immortal overlords.

A Northward Gaze. A gothic fantasy novella. This is a wicked dark tale with a silver thread. Neurotic family, old tricky forest bordering the estate, a string of unexplained deaths. A sensitive, hyper-vigilant young woman who sees things in the floral patterns of her bedroom wallpaper.

And elves. These aren’t the goofy little characters you see in Christmas specials. No, this lot plays for keeps. The forest is theirs—and so is our protagonist.

She leaves a trail of monsters, brutes and fools on her way across the threshold.

Stay safe, stay sane, and remember: “Fun Size” is a shameless marketing euphemism.

Sneaky Owls and a Midsummer Book Sale

June 25, 2023 / F.T. McKinstry

Greetings, campers.

I hope the summer solstice found you well. The days are getting shorter now, technically, though depending on where you live, you’ll have some time before that becomes obvious. In the north where I live, the shift between summer and autumn swoops down as quietly and with the same deadly precision as an owl.

Yeah. It’s a thing.

But enough of such grim imagery–unless of course you’re into that, in which case I have a book sale for you. For the next few days, you can get the first book in the Chronicles of Ealiron, The Hunter’s Rede, for free. In this tale, a highly paid assassin with the rough skills of a wizard and a penchant for bringing things to their darkest ends discovers there are worse things in the dark than him. Wizards, war and badassery abound.

The next three books in the series, in which our redoubtable assassin gets involved in all kinds of otherworldly mayhem–with the same stealth and skill as the aforementioned owl–will be offered at a discount.

The party starts here: Amazon
You can also get this series on Kindle Unlimited.

Cheers, and stay cool. 😎

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.

New Cover Art and a Freebie

January 6, 2023June 8, 2023 / F.T. McKinstry

Happy New Year!

For a while now, I’ve had this dark little wolf in my head. Well, ok, my mind is full of all kinds of wild things at any given time–but this guy needed a furever home. So, after painting him, I put him on the cover of one of my books: Raven of the West, a standalone short story that’s part of the Chronicles of Ealiron.

The protagonist of this story is named Urien. He belongs to the highest order of the Keepers of the Eye, a hierarchical order of wizards who maintain balance in the world of Ealiron. Among other things, Urien can shapeshift into flora, fauna, earth, or fog, and he can cast an apparition or merge with the minds of gods. For years, he has haunted the fringe after having loved and lost a powerful wizard on the verge of ascension. But such secrets do not hide well, and when he delves into the darker powers at the bidding of a shady priestess with a hidden agenda, Urien finds himself facing the loss of everything he loves.

To celebrate my lupine invisible friend, Raven of the West will be FREE on Amazon, all day Saturday, January 7. This story is around 60 pages long, gives a rich, detailed picture of the wizards’ realm in Ealiron, and delves into all kinds of unsavory things like witchcraft, heartbreak, vengeance and disasters at the hands of the powerful.

Dark and darker. But fear not! Light always follows, and the days are getting longer now.

Raven of the West on Amazon

Three Days Free!

July 10, 2022 / F.T. McKinstry

Hi beautiful campers. Well, the world hasn’t ended yet, so how about a great deal on a fantasy novel about a dark, lawless bastard who gets pushed too far and decides to save the day—against his better judgment, of course. And so it begins.

From July 10-12, get The Hunter’s Rede, Book One in the Chronicles of Ealiron, for free on Amazon.
The books in this series are also on Kindle Unlimited.

Stay awesome. Stay strong. Read books.

The Old One

November 13, 2021November 13, 2021 / F.T. McKinstry

In the Chronicles of Ealiron, the Old One is a primordial goddess of nature, life, death, and transformation. Often referred to as Maern, which means “mother” in the wizard’s tongue, she is unknowable in her true form, but perceived as the concept of the Triple Goddess, a being that comprises three aspects of the Divine Feminine integrated as one: Maiden, Mother and Crone. These aspects exist and are manifested in all things, whether nature, events or the shadows of the psyche.

In the world of Ealiron, wizards govern balance in the realms and gods walk among them; but both mortals and immortals revere the Old One as sovereign. While referred to as a deity, she is more like a force underlying all things. She is inexorable; she is wyrd; she is the void from which all creation emerges. Life always comes, it preserves itself to its own expression, and all things die. She is the power by which consciousness knows itself.

Maiden

She was the first woman, the only woman, the one all women knew. She was as pure as the first breath, soft as flowers and fresh cream as she yielded to him, her cry blowing through the tree in the swirling language of the lair as he broke through her maidenhead and into the eternal warmth and safety of a mother’s womb. – From The Winged Hunter

The Maiden emerges from the void as new: birth, spring, desire, unfolding. She is the individuality of a bud, an egg or a fresh idea, innocent of darkness. Her light shines like a beacon attracting its own demise, as the cycle begins.

Mother

She was all cycles, all changes, all movements in the shapes of waves, circles, wells, and caves protecting the wounded. – From The Winged Hunter

The Mother is the abundance of life. She nourishes, grows, heals and protects. She is the exuberance of a blooming garden in full summer, the blush and glow of pregnancy, the instinct of a mother protecting her offspring and the healing of a warrior’s wounds.

Crone

The Destroyer curled her body with supple grace, caressing the depths. She moved up towards the shimmering surface in a silent spiral, hungry and inexorable. To be worthy of providing a vessel in which to hide her child, these mortals would surrender to the forces that gave him life. – From The Gray Isles

The Crone is the Unknown, the Void, Formlessness, that from which all things come and to which all things must return, from a blade of grass to a galaxy. Hers is the power of death, transformation, rebirth and regeneration. All things must pass through the darkness to know the light, and it is usually through her that one can perceive the aspects of the Old One as inseparable. There can be no birth without death; no protection without swords; no healing without destruction; and no innocence that cannot fall. Likewise, there can be no destruction without rebirth. Every phase of life depends on the other.

The Old One appears in one shape or another throughout the Chronicles of Ealiron and many of the short stories in Wizards, Woods and Gods.

BookBub

October 19, 2021October 20, 2021 / F.T. McKinstry

Greetings, geeks and bookworms!

So I finally got my cats in a row (it’s a more accurate metaphor than ducks, trust me) on BookBub, a good place to find new books and authors, get deals, recommendations, author updates and the like. If you’re into it, feel free to follow me there. I won’t lose you in a creepy forest, I promise. Well. Not right off, anyway.

Happy Halloween!

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.