Warriors, gods, goblins and crows. Tricked-out artwork. Epic music. The trailer for Outpost, Book One in The Fylking, is now live. Click on the creepy guy to watch!
Outpost, Book One in The Fylking.
A race of immortal warriors who live by the sword.
A gate between the worlds.
Warriors, royals, seers and warlocks living in uneasy peace on one side of the Veil.
Until now.
© F.T. McKinstry 2015. All Rights Reserved.
Introducing Dyrregin, a realm on the world of Math featured in Outpost, Book One in The Fylking.
In the tongue of the Fylking, an immortal race of warriors akin to the Otherworld, Dyrregin means “gateway of the gods.” At war for millennia, the Fylking came to Math nine thousand suns ago during a rare alignment, and built a portal called the Gate which they use to travel between Dyrregin and nearby worlds that concern them. The Gate is built in the shape of a pentacle with a stone tower on each point. The towers gather light from the sun, moon and stars and focus it into crystals, providing an energy source.
Each gatetower is manned by five elite Fylking warriors who watch over the realm and protect their interests there. The Fylking can only be perceived by seers, whom they train to maintain the gatetowers.
Outpost, Book One in The Fylking.
A race of immortal warriors who live by the sword.
A gate between the worlds.
Warriors, royals, seers and warlocks living in uneasy peace on one side of the Veil.
Until now.
© F.T. McKinstry 2016. All Rights Reserved.
The Riven God is the fourth book in the Chronicles of Ealiron, a heroic fantasy series that revolves around a warrior called Lorth of Ostarin, an assassin and wizard who serves the old powers.
In the world of Ealiron, it is known that wizards and gods rarely involve themselves in the affairs of mortals. They see war or the collapse of empires as they would a leaf decaying on a forest floor. Everything has its time. This changes when a mysterious rift appears in the timeline of the world, cloaked on the isle of Tromb in the far northern Gray Isles.
Rhinne of Tromb, a lonely princess at odds with a turbulent monarchy, has old magic in her veins. When weary defiance and a penchant for a fight lands her on the wrong side of a dark order of warlocks festering in the shadows of the realm, Rhinne is forced to flee, pursued by the king’s assassins. Her brother Wulfgar, a seasoned warrior, is left facing war.
Far away, Lorth of Ostarin, a powerful wizard, learns that something untoward is happening in the Gray Isles, where he has a dark history. When Rhinne is delivered into his hands under unlikely circumstances, he discovers she is not only being hunted by foreign assassins, but also has the ability to channel immortals. Wounded and distrustful, she escapes him with the help of a god thought destroyed centuries ago. Only he knows her secrets, and he’s not telling.
Believing his sister dead, Wulfgar arrives from overseas to the wizards’ citadel, heavy with grief and bearing information that moves the wizards to declare war. Through a labyrinth of assassins, thieves, spies and seers, Rhinne, Wulfgar and Lorth return to Tromb accompanied by an army, a mysterious raven and a war god with a private agenda. In the battle that awaits them, they must find and destroy a cruel, devious entity who has something to hide and can turn the fabric of reality into horrific desolation with a thought.
“The pace never slackens as the characters move from one adventure to another in this epic novel. Background explanations are well-integrated and it’s easy to get your bearings in the complex yet emotionally solid mythology of Ealiron. Romance, magic, and pathological power manipulations unreel alongside fascinating swordplay that rarely turns out as you might expect or hope.” – Michael D. Smith, author of the Jack Commer Series (See Entire Review)
“F.T. McKinstry is a master of this genre. Her prose, plot and character development make her books an incredible joy to read. The Chronicles of Ealiron is my absolute favorite series. McKinstry masterfully weaves an intricate tale into the complicated magical world she’s created in a manner that completely captivates the reader without overload…stories are full of magic, mystics, warriors, cults, conspiracies, deities, fully developed and interesting. The main character Lorth is a masterpiece. Best stuff out there. Please keep writing.” – Review on Amazon (See Entire Review)
“Another excellent book. It was excitement from beginning to the end. I wholly appreciate McKinstry’s strong female characters. I can’t wait to read more from this very talented writer.” – Review on Amazon
© F.T. McKinstry 2026. All Rights Reserved.
Introducing Outpost, Book One in The Fylking, a fantasy series woven with Norse mythology, swords and sorcery.
A race of immortal warriors who live by the sword.
A gate between the worlds.
Warriors, royals, seers and warlocks living in uneasy peace on one side of the Veil.
Until now.
In a war-torn realm occupied by a race of immortal warlords called the Fylking, trouble can reach cosmic proportions. Using the realm as a backwater outpost from which to fight an ancient war, the Fylking taught human seers to build and ward over an interdimensional portal called the Gate. The Fylking’s enemies, who think nothing of annihilating a world to gain even a small advantage, are bent on destroying it.
After two centuries of peace, the realm is at war. Seers are disappearing and their immortal guardians are blind, deceived by their own kind. A Gate warden with a tormented past discovers a warlock using Fylking magic to gather an army of warriors that cannot die. A King’s ranger who defends the wilds of the realm is snared in a political trap that puts him on the wrong side of the Fylking’s enemies. And a knitter discovers an inborn power revered by the gods themselves.
Forced to find allies in unlikely places, these three mortals are caught in a maelstrom of murder, treachery, sorcery and war, fertile ground for both their personal demons and those of their immortal masters, who cast long shadows indeed. When they uncover the source of the rising darkness, they must rally to protect the Gate against a plot that will violate the balance of cosmos, destroy the Fylking and leave the world in ruins.
The god they serve is as fickle as a crow—and known to demand a high price for an answered prayer.
Includes a map and a glossary.
“One of the best independently published fantasy novels of the past year.” – Self-Publishing Review
Novel, 446 pages
Second edition
Edited by Leslie Karen Lutz
Reviews
Map – Included in the book.
Glossary – Text version is included in the book.
Add to Goodreads
SPFBO Finalist
Read for free on Kindle Unlimited.
The Wolf Lords, Book Two in The Fylking.
A wounded immortal warlock bent on reprisal.
An ancient order of sorcerers hungry for power.
Warriors beset by armies of demons and immortals.
And a lonely hedge witch whose dark secrets could change everything.
…If only they could find her.
“This is a gem of a novel.” – Leslie Jones, Readers’ Favorite
Read for free on Kindle Unlimited.
© F.T. McKinstry 2025. All Rights Reserved.
The Fylking, a high fantasy series woven with Norse mythology, swords and sorcery.
In the worlds of their dominion they are called the Fylking, lovers of strife, song and steel, an immortal race of warriors akin to the Otherworld. Their empires span the heavens; their deities, ruled by the elusive Raven God, embody the forces of war, wisdom, passion and nature.
This series tells the exploits of the Fylking and their mortal observers — warriors, royals, seers, lovers, warlocks and mercenaries — generations upon generations coexisting in uneasy peace with the Gods of War.
Outpost, Book One in The Fylking. In a war-torn realm occupied by a race of immortal warlords called the Fylking, trouble can reach cosmic proportions. Using the realm as a backwater outpost from which to fight an ancient war, the Fylking guard an interdimensional portal called the Gate. The Fylking’s enemies, who think nothing of annihilating a world to gain even a small advantage, are bent on destroying it.
After two centuries of peace, the realm is at war. A Gate warden with a tormented past discovers a warlock gathering an army that cannot die. A King’s ranger is snared in a trap that pits him against the Fylking’s enemies. And a knitter discovers an inborn power revered by the gods themselves. Caught in a maelstrom of murder, treachery, sorcery and war, they must rally to protect the Gate against a plot that will violate the balance of cosmos, destroy the Fylking and leave the world in ruins.
The god they serve is as fickle as a crow.
SPFBO Finalist
“McKinstry’s book proves to be one of the best independently published fantasy novels of the past year. Tense, gritty, exciting, and romantic, Outpost is a tale avid fantasy readers won’t want to miss.” – Self-Publishing Review
Read for free on Kindle Unlimited.
The Wolf Lords, Book Two in The Fylking.
The Destroyer of the Math Gate has not been idle in the sun’s turn since he nearly defeated the Fylking, his ancient enemies. Wounded, bitter and bent on reprisal, the immortal warlock has gathered an army. He has acquired a spell that will damage the veil between the worlds. And he is waiting.
The Fenrir Brotherhood is an ancient order of sorcerers who serve the Wolf Gods of the North. Haunted by a dark history, the brotherhood keeps to itself—or so it is generally believed. But the older something is, the more secrets it keeps, and the Wolf Lords have not only unleashed an army of demons across the land, but also let the Destroyer in.
When the Veil falls, war erupts and the realm is faced with legions of Otherworld beings, it is left to a sorcerer hunted by the Wolf Lords and a company of King’s Rangers broken by grief and trauma to find a hedge witch whose secrets could change everything.
Unfortunately, she is hiding between the worlds.
“The sheer scope and linguistic brilliance of this novel make it a delight to get lost in; few authors can weave such an expansive work of fantasy into a tight, smart, and emotionally engaging tale.” – Self Publishing Review
Read for free on Kindle Unlimited.
Upcoming! Masters of the Veil, Book Three in The Fylking.
The war is over. The Fylking’s ancient enemy was destroyed, and the Veil between the worlds has been restored. Mortals have buried their dead and begun to heal despite the specters of war haunting their dreams.
But there was one thing no one, mortals and immortals alike, had considered as they put the High Warlock of Chaos to a fiery sword.
His master.
Coming soon.
The Fylking Omnibus combines Outpost and The Wolf Lords in one volume. Read the whole series and feel the love: howling wolves, the north wind and the chill on your neck when that Otherworld fiend finds you at last.
Includes a full Table of Contents, a Glossary and a link to a high resolution map.
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© F.T. McKinstry 2025. All Rights Reserved.
Into the Arms of Morpheus, by Jessica Nicholls
Fantasy
Kindle Edition, 166 pages
This is a remarkable tale. I was originally drawn to it by my love of Greek mythology. It doesn’t involve just any gods, but dark, enigmatic, dangerous gods: Night, Death, Dreams, the Sea. The author captures the essence of these beings with beautiful, hypnotic, subtle writing. It’s dark and gets right down into the raw core of things. I was captivated by the sensuous and high-contrast descriptions of moods, emotions, desires, landscapes, etc. Whether experiencing a cool night, the sadness of a god or the ugly underside of humanity, it was done with equal intensity.
I loved that the gods had issues. Messed up issues. This is played out through two well-developed, complex mortal characters who share a passionate longing to experience the Divine and to leave this world for the Otherworld. (Bad idea, as it turns out.)
This story is well edited and written in an interesting style. Short, crisp sentences, first person, present tense, as one might record a dream. This threw me a little at first, but I quickly became immersed. The point of view shifts around between mortals, gods, dreams and waking consciousness and in a few places I had to keep floating along until I figured out what was happening. By the end, it all became clear…in a startling way.
I received this book from Masquerade Crew in return for a fair review.
On Amazon: Into the Arms of Morpheus
© F.T. McKinstry 2015. All Rights Reserved.
I was a Tolkien geek as a kid, in the 70s. There were no epic movies back then — well okay there was that 1978 version that thoroughly offended me — but anyway, Lord of the Rings changed my life. I knew Tolkien was influenced by Northern European mythology but I didn’t jump into that at the time. I was busy being distracted by every fantasy, science fiction and occult book I could get my hands on. The Norse gods came later.
My favorite character in LOTR was Gandalf. This isn’t a cute statement reflecting the innocence of youth. My fascination with Gandalf was archetypal. The first time I read LOTR and the wizard fell into the chasm in Moria with the Balrog, I was shattered. Seriously. A part of me went in there too and while now I smile fondly because I was just a sensitive kid, I’ll admit that scene still gets to me.
It is extensively remarked upon that Gandalf was inspired by the Norse god Odin. Considering the realm of Tolkien’s studies and expertise, this is not to be wondered at, though there are differences between the two beings. Tolkien himself referred to Gandalf as an “Odinic wanderer.” I didn’t make this connection until I started delving into Scandinavian literature. Then I realized why I had loved Tolkien so much without realizing it.
Needless to say, I am fascinated by Odin, the one-eyed, all-seeing god of war, magic and wisdom. An ambivalent figure, he hungers for knowledge, is a notorious shapeshifter, and rules madness and berserkers. He is also known as a Trickster who might grant favor to a devoted follower only to vanish when most needed. The archetypal Trickster is a shamanic figure, a terrible force that turns things upside down and brings one before the Unknown, the source of wisdom and new experience. Odin himself undergoes this initiation when he hangs on the World Tree for nine days and nights in agony before picking up the Sacred Runes deep beneath the roots.
Interestingly, in like tradition, Gandalf plunges into the nameless depths of the earth in battle with the Balrog, an initiation from which he is reborn as Gandalf the White.
Whether you call him a god, an entity, a patron of shamans or a part of my psyche, I became devoted to Odin. He provides a vital source of inspiration for my work. Here are some relevant projects:
“The Eye of Odin” is a science fiction story about a warrior with a turbulent ancestry who gets on the wrong side of an interplanetary military contractor called Odin Systems. They modeled their headquarters and inventions after Norse themes from ancient Earth history. But they are dealing with forces bigger than technology. I made up my own verses of Odin’s tale and wove them into this story in relevant places, shadowing events.
In this short story, a knitter discovers the strengths and pitfalls of an ancient power through the love of a swordsman named Othin (an alternate spelling of Odin), named after the god himself. In keeping with his otherworldly namesake, Othin lands into a cruel pickle when the gods pull a fast one on him. But as fate would have it, his witchy lover has other plans.
This story is included in Wizards, Woods and Gods, a collection of short fantasy stories.
Outpost, Book One in The Fylking. Woven with Norse mythology, swords and sorcery, this story takes place in a war-torn realm that contains a portal to the stars. The Otherworld beings who built it brought their gods with them. We know these gods as the Norse pantheon, the gods of the Vikings. But these beings haunt many worlds, not just Earth. Odin, in keeping with his nature, appears in this story at strange times and in strange ways, leaving our protagonists to wonder what he is and whose side he’s on.
The Poetic Edda, translated by Lee M. Hollander
The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H.R Ellis Davidson
The Norse Myths, by Kevin Crossley-Holland
© F.T. McKinstry 2014. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome to Ealiron Glossary Terms, a series of posts in which I discuss fantasy terms in Chronicles of Ealiron: Terms and Places, the online glossary for the series. Today’s term is loerfalos.
loerfalos (lo ER vah los): In Aenspeak, “serpent of green darkness.” A very large, immortal dragon-like creature that lives in the northern seas. A First One. Always female. See also First One.
When the moon stares dark, she sees true;
Beneath the surface, green and blue.
Living darkness births the light;
Out of sight, out of sight. – From The Gray Isles
Also called the Mistress of the Sea, the loerfalos is, to most folks in the world of Ealiron, a legend. The Keepers of the Eye, wizards who generally know better, call her a First One, an immortal created by a union between the Old One and a god named Om, the creator of Ealiron himself.
Mistress of the Sea
The loerfalos is a creature of the Divine Feminine, and the sea is her domain. An awesome force, vast, mysterious and mostly unseen, the sea is a metaphor par excellence for the Old One, the primeval void from which all things come. A creature of the Otherworld, the loerfalos moves between dimensions, making her elusive and unbelievable. This is typical of the Otherworld, as it exists above the time-space matrix. The appearance of beings such as gods or immortal creatures bears a quality of the unreal because Others are not bound to the structures of the physical dimension. To mortals, they don’t make sense. Like dreams.
Annihilation
The sailors of Ealiron’s northern seas are a superstitious lot and wouldn’t dare to speak of the Mistress as a mere legend. But in places like the Gray Isles, the boundaries between truth and legend are as blurred as an autumn fog. In a port tavern on a busy night one might hear many yarns which can be chalked up to rumors, the weird nature of the sea or too much whisky; but in truth, seeing a loerfalos is exceedingly rare. Wizards maintain that her appearance heralds transformation on a large scale…usually unpleasant. For this reason, sighting her is considered most inauspicious.
Nightshade by the Sea
In The Gray Isles, Book Two in the Chronicles of Ealiron, the Mistress of the Sea makes numerous appearances as she takes an unheard-of interest in a fisherman’s son surrounded by tragedy, mystery and dreams. Enter a powerful wizard on a routine mission and an assassin with a broken mind and the realm is faced with annihilation at the hands of the Otherworld.
In The Riven God, Book Four in the Chronicles of Ealiron, the Mistress assumes the mantle of the Destroyer, the darkest aspect of the Old One, to protect and avenge an ancient wrong hidden in the Otherworld by a god.
© F.T. McKinstry 2014. All Rights Reserved.
Three hundred years have passed since half of Earth froze, and the human race has settled other planets under the supervision and control of a military contractor that harnessed the powers of the higher mind. But when the daughter of a warrior clan who made her fortune in the contractor’s service discovers a dark secret beneath their dominion, she must learn to fight like the old gods.
This short story is woven into the Norse myth of Odin, the one-eyed, all-seeing god of war, magic and wisdom. He is a complex figure, associated with poetry and inspiration, madness and battle fury. He is also a shapeshifter and considered fickle, not to be trusted.
No one knows whose side he’s on.
Violet Scott took a deep, uneasy breath as the gray-green orb of Asgard, the home of Odin Systems, appeared in the sentient darkness of space like a gaze. To calm herself, she mentally recited a tale that her grandfather, a professor of ancient Earth religions, had taught her as a child, about a Norse god who had sacrificed an eye to gain the wisdom of ages.
He is warrior, he is poet, he is mad. He is Odin, the Wanderer.
The lavender light behind her eyes turned incandescent white as she entered orbit. A gray shadow crossed it, a raven moving over a twilit cliff face. She brushed it off with a chill on her heart that crept down into her womb like a spider.
The center of the hexagram in her mind shimmered as a clairaudient voice filled the space around her. “Odin Systems Ministry, calling Fenrir One. Identify.”
“Valkyrie Scott,” she responded, carving her thought with a focused knife. “Warden of the Nightshade Outpost. Requesting permission to land.”
She held her mind in a state of receptivity, a controlled opening surrounded by a steely network of supposition. Sprays of stars arced over her ship, a Fenrir fighter, glistening and fell in the emptiness between worlds. The soft, warm interior of the hull surrounded her body like the guts of a wolf that had consumed her.
A long silence caused her to realize she had just unthinkingly given them the title of Valkyrie, which was no longer hers.
“Request authorized,” came the response finally, devoid of emotion. “Report to the Hall of Gladsheim.”
Violet eased back in her seat, spinning complex webs of geometry, the equations of a landing. She closed her eyes as the forces of entry gripped the hull and streamed over her mind in streaks of red, orange and nonlinear questions. A prickle raced up the right side of her spine.
He rules over his great Council of Twelve, in his Hall of Gladsheim.
Gladsheim. Not Valhalla, the hall in the east where the warriors were housed and trained; not Valaskjalf, the hall in the west that coldly ensconced the Systems Controls Tower. Not a good sign.
She focused on the Light with an iron hand. Light fueled her ship; Light from every sun, color and tree; Light, the foundation of the cosmos. She gazed through the center of the star, spiraling in as darkness closed a fist around her.
But she would not look into the Void. Not here, in sight of the Judges.
Short Story, 20 pages
Originally published in Aoife’s Kiss, Issue 35, December 2010
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© F.T. McKinstry 2016. All Rights Reserved.
There is an especially striking bird in the corvid family known as a Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix). They are found across Europe and in parts of the Middle East. Also called Hoodiecrows, Corbies or Grey Crows, they are ash gray with a black head and throat (hence the name), wings and tail. As with all crows and ravens, these birds are extremely intelligent and surrounded by myths and fairy tales.
Heh. Far be it for me not to give homage to such a beautiful, mysterious creature. In Outpost, Book One in The Fylking, the hooded crow shows up as a harbinger of the gods, leaving our protagonists mystified as to what it’s up to.
In The Riven God, Book Four in the Chronicles of Ealiron, an immortal being with a thirst for vengeance and a sense of humor gains the help of a mortal warrior to open the gates for his feathered, otherworldly devotees, thereby changing the course of a war.
© F.T. McKinstry 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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