Spotlights

Saturday Spotlight for The Sins of Steel and Shadow

Spotlights21 hours ago3 min readAdd comment

Welcome to our Saturday Spotlight feature where we at Read Indie Fantasy will be hosting a new spotlight every Saturday to showcase the incredible talent of self-published fantasy authors!

Please welcome Steve Pannett and The Sins of Steel and Shadow, book one in The Turned series of low fantasy that follows the plight of those caught in the middle of an ancient feud, and is a SPFBO XI semi-finalist!

Featuring gritty characters and dark settings, The Sins of Shadow and Steel is perfect for those readers who enjoy fast-paced, character-driven storytelling with plenty of action, set amid a thrilling and immersive fantasy world.

Centuries have passed since the lauded Battle King defeated the vampyr hordes and ended the Years of Blood, but the memories on both sides are long, and some grievances are not so easily set aside. Humans and vampyrs coexist in an uneasy peace, but no peace lasts forever.

And for Bail Neren, there has never been peace. He is a Turned. Not fully vampyr, but no longer human. Hated and reviled by both sides of the divide, his very existence is a constant struggle to survive.

But Bail longs for more, and when he’s offered the chance of a lifetime, there’s more at stake than just his own survival. Already an accomplished smuggler, he must now turn his hand to becoming a master assassin, leading his fellow Turned on a deadly mission to stop a dangerous coup.

To survive, he will have to learn to work alongside other Turned. To succeed, he will have to learn to trust them. And only in doing both will he have a chance of securing the one thing that matters most to him; his humanity.

The Sins of Steel and Shadow by Steve Pannett is available to buy online! The sequel, The Ruin of Rage and Reckonings, is releasing October 2027.

About the Author

Steve Pannett is an author of dark, gritty fantasy fiction, living and working in Yorkshire, UK.

He enjoys writing flawed, nuanced characters and rich, expansive worlds for them to explore. His stories revolve around character development, as their ideas and moralities are pulled into question through intriguing interactions and often brutal action scenes. His work often includes magical or supernatural elements, but he errs away from writing high fantasy. His writing style is gritty and fast-paced, but is capable of delivering twists and surprises.