Welcome to Day One of our Indie Fantasy Advent Calendar! We’re featuring an underrated indie author every day this holiday season to spread a little festive joy and promote authors we think deserve more love. Read our introduction to find out more.
Let’s open day thirteen and see what book lies behind…
Today, on December 13th, we’re opening our calendar to Shattered Spirits: The Fall of Ishcairn by Cal Black.
Legends say a dead god is buried under the stone city of Ishcairn, protecting its inhabitants by dashing enemy fleets into the jagged coast of Craeburn. Adjunct professor Corrie Ecksley doesn’t believe any of that, but she knows from her work excavating nearby burial sites that the ancient Craeburn people believed it enough to name the city after their dead god, Ish.
When the ripples of a great war finally reach Craeburn’s shores, a terrifying new weapon is unleashed on the city that not even Ish can deter. A bomb that tears souls from bodies, driving anyone who witnessed the blast insane. But it is not the living that Corrie fears. Displaced spirits are hungry for a body, and care not if it already plays host to a soul.
No bullets can stop them, no walls are thick enough to keep them out.
No help is coming.
No one left but Corrie to stop the carnage, if she even can.
Shattered Spirits: The Fall of Ishcairn is a dark fantasy novella combining gaslamp with eldritch horror. I had the pleasure of reading this for the very first SFINCS contest (that’s the Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship) where it was a well deserved runner up. This novella is absolutely packed full of atmosphere and was one of my favourite reads of last year! If you enjoy horror or Lovecraftian stories, then you’ll definitely want to give this your time, and it certainly deserves more eyes! Spooky horror eyes of course.
Cal is also the author of fun western fantasy if that’s more your style, and these books also need more attention. Check out the Legends & Legacies series starting with No Land For Heroes.
In the meantime, take a look at Shattered Spirits:
About the Author
Cal Black is a Canadian writer who enjoys telling stories about messy people who try to improve their situation, for better or worse. Cal has a short story published in the Advent of Winter anthology, was runner-up in the 2023 SFINCS novella competition, and is the author of the Legends & Legacies series, a gaslamp and western fantasy series full of adventure.
- Website: BerryBerryStudio.com
- Twitter: @thatcalamity
- Instagram: @thatcalamity
