Cover Release! The Monsters We Feed by Thomas Howard Riley

A Word From The Author:

My name is Thomas Howard Riley and I (usually) write thick chonky books. Earlier this year while stumbling my way through some serious health issues, I had to take a brief hiatus from working on the enormous sequel to my epic fantasy opus, We Break Immortals. To stay productive (not to mention sane) I set out to draft something to pass the time until I was able to tackle such a large project again. This book is the fruit of that labor.

With The Monsters We Feed, I set out to tell a “small” story, intended to be a novella based on a single, simple concept of my worldbuilding from the immense canvas all my stories are painted on, Luminaworld. Being the hopeless epic fantasy author that I am, that novella grew bigger and deeper, with layer upon layer, until it no longer made sense to call it a novella. So I started calling it my not-a-novella. And now here it is nearly triple the length it was meant to be, though that is still quite short compared to any of my other projects.

It is a stand-alone story, and does not require any familiarity with of my other books (though it does have some little details and easter eggs related to We Break Immortals for those who are intrepid enough to look closely).

This story demanded to be written, and truly seemed like it forced itself into existence through me. It is an intimate tale, full of flawed characters, brutal violence, obsession, humor, hope, lies, romance, horror, and awesome and terrifying magick. This book is a little miracle that shepherded me through a very difficult time, and I truly hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The morning before he found the dead body, Jathan Algevin thought he had his whole life just the way he wanted it.

He knows his city inside and out, and doesn’t bother carrying a sword, trusting his wits and his fists well enough to get by, hustling extra coin by ratting out loathsome magi to the law for execution.

He and his sister, Lyra, have watched out for each other ever since the day they were orphaned by a bloodthirsty rogue sorcerer, and now they finally have steady work, good friends, and the freedom to spend every night laughing at the bottom of a bottle.

But nothing lasts forever.

When he stumbles across a brutal murder, Jathan discovers a strange crystal lens that opens his eyes to an invisible world of magick and terror lurking just beneath the surface of his own, making him question everything he thought he knew.

But will gazing into this new arcane realm lead Jathan to save lives, or help destroy them?

With dangerous people hunting for the lens, monstrous lies unraveling his life, and a hidden underworld calling to him, it is only a matter of time before his whole world comes crashing down.

Will he find the answers he is looking for, or will he only find a monster needing to be fed?

Rated-R Dark Fantasy Noir in a city of hope, lust, and brutality, where swords are banned, and magick is just as likely to get you killed as it is to save your life.

There are always things about ourselves that we don’t want to see.

There are always things we can’t stop doing no matter how hard we try.

We all lie. We all have secrets.

We are all feeding monsters.