The Warlock Case Files

It's tough being a warlock in Washington, DC. Magic doesn't pay the bills, and sometimes you have to take on other jobs. 

I'm Dafydd Smith, and I'm a warlock. No, not the "sold my soul to the devil" type warlock. The "male witch" kind. (Everyone gets those confused, so don't feel bad.) 

One day I'm minding my own business, heading out for a bite to eat after a hard day exorcising ghosts, when I run into a vampire. Yeah, you heard that right. A vampire. With his fangs in some guy's neck. It was kind of sexy and scary all at the same time. 

What did I do? Well, read on, and I'll tell you how I got rid of a ghost haunting a vampire. And if you enjoy that one, there will be more stories. Hanging around with a vampire appears bring on all sorts of supernatural stuff. Who would have thought it?

I'm changed the frequency to once a month, and I will be adding a new short each month until I get back to working on the next book.

Cover Image Credit: Captblack76 | Dreamstime.com - Vampire Portrait Photo

Unfixed Timelines

Secrets buried under the sands of Turkey, the murder of a small-town sheriff, zombies at Vicksburg, otherworldly entities recruiting at a high society ball, and a daring escape from pirates. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and in these five stories, the two are blended into tales of alternate history. Short stories appear every other week, and essays on the historical events related to stories are posted in the intervening weeks.

Untested

On the day the riders came to town, they kidnapped Kella and brought her to Lord Perrin’s keep. To win her freedom, she must cure Perrin’s son from the magic poisoning his blood. Where Kella is from, it is dangerous if people find out that you are a magic-user. That’s why she and her mother had never settled in one spot for long—as soon as rumors started circulating about her abilities, she had to disappear fast. She never learned how to properly use her gifts. But at Perrin's keep she meets Taroy, who is tasked with guarding against her escape. He wants to protect her and keep her safe, but Kella is on her own when it comes to the magic that must be worked. In a race against time, Kella begins her journey to master the magic within and save Perrin's son—despite her fear that she is just not good enough to perform such complicated magic. Untested is a fantasy story for young adults that follows a young woman's journey of discovering that believing in yourself is a magic of its own.

Love me a myth!

This is a series about myths and the creatures and beast that populate them. Yet, human imagination is vast and tireless, and despite my best efforts, cataloguing every single creature that human kind has imagined throughout the centuries is an unachievable—not to mention very intimidating—goal. Nonetheless, I searched and researched the peculiarities and identities of as many mythical creatures as possible, particularly those that are most cryptic and which nature is less known and I'll introduce them to you. All their biographical data and peculiarities but not without adding a tiny touch of my own, as each week each mythical being will be introduce with a short story, mostly of the flash type, of my own creation.

Enjoy!

The Spell of No’an (KIRINS: Book One)

A race of tiny magical beings lives on Earth today. They dwell in elaborate tree homes and mysterious underground sanctuaries. Because of an ancient dispute, humans are unaware of their hidden civilization.

They are kirins. 

For thousands of years they have lived in peace, but a deadly menace now threatens their existence. A party of daring explorers, led by the wise magician, Speckarin, is sent to destroy the evil lurking a continent and an ocean away. Failure of this mission would mean death to the voyagers and the entire kirin race. But their success will depend on aid from a truly unexpected source—human beings. 

Fly with these adventurers and witness today’s world as it has never before been seen. You will find yourself looking to the skies for this mystical race of beings, because maybe, just maybe…

YouTube Trailer: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_ZYI_wF-Vs

The Maker's Son

The Maker's Son is an alternate history fantasy in a world where raccoons evolved in parallel with humans, taking over the Americas and holding humans at bay for generations.  In 1687, the Spanish have had quite enough and send an armada to invade, beginning with the southern tip of Florida.  Chuktik, a novice Enforcer, flees the destruction, and with his young companion, Claktiss, they take a Spanish cabin boy captive and search for anyone who will help them broker a peace before it's too late.

Titus Fogg

Titus Fogg hates magic, and with good reason. Born into a murderous family of cruel and powerful casters in modern Massachusetts, magic has contributed to every bad thing that has happened to him since birth. After finally managing to banish the most likely evil (but definitely dirty-minded) entity called Shade from his body to the sidelines as his shadow, Titus has the chance to have a normal, magic free, high school life. But, when Tess Roe, his classmate, neighbor and model of justice at their school realizes she can see the creatures Titus calls the Wyrd too, Titus must return to the world of the strange to help her. Soon Titus's dark past comes to light as he must prove that he isn't responsible for the death of one of Tess's friends, and the theft of a magical book that could lead to the destruction of Arkham.

The Resurrection of Gideon

Vampire Gideon Gower was a monster. Ruthless, bloodthirsty, and violent. A swift and brutal death awaiting anyone who happened to cross his path. He existed this way for centuries, until a shocking encounter in the 1930s left him reliving heartbreaking memories of loved ones long dead, touching on a pain that he hadn't allowed himself to feel for three hundred and seventy years.

Fast forward to 2018.

Eighty-five years have now passed and Gideon hasn't preyed on a single human since that night, instead choosing to feed off of animals in the Everglades and hiding away in a small house in Miami. But the quiet of his self-imposed isolation is shattered by the unexpected appearance of Meegan, a beautiful woman from his grisly past who's determined to return him to the fiend he once was. As Meegan attempts to drag him back down into bloody temptation, Gideon has to decide. With the man and the raging beast within pulling him in two different directions at once, does he continue to fight his instincts or allow the baser, darker part to take over once again, the latter tremendously more appealing.

Eventually Gideon finds purpose in newly forged friendship and rediscovered family, but when a gruesome murder committed by Meegan during Prohibition comes back to haunt her ninety years later, threatening not only exposure for Gideon and herself, but the safety of his family as well, Gideon must do everything he can to protect them. Even if it means unleashing the side that he's tried to keep caged for eight and a half decades.

The question is, can he close that door again once it's opened? Gideon is willing to take that chance. For them. But at what cost to himself?

Bang to Begin.

Bang to Begin is a collection of short stories unrestricted by time, place or genre.

Each tale will be unique, themed only by their outsets and by subtle associations, spread finely throughout the series.

They may begin with a bang, but will they end with one too?

CHASING SCALES: BOOK ONE OF THE DRAGON HOLLOW SERIES

CHASING SCALES is the first tale in a series about a boy and his dragon in an alternate medieval world who get in deep trouble when they initiate a series of scams on local townspeople... but no one bargained for the apocalyptic consequences of their crimes.  Crafted for both young adults and older readers, CHASING SCALES is written by the New York Times bestselling author of The Walking Dead novels, Jay Bonansinga, and is in the tradition of Phillip Pullman and Anthony Horowitz.

The Last Minuters

When recent divorcee Margaret Ayinger decides to end her life, she wants to go out in style.  For those who have done their homework and for whom money is no object there is only one place for that: The Precipice Hotel.  Like a hospice for the terminally eccentric, it has stood for over a hundred years in a region plagued by yearly forest fires.  Upon arrival, Margaret finds the old place nothing like what was advertised. 

Oh sure, the staff are friendly.  And the food?  Positively four star!  Something about it though just doesn't sit well with her.  For instance, the people who randomly swan dive from their balconies late at night, the impossible thing living in her bedroom, and the automatons in black body stockings roaming the halls.  Oh, and the purple monster named Fred who lives in the gorge.  

Thirteen Moons

Thirteen Moons is a collection of short stories portraying a side of life that is at times inexplicable, and at times remains unspoken. Embracing the magic of everyday life, these stories show a world grounded in a reality healthily skewed by fantasy.

The Phantoms of Lillicrap Manor

The hotheaded Hal Baker, middle-aged physics professor and skeptical Bostonian, arrives in England for a guest-lecturing stint at the University of York. This is a temporary gig maneuvered by his daughter to keep him out of her hair as she plans a wedding of which he disapproves. He stays at the ancestral home of his noble British forbears, Lillicrap Manor, which has a name analogous to both the rundown condition of the estate and to the generations of familial dysfunction that has plagued his extended family on both continents. Hal enters into a close, albeit unlikely, friendship with the manor’s only domestic, Christopher, who is the epitome of British protocol and decorum. Together they embark upon a whimsical scheme of strategic ploy mystically mirrored by an alternate scheme having occurred almost a full century beforehand, this one involving Hal’s maternal ancestor, Elizabeth, and her maid.

New Orleans Supernatural Weekly

Following a series of unfathomable attacks, journalist Sayeva Reardon decides to publish a (bi)weekly news magazine revealing the true nature of New Orleans' less mundane community. She regularly reports on stories ranging from the best to the worst in the city's supernatural underground, covering every creature and species without prejudice. But not everyone appreciates Sayeva's efforts in bringing what had so long been hidden from human eyes to light, and she soon finds herself fighting and running from danger at every angle.

Bound in Thought

There is only one rule everyone follows. Without choice or knowledge. One rule that everyone accepts to live and love by. You have a soulmate. Simple yet life-altering. You are connected in thought, with the ability to look inside each other's mind at any time. But you will only gain this ability at 21 years old, and only if you choose to activate the bond. Should you choose not to then you will live your life knowing that your soulmate is out there but you will never find them. What would you choose? Follow several people as they learn to live with the consequences of their choice.

The Moon is Crying

What monsters lurk in your mind? Why does The Hollow One wait? Who made the stars dance?

The Moon is Crying is a collection of contemplative microfiction with a touch of magic. Stories are bite-sized (under 1,000 words) and aim to explore the depths of human nature. Elements of fantasy and horror may be included.

The Moon is Crying is a Channillo for Charity series.

Wilderhark Talettes

Spreading vast and ever watchful since before “once upon a time…”, the forest of Wilderhark has seen its share of magic, adventure, and truest love. Now, in these stories inspired by the reader-acclaimed Wilderhark Tales novellas, journey beyond the forest for tales never before told. Some faces and places may prove familiar. Others may be all-new.

The world of Wilderhark awaits. Go forth and be enchanted.

The Five Warriors

What if…

…your best friend started a rebellion in the middle of war?

…your lover awakened a deep evil and helped it grow?

…your people were too cowardly to face a battle?

…you stole an ancient power source?

…you gambled with the fate of the world?

Join the powerful warriors in the land for a fight to the death.

Now available on Amazon as an ebook and paperback. 

Everyday Adventures

What if you could be a different person every day? A sister with a ghost for a brother, the last human left on Earth, or a fugitive on the run from boarding school. Everyday Adventures is a collection of micro fiction and short stories that explore multiple genres and the art of story telling. 

Crossing the Streams

Non-human romance. Tarot-powered difference engines. The bureaucracy of the gate to Hell. These and more appear in this anthology of strange stories by Jeremy Zimmerman. This anthology collects five genre-bending tales from fantasy to steampunk to cyberpunk.

“I won’t spoil the ending, but I will offer that the imagery in this tale is so wonderful that the settings sometimes transported me away from the main character’s conflict. The scenes in this story, like Impressionist art, consist of ordinary subjects displayed in mesmerizingly vacillating light. Whereas I usually care most about plot and about character development, these descriptions were so robust that I would gladly read additional pages of Zimmerman’s work just to reimmerse myself in his language.”
– KJ Hannah Greenberg, Tangent, regarding “A Crazy Kind of Love”

“Unchained Melody is a sharp, beautiful blow to the heart. Zimmerman wrote a heroine who is recognizable; a woman who is defining herself, on her terms.”
– Lillian Cohen-Moore, author of The Imperial Companion, and Hatavat Chalom

Champion's Rising

An epic coming of age fantasy filled with action, adventure and magic, set in a world filled with dragons, demons, and all sorts of epic creatures of legend.

“Prince Snarmis is a giant of a man, one of the strongest in the kingdom of Psykoria. But although he towers above his peers, Snarmis’s skill at fighting fails to impress his father, whose approval he seeks. His close friend Celtor, leader of a mysterious and hermetic group of forest-dwellers, advises him to seek help from werewolves. Before he sets off, Serenity, a young, enthusiastic and naïve member of the tribe, pleads with him to take her with him to give her a taste of life beyond the forest.

He is giving Serenity a tour of Psykoria’s capital, when the country is invaded by the daemons – terrifying, blood-thirsty monsters set only on death and destruction. Snarmis realises he must become a great warrior or die in the attempt, and accept help from anyone willing to offer it – including Serenity.”

The Extra-Terrestrial Toilet

Larry and his alien buddy, Nittix, travel through the universe in a time-travelling bathroom going from one misadventure to the next.

But, what mysterious power had put these two unlikely travelers together, and what is the purpose of the tests they endure?

Written in the humorous style of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

There are currently 25 chapters in this series to date.

This series is COMPLETE.

Cover design by Melody Simmons.

LILY'S SECOND CHANCE

As her dementia symptoms progress, Jenna Kiely begins writing letters from her bed in a nursing home to her niece Lily Robinson, relaying the tales of her harsh life growing up on the South Side of Chicago during the thirties and forties.

Jenna recounts the deaths of many loved ones including the racially motivated murder of her boyfriend. Later she must watch as her sister slowly becomes controlled by her fiancé. In her attempts to avenge the crimes committed against her loved ones, Jenna commits a crime so heinous, she begs for Lily’s forgiveness before she dies.

Seventeen years later, Jaymi Robinson has just moved from Los Angeles to Chicopee, California after the deaths of her Grandma Lily and her father. During the move, she discovers her Great-Great-Aunt Jenna Kiely's letters and quickly sees the parallels between the life of her aunt and her own. With the help of her best friend, Jaymi discovers that she is her Great-Great-Aunt reincarnated. She then realizes that she must use the letters if she is to stop tragic past events from reoccurring in her lifetime. Problem is, while they share the same soul, their lifetimes couldn't be more different.

Land of Wishes

Welcome to Aramond, the land where fantasy creatures live together in... well, what used to be harmony. 

After generations of living together in peace, it has come to the attention of three sisters that the world is in need of healing. 

Follow Narissa as she works to strengthen the bonds between creatures in her world, and bring back the unity they once enjoyed. 

The Millennial Cycles: Menazia Reborn

HOSNAH, a powerful and magical woman from a mystical world, is birthing a child.  This child is fathered by a human, ABOA ELDAHAB, who was charmed and seduced by HOSNAH with her magical powers for this very purpose.  ABOA ELDAHAB since has died in an accident caused by a mysterious cult.  Once every thousand years, the protectors of earth must produce a human child to stand against evil.  If this child does not overcome the evil one, the earth will enter a thousand years of utter darkness and chaos ruled by the dark forces of evil from HOSNAH's mystical world.

That is the agreement between good and evil to keep the balance between them.  Earth holds many treasures of mystical qualities that are highly valueable to the evil races from HOSNAH's world.  While HOSNAH's people love earth because of the humans and animals which inhabit it, knowing their potential of good and qualities of love.  

Many thousands of years ago, good and evil lived on earth together.  While the evil forces desired to rule earth, the good only desired to protect the earth from them.  A war ensued and many magical beings were destroyed, both good and evil.  An agreement was made to keep the peace.  Once the conflict ended, either good or bad would inhabit earth and the other races would not be allowed on earth.  In earth's dark histories have been those few times that evil reigned.  Earth barely survived those dark days, with humanity suffering the most and nearly going extinct each time.

The end of the millennium has arrived and the time of conflict is at hand.  Not only is HOSNAH pregnant and bearing a son but another son is being born.  The evil one, MENAZIA, which HOSNAH'S son HADE will face.  

Kensei

Jamie Hattori’s alter ego, the masked hero Kensei, has been doing pretty well protecting her neighborhood from petty villains with her martial arts skills, her father’s katana, and a little help from the local spirits. But things get rough when the spirits start flaking out, the Goddess of Discord throws a few cursed apples, and an online gossip site siccs an angry football player on her. Then there’s her slipping grades, the vampire owls, and the cute roller derby chick looking for romance. And even worse, Jamie’s hero-hating mom is starting to get suspicious. Can Jamie defeat her mysterious nemesis without tearing her family apart? And more importantly, will she score her first kiss?
 

Offensive Driving

Jamie Hattori, who fights crime as Kensei, is not the only superhero in her neighborhood. Traffic Enforcer is an obsessed vigilante with a grudge against vehicular crimes. When a demon-possessed car begins terrorizing her neighborhood, Jamie is torn between protecting her neighborhood, maintaining her school responsibilities, and protecting the neighborhood from the other "hero."

Kensei 2: The Love of Danger

Jamie Hattori can't get a break. As the superhero Kensei, she defeated the goddess Eris and figured her life could just get back to normal. Or, at least, as normal as things can be when you fight crime and can talk to the spirit world. But now her girlfriend is flaking out on her, her parents have separated, and a World War Two supervillain has come back from the dead with plots to kill Jamie. 

As if that wasn't bad enough, she has to deal with two of her least favorite people: her grandparents.

An Opera In Space

The year is 2157, and the crew of ASC Fermata has, like so many others following the destruction of Earth, taken to the stars in search of work. Follow this ragtag crew of singers and musicians (and a kitsune) on their quest to stage their original opera, The Y2K Chronicles, while repeatedly finding themselves in baffling, humorous situations among colorful worlds.

This series updates on Fridays. Be sure to drop by the Discussion page and share your thoughts and ideas!

Cross and Circle

Evie and Carlotta are expecting the imminent arrival of their first child when an unusual group of men claims to have come for their son. Building off of a pendant that one of the men wears and her own research into pecked crosses across the world, Evie uncovers secrets related to the organization the men serve, pecked crosses, and her wife's family history.

Intrepid

The realms of Evren are in the midst of revolution— the newly established constitutional monarchy is democratizing the government, and science and industry are accelerating at the fastest rate in history. The world is changing, but for three women, change is a four letter word.

Arlenis, an Abyssal, cursed and banished to live among the mortals she refused to kill.

Nathania, a prophet, trying to find purpose after the Paragons abandon the world.

Verity, a blend, child of the Imperator and a fallen Paragon, who the Soraline, the Sisters of Fate, have just sent a sentinel— an honor normally reserved for deities.

But, when Valen, Paragon of Order, decides to reassert his control over the world, each begins to find meaning for the changes in their lives.

Three different times. Three different destinies. Three lives, entangled, that will change the course of Evren forever after the Day the Infinite Fell.

The Devil, You Say

Thomas Carlton, wealthy man about town, and his faithful companion, Grace Glass, don masks to fight crime in 1930s Cobalt City as Devil Cat and Imp. 

This book collects together three tales of pulp heroism, pitting the Diabolical Duo against threats that are out of this world.

Consumed: A Collection of Poems for the Modern Romantic

Inspired by passion, love, and romance, this chapbook contains poems from a modern romantic.

Dark World

In 2078, sixteen-year-old Ruby R-1046 is introduced to her future mate, Connor C-2246. Over half a century after an alien invasion pilaged our oceans and messed up Earth's natural orbit, what is left of humanity has survived by living in a large underground fall-out shelter that began construction after satellites first picked up alien transmissions in 2016. The complex is governed by strict, almost sadistic laws such as once you reach age sixty, you are “put to sleep” because you are too old to be of use, and your life-mate is chosen for you via a genetic assessment for optimum breeding. No one is allowed near the surface and people are told the only living things above them in the wastelands that used to be our continents are cannibalistic monsters.

Ruby is ordered to marry Connor on her eighteenth birthday, but her heart wants someone else. She is in love with one of her best friends, Reese. On Ruby's sixteenth Birthday, Reese takes Ruby to a forbidden, sealed off passageway and introduces her to Silver, a strange and unkept young girl who has no ID chip and seems to know nothing about the complex. She tells them she is from Earth’s surface. As Ruby and Reese attempt to find out the truth about this unique stranger they slowly begin to uncover a sinister entanglement of lies, genocide and the governments willingness to destroy an entire planet in an attempt to control and “genetically improve” a whole new wave of humanity.

“Dark World” is formatted as a series of novellas, each one focusing on a particular event in the story as each event piles on top of the other to unravel the dystopian tyranny the government has managed to create underground. Although the plot itself is action-packed and designed to keep the readers on the edge of their seats, its the characters themselves that fuel the story with their passion, sense of adventure, love and dedication to one another. The main protagonist, Ruby, is the sixteen year old girl that almost every woman has been at some point. She enters this life-defining story at a pivotal place in her adolescence as she strives to make the leap from childhood to adulthood while caught in the middle of a world of lies that begins to crumble around her. As her beliefs are challenged and tested by these extraordinary events, she responds by clinging naively to love while also digging deep within herself to find her own personal signature of autonomy and bravery, a unique and solidified identity that we all search for as we face impending adulthood.