Avi Silver is a speculative fiction author, the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Augur Magazine, and a poet. In 2018, he co-founded The Shale Project, an award-winning indie arts collective through which he writes the ongoing Sãoni Cycle, in addition to poems, short stories, and longer works for a variety of venues.
An Ottawa-based teacher by day, Brandon Crilly has more than thirty published short stories to date, involving things like carbon footprint taxes, a bookstore that knows what you need, and selling your soul for a love ballad. He’s a conference organizer, Twitch streamer, an award-nominated podcaster, a snake parent, and clearly needs more things to fill his time.
The journey of an assassin with powers of sonic magic in a city of shadows and whispers – dark fantasy with themes of defiance, hope, chosen family, and crafting our own futures.
For ten years, the assassin Grayshade has eliminated threats to the Order of Argoth, the Just God. Within the towering walls of Cohrelle, all bow to the Order’s authority, even while the city officials publicly distance themselves from its actions.
As the supreme executor of the Order’s edicts, Grayshade dispatches his targets with protocol and precision. But when an assignment breaks these rules, he does the most dangerous thing an Acolyte of Argoth can do: he asks why. Now a target of the Order he so long served without question, he must use all of his skills not only to kill…but to stay alive.
Grayshade is a novel of violent faith and shifting loyalties, a story about whether we can rise above our pasts to craft new futures.
Silver Award Winner – Independent Book Publishers Association 2023 Benjamin Franklin Awards: Science Fiction and Fantasy
“Filled with political intrigue and with a main character struggling with his religious convictions, this is a great read for fans of dark gritty fantasy.” — Martha Wells, New York Times bestselling author of The Murderbot Diaries
For six weeks, the assassin Grayshade has walked, alone, away from the streets of Cohrelle on the banks of the Silver Coast and through the mountain pass to the basin lands of Silarein. Somewhere, in these unfamiliar lands, he must find what he seeks—answers.
Previously the Order of Argoth’s most skilled assassin, Grayshade remains their target. His goal: learn the true threat to the people of Cohrelle, and protect those who remain there. Used to the patterns of human nature, but not the secrets behind the yellow eyes of a panther, the whispers and lies of dreams, nor the sunless gloom of the infamous Bloodmarsh, Grayshade will need everything he has—outside and inside—to stay alive.
Renegade is a novel of defiant resolve and deep bonds, a story about whether we can find our way through trauma to hope.
“Wilson wraps up his fabulous The Gray Assassin Trilogy in the best possible way in Heretic. There’s all the action and wondrous magic you’d expect but so much more. The theme of redemption, of owning your past to build a better future, is front and centre, especially for Grayshade himself, lending a depth and compassion to this story rarely found in sword and sorcery. I loved it. You will. Highly recommended.” — Julie E. Czerneda, the Night’s Edge series from DAW Books
