Aether Torrent

September 2, 2025 - Pre-order now! https://books2read.com/u/3Jkkog

[jackscarab]

AETHER TORRENT: a new YA fantasy adventure novel, out September 2, 2025!

AETHER TORRENT, 94,000 words of YA fantasy adventure, is launching September 2nd, 2025 and is now open for pre-order at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and major e-book retailers!

Even in a world of magic, the economics of exploitation still rule.

Tori, a disenchanted atheist stealing treasures and suffering through retail, wants to turn her black-market boss's ill-gotten treasures into a life-affirming museum.

Avani, a devoutly religious fugitive blamed for her temple's violence, wants to evangelize safely distant from the influence of her temple's zealots.

Cirrus, a flying, shape-shifting tiger woman coerced into mercenary violence by her military, wants help for a private mission of her own.

The three women help each other fight their way out of their respective bad situations and into a new goal: reaching Tori's mother in a distant city where, Tori hopes, all of their wishes can come true.

Read AETHER TORRENT and enjoy LGBTQ-friendly adventure!

And if that wasn't enough...

None other than Trick Weekes -- Narrative Designer at Bioware, lead writer for the Dragon Age series, and author of Dragon Age: The Masked Empire, Feeder, and the Rogues of the Republic series -- was among the book's first readers, and had this to say:

This story is cinematic as all get-out. It gives us a likeable cast and keeps moving as Tori, Avani, and Cirrus move from one train wreck to the next, leaving chaos in their wake. It's a ton of fun, and you also have a unique world filled with magic and crime and shark people and giant crabs. It's got a ton of different moving parts, and everything is bursting with life.

Pre-order now!

[jackscarab]

AETHER TORRENT: September 2, 2025!

Oh hi, Bookblr. And Tumblr in general.

In exactly six months – September 2, 2025 – my young-adult fantasy adventure novel AETHER TORRENT will be out to buy. For now -- right now -- it's open to pre-order. Seems about time for a cover reveal!

There are dozens of ways to do book cover art, but I went with a mid-scene illustration by Canadian artist Lalou Lauzon (@l-a-l-o-u ).

Here we see protagonists Tori and Avani on one turn of their path, working plant-growth magic in tandem to help a starved city.

But who exactly are these ladies, you ask? …

TORI (22) is a disenchanted atheist suffering through retail and thievery, working up to the day she can turn her black-market boss’s ill-gotten treasures into a legitimate, life-affirming museum.

AVANI (19) is a devoutly religious fugitive blamed for her temple’s violence, working up to the day she can evangelize far away from her pursuers and her temple’s zealots.

Just as important to the story yet sadly not present on the cover is their companion CIRRUS (40-something) -- a flying, shape-shifting tiger woman coerced into mercenary violence, working toward her own goals.

Assisting them as a quickly-adopted pack mount is KLAUSER (5), a dire kiwi (Apteryx dirus domesticus), a strong flightless bird the size of a horse. Friendly, alert, as smart as a raven and as eager to please as a dog, he's a good boy.

The three women help each other fight their way out of their respective bad situations and into a new goal: reaching Tori's mother in a distant city where, Tori hopes, all of their wishes can come true.

Over five days and nights, Tori, Avani, and Cirrus fight through monsters and manipulators, city-states and wilderness, growing closer in every trial.

All the while, they race time; if they take too long, Tori's "museum" treasures will be confiscated before the world can enjoy them like she does.

In this world, ordinary people wielding the proper tools can draw out elements of the omnipresent aether and use them to supplement the world's early-20th-century technology.

Tori and Avani are very good at Water and Earth magic respectively; Cirrus, a creature of magic, overflows with Air.

AETHER TORRENT, 94,000 words of YA fantasy, launching September 2 and now open for pre-order, starting on e-book with print-on-demand available!

Read it and enjoy LGBTQ-friendly epic-fantasy adventuring wherein rich people experience consequences.

[aethertorrent]

It took a minute for Tori to stop laughing. Avani tried to suppress joining in but failed after the first few seconds. Cirrus didn’t object, just to hear happy youth.

The party departed in high spirits. The three women each reveled in the new experience of traveling with friends – and indeed of having friends who weren’t also co-workers. For years, they had mistaken regularity for contentment. For months, they hadn’t had a good laugh. Now it seemed that the longer their path stretched, the farther behind they left the pain of the world.

@l-a-l-o-u has produced an absolutely outstanding commission of Aether Torrent’s main party! Give them all the commission money you can spare!

[aethertorrent]

Avani had learned too well that the Path was not those who claimed they walked it. The Path was the Path, and Tottattil alone laid it. All that a mere mortal like her could do was walk, follow holy signs – however small they might be – and trust where they led. Someday, surely, they would lead her toward sharing, on her own terms, the holy truths that had banished her loneliness. Someday she would be the one to lead others.

Someday. Someday.

Wherein the esteemed @ghostgreen draws Aether Torrent’s co-protagonist Avani and knocks her out of the proverbial park.

[aethertorrent]

Thanks @anushbanush for the outstanding art of Aether Torrent’s protagonists!

(Cirrus is very Team Mom.)

[aethertorrent]

People didn’t care about the world because they didn’t know enough.

Tori had to believe they didn’t care because they didn’t know enough. The unbearable alternative was that they knew yet still didn’t care.

She reassured herself with a jostle of her loot. Soon enough she’d make the world right.

But you haven’t yet, stupid. Two years later and you’re still snug on his hook. You’re a sad excuse of an adult. Mom was right about you.

Irrelevant. She wouldn’t suffer her job forever. The world needed her. People needed her. She had to believe they did. The unbearable alternative was that they didn’t.

Someday, she told herself – someday, with the right opportunity, she would gather up her treasures and enlighten every mind in the world.

Someday. Someday.

Check out this great image of Tori by @anushbanush!

[aethertorrent]

“Rawr.”

Thanks to @anushbanush for the great rendition of Cirrus! Love the colors and gradients!

Cirrus herself is a wind tiger, a shape-shifting Air-element monster. Here she’s likely making off-screen children giggle. She looks tough -- and is -- but acts like a roughhousing mom to basically anybody under 30.

[l-a-l-o-u]

I forgot this in my draft for months WOOPS

A bunch of commissions I did this summer for @aethertorrent!

[aethertorrent]

All excellently done!

[aethertorrent]

A couple of Aether Torrent commissions from Otakon!

Top: Tori and Avani by @stephstober.

Bottom: Cirrus by @xmoonlitxdreamx.

Great stuff. I love getting commissions in person.

[aethertorrent]

@anushbanush drew a great image of Avani! (She likes insects.)

Check out the artist’s commission page!

[aethertorrent]

Tori’s brain bobbed in adrenaline soup. Her limbs trembled. She moved to sheathe her knife but felt only the metal on her mostly-bare back. Oh, right. She was in her underwear in a forest at night and a monster just tried to eat her. How about that. She gave a few hoarse laughs but her heart wasn’t in them.

“Tori, your back is bleeding!”

“I’ll bet,” Tori threw her arms up. “I’ll just bet!” They fell back on her with a wet slap, “Now what else is this day throwing at me?!”

Cirrus landed.

Tori braced back on her heel and shifted her knife underhand. Avani hurried in front of her and held out her arms.

“Wait!”

Tori ignored her, staring down her new opponent in spite of her stress-shaking body. “I’m pretty keyed up right now, lady, you really don’t wanna fight me.”

Cirrus hooked her hand on her hip, unintimidated. “You’re right, I don’t. What I want is to tag along and get in good with your god.”

The statement smacked Tori’s brain out of panic mode. She managed a flat “What.”

Wherein Cirrus introduces herself after Tori and Avani defeat a kelpie, as drawn by @l-a-l-o-u​!

[aethertorrent]

The amazingly generous @l-a-l-o-u ( @lalou-dessine ) volunteered to redraw her character sheet of Tori -- a piece which was already great, if you ask me, but it’s two years old and she felt she could do it better.

And what do you know, she did do it better! I love seeing how artists refine their craft over time, and it’s particularly great to see it through the prism of one of my characters.

[ohhicas]

[ COMM ] s ! For @jackscarab

guess who finally was able to time their cough-hacking to get some work done guess who also realized I haven’t drawn this many creature-based things in… a long time.

[aethertorrent]

More Aether Torrent commissions, just in time for the new year! Never before has Cirrus looked so huggable -- or rather cling-for-dear-life-able.

[aethertorrent]

“Fans of Yours,” Aether Torrent commission art by @psuedofolio, from January 2015.

Wander through the Spirit World for long enough and you can hit crossover territory.

[ohhicas]

[ COMM ] s !! for @jackscarab

holy crap it got late I can’t think of anything witty to say

[aethertorrent]

Amazing work of the (initial) Aether Torrent party, and I’ve seen a lot.

It’s the kind of work that encourages more writing.

Commission more from this artist!

[aethertorrent]

At very reasonable cost, @fleebites drew and colored Tori and Karrun over the recent weekend at Otakon. He has an inimitable style that I’ve commissioned before, to great effect. I always like seeing it!

[aethertorrent]

@l-a-l-o-u has done quite a few character sheets for me over time. Her commissions are open right now, so check them out!