Now, you can read it for free on this site for one month only. This short story also comes in ebook and paperback format–both on its own, and as part of the Wave Runners Lasniniar Collection.
Legends of Lasniniar: A New Kind of Magic
Jacquelyn Smith
This story will be available for free for one month only. If you missed this one, check out the current Free Fantasy Feature here.
Barlo guards a secret. Only his best friend Iarion shares it, along with the rest of the Light Elves.
No one else can ever know.
Barlo’s secret keeps him apart from other dwarves. Even his own family. Memories of another time haunt him. He longs for a way to claim his identity. To be himself.
…A hero of Lasniniar, capable of leaving Dwarvenhome to go on adventures. (With Iarion, of course.)
But his secret acts as both a blessing and a curse. And the call to adventure proves too strong to deny.
Now, you can read it for free on this site for one month only. This short story also comes in ebook and paperback format–both on its own, and as part of the Legends of Lasniniar Bond Forger Collection.
Legends of Lasniniar: Bond Forger
Jacquelyn Smith
This story will be available for free for one month only. If you missed this one, check out the current Free Fantasy Feature here.
Now, you can read it for free on this site for one month only. This short story also comes in ebook and paperback format–both on its own, and as part of the Legends of Lasniniar Shadow Stalker Collection.
Like so many people, this year started off filled with struggles for me. (Let’s just say that seasonal mental health issues, plus insomnia, plus major construction involving jackhammers in our building are not conducive of any kind of productivity—writing or otherwise.)
But now it’s June somehow, because time is still a thing (even though it really doesn’t feel that way since 2020 happened). And despite all the challenges, I’ve actually gotten some writing done, especially since the weather has gotten better, and the jackhammers have been laid to rest. (Yay!)
I got back into the swing of things with a new Legend of Lasniniar—a fun misadventure story featuring Barlo and Iarion, called “The Wanderer,” which takes place after Harbingers (Book 8 in the Lasniniar series):
A hidden obstacle in the tall grass. Between the human zealots, demons, and other dark creatures roaming Lasniniar, Barlo never expected to get taken down by some stupid piece of wood.
But the dwarf and his elf friend Iarion always seem to attract trouble, turning even a simple camping trip into an unexpected adventure.
And the strange staff that tripped him becomes only the first of Barlo’s problems…
A stand-alone misadventure story from the World of Lasniniar epic fantasy series by Jacquelyn Smith.
I’ve also been doing a lot of work on expanding the Fatal Empire series, which really got its hooks in. When I first came up with the idea for this series (waaay back in 2012 or something), I envisioned it as a set of four short novels. In 2013, I published the first one, Keeper of Secrets. The voice and tone are quite a bit different from my Lasniniar series, and a bit more of a challenge to write.
After putting out Keeper of Secrets, I promptly went back to writing Lasniniar, telling myself that writing the rest of the quartet was Future Jacqui’s problem—which I was confident she would get around to working on… eventually. Continue reading →
About a year ago, when the world became all topsy-turvy, I started posting one of my stories for free each month over on my multi-genre website. At the beginning of each month, the previous month’s story got taken down and another one went up. (Inspired by insanely prolific author, Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Free Fiction Mondays feature.)
Most of the stories I posted were fantasy (since I have a lot more of them), but every so often, I would rotate in one of my mystery adventures for a month. After some thought, I’ve decided it makes more sense to break this feature out onto my genre-specific websites instead.
What does this mean? Well, first off, this website now has a blog feature, which it didn’t have before, so I’ll likely start posting updates on my fantasy projects here as well, and use my multi-genre site as more of a roundup that points back to here and my mystery site. But in much more exciting news, this means I’ll be posting a fantasy story here every month, with no mystery stories taking up slots in the rotation.
(Site Note: If you’re also a fan of mystery, feel free to check out my Free Mystery Feature, which will run at a slower pace of one story for a month of each quarter. So during the months of April, July, October, and January, I’ll have two free stories available–one fantasy, and one mystery.)
Sound good? Let’s get started with an Iarion misadventure…
Deep sapphire, flecked with silver. Iarion’s eyes mark him from any elf ever born.
A strange, physical anomaly? Or a sign of his unique condition? Even after thousands of years spent wandering the lands of Lasniniar, the answer continues to elude him.
…Now Iarion’s eyes sweep the harbor of the Sea Elves in the hopes that his ship might finally come in.
In the epic fantasy World of Lasniniar series, this stand-alone story explores an adventure from Iarion’s deep past, before he becomes a hero of legend.
Now, you can read it for free on this site for one month only. This short story also comes in ebook and paperback format–both on its own, and as part of the Kinslayer Lasniniar Collection.
Barlo wanders the underground streets of Dwarvenhome with only the wildcat Sinstari for company.
Deep sapphire, flecked with silver. Iarion’s eyes mark him from any elf ever born.