Dark as Dawn, Bright as Night: FAQs, Table of Contents, and Glossary

A serialized novel published in weekly installments

Death is only the beginning for Mae as she faces an ancient goddess of light and a self-made demon of the dark in a battle to save her father and her soul.

Welcome to my first serialized novel, DARK AS DAWN, BRIGHT AS NIGHT!

New installments go live every week on Fridays beginning June 8.

Subscribe to get each episode delivered straight to your inbox!

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FAQs

What is DARK AS DAWN, BRIGHT AS NIGHT about?

Hesper Wright is in the business of making ghosts. Her clients are looking to cheat death, but their afterlife as one of Hesper’s shades, is servitude at best, oblivion at worst. She always follows the rules, though, even if she did make them up herself: no negotiating, no substitutions, and no children. Those simple caveats have never failed, and after centuries of work, her power has grown.

But when a desperate mother begs Hesper to give her teenage daughter, Mae, a chance at life after death, Hesper is tempted. The girl is special, a scion of an ancient force. With Mae under her control, Hesper could act on the desire for vengeance that’s fueled her shademaking from the beginning.

Mae’s father, Ten, won’t make it easy though. He’s forged an alliance with Hesper’s sworn enemy, Blythe, a former goddess from the Dawn anxious to atone for the mistake that got her cast out of that realm’s golden halls. Ten sees it as a rescue mission that recalls his days in the military, but he’s about to find out that this battle between light and dark has no heroes, only rivals with their own hidden agendas.

Mae’s fate, then, rests in her own hands. To keep Ten safe and save her soul, she’ll need to step into her newfound power and realize that death is only the beginning. 

Who might enjoy this story?

DARK AS DAWN, BRIGHT AS NIGHT will appeal to adult readers of upmarket horror, urban and new adult fantasy, as well as lovers of ghost stories and folk tales.

Any trigger warnings?

Sexual content, suicide, strong language, human sacrifice, death of children, neglect.

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Table of Contents - Updated Weekly

Episode 1: A World Full of Weeping - Deep in a Pacific Northwest rainforest, where Tennyson Ellis goes to make peace with his demons, he finds himself pursued by a presence he can’t easily explain away.

Episode 2: Soul and Shade - Mae navigates the afterlife, Ten relives the worst day of his life, and Blythe realizes the powerful tool that’s just fallen into her grasp.

Episode 3: A Fireside Chat - Ten makes an unsettling discovery and ends up in an equally unsettling conversation with Blythe.

Episode 4: Visitations - Blythe makes Ten an offer, and otherwordly visitors pursue Mae.

Episode 5: Devil Dogs - Ten follows Blythe to the edge of Hesper’s land. When he makes his way on alone, he’s surprised by what he finds there.

Episode 6: Lady of the Dusk - Hesper listens to what Ten has to say, but has a proposition of her own to make.

Episode 7: Sanctuary - Hesper invites Ten into her Hall of Onyx and the things he finds there evoke painful memories and new sensations.

Episode 8: Waterwild - While Ten has been occupied with Hesper, Blythe has been doing some important work of her own.

Episode 9: The Taking - Mae follows Bram to the realm of the Sluagh and Hesper decides it’s time to make Ten’s votary.

Episode 10: Origins - As Blythe recovers from her journey to the waterwild, her dreams take her back to a time before she was an outcast. With the memory of her downfall fresh in her mind, she decides the time is right to take action.

Episode 11: Warriors - Ten learns the possibilities and pitfalls of his newfound power, while Mae fights to escape Hesper and discovers a vulnerability.

Episode 12: Bruises - Hesper remembers her life before becoming a shademaker and the events that inspired her to leave her mortality behind.

Episode 13: What is Broken Can Be Mended - Bram regains the power that was lost to him while Mae comes to terms with her role as riona.

Episode 14: Machinations and Revelations - Blythe comes face-to-face with Mae’s soul, while Ten learns valuable information from the mornrill keeper and receives a strange but potentially powerful gift.

Episode 15: She-Wolf - Mae, Bram, Blythe, and Ten meet in a confrontation that has disastrous consequences, while Hesper uses her shades to craft her most dangerous creation yet.

Episode 16: Monsters of Her Own Making - Mae battles the she-wolf and receives unexpected assistance that allows her, Bram, and Ten to take on Hesper and her formidable array of defenses.

Episode 17: Reign - Hesper embraces oblivion, Ten embarks on a new mission, while Mae and Bram return to the realm of the Sluagh.

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Glossary

Quintessence: The five animating elements of a person. These can be broken down into:

• Bounds: name, blood, passion. These tie you to the earthly realm. The Dusk can take them. And the Dawn can give them.

• Diessence: soul, shade. These persist after death.

Dawn: A harsh golden realm of gods and goddesses that feast on the diessences of humans.

Dusk: A night realm built from the shades taken by Hesper Wright.

Warden: A lowly servant of the Dawn responsible for gathering the diessences and delivering them to mornrills.

Hunter: What Mae calls Blythe.

Mornrill: Waterways that act as gateways to the Dawn.

Keeper: A guardian of the mornrill. Responsible for crossing diessences from the earthly realm to the Dawn.

Fractures: The soul half of a diessence after the Wright has harvested the shade.

Snag: An especially volatile diessence that tends to “haunt” the places that have meaning for them in life.

Slipping: A ghost’s ability to slide into another’s body.

The Gray: What Mae calls emissaries of the Sluagh.

The Sluagh (pronounced slew-awh): An ancient band of fae, revered and feared in their time.

Canker: The doglike creatures that guard Hesper’s property.

Waterwild: The origin of the mornrills.

Riona: Queen of the Sluagh