Fantasy on Creativity Hacker

Anthologies

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 09:47:24 +0000

Collections of short stories.

Finding Methilien

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Sat, 31 May 2025 15:52:05 +0000

A girl raised in an orphanage sets off on a quest to discover the truth after learning that her parents may not be dead after all - they’re just trapped in a world of magic. What could possibly go wrong?

Squeak!

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 19:09:23 +0000

In a far-off land, where every family lives in a real castle, and every parent is a king or queen, being the royal princess is not as glamorous as you might think. In fact, it’s pretty lonely. This is the story of how Princess Brinnameade overcame all that, and found a friend where she least expected it.

I wrote this whimsical story with my oldest daughter on my knee, when she was just 6 weeks old - the very first project I ever worked on with my kids. In the years that followed, we read it together many, many times, and then with each of her younger sisters as well.

And now, today, Princess Brinnameade reads the tale to her young princesses.

But the magic wouldn’t be complete without the lyrical artwork contributed by Cody Cheung. We’ve never met, but here at Casa Smithicus, we think of Cody as the fifth princess.

Oath Keeper

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 17:55:17 +0000

In a world that has known only peace, a Warrior-King has arisen. His Gnome army swarms unhindered through the Forest. Refugees scatter. And the Three Avatars of the Dragon have chosen sides in their contest to restore the peace … or to shatter it for all time. In the midst of this chaos stands Tayna, a runaway orphan from the streets of our world, who must make an impossible choice: find the parents she had thought were long dead… …or embrace her destiny and save the freaking world.

Strange Places

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 17:48:23 +0000

Unlovable. That’s what they called her. To the Sisters of Good Salvation, girls like Tayna—the ones with minds of their own and the will to stand up—were too unruly to ever be loved. So they were taken out of circulation and put to work, leaving only the more cooperative girls to be shown to the wanna-dads and mommy-bes who could offer them a loving home. And a way out.

But that all changes one winter’s night when a strange little man shows up asking uncomfortable questions, and Tayna quickly discovers that her entire life has been built on a lie. She’s not even an orphan, and her parents—still very much alive, thank you very much—are trapped in a world of magic. So now it’s up to her to rescue them. How ironic is that? All she has to do is escape her nunnish prison, find her way into that secret world, and lead a rescue mission.

Still, compared to being an orphaned kitchen slave? This oughta be a piece of cake.

Short-listed for a Saskatchewan Book Award in 2012.

A Plague of Peskies

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 15:27:23 +0000

Seeking shelter at the edge of the world, in a place only madmen tread, Karsten and Babette must set their plans aside to rescue a fellow traveler. But no good deed shall go unpunished, and soon the pair is embroiled in a situation that is equal measures tragic, horrifying, and funny.

Demon of the Sands

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 15:15:46 +0000

Hunted by a creature from dark desert nightmares, Karsten and Babette flee to the port city of Pryloon to seek shelter among its teeming crowds—or to be specific, in the bed of an old friend. Their only chance is to find the mage who has summoned their pursuer and cut his strings before the creature finds them. And hopefully without upsetting their host, who knows nothing of the trouble they’ve brought to her door.

The Widow's Wrinkles

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 15:15:11 +0000

Karsten and Babette are on the run with magebreakers closing in, but their luck appears to change when they encounter a mysterious crossroads and the unexpected choice it offers: In one direction, the meandering old road. Safe, familiar, and slow. Take it and they’ll keep their lead but gain no ground. In the other, the new road. Unproven, unmarked, but with the tantalizing possibility of escape. The only catch? It leads straight into the blighted wasteland known as the Widow’s Wrinkles.

Guess which way they go.

The Dowager's Largesse

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 14:03:41 +0000

Karsten is a violent man at the end of a violent career, with no greater ambition than to retire to a well-earned life of ease. But a last drink with an old client goes off the rails and now Karsten is left with an impossible choice: enter service to the Dowager Empress or lose a year of his remaining time for every day he resists. It’s literally a life sentence.

But nobody specified whose life.

The Bakehouse Freak

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 10:50:52 +0000

What started as an innocent side trip for Karsten and Babette takes a dark turn and reveals just how far the Empire has fallen.

Brotherhood of Delinquents

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 07:39:10 +0000

They’re lazy. They’re unskilled. And now the fate of the Kingdom is in their hands.

Tam, Kern, and Merrik are all failing at life: a homeless thief, a disgraced baker’s apprentice, and an incompetent smith. But witnessing a strange ritual in the middle of the night sets them on a collision course with destiny—and with each other. Accused of crimes they did not commit, the boys must band together to clear their names. And in the process, they just might have to do something useful, like battle monsters and save the city. But frankly, that sounds a lot like work.

For anyone who has ever yearned to discover an awesome secret.