James A. Hunter

Vigil's Valor: 18 - The Sprawl

As the sun began to sink behind the Citadel’s walls, I toweled off my face and returned the practice axe to its spot on the weapon rack. I’d spent the better part of eleven hours executing kata, combat drills, counter-attack techniques, and sparring with Niels. I may have taught him a lesson in humility during our hand-to-hand session, but he returned the favor in spades when it came to mel...

Vigil's Valor: 17 - Weapon Master

Niels smiled as he gained his feet and slapped away the dust on his arms and legs.

“Take a good look,” he called out. There was surprise evident in his voice, but no malice. “Let this be a lesson that no matter how much you know, there is always someone who knows more. Stay humble, work hard, learn your lessons well.” He clapped. “Now back to training.”

He eyeballed me w...

Vigil's Valor: 16 - Rise and Grind

The morning dawned bright and early.

Painfully early, on account of the fact that the tubby tabby, Sir Jacob-Francis, was the one to wake me up. By sitting his furry cat-ass right on my upturned face. It was like being smothered by a Wookie. I shot up with a muffled string of curses on my lips and frantically tried to push the oversized furball off, which earned me a feral growl and a flu...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Sixteen

In the end, Shadowcroft was right—as he was so much of the time. Rockheart did indeed love having Chadrigoth’s statue standing tall at the center of the practice fields. He ended up using the iron abyss lord as a coat and scarf rack during practice. Very convenient.

Logan also enjoyed having him around, though for a different reason.

Over the next three months, Logan would go an...

Vigil's Valor Cover Art Update

No title treatment yet, but the cover art for book 2 is nearly done. What do y'all think? Let me know! 

Vigil's Valor: 15 - Wheeling and Dealing

I watched Kerra disappear down a connecting hallway, feeling a sweet sense of relief wash through me.

Honestly, having her occupied for a little while was a godsend. I had no doubt that Niels would beat me into the ground, but once we were done training for the day, I was confident he wouldn’t try and babysit me. A day or two was more than enough to start digging into these killings, es...

Vigil's Valor: 14 – The Citadel Bazaar

“As you’ve probably figured out already,” Kerra said, “the first floor of the citadel is a communal area. We have gardens, walking paths, reflection pools. The southern wing is filled with suites for visiting dignitaries and traveling Arbitrators. There are also basic services such as the mess hall and the Library Supreme, which are accessible to anyone visiting the Citadel—even those...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Fifteen

Hours later, Logan stood with the Shadowcroft contingent in the middle of the Arena Suprema. All of the dungeons had been cleared. Now, all that remained was massive grassy field with a single gorgeous tree stretching gnarled fingers toward a sky full of stars. Magical light posts, arching over the field, glowed with a warm left.

Everyone else had already returned to their home realms, bu...

Vigil's Valor: 13 – Unexpected Revelations

Someone poked me in the cheek. “Stop pretending like you’re dying,” Kerra said.

I cracked one bleary eye. She was kneeling beside me, her armor scuffed, though otherwise she didn’t look much worse for the wear. Even two shotgun slugs to the chest weren’t enough to slow her down for long. Impressive.

“I think you broke half of my ribs and turned my sternum into sawdust,�...

Vigil's Valor: 12 - Test of Might

Two can play at that game, I thought.

With a slight effort of will, I triggered Armor Evocation, which allowed me to swap preassembled gear sets the same way I could call and dismiss my Soul Bound weapons. My Arcana Gauge dipped by a fraction of an inch as a cloud of silvery mist enveloped me, wrapping around my arms and legs, slithering over my chest and back. As the magical mis...

Vigil's Valor: 11 - Warm Up

After everything that had happened, I should’ve slept like the dead.

Instead, my rest was fitful, filled with constant tossing and turning along with uneasy dreams. I kept seeing Kerra along with flashes of some dark figure that seemed to haunt the recesses of my mind, stealing from shadow to shadow. I woke up well before sunrise and decided that if I wasn’t going to get any sleep, I ...

Vigil's Valor: 10 - Lodgings

I pulled out a silver medallion, engraved with a cobalt sigil, which the on-duty floor attendant had given me. It buzzed in my palmwith a subtle, barely felt energy. I’d had to prick my finger and smear a drop of blood against the rune, which immediately disappeared into the metal. Each medallion was unique, paired to a Vigil’s private chambers, and then attuned to a specific user so that n...

Vigil's Valor: 9 - Level Up

I finished my meal, said my goodbyes, then headed over to the nearest chapel, which happened to be dedicated to the Aspect of Valor. I’d learned from the attendants that there were five chapels, one for each of the various aspects of Raguel, and one enormous Cathedral where they held continual vigils to honor the five-fold nature of Raguel. The Chapel of Valor was mostly empty at this hour, t...

Vigil's Valor: 8 - Rumor Mill

With a scowl tattooed across her face, Kerra ushered me away from the judgment chamber and down what felt like a thousand stairs. This time I had the benefit of not having a musty bag over my head, although there wasn’t much to look at. Just winding, windowless spiral staircases, and dusty back corridors illuminated by odd blue-white orbs covered in runes, which were affixed to the walls at r...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Fourteen

Logan’s first instinct was to have all of his minions hide, and then they could try and engineer an ambush. However, he was going to take a page from Marko, and go for a little showmanship. He thought about crafting more spore wargs, but if he had any hope of getting a slot in the Semi-Finals, he needed to end the competition with an abundance of Apothos. His digestion pits were snacking on t...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Thirteen

The Magnificent Mimsy’s form flickered and vanished as Sir Mediocritus’s headless corpse fell to the floor in an explosion of clanking metal.

Above him, Logan could see the people cheering him on, but he couldn’t hear a thing. The arena magic must’ve muted the crowd noise—a fact he was grateful for, since he was sure the noise was deafening.

Daggers McFinn wheezed as he la...

Vigil's Valor: 7 - Scales of Judgment

Instead of taking me on a guided tour of the Citadel, Kerra pulled out the suppression manacles, clamped them back onto my wrists, then put a musty, burlap sack over my head. The spikes bit down like hungry piranha teeth, draining the Arcana and supernatural Stamina from my body once more.

“Really?” I asked, my voice muffled. “I thought we were past this?” I winced as the spikes c...

A Flare for the Dramatic!

Check out this awesome cover art for the Gentlemen's War: Silver and Sands Novella. The novella itself is all done, we're just waiting for the final touches on the art and the title treatment. Once its all squared away, I'll post it here on Patreon for folks to read. Let me know what you think of this masterpiece in the comments below! 

Vigil's Valor: 6 - Wonderful Wildespell

Kerra and the others looted the bear and processed its enormous corpse—slicing off white pelt, collecting claws, teeth, and even an odd assortment of organs—while I sat by the sidelines and watched. I hated the fact that Kerra was still treating me like a criminal, but not having to get elbow deep in demonic bear entrails almost made it worth the price of admission. I didn’t get ...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Twelve

Logan used every minute of the three hours to craft the best dungeon possible.

He had ignored the scores of all the other competitors, especially Wintersylver, who was now the talk of the tournament. Everyone was chattering about her unprecedented, near perfect score. While Logan didn’t have the specifics, he knew that Wintersylver and Chadrigoth were at the very top. That surprised no ...

Rough Sketch for Vigil's Valor

Hey everyone, though I'd share this very rough line art for Vigil's Valor. Definitely needs a few tweaks. I don't love the open mouth scream, the background is too scifi, as is the combat shottie, and the guy is a bit more thickset than on cover one. With that said, I really like the pose and think its going to look awesome once its all finished. What do you all think? Like? Dislike? Anything y...

Vigil's Valor: 5 - The Right to Bear Arms

Knowing that it was a terrible idea, I ran straight toward Kerra who was crouched down behind her shield, weathering a relentless onslaught of furious blows from Grizzly Prime. The creature saw me coming and aimed one of its enormous paws right at my face. I dove below the swipe and rolled to a stop, momentarily protected behind Kerra’s tower shield.

“Cuffs, now!” I yelled, brandish...

Vigil's Valor: 4 - Untimely Ambush

Turned out, Telent—Vigil of “Truth”—was full of horseshit.

I did not wake up feeling “better than ever.”

Nope, I woke up feeling like an angry gorilla had pummeled my skull and Jacob-Francis had taken a dump in my mouth. It was the manacles at my wrists, sucking the life from my body. It also didn’t help that the brand on my forehead burned worse than a case of super g...

The Five Wards

Hey everyone, thought I'd share the Five Wards of Raguel. Blue is Balance, Red is Wraith, Silver is Truth, Gold is Justice, and Green is Valor. Hope you guys all dig this! 

Vigil's Valor: 3 - Into the Night

Flanked by the behemoth Viking in furs on my left and Kerra “the rules are the rules” on my right, I was escorted like a common criminal out into the night. Kerra kept her hand clutched firmly around my elbow the whole time as though I might try to bolt the second I got a chance. Telent was the last to leave the Inn and paused in the entryway, cloak snapping in the blustery wind, the snow s...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Eleven

A NEW SHADOWCROFT CHAPTER EVERY MONDAY!

Marko joined Logan and Inga on the viewing deck. All three cheered Treacle on.

In the end, the minotaur scored even better than Inga, beating the point spread in his favor. His Deadly Labyrinth Machine was exactly that—an intricate clockwork labyrinth with a ticking time bomb mechanic built in for added effect. The walls of ...

Vigil's Valor: 2 - In Walked Trouble

“We are so boned,” Cal whispered, staring wide-eyed as four more red-eyed, armor-clad men strode into the common room, blocking out the chill of the night with their bodies. They all looked very different from one another. Dark-skinned and light-skinned. Tall and short. One guy was as wide as the doorframe while another was lithe and slim—he had the build of a long-distance runner. Likewi...

Storm Haven - Fae Nexus 3 Cover Reveal!

Got this tasty piece of art in for the last book in Nathan Ameye's bestselling Fae Nexus series! The Storm Dragon is absolutely fire and the book is even better. Hope you guys enjoy the eye candy and keep a lookout for the book, it drops June 7th!

A daring rescue, a hatchling storm dragon, and a chance to reclaim their home.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire! Th...

Vigil's Valor: 1 - The Showdown

The wind howled like a dying animal as I trudged through calf-high snow, winding my way through the narrow streets of Grimwerp. The simple stone houses were dark, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d assume the residents of the quiet hamlet were tucked into their beds and sleeping soundly through the raging snowfall. But I did know better. An unnatural, almost oppressive, silence r...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Ten

Logan stood Viewing Dock #6, watching Marko’s surreal masterpiece of dungeonesque performance art. The satyr was obviously having the time of his life. Not only had he created a very strange dungeon, he wasn’t cleaning bathrooms. He’d asked the Gelatinous Knight and Nemoy, the elderly undead merman to help him out while he was away for the Crucible. Both agreed, though Marko had expressed...