Athena Grayson

The Star Empire: Vacation Destinations

One of the most enjoyable things I get to do when writing sci-fi and fantasy settings is to create the kind of spaces I’d love to visit. Even the places with, ahem, challenging environments, are still fascinating to me if only to understand how they got there. Varuna is not one of those “challenging” environments, however. […]

Strange Magics: Tithed Excerpt

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.19.2″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.19.2″][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”3.19.2″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.2″] “Presentation” If I go any further down, I’m going to be going uphill on the other side of the world. Niamne’s legs ached from the downhill trek. Her fingers were sore from grabbing onto the cart through rough patches, uneven bumps, and one sharp dip that […]

Strange Magics: High Fantasy with a Gothic Twist

One of the most beloved elements of high fantasy is the feeling that you are in another world. Without the history or the limitations of our own world, the rules can (in theory) be anything you want them to be. Yet there’s a tendency to stick with a “medieval Europe” analogue that’s hard for a […]

Introducing Strange Magics

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.17.2″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.17.2″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.17.2″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.2″]No one likes an ivory tower quite like a mage likes an ivory tower and no matter the school of magic, the world’s practitioners tend to keep apart. So much so that even though the farmfolk who follow the Corn goddess and the priest-caste who serve Lady […]

The Star Empire: Jumpgate Travel

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.15″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.15″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.15″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.15″] Jumpgates are a necessity for interplanetary travel in the worlds of the Jewel, but travelers must use them according to rules both man-made and established by the nature of the Jump system itself. Unscheduled jumps are fraught with peril and only fools make them in the most […]

Indie Weekend: Creative Bursts

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.6″] Once, I fancied myself one of those organized people who plans releases with plenty of time to complete them and meets their deadlines with consistency, grace, and aplomb. Only once. I had a lie-down and disabused myself of that notion straightaway. My magic […]

Indie Weekend: May Flurries and Radish Coins

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.2″] I know, you’re thinking, “That better not be snow she’s talking about!” Haha, yeah, I know. There were snow flurries last weekend not too far away from me and that’s freaking ridiculous, but no, I’m not going to get Mother Nature any more punch-drunk than she […]

Indie Weekend: Reading As Self-Care

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.106″] In the age of social media, sharing everything, and tagging yourself so that the whole world can see what you’re doing and where you are, reading, at least for me, is still an offline, solitary thing. Even though I’m charmed by things like the Kobo Reading […]

Indie Weekend: Radish Reads and Romantic Thoughts

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.106″] I have this complicated relationship with the romance genre. I’ve been writing seriously for over twenty years, and most of them were spent as a card-carrying member of Romance Writers of America. Romance writers can rock this business like nobody’s business, and if you think you’re […]