Cirrus@Austlit

'As a young mercenary, Richard followed a mysterious Magician on a quest to steal a demon's treasure and overthrow a king. The two men started their journey as strangers, became lovers along the way, and ended as master and loyal soldier.

'Twenty years later, that kingdom is steadily falling into ruin and Richard has realized that time and power have twisted the Magician into more monster than man – children disappear nightly into his dungeons and the only things that leave are terrible creatures crafted in the shadows.

'To save his own daughter, Richard flees into the wastes where magic boils beneath the sand and monsters walk the dunes in the shape of men. He will return to the burning heart of the desert and restore the demon's treasure, or die in the trying.

'What Richard doesn't know is that Ana is the key to the Magician's plans and he and his favorite monster will lay waste to the world to get her back.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'"That's what you think we are? Soldiers?"
"Mrs Archer, it's been a war since day one."

'Kimberly Archer fought her way to the border of Rustwood looking for an escape. Instead, she uncovered the town's greatest secret - and with it, brought the attention of the old and new queens down on her head.

'Now she's on the run, fighting enemies on all sides while struggling to control the creature living inside her chest. Her powers are growing but she won't have time to flex them if the pretender queen's army of repurposed dead catches up with her. And with Fitch, Chan and Goodwell scattered across Rustwood in the aftermath of Kimberly's border crossing, will she be able to get the crew back together before the pretender crushes them all?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Kimberly Archer is going to war.

'After narrowly escaping the inferno at the Pentacost Convent, Kimberly finds refuge with Mister Gull, a stranger who claims to possess the power of the Queens of Rustwood. Together they construct a daring plan to draw a Queen out of its nest, cage it... and kill it.

'But nothing is ever so easy in the sleepy mountain town. Fitch and Detective Goodwell are being pursued by the New Queen's servants, and an emissary in a black rainslicker has been sent to destroy all who oppose her rule. Madness, murder and bad dreams have settled across Rustwood, and if Kimberly Archer doesn't move fast, she and all her companions will soon discover that death is the easy way out...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Kimberly Archer died in New York and woke in Rustwood. She escaped the man pretending to be her husband and fought her way out of Bo Tuscon's basement of horrors. Now, with Fitch by her side, she wants answers.

'But Rustwood won't give up its secrets so easily. 

'Powerful forces dwell in the sleepy mountain town, and their servants have sharp fingers and bloody smiles. There are worse things than death in Rustwood...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'In the irradiated ruins of post-war Melbourne, children are going missing.

'The war in China changed Lance Corporal Diana Yossole. It broke her. It rebuilt her. Now she patrols the shanty-towns along Melbourne's shoreline, keeping the peace with engineered, military precision.

'But when Yossole gets tasked to assist the local bluecaps in an infant kidnapping investigation, she discovers that war has a way of following you home. There's a conspiracy at work, hidden just out of sight between the sunken streets and bombed-out favelas, one that people would kill to protect... and that Yossole would die to uncover.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Kindle ed.)

'She died in New York. She woke in Rustwood.

'After being pushed in front of the subway C-Line, Kimberly Archer finds herself in an impossible town with a husband she's never seen before and a life she can't remember. The rain never stops, the phones don't work and the doctors think she's delusional.

'Kimberly only wants to get back to her fiance in New York. But for that, she needs the help of Fitch, a madman who believes something dark lives at the heart of Rustwood. He'll help her, so long as she joins him on his mission to burn the town to the ground.

'Kimberly might be crazy. Then again, she might be the only sane person left. People are disappearing from the streets, and something black and foul is stalking her in the night. Rustwood has plans for Kimberly, and if she doesn't find a way out soon she'll be lucky to survive...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'RUST is a serial small-town horror story in the style of [David] Cronenberg, [David] Lynch and [Stephen] King.'

Source: Author's note.

'Parkin, a soldier-turned-mercenary, has been hired by the King's Magician to accompany him on a long journey into the great western desert, in search of an ancient and powerful artefact. After years spent battling the heathens in the frozen north, Parkin is glad for what he thinks will be an easy contract.

'But there's more to fear in the desert than thirst, and as Parkin's comrades fall one by one, he's forced to ask - what does the Magician really want from him? And what evil has taken root in the rock mound known as the Ant Tower?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Lonely AIs, Peruvian parasites, graffiti activists and far-future memory swapping meet in Future Tides, a collection of all Christopher Ruz's short works from 2007 to 2011. Cyberpunk and space opera sit side by side with award-winning tales of heroin addiction and swords-and-sorcery fantasy in this 18 story, 60,000 word compilation. Future Tides includes three previous collections - PAST THE BORDERS, THE KING & OTHER STORIES, and NOTHING TOO DANGEROUS - as well as an exclusive scifi short: FRONT PAGE CAPTION.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'THE KING AND OTHER STORIES, the second collection by Christopher Ruz, combines five pieces of contemporary fiction and modern counter-culture literature into one exciting package.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Cezar didn't come to the prison colony known as the Pike for rehabilitation. He came for revenge.

'Ten years ago, Cezar witnessed mutiny and murder aboard a colony starship. He survived, and with the aid of the enigmatic Doctor Milan he's worked his way into the Pike to kill the man who led the rebellion: the warden himself. But before he can get his hands around the warden's neck, he has to deal with the prison gang known as the Song, a Buddhist preacher with a suspicious interest in Cezar's past, and the creature lurking in the mines at the heart of the Pike... a monster that devours men whole and that may, in a way, be instrumental to Cezar's plans...

'Cezar has his fists and a head filled with Milan's combat circuitry. The warden has a platoon of armed guards. The only way out of the Pike is death.

'The time has come for karma and blood.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Twenty years ago, Harold's little sister vanished into the decrepit mansion known as the Bonehouse. Now, Harold is a middle-aged Agatha Christie aficionado, still obsessing over what might have been if he'd only been a little braver that day, if he'd only been a little bit more like his childhood hero - the fourth Doctor.

'But when Harold meets an out-of-town cosplayer in full Tom Baker kit, he decides to do as the Doctor would have done, and return to the Bonehouse in search of answers. But can one amateur thespian and one drunken science fiction fan really solve this mystery, and put little Elizabeth to rest?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.