Lampworks Publishing features science fiction adventure mixed with epic fantasy! Read about alien encounters and journeys of discovery!
Sellenria – a science fiction adventure
It came as a shock to archaeologist Stenn Gremm to find that his ancestor had been a warlock.
As a scientist, Stenn didn’t believe in magic. But when a monster from legend shreds his equipment into dust, Stenn is forced into roles for which he hadn’t prepared. Apprentice to an assassin for one, advisor to the heir to the throne for another. When archaeological digs are conducted via telepresence, he didn’t expect to get dirt under his nails and blood on his hands. Now his fate hinges on his ability to embrace his greatest role: the new warlock.
Sellenria is a solidly grounded science fiction adventure with elements of epic fantasy. Readers have called this a cross between Star Trek and Lord of the Rings, as well as a tale of self-discovery, set in a journey through a fantastic land. All legends have a kernel of truth, but the full story can be surprisingly different.
Knots – An epic fantasy
Resche crossed a bridge and can’t go back. He can’t even find the bridge.
Monsieur Resche is an art thief. He has crossed a bridge into a quaint town, a town that disappeared from Switzerland four centuries ago. Magic is possible there; in fact, all the magic that our world once had has ended up there. A precisely tied knot, an exactly folded paper, or a cunningly drawn figure can unlock wonders and horrors.
Resche has a mind that lets him excel at this new craft, but that brings him to the notice of powerful mages who play a great game of geomancy with tiles the size of countries. And when he looks for the bridge back to Geneva, it is nowhere to be found.
The Fractalist priest offers aid that may not be what it appears, the Jeweler has intricate schemes, the newspaper editor has taken an interest, the Astromancer had good advice before she was murdered, and Resche’s cat just makes wisecracks.
Knots is a compelling story filled with unexpected characters, plot twists, literal location twists, mystery, and redemption.
A cast of strange and only conditionally-trustworthy people will appeal to readers of Zelazny or Gaiman.
Short Stories
A short science fiction adventure set at a modern-day accelerator laboratory, with a healthy dose of humor
That place where you tripped? What if a prominent but slightly odd physicist told you that’s where two universes intersect, and you’ve just stumbled into a universe that’s just slightly different? What if he then recruited you to tour neighboring universes to assess their stability? What if you agreed to help out, then realized when you went home every evening, your spouse was a slightly different person?
Midwinter festivities and chaos: A cat’s-eye view
Escher and Emeline have brought a tree into the house to decorate, and Trefoil the cat must investigate, of course. There’s something not quite right about this tree — they’ve brought trouble into the house along with it. It’s up to Trefoil to guard the house against the mayhem that ensues. If he doesn’t get put outside first.
A humorous tale of publications
Stories are repeated. They evolve. They are cross-bred and spliced. Ideas take on a life of their own. The oldest legends appear in the latest retellings. One day, by design or accident, it had to happen…
You shouldn’t read this. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
A short story set in England of 1321
The corpse showed up with an ax in its head and a map in its pocket. Chaucer had not been born yet, and crimes were common in London that year. But when Bartolomeo the Coroner found pages sewn in the victim’s jacket, pages in Bartolomeo’s own hand, he knew this wasn’t one of the common crimes.
Could it be First Contact? A short story in the Sellenria universe
Lieutenant Yusmara is an unconventional starship pilot. She steers by rope and canvas, at least in metaphor. She’s at the helm of the Gemini as something pulls onto a parallel course. They are beyond the edge of Human space, and no Human ship has yet encountered intelligent aliens. The crew of the Gemini prepares for a historic encounter in which Yusmara is uniquely suited to play a role. They have no idea how strange it is going to be.