Stories

Vanus Kaufman has diamond eyes; everyone thinks he's a daemon. Three days before he is to turn eighteen and leave the orphanage, he discovers he is the heir to a powerful dynasty. In the blink of an eye, he finds himself surrounded by wealth, fame, and power beyond anything he could imagine. But even for a powerful magician the city of Vaylin is a dangerous and corrupt place. If Vanus wants to keep what is his, he will have to fight for it.

In a small Western Massachusetts former mill town, now part of a larger college circuit, a Chinese-American high school student is suspected of selling drugs simply because he's recently moved from New York City.

The students know about it. The principal knows. The teachers and staff members have heard about it, too.

When one of the school's security guards learns too much, she calls the Waldron police, and Detective Elena Petrakis leads the investigation.

Backing her -- as in Recycle -- are Chief Owen Neland, Senior Detective Don Burris, Lt. Ike Omari, and Sgts. Jae Ryu and Rob Perez, who offer advice and support.

The valedictorian and his boyfriend face a future of attending colleges on opposite coasts.

Roan has a pretty normal life. He's managed to buy a house in a nice neighborhood overlooking a lake; he has a decent job, a few groups of friends, and even a god son. What he doesn't have is a lot of experience in romance and, even what he does have has been questionable at best. One night, when the wife of his friend comes to his house with his god son in tow...things start to change in ways he's just not equipped to handle.

A lot can occur in a single day, and this day starts with Virgil Pruitt riding into a sad, struggling Texas town seven years after the end of the Mexican-American War. Sometimes it's not easy to be a good man, one who calls out unfair hate when he sees it, but Virgil doesn't always look for easy. Will he pay the price for being such a man, or will he be rewarded for standing up for young Wyatt Burnham?

Wild Heart is the sequel to The List, which features the universe realized by Cynus with his stories Fearless and Weightless. Wild Heart continues to follow Shane and Parker as well as Travis.

Christianity is dead. The old gods and magics of the Void have returned to the twenty-first century. For this the Theocracy was created, a world-spanning organization put into place to keep the forces of the Void from bleeding into our world.

After a lengthy hiatus following his last case, death magician and agent Vanus Kaufman is teamed with Astorathian agent Bazzelthorpe to investigate a viscous occult murder that will lead them into the dark depths of Inferno, a hell-like dimension. If they are to survive they will have to learn to trust each other.

Former policeman Dan and art critic Vaughan’s relationship has an unfortunate start, but second time around they find that life has something different in store for them. Amidst interfering family members and lively friends, their relationship develops. But then Dan’s employer, Francis Heyward starts to take an interest. Heyward is seemingly stupendously rich, a giver of notorious parties and the possessor of an enviable art collection. There’s a question of whether a line should be crossed, and whether Heyward can even be trusted at all.

Summer vacation had started out well for Derry and Caleb. There was much to occupy two adventurous boys in the rural landscape in which they lived. They had the woods, and the fields, and the waterways to occupy them.

And they had each other.

But then they made a discovery - a strange place hidden in the forest, a pathway to lands beyond description. And suddenly, the summer was not quite so simple any longer.

Aleksander has finished university and come home to his father's estate accompanied by his new friend and companion, Daniil Vinogradov. Daniil is a modern man who has been studying art and has ideas and passions that both influence and overwhelm Aleksander. There is a clash of old and new, a furore that threatens the peace and calm. Revolutionary ideas and sensuality form a heady mix that one might not survive.

“But whom to love?
To trust and treasure?
Who won’t betray us in the end?
And who’ll be kind enough to measure
Our words and deeds as we intend?”
― Alexander Pushkin, Eugene Onegin.