Alternate - Stories

Two enemies wake in the ashes of Jerusalem—one a deserter drowning in guilt, the other an amnesiac who remembers only how to kill. Hunted across the desert by a vengeful lord, they must disguise themselves as a Crusader knight and his squire to survive. But in the war-torn port of Jaffa, masks slip. Secrets surface. And a feral German street rat with a talent for trouble forces them to confront an impossible question: in a holy war that devours everything, can two broken boys build a family from the ruins?

A grumpy hedge knight desperate for a squire buys a blind stable boy for three years' wages. He expected useless. He got a boy who can hear lies in a man's voice, calm any horse with a touch, and navigate by sounds others miss. Now they're marching to crusade, surrounded by enemies who'd destroy them—if the magic rising in the East doesn't kill them first.

Before Grithen was the guarded, stoic vampire readers met in What Didn’t Kill Me Became Me, he was Grit. A loud-mouthed, fire-eyed ACT UP activist during the HIV/AIDS crisis in 1980s New York, screaming for the dying and daring the world to listen.

This is the story of who he was. What he fought for. The best friend he loved... and lost.

The night that turned him into the ash of the man who once burned so bright.

This isn’t a happy story.

But it is Grit's story.

History is written by the victors.

Maps are written by... George.

Wayne Benson is an engineer in the small town of Rosewood, Kentucky in the year 1993. Odd things begin to happen that eventually propel him and others into a fight for their lives. This story is told purely from his perspective through his journal entries.

Lucifer gets a visitor.

Geoff and Pam Liston, Owen’s parents, fly to Washington for a visit. It’s the first time they see their son and granddaughter since the fiasco in December 2020 when Pam wanted to baptize Liebe behind CJ’s back. Although therapy and drugs have helped her deal with anxiety and depression, the girl’s kidnapping in Mexico has negatively affected her behavior.

A prisoner converses with his jailer.

One last jump. No second chances.
To save the future—and the love of his life—Brian must rewrite history in a world that’s forgotten him.