Showing results by author "D. K. Holmberg" in All Categories

Stories with depth, strong protagonists, high tension, all told while pulling at your heartstrings, or making you smile with understanding. In this anthology, you'll find fifteen stories, including many novelettes. Go on adventures with heroes old and young, a couple of war pigs, and visit many new fantasy worlds. Watch out for the dragons! Deep Magic: Volume 3 has stories that will satisfy your hunger to escape.

With the threat of rogue elementals escaping from the element bond and fear of another attack by the Draasin Lord, life at the edge of Terndahl is difficult for Tolan. Without any magic of his own, he spends his days working a menial job as a carpenter’s apprentice. When an elemental attack draws the attention of the Inquisitors from the Academy, everything changes.

Ashan has saved his homeland, but the threat from the king—along with Ashan's mentor—remains. The price for saving Berestal was high. His once recovered brother is now debilitated again, while his sister struggles to connect to Affelah, leaving Ashan to wonder what path he should take. When the king threatens the Wilds, Ashan must discover the truth of a land long ignored, as it might be the key to stopping the king and the spread of the dangerous power of the murtar.

The arrival of the mysterious Magi, along with their near invincible guardians, signals a change. For Jakob, apprentice historian, and son of a priest longing for adventure, it begins an opportunity. When his home is attacked, Jakob starts a journey that will take him far from home and everything he has ever known. Studying with a new swordmaster, he gains surprising skill, but also strange new abilities that make him fear the madness which has claimed so many has come to him.

Executioners don’t solve crimes; they punish those who commit them. Or, so Finn thought before apprenticed to one. Poverty-stricken Finn Jagger would give anything to heal his ailing mother. With his father imprisoned, Finn has joined a thieving crew to earn the money he needs to save her. When the latest heist turns to disaster and lands him on death row, Finn’s future seems to be tied up with a noose. Until the king’s executioner claims him as an apprentice. Finn soon learns an executioner has far more power and greater responsibility than he’d ever realized.

Rsiran is a disappointment to his family, gifted with the ability to Slide. It is a dark magic, one where he can transport himself wherever he wants, but using it will only turn him into the thief his father fears. Forbidden from Sliding, he's apprenticed under his father as a blacksmith where lorcith, a rare, precious metal with arcane properties, calls to him, seducing him into forming forbidden blades. When discovered, he's banished, sentenced indefinitely to the mines of Ilphaesn Mountain.

Contains all five books in The Endless War series.

After stopping two attacks on the kingdom, Ashan yearns to master his connection to the dragons and finally serve as a dragon mage. He has connected to a cycle of dragons, but he's still only a student and doesn't understand what it truly means to be a dragon mage.

Essence can build, but it also destroys. Having discovered his own essence, Rob needs to leave his home behind to understand what it means for him to be different from the others of his village. If he can survive the journey, the dragon queen may have the answers. When a deadly attack nearly destroys his new essence, Rob and his friends are forced to travel toward the dangerous borderlands for healing. What they uncover is a source of essence that might change everything for the kingdom—or destroy it. Dragon Skin is book 2 in an exciting new progression fantasy series!

The Chain Breaker series continues with The Paper Dragon. A dark power that attacks Yoran leads Gavin on a dangerous journey. Gavin remains in Yoran while struggling to master his El’aras abilities. With the power of the strange ring that grants him even more power, he knows he has to learn control, otherwise he’ll destroy the city while trying to protect it. When the hyadan, creatures of dark sorcery, come to the city, Gavin has to make a choice between staying to learn control over his power or helping Imogen.

The best of Deep Magic: Volume 1—fantastical worlds of space adventures, changelings, and dragons await—stories with depth, strong protagonists, high tension, all told while pulling at your heartstrings, or making you smile with understanding. In this volume, you'll find twenty-two stories, including many novelettes. Go on adventures from deep space to ancient Rome (with magic), to Mars, and many other new fantasy worlds.

Jason spends his time trying to protect Dragon Haven and understand the dragon misfits now that he has prevented Lorach from using them. He searches for more misfits, but quickly learns he won't be able to save them all. When word of an attack on the Dragon Guard suggests Lorach is renewing their attempt to destroy the rebellion, Jason leaves to investigate. What he finds changes everything he knows about the misfits. Saving the dragons means risking everything he's gained. If he fails, the rebellion will fail and Dragon Haven will fall.

The northern mountain village offers protection from the threat of dragons, but is a difficult place, especially for a misfit like Jason Dreshen. His days are spent hunting for food for his family, praying for warmth, and trying to hide his strange silver eye that grants him dragon sight. When a stranger visits during the local Freedom Festival searching for a different kind of dragon, everything changes.

The arrival of a dangerous sorcerer forces Gavin to confront his past. As Gavin works with the El’aras to master his connection to the ring, he learns of an El’aras prophecy that speaks of the Shard and a Champion. One must destroy the other. Though Gavin doesn’t believe in prophecy, he can’t deny that he’s caught up in something greater than he understands - and begins to suspect he’s been guided toward his fate. The arrival of a powerful sorcerer tests Gavin’s belief.

Trained to kill from a young age, Gavin Lorren finally escaped that life. No more killing innocents. No more working alone. The jobs are still dangerous, but at least he can choose. Now an old friend has invited him to the city of Yoran where the work is plentiful. The Roasted Dragon tavern is rough but cozy. The regulars are seedy but welcoming. The owner, Jessica, is fond of him. It's almost too good to be true.

A discovery of the source of Rob’s essence leads him home. Now that Rob has progressed to dragon heart, he’s called upon to help the arctic cats find their leader. The journey leads him deeper into a dangerous land, where he must find a way to stop the ice king and his servants. There he discovers the way to protect those he cares about is to head back to where he first learned of essence. What he learns is the true danger hidden until now—and the source of the Spread—but it might already be too late to stop it. Dragon Mind is book 5 in an exciting progression fantasy series!

Trained to kill from a young age, Gavin Lorren finally escaped that life. No more killing innocents. No more working alone. Holed up in a quiet city that has outlawed magic, Gavin finds himself drawn into dangers unlike any he’s ever faced before. Each job tests him more than the last, and each tied to the kind of magic he’d hoped to avoid.

Fire essence flows through the kingdom. But it isn’t the only kind of essence. Desire to understand his strange essence pushes Rob. He’s left his village, but now he’ll need to leave the kingdom and all that is familiar for him to get the answers he craves. What he finds leads him to question if his essence is corrupted. With an essence like his, how will he ever master it enough to evolve? As the icy Spread pushes toward the Borderlands, the only way for Rob to find his answers is out in the Spread—but doing so may cost him everything. Dragon Touched is book 3 in an exciting new ...

Now that his sister knows of the dragons, Jason doesn't feel as isolated in their small village. The connection to the dragons lets him protect his people along with the existence of the dragons. An attack on his home village forces Jason to go to Lachen and stop Therin for good. To do so, he'll need the help of all the dragon misfits, but can the forest dragon help him master the art of illusion in time for him to save his people?

With the threat of rogue elementals escaping from the element bond and fear of another attack by the Draasin Lord, life at the edge of Terndahl is difficult for Tolan. Without any magic of his own, he spends his days working as a carpenter’s apprentice. When an elemental attack draws the attention of the Inquisitors from the Academy, everything changes.