Here’s the set-up for Nigia Stephens’ A Time of Blood and Fire
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Bred to blend in with humans, teams of Argon changelings spread across The Earth in order to hunt Mystics that sent the greater universe (The Harn) into near chaos. Ashdasoc, a changeling and one of the twin Princes from the world of Inathduard, meets Blu Harris, a painter, in New York’s East Village.
Blu is a sensuous Afro-American with a tragic past and an unusual mystical energy that Ash resonates to. The two become lovers until Ash reveals that he had been crafted from these fearsome creatures. Blu becomes trapped in the war between The Argon and powerful Mystics, who drained worlds of magical life to create a dangerously addictive drug that enhances creativity.
Yet the lovers never expect the explosive hatred and madness of Ash’s twin brother Set. As Ash goes on a desperate search for the only Mystic whom their father trusts, Set’s rage towards Blu detonates and his violence triggers centuries-old magic buried within her.
From A Reviewer:
Reading “A Time of Blood and Fire” is like unearthing a shard of ancient pottery, dark and beautifully ornate, with razor edges that cut deeply. Stephens’ work is reminiscent of Clive Barker fantasies, where unfathomably strange beings glide through the mundane streets of our world, full of mystery and mayhem. And, like Barker’s works, ATOBAF draws the reader into a spiraling fantasy world of strangeness and beauty and dark passions.
But where Barker sometimes gets bogged down in digressions, Stephens sets a blistering pace that jumps from one thundering scene to the next with barely a pause for breath. I look forward to the sequel!–John F. Schiff
About the Author:
Nigia is an artist, event promoter and poet. She has performed her prose and short stories around the New York City area since 1989. In that time, she published with numerous small presses in the East Village and Williamsburg Brooklyn.
She has explored writing Alternative Fiction and Fantasy for the past several years. A Time of Blood and Fire is her first published novel.
