The Raven's Oracle: A Collection of Short Tales of the Fantastic (Raven Chronicles)

This collection of short stories introduces my four book series. "The Raven Chronicles" involve half-Haida archaeologist Jake Lalonde and his love Angeline Lisbon in mystery, suspense, and the paranormal as Jake pursues his obsession with the Raven icon. "The Pirate Empress," a Chinese Epic Fantasy, features Li aka Lotus Lily, a palace runaway, who becomes a pirate to rescue her son, and save the Middle Kingdom from mythical demons. "Close Encounters of the Cryptid Kind" introduces cryptozoologist Drey McFee whose mission is to save cryptids from exploitation and annihilation. Elizabeth Latimer, Pirate Hunter is the heroine in my a young adult series, beginning with "The Pirate Vortex," where Elizabeth must return to the past in order to save the future.

Each story is meant to introduce my main characters and the various worlds from which they derive. "Missing Time," the first tale in this collection, examines the idea of ghosts as a portal to the past. "The Red Raven" is a daughter’s search for a connection to the world she lives in (Ming Dynasty China) only to find that her connection is with the dead. "Water Giant" is a contemporary story that explores a cryptozoologist’s search for an elusive species that turns out to be a tale of self-discovery. "Two For the Money" tells of a teenaged girl’s experience with prescience and the dilemma of whether or not to believe. And Twilight Glyph, an award-winning tale of a mother’s love, is a story of courage, devotion and magic, set in the prehistoric past. All of these contributions are original works of short fiction, except for "Twilight Glyph," which won an honourable mention and was first published in Canadian Tales of the Fantastic (2014) Red Tuque Books. This particular short story will soon be available as a novella, scheduled to be released later this year. In each of these stories the raven makes an appearance as trickster, arbiter, person of interest, matchmaker or oracle.

I hope these short stories will compel you to read the novels they were inspired by, and the multiple series that resulted.