Hi, I’m Thomas Howard Riley. I am a writer of Rated-R Epic and Dark Fantasy Sagas, where characters are dirty and flawed, the outlook hopeful, the violence brutal, the hard magick systems plentiful, the worldbuilding robust, the romance disinclined to fade to black, and the adventures are equal parts quirky and terrifying.
All my current and future book series take place in my fantasy world, Luminaworld, although different series may be in different places and times and with different casts of characters. I now spend most of my time creating fantasy worlds as fast as I can get them on paper and into the hands of those intrepid enough to tread the corridors of my mind.
I am a former lead guitarist and sword-fighter who grew up on fantasy and sci fi. I am obsessed with cats and music and comic books. I am the kind of person who stands in the rain on purpose, who goes on vacation just to write, and who always takes at least one book wherever he goes. I can sometimes be seen on clear nights when the moon is gibbous, and I am frequently in the presence of cats.
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THE BOOKS
A drug addict who hunts sorcerers, the most renowned swordsman no one has ever heard of, and a magick-wielding thief hellbent on revenge collide during a last ditch effort to stop an insane superhuman serial killer from making himself a god.
Find it on AMAZON or GOODREADS.
A young man stumbles across a murder that opens his eyes to a hidden world of magick, corruption, and serial killers, putting everyone he loves in danger, and revealing dark secrets he would rather not have to face.
Find it on AMAZON or GOODREADS.
A poor young teacher of magick must fight to protect her students from the brutal religious order that conquered her city.
Find it on AMAZON or GOODREADS.
SERIES
THE ADVENT LUMINA CYCLE
In this world some people fight with a sword, some use wondrous and devastating magick, and some use the tools that let them see what no one else can see to hunt down the untouchable. This is the saga of people with incredible powers, and those who help them, and those who hunt them, and those caught in between. Some are good and some are bad, and most are somewhere in the middle. Caught up in a world that hates and fears them, how can those who use magick survive while hunting one of their own? How can they join up with those who once hunted them? The fate of families, friends, and entire empires hangs in the balance. Will they defeat the evil, or join it? Will they destroy gods, or become them? Will they break the world or save it?
In addition to the main series, there will also be numerous stand-alone novels in the same world but with different characters and in different times. There will be so many more characters to know and love, or learn to hate. Here is unleashed a tale that is dark and dangerous, hopeful and humorous, gritty and unapologetic–a story of vengeance, tragedy, terror, and triumph that does not shy away from horror, joy, sex, pain, violence, beauty, and death.
This is only the beginning. The saga will continue…
THE WORLD:
To the people who live in it, it is simply known as “the world” because it is the only one there is, the only one they know. For the sake of discussion, the world of Advent Lumina may be referred to as LUMINAWORLD.
World imagined by Thomas Howard Riley. Maps drawn with beautiful artistry by cartographer Thom Rey.
There is a whole world to get lost in. And you can be a part of it. All you need to do is open the cover and step inside.
Welcome to the world.
Luminaworld.
THE AUTHOR:
About the Author:
Thomas Howard Riley currently resides in a secluded grotto in the wasteland metropolis, where he reads ancient books, plays ancient games, watches ancient movies, jams on ancient guitars, and writes furiously day and night. He sometimes appears on clear nights when the moon is gibbous, and he has often been seen in the presence of cats.
He always wanted to make up his own worlds, tell his own stories, invent his own people, honor the truths of life, and explore both the light and the darkness of human nature. With a few swords thrown in for good measure.
And some magick. Awesome magick.
He was content to write just for himself, not really trying to see any work in the public sphere, putting out proto-novels here and there, not thinking anyone would care. But then something changed. Now he sees it as his duty to make sure these stories get into the hands of as many of the people who might want to see them as possible. And now here we are. The journey begins.
He was raised on a steady diet of books, movies, comics, anime, and 8-bit Nintendo games. He was reading Tolkein and Asimov for fun instead of practicing his cursive handwriting. He read the chronological timelines at the end of Return of the King at least a hundred times more often than he read the actual book. He was, as they say, an odd child. He still is. (both odd, and a child) And he owns it, loves it, cherishes it. If you aren’t weird, you aren’t really worth knowing.
Somewhere along the way he developed an obsession with drawing maps of imaginary places, creating family trees of royal house that never existed, and dreaming up entire histories of cultures that never actually happened. If there was no proper word in the dictionary to express what he was thinking, he would make it up himself, and never offer an apology for it.
He wants to tell stories that are beautiful and ugly, funny and sad, horrifying and amazing, tragic and beautiful. And he wants you to be a part of it.
As always, he is working hard on the next chapter in the this saga.
On Twitter he is @ornithopteryx, where he is sometimes funny, always clever, and never mean.
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