Jacquelyn Smith's Blog

This month, you enjoy two fun short stories with strong female leads–one murder mystery, and a fantasy adventure featuring a dwarf and her demon sidekick:

A bootleg Nine Inch Nails cassette tape.

Weird thing for Kira to find abandoned by a sewer grate on her way to school.

The hand-drawn NIN logo in marker catches Kira’s eye. Who tossed the tape? And why?

Kira pockets it, of course. Seems a shame to leave it in the gutter. Who knows what ...

This month, check out a fun, fall-themed fantasy adventure, with a hint of mystery:

No matter where their journeys take them, Barlo and Iarion always seem to find trouble.

The eve of the Harvest Festival. The dwarf and elf pair find themselves potentially lost on the way to the closest human village. A blanket of mist drifts from the nearby hills to obscure the dirt road as night closes in.

Barlo remains content to let Iarion lead the way...

A little shorter than my usual story length… This month, enjoy a stand-alone fantasy adventure:

An invading empire. A fallen kingdom. I watch from the shadows at our usurper’s side as history repeats itself.

In a game of power and thrones, only a nameless, royal scribe stands to make the difference between the kingdom’s uprising or complete submission. Death lies on both sides of the knife’s edge.

And in this game, only the victor can claim to know hero fro...

This month, enjoy two short story adventures that feature a strong female protagonist:

A nice, relaxing vacation. After all the mystery and mayhem over the past several months, a tropical getaway seems like just what Kira Brightwell needs.

With only her best friend for company and no one back home aware of their location (detective friend, persistent sidekick, and nosy reporters included), Kira can finally unwind and try to forget. Maybe enjo...

This month, enjoy a magical story of an outcast elf who must go on a dangerous journey to embrace her secret heritage:

Ground walker. Wingless worm. Freak.

The only Sky Elf ever born without wings, Arinwyn does her best to ignore the taunts and slurs. Bad enough she can never know the thrill of flying. Must she suffer the cruelties of her own kind as well?

But the winds of change blow from beyond the elven wood as the Fallen One stirs.

…And more than...

This month, check out a vengeful origin adventure, featuring trickster and aspiring goddess, Felara:

Felara watches over the Light Elves’ wood from above, unseen. She knows Iarion wanders somewhere beneath the ancient trees.

Willful, mercurial, and more than a bit fey, some of her Unborn siblings consider her in danger of becoming obsessed with the elf that freed them from the Void.

Others might even argue she crossed that line some time ago.

None...

Even though it’s technically spring now, we’ve had some more snow here recently in my neck of the Canadian woods. (Sigh.) Both of these stories are fun, winter adventures.

Kira Brightwell needs a change of scenery.

A relaxing, solo trip to Toronto to visit her grandparents seems like a good idea. No nosy reporters, no criminals to take down, and (most importantly) no self-appointed sidekick Trevor Wright.

…But from the moment Kira steps off th...

Paige trudges along the Great North Road and does her best to ignore her misery. An autumn rain pelts her face and soaks her to the skin.

A lone dwarf woman wandering Northern Lasniniar in search of adventure. A part of her wishes she never left her warm, comfortable burrow with Barlo.

But Paige knows she needs to find her own way in the world if she wants to become something more.

…A hero in her own right.

A stand-alone story that opens a door to new possibilities in the World of Lasniniar epic...

The first full-length novel in the Mackenzie Quinn Canadian cozy mystery series has arrived!

Murder has struck again in the small town of Ashwood, Ontario.

Zee gets tangled in a case that hits a bit too close for comfort in The Author of His Demise…

Barlo guards a secret. Only his best friend Iarion shares it, along with the rest of the Light Elves.

No one else can ever know.

Barlo’s secret keeps him apart from other dwarves. Even his own family. Memories of another time haunt him. He longs for a way to claim his identity. To be himself.

…A hero of Lasniniar, capable of leaving Dwarvenhome to go on adventures. (With Iarion, of course.)

But his secret acts as both a blessing and a curse. And the call to adventure proves too strong to deny.