Twelve Past Midnight

by Tiffany Alexanderson

A professor of artificy, a wandering duelist, three Free Guild strikers, five university students, a mountain crone and their dog, and a girl just passing through meet on a remote mountain road in the shadow of Caer Droch when a meteor strikes the ruined fortress.

Drawn in by curiosity, they attempt to investigate only to be picked off by hostile wildlife and creatures made of an enigmatic substance that destroys anything it touches. On death, however, they find themselves where they were earlier in the day, perfectly unharmed.

They have twelve hours to explore the valley and find a solution. Along the way they uncover old secrets surrounding the abandonment of the fortress, a plague that gripped the castle town, a weapons testing project, and a conflict larger than they can fathom.

Stuck in a time loop, there's no help coming and no where to go but forward.

386 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 31, 2023

About the author

Hi! My name is Tiffany, I love writing, and I program a bit.

I've been thinking about the same world for years, designing bits and pieces as I went through college, letting loose interpretations of the things I learned as I got my degree seep into the foundations of the magic system.

My overall goal is to fill that world with many suitably-strong standalone stories that contribute to a greater whole - to create a world and its history as a citadel of many individual bricks.

I hope you'll give it and me a chance.

Any questions or concerns can be sent to tiffanyalexanderson@gmail.com

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

We've all had days that go on forever. And sure, sometimes we get caught in a time loop and have to iterate day in and day out until we find an escape. Most of the time, though, we're not dealing with squamous shapeless monsters from... outer space?

Tiffany Alexanderson's Twelve Past Midnight is really a worst nightmare - a generally boring day that inevitably ends in a terrible death. Set in an industrial-era fantasy world, her cast includes a traveling group of magic university students, a crew of adventurers on a job to locate a magical anomaly, a mysterious duelist with something to hide, a large dog, and a handful of other intelligent but lost folks in the deep woods of the hinterlands. They are all attracted by a meteorite falling out of the sky, but are wholly unprepared to be killed by monsters and then find themselves waking up at dawn to do it all over again. As one might expect, they are forced to learn more about each-other as they try to live through the night over and over again, and discover the secret of that falling light from the sky.

Alexanderson wrote herself a huge ensemble, and has no problem jumping between viewpoints often, sometimes multiple times a chapter (or page). Luckily, she does note whos POV we are seeing at any given moment, which is a help, and helps keep the story moving. The character's are distinct and charming, and reveal elements of the world quite naturally. This is a novel with a defined structured magic system, which is not always my bag, but the people who go for that will be pleased with with the dynamic and inventive way powers are used. I had fun with this one, and I am 100% ripping off the plot next time I run a D&D game.

Thank you to the author and LibraryThing for providing me a review copy.