Message on the Wind

by S.M. Sykes, J.L. Reed

An Ancient spirit of the wind spends her days listening for messages. As she sends a message she loses her touch and instead sends destruction on the winds.A 12-year-old boy has a frightening experience as a tornado rips through his yard and his home. Fear is expected, but what his family hears from him next is not.This story is about a boy and a spirit. They seem to have no connection except for the wind that blows across this country. JL stands on his own and speaks his truth about the things that he believes. This takes him on a trip across the country and throws him into a battle that he had no idea was raging. Now that his aunt, uncle and brother have stumbled across it, do they have the courage to fight and help save what is left of our country?

110 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 24, 2023

About the author

S.M. Sykes is a multi-genre author with a relentless imagination, a taste for the catastrophic, and a deep love for the strange corners of speculative fiction. Whether it’s a world-ending apocalypse, invading dragons, twisted fairy tales, or the quiet terror of what lurks in the dark, Sykes crafts stories that pull readers to the edge of the unknown—and dares them to look over the side.

Best known for The Blue Series—including Eyes of Blue, A Dim Blue, Loss of Blue, and A Faded Blue—Sykes blends post-apocalyptic grit, emotional depth, and character-driven tension into an expansive universe filled with Deaders, spores, survivors, and the haunting cost of memory. The series has grown into a reader-favorite world with spin-offs like Lives of Blue: Stories from the Unseen and Starfall: First Days of the Apocalypse.

Outside of the Blue universe, Sykes continues to push genre boundaries. He’s tackled dark fantasy with Fantasy Slayer, a sword-and-dragon saga set in a broken, high-magic Earth; psychological horror with First Snow a dark Oz retelling in Blood Stained Bricks; a locked-room thriller in The Countdown; and cosmic-leaning monstrosities in Living Adjacent, his original anthology series showcasing new voices in horror.

Sykes is also the creator and editor behind SMSykes Anthologies, an emerging imprint dedicated to curated collections of horror, fantasy, and speculative fiction from independent and up-and-coming writers. He is passionate about building spaces for community, collaboration, and fresh storytelling—especially stories that explore fear, survival, and the human spirit under impossible pressure.

When he’s not writing, Sykes is usually building something—crafting new worlds, 3D-printing models for upcoming releases, designing promotional art, or supporting local events and libraries across Delaware. He works closely with his wife Tanya, who runs LetMeTryItCrafts, to bring bookish gifts, handcrafted art, and limited-edition collectibles to readers at conventions and fairs.

With dozens of projects in development, Sykes shows no signs of slowing down. He doesn’t pick genres—he picks catastrophes—and his readers have learned to expect the unexpected.