F.T. McKinstry
F.T. McKinstry grew up studying music and reading books. An old-school fantasy geek, she acquired a deep love for fantasy, science fiction and the esoteric, of which she was an avid reader. With a background in computer electronics and software development, she wrote and illustrated technical documentation for many years, during which time she created fantasy worlds. She is inspired by plant and animal lore, Northern European legend and mythology, fairy tales, mythical creatures, heavy metal, medieval warfare and shamanism.
F.T. McKinstry is the author of the fantasy series The Fylking and The Chronicles of Ealiron. Her short stories appear in Wizards, Woods and Gods and various fantasy/scifi magazines. Aside from books, she enjoys oil painting, gardening, yoga, hanging out with her cats and fishes, and being in the woods. |
Outpost (Book One, The Fylking)
Fantasy
In a war-torn realm occupied by a race of immortal warlords called the Fylking, trouble can reach cosmic proportions. Using the realm as a backwater outpost from which to fight an ancient war, the Fylking guard an interdimensional portal called the Gate. The Fylking’s enemies, who think nothing of annihilating a world to gain even a small advantage, are bent on destroying it. After two centuries of peace, the realm is at war. A Gate warden with a tormented past discovers a warlock gathering an army that cannot die. A King’s Ranger is snared in a trap that pits him against the Fylking's enemies. And a knitter discovers an inborn power revered by the gods themselves. Caught in a maelstrom of murder, treachery, sorcery and war, they must rally to protect the Gate against a plot that will violate the balance of cosmos, destroy the Fylking and leave the world in ruins. The god they serve is as fickle as a crow. Outpost sample chapters |
The Hunter's Rede (Book One, Chronicles of Ealiron)
Fantasy
Lorth of Ostarin is a hunter of men. Lawless, solitary and obscure, he is trained in magic and its inherent order. This uneasy combination of pitilessness and structure has made him the highest paid assassin in the land. It is also about to throw his life into chaos. The trouble begins when Lorth returns home from a long absence to find his old haunts compromised by a cruel, upstart warlord who has invaded the realm and pushed it to the brink of war. Lorth's cavalier attempt to elude a political sandpit quickly deteriorates into a series of skirmishes that he negotiates with a sword and a reckless penchant for using magic against the rules. He flees with a price on his head; but no angry warlords, wizards, foreign aristocrats or spooky apparitions can rattle him from the dark stability of his profession—until he is captured and condemned to execution by a formidable wizard who serves the old powers. In his quest to prove his innocence and loyalty to the realm, Lorth discovers a profound sense of identity in his internal confluence of war and wizardry. But his quest turns bloody when love for a priestess and a will to avenge his homeland drives him to infiltrate an enemy occupation bent on domination and a blatant disregard for the forces of magic. This brings him to his greatest test, where he must surrender to the darkness of his nature to become a hunter unlike anything he has ever known. |
The Gray Isles (Book Two, Chronicles of Ealiron)
Fantasy
In the Gray Isles, a northern realm cloaked in legends and storms, lives a secret. For thousands of years it lay in the Otherworld, known only in the imaginations of sailors. Now, it has surfaced; first to Eadred, a wizard banished by his kind after being cursed by a witch; and then to Hemlock, a fisherman's son orphaned by the sea. When their paths collide, a change is set into motion that the heavens watch with dread; for the legends tell, it heralds the birth of an immortal and the death of the realm. Lorth, a formidable wizard and servant to the old powers, arrives to the Gray Isles on a diplomatic mission to discover what Eadred has not told his masters. What looks like a quarrel between Eadred and Hemlock swiftly deteriorates into a manhunt that plunges Lorth into a tricky world of visions, myths and politics, which he navigates by joining forces with unlikely company. Eadred, while attempting to end his curse, has gathered great knowledge of Hemlock's origins. Through him, Lorth reaches the sobering conclusion that Hemlock is not what he seems, but something powerful enough to destroy the realm with a thought. Unfortunately, Lorth is not the only one who has discovered Hemlock's secret. Racing time, he must bare his sword against an army, violate discretion and risk his own stature in order to free Hemlock from the clutches of daimonic transformation before he unleashes the forces of earth and sea on the mortal world. |
The Winged Hunter (Book Three, Chronicles of Ealiron)
Fantasy
Deep in the heart of Loralin Forest, folks whisper of a legendary immortal predator with the body of a male god, towering black wings and the claws and fangs of a mountain cat. Crowharrow, they call it. But one family of troubled wizards knows the winged hunter is not a legend. The youngest, Tansel, has been sheltered all her life by solitude and the secrets of her ancestors. A diabolical seducer and destroyer of women, the beautiful immortal notices Tansel and ushers her, the last of her kin, and two haunted, formidable wizards into a maelstrom of peril, deception, and upheaval that exposes a devastating connection between the crowharrow and Tansel’s bloodline. Unfortunately, healing this curse will require a terrible sacrifice. |
Ascarion (Book Four, Chronicles of Ealiron)
Fantasy
On the isle of Tromb in the far northern realm of the Gray Isles, a rift has appeared in the timeline of the world. Cloaked beneath a turbulent monarchy, rumors of an evil entity and the tears of a princess, it has gained the attention of both wizards and gods. Rhinne of Tromb, a lonely princess at odds with her own people, has old magic in her veins. Encouraged by her brother Wulfgar, a seasoned warrior, she is also good in a fight. This and her defiance of nameless hostility put her on the bad side of a dark order of warlocks festering in the shadows of the realm. Accused of treason, Rhinne is forced to flee, pursued by her father's assassins. Wulfgar is left facing war. Lorth of Ostarin, a powerful wizard and servant of the old powers, learns that something untoward is happening in the Gray Isles, where he has a dark history. When Rhinne is delivered into his hands under unlikely circumstances, he discovers a connection between her and the time-space rift. Wounded and distrustful, she escapes his protection. When Wulfgar arrives bearing a text that exposes a god who changed the world's timeline to hide an evil deed involving Rhinne, the wizards declare war. Accompanied by an army, a mysterious raven and a war god with a private agenda, Lorth, Rhinne and Wulfgar must navigate assassins, thieves, spies and seers to return to Tromb and cast down their devious, otherworldly enemy before he tips the world into horrific devastation. |
Wizards, Woods and Gods
Fantasy
The Otherworld takes shape in this collection of twelve stories told on a rich, fairytale tapestry of swords, sorcery, romance, dreams, visions and verse. Ancient gardens, lost temples, cosmic alignments, immortal predators, assassins, shapeshifters, warriors and maidens will transport you to realms where the rules are different, nothing is as it seems and the heart keeps the balance of ages. Earth Blood - The earth keeps secrets. A warrior discovers ancient power in his veins when he’s plunged into the political corruption of a war devised to hide the truth of his mother’s death. The Om Tree - Trees know things. A tree planted by a god at the dawn of a forest and raised in close proximity to an energy well beneath a wizards’ citadel knows a great many things. In this story, a wizard-assassin loses what is most dear to him and thereby learns the true nature of his art. Pattern Sense - It all started with a mouse. A knitter discovers the strengths and pitfalls of an ancient power through the love of a warrior. The War God Sleeps - When a lush, fertile land is seized by drought, a lonely hermit's son ventures deep into the hills in search of water and there awakes a beautiful, yet terrible god whom the world has learned to live without. The Fifth Verse - An ancient immortal entity defies the rules of her kind by falling in love with a mortal warrior, an indiscretion that leaves her grieving, pregnant and dependent on the help of a wizard whose army was responsible for the death of her beloved. Deathseer - Under the influence of a mysterious observatory, the commander of a fearsome army is trapped in a conflict that eventually costs him his honor and the life of his brother, and drives him to accept an inborn magical ability that changes his destiny. The Trouble with Tansy - An orphaned girl on the threshold of womanhood inherits a splendid, mysterious garden from three generations of wisewomen. When a roguish wizard attempts to impress her by disrupting the seasons, she must turn to the old powers for help. Marked - The mother of a fey child learns the pitfalls of mingling with immortals when her boy is taken by a ferocious winged monster at the request of the god who fathered him. Eating Crow - A masterful, wayward shapeshiftress angers a wizard who curses her by summoning a diabolical immortal hunter that puts her near death and forces her to seek the wizard's cat, a gentle, mystical creature that alone can heal her wounds. The Bridge - A visionary who spent her life preparing for a planetary alignment that will materialize a beautiful nature spirit only she can perceive, descends into her blackest fears when she is abandoned to a war for which she is indirectly responsible. The Origin - A woodsman discovers that he is a god who created everything around him to know the love of a woman whose mortality drives him to the brink of annihilation. Water Dark - In the calm deep waters of the mind, the wolf waits. This novella is a tale of desire and deception told on a fairy-tale landscape of arcane texts, herbal lore, visions and disasters at the hands of the powerful. |
The Wolf Lords
High Fantasy
The Destroyer of the Math Gate has not been idle in the sun’s turn since he nearly defeated the Fylking, his ancient enemies. Wounded, bitter and bent on reprisal, the immortal warlock has gathered an army. He has acquired a spell that will damage the veil between the worlds. And he is waiting. The Fenrir Brotherhood is an ancient order of sorcerers who serve the Wolf Gods of the North. Haunted by a dark history, the brotherhood keeps to itself—or so it is believed. But the older something is, the more secrets it keeps, and the Wolf Lords have not only unleashed an army of demons across the land, but also let the Destroyer in. When the Veil falls, war erupts and the realm is faced with legions of Otherworld beings, it is left to a sorcerer hunted by the Wolf Lords and a company of King’s Rangers broken by grief and trauma to find a hedge witch whose secrets could change everything. Unfortunately, she is hiding between the worlds. Sample |