SPFBO winner Rob J. Hayes has teamed up with Jackson Dickert to put together a comprehensive world guide to The Ties That Bind trilogy for fans who want to experience the gritty, grimdark world of First Earth, now with even greater depravities and horrors. Included are two brand new novellas from Rob! In Sting of the Dragon, Travine squashes a rebellion, paving the way for his future as the Empress’s Dragon Herald. In The Princess Blade, discover the events that took Henry from royalty to a cold-blooded killer… under the guise of a child’s bedtime story. Monsters and gore included, obviously. Plus, a brand new short story, “The Serpent’s Tooth”, written by Jackson Dickert with Rob J. Hayes’ stamp of approval. It doesn’t take long for Harod to betray his old friend, Jezzet Vel’urn, during The Heresy Within. What dark secret was he willing to risk certain death from a blademaster to protect? Alongside these new adventures into the First Earth Saga, explore a worldbuilding companion, complete with more than 115 story extras that detail character backstories and world lore, over 140 exclusive, original artworks, and the ten previously published First Earth Saga short stories, now collected into one book. With over 120,000 words of content, The World of Heresy Within is easily as long as your standard fantasy novel and ten times as dark! Detailed blurbs for Sting of the Dragon, The Princess Blade, and The Serpent’s Tooth are available to read as part of the free sample.

Sarah Silvergrove has spent two years trying to outpace the guilt she carries over the death of a friend. Living as a nomadic traveler and attached to no one, she discovers the Belhaven, a haunting library hidden in the ruins of a long abandoned city. It holds the secrets to commanding the world’s magic, and Sarah, now one of the few magic users not under the control of the struggling empire, sets out to build a new community in hopes of redemption. But when a charismatic traveler arrives and integrates himself into the budding community, Sarah begins to worry that she is destined to fail again. Terrified of the task at hand, but knowing she cannot pass it on, Sarah must decide if she will let her failures define her or if she can defend the library and those who have come to trust in her. Greater mechanisms than her are pulling at the chords of destiny, and her fight for redemption will test everything she thought she knew about herself.  The Song has yet to be Sung.