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.

In the mist-shrouded fens of Little Hove, the river keeps its secrets—and sometimes it delivers them in the most brutal way. When the body of Lilly Miller, survivor of a notorious childhood abduction, is found in the murky waters she once claimed whispered to her, DCI Joline Norris is called in to investigate. Far from a quiet posting, the case drags her back into a world of haunted memories, unsolved crimes, and survivors scarred in ways that run deeper than the mud. Among them is Niamh Gibbs, Lilly’s only friend—and one of the Fens Five herself. But Niamh isn’t ready to confront the past, and the river is already claiming her peace. As the investigation unfolds, the lines between guilt, obsession, and the cold lure of the fens blur. Each clue, each whisper from the water, pulls them closer to a truth more terrifying than any they’ve faced before. In The Still Water Lies, secrets fester like silt in the depths, and some echoes from the past refuse to stay buried.