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The Chaos Cycle Duology book cover 1
The Chaos Cycle Duology book cover 2
The Chaos Cycle Duology
Series · 2 books · 2020-2021

Books in series

The Hollow Gods book cover
#1

The Hollow Gods

2020

Black Hollow is a town with a dark secret. For centuries, residents have foretold the return of the Dreamwalker—an ominous figure from local folklore said to lure young women into the woods and possess them. Yet the boundary between fact and fable is blurred by a troubling statistic: occasionally, women do go missing. And after they return, they almost always end up dead. When Kai wakes up next to the lifeless body of a recently missing girl, his memory blank, he struggles to clear his already threadbare conscience. Miya, a floundering university student, experiences signs that she may be the Dreamwalker’s next victim. Can she trust Kai as their paths collide, or does he herald her demise? And after losing a young patient, crestfallen oncologist, Mason, embarks on a quest to debunk the town’s superstitions, only to find his sanity tested. A maelstrom of ancient grudges, forgotten traumas, and deadly secrets loom in the foggy forests of Black Hollow. Can three unlikely heroes put aside their fears and unite to confront a centuries-old evil? Will they uncover the truth behind the fable, or will the cycle repeat? A perfect story for contemporary fantasy readers who love their narratives razor-sharp and their secrets dark and deadly.
The Echoed Realm book cover
#2

The Echoed Realm

2021

An epic, macabre folktale for a new generation. Miya’s world ended in Black Hollow. It’s been three years since the Dreamwalker upended her life and left her with a heavy burden. A fledgling to the ethereal realm, Miya stumbles into the nightmares of those haunted by spectres. Little does she know, one of them is coming for her, clutching a dark secret abreast. Kai has found a new purpose with his companion, but the price is his freedom. Bound and beholden to Miya, he struggles to adjust to his new role as her vanguard. Meanwhile, Mason discovers he may be a pawn trapped in a web of schemes. Was his time in Black Hollow an accident, or was it only the beginning of some greater machination? As Black Hollow’s bloody stain spreads beyond its wooded borders, Miya fights to evade a past she barely understands. The Dreamwalker’s legacy is a vise grip, and it isn’t letting go. Primordial horrors draw near, fables come alive, and long-buried histories rise from the grave, ready to hunt. Sharpen your claws and bloody your teeth. There’s fear to be sown.

Author

A.J. Vrana
A.J. Vrana
Author · 5 books
A. J. Vrana is a Serbian-Canadian academic and writer from Toronto, Canada. She lives with her rescue cats, Moonstone and Peanut Butter, who nest in her window-side bookshelf and cast judgmental stares at nearby pigeons. Her doctoral research examines the supernatural in modern Japanese and former-Yugoslavian literature and its relationship to violence. When not toiling away at caffeine-fueled, scholarly pursuits, she enjoys jewelry-making, cupcakes, and concocting dark tales to unleash upon the world. A. J. Vrana's published works include The Chaos Cycle Duology: The Hollow Gods (2020) and The Echoed Realm (2021), the companion novel Wildblood (2024) from Parliament House Press, and the romantic short story collection, Stray Feathers: Extras from The Chaos Cycle (2022). Her short fiction includes “These Silent Walls” (2020), printed in Three Crows Magazine, and “Sapling,” (2023) from Clan Destine Press’ horror anthology This Fresh Hell.
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