Ice Upon a Pier by Ladz

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My warped sense of morality embarrasses me. Ruta Pawlak is one of the most successful contract killers Pier-Upon-Pier City has ever seen. Convicted of five murders that landed her multiple life sentences, her kill count allegedly sits between fifteen and two hundred people. Some were just for practice, others for revenge, and others she executed for money to keep her potentially world-record setting reading collection going. For the first time, a biographer sits down with the legendary killer to hear her story in her own words. Get the details on her relationship with her depraved bosses and her eclectic arsenal of murder weapons from ice magic to poison to even the sun itself. From her impoverished upbringing to her introduction to the Syndicates to her bizarre affair with fellow killer Frieda Masters to Ruta’s eventual downfall, this account goes beyond headlines and court proceedings, weaving a story of love, family, survival, and murder. This novella is perfect for fans of true crime, fantasy, noir, The Last Podcast on the Left, and the interview portions of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire series. Humans killing other humans wasn’t natural. Human killing monsters, however, might be.

The Lady of the Lair by Ladz

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A story about a traveler going to evict a spider shifter lady and her children from their manor, and it goes about as well as you'd expect in a horror/dark fantasy.

The Cradle of Eternal Night by Ladz

In a land lit only by the counterfeit warmth of magical technology, the Kler prays for the return of the sun, the moons, and the stars. Ceaseless night and the beasts lurking in the darkness keep the congregation within the Kolebka Wiecznej Nocy trapped in mirthless vigil. Their towns remain quiet as graveyards as they wait for day to come again. What no one knows about this ceaseless night is that the Kler themselves can end it. But they haven’t, and they won’t. Long ago, the Kler banished the sun worshipers, but a heretical sect made the journey back to the land of darkness. Now, only one remains carrying their purpose heavy on her shoulders: a maverick technomancer named Basia. She alone will bring back the light, or no one will. Armed with naught but her own cleverness and a sword imbued with sun-embraced charms, she searches for the Kler’s secrets and finds herself in Tawerna. With the Kler on her heels, she infiltrates a private feast and catches Hanka, a docile bard, in the middle of planning her own escape into the world beyond. Hanka wants nothing to do with the heretical outsider until she discovers that her purpose aligns with the darkness buried inside herself. Hanka knows the secrets the Kler keeps, and she knows just where to go to expose their lies. With only each other and their heretical magic to rely on, Basia and Hanka face the eternal night and wonder, are they truly enough to bring light back to the world?

The Fealty of Monsters Volume 1 by Ladz

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Illustrated by Soren Häxan Winter 1917. After years on the run from a dangerous cult, Sasza Czarnolaski and his father have found themselves among the Odonic Empire’s ruling class. One problem: vampires aren’t supposed to get involved in human governance. What the aristocracy doesn’t know, cannot hurt them. But aristocratic rumors blame the vampires for a summertime massacre months unsolved. Sasza suspects that same cult has finally shown up on his doorstep. It’s already in his bedchambers. Though his pro-proletariat lover, Finance Minister Ilya Górniak, has always been against putting working class lives at risk, he cannot say the same for his other comrades. Despite all rational arguments against it, the Emperor declares war upon the vampire states as vengeance. Ilya does not protest, and Sasza finds himself alone in a den of political wolves. Diplomacy has failed and insurrection comes from an unlikely source—the emperor’s own progeny, Świetlana. She invites Sasza into a bloody plan which will save his station and the lives of thousands at the cost of those he swore to serve. He will do anything to preserve his peace—even if it means giving into the monstrosity he spent so many years concealing from even himself.