tdcloud writer

Skiamakhia by T.D. Cloud

When the tech company Kolton Moreau built with his brother experiences a surprisingly profitable quarter, the doors to high society open up to make way. Fancy parties, new business contacts, a seat at the adult’s table… It should have been a windfall and the logical reward for their years of hard work, but as Kolton begins to rub elbows with the societal elite, he realizes things aren’t quite so clear cut. From persistent attempts at corporate takeover to shady deals nudged towards him under the table, the risks begin to outweigh the potential rewards as Kolton finds himself pursued by a mysterious group keen on obtaining his allegiance, one way or another. It stood to reason that rising through the ranks would open doors. Kolton just wished he took the time to consider who—or what—would be waiting for him on the other side.

OSSUARY by T.D. Cloud

Recipient of the 2023 Best Novella Award from the Queer Indie Awards. Work as a Curse Breaker is anything but glamorous. It’s difficult, gruesome at times, and it takes Curse Breaker Thierry Pryor to places better left untouched. The Paris Catacombs were once a symbol of French identity, the true sign of death making all equal in the end, but after centuries of layered spell work, ancient hexes, and more than one hastily patched protective charm, the resulting magical amalgam has begun to break down, tainting the surrounding land. It’s up to Thierry and his team to figure out the source of the miasma and quell it before it begins having an effect on those living above the city of the dead. But unlike the jobs before, there’s something at work in the catacombs much more sinister than some moldering family curse. Sometimes the dead sleep more soundly than the living, but then again, maybe some of the dead don’t sleep willingly at all...

Infaust by T.D. Cloud

A witch with a dead familiar is an outlier and an ill-omen to every village they pass through. Rehan Nadir is one such witch. The only jobs available to him are terrible ones, and vagrancy is his only recourse… At least, it was until he heard tell of the town of Hamelin’s plight. Stories of a malicious entity, a chaos god, have tormented the village for hundreds of years, and like clockwork tragedy has struck once more: while the adults gathered elsewhere, the children were spirited away. No trace of them has been seen since. The town is desperate to bring them back. Very desperate. Finding and returning the lost children would be just the thing to give Rehan a new chance at the life he lost after the death of his familiar, and if all it takes is killing a god of chaos, then he’s more than ready to take the plunge and open that door. Unfortunately, he just didn’t anticipate opening a few more in the midst of dealing the finishing blow.