A.J. Peterson, Fantasy Author
Writing bridges to other worlds with themes of friendship, identity, and finding hope in the darkest of times.
My current project, Oblivion’s Hymn, is out in the query trenches. It’s the first of an epic fantasy trilogy in which a band of misfits fights to bring a less punishing balance to their world.
Read more below!
Oblivion’s Hymn
All magic comes with a price…one Rhienne and Echo are tired of paying.
As a shapeshifter, Echo has always hidden behind masks to avoid the persecution faced by her kind. Her only hope to safely become a venerated bard was to bargain with a god. But when she failed to uphold her end, he took her singing voice in retribution. If Echo can’t get it back, she’ll be stuck in the shadows, where the not-so-secret police hunt shifters to use as arcane batteries.
Rhienne, a dreamwalker who manipulates others’ dreams but cannot have her own, is stuck in a cycle of despair and self-sabotage. She buries her mistakes in the fleeting pleasures of wealth, women, and power, most recently through a pact with the God of Endings. He compels her to destroy the dreams of those around her. The magic is worth it until the god targets Echo. If Rhienne can’t break her deal, she must either condemn her dearest friend to a slow death by hopelessness or be trapped for eternity in the nightmare-infested void of her patron’s realm.
These morally ambiguous friends seek out a way to keep their divine boons without paying the price, but in a world where magic comes from fulfilling deals, the gods’ lives depend on taking more than they give. One way or another, they’ll get what they’re owed.
“The easiest way to unravel a dream was from the edges, where the fabric was less realized, the threads more distinguishable. But the most magic came from unraveling it at the center. Take out the underlying support, and the rest fell with it.”
About the Author
After realizing an engineering career would lead to the slow death of her soul and sanity, A.J. moved from Texas to Oregon to pursue her true passion: all things nerdy and magical. She leads a Meetup for science fiction and fantasy writers in the Portland area and is an active participant in Willamette Writers. In her free time, if she has no choice but to be perceived, she can be found consuming copious amounts of D&D content, lurking around various bookstores and coffee shops, and hiking with her husband and her pug.