Devil's Night Dawning, the first volume of The Broken Stone Chronicle, is a dark epic fantasy where ancient evils stir, war simmers on the borders of fractured kingdoms, and the fate of the world may hinge on two unlikely monks.
When young novice Adelko is assigned to legendary exorcist Horskram, he expects adventure-but what awaits is sorcery, slaughter, and the sinister theft of a sacred relic. As shadowy forces gather to unleash a forgotten power, the pair must navigate treacherous politics, supernatural assassins, and a war-torn landscape to prevent catastrophe.
Combining gothic horror, religious mysticism, and immersive medieval worldbuilding, this slow-burn fantasy weaves multiple points of view into a tale of magic, faith, and doomed heroism. For readers who relish the philosophical darkness of The Black Company, the bleak grandeur of A Song of Ice and Fire, and the creeping dread of Lovecraft.
Damien Black is a British fantasy writer and editor whose debut series, The Broken Stone Chronicle, placed fourth in Mark Lawrence's 2017 Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off, rising from a field of 300 entries. His work explores grim magic, theological horror, and the razor's edge between free will and fate, drawing influence from Tolkien, Glen Cook, and H.P. Lovecraft.When not conjuring worlds where monks banish demons and empires crumble from within, he records old-school original rock and roll tunes with his cousins-carrying on a family tradition of storytelling through music.