In the world of the Hunter Healer King trilogy, lupomancers are shapeshifting sorcerers who can magically mark living people, transforming them into werewolves who must obey their commands. And the lupomancers themselves? They’re algomancers: dark sorcerers who feed on pain and fear, who can take wolf form at will.
This is the threat Chloe Fortebat faces in Wolf’s Trail. This is why she needs Dr. Maxim os Storm, one of the few hunters who knows how to break a lupomancer’s mark before it’s too late.
Three thousand years ago, the most advanced civilization in the world sank beneath the waves in a single night.
A handful of massive airships escaped, carrying the survivors who would become the Stormcrows. This is the tragedy that shaped Dr. Maxim os Storm’s people, and the reason they hunt monsters with ancient technology and unyielding determination.
This part below was more or less the first thing I wrote on this book, but took place very late in the book’s chronology, kind of an “All is Lost” moment. By the time I reached this part of the manuscript, writing through the story in mostly chronological order, it became clear that I needed to change a lot of things around. Some character beats and dialogue remain the same in the final version, but this first draft was different enough to where I thought it would be worth sharing now that the book is released. Warning: contains SPOILERS for a key plot twist; I advise against reading this post if you plan to read Hunter Healer King 3 and have not done so yet.
In the Hunter Healer King trilogy, “monster hunting” doesn’t just mean tracking werewolves and zombies. It means hunting the sorcerers who create them.
Algomancers are humans who bargained with evil forces to receive magical power. In exchange, they became psychic vampires who must feed on the pain and fear of others to survive. They command undead servants, transform people into monsters, and manipulate emotions like weapons. And when you see the words “monster hunting” in the context of this setting, “monster” means the algomancer as much as the creatures they control.
These are not sympathetic people. They target innocent children and animals, anyone beautiful or vulnerable, because innocence amplifies their power. They create suffering for sustenance. They are the reason Dr. Maxim os Storm carries a banishing dagger inscribed with ancient runes, and a revolver full of silver bullets.
What if you could live for 150 years, but your entire people were dying out?
Dr. Maxim os Storm looks thirty-five years old. He’s actually seventy. He’ll stay in his physical prime for another thirty years, and won’t show his true age until he’s past a hundred. This longevity is the gift, and the curse, of the Stormcrows, a clan of people descended from those who escaped the fall of Thule three thousand years ago.
But living longer than ordinary humans is only the beginning of what makes the Stormcrows unique.
What Does It Take to Impress a Monster Hunter Who’s Seen Everything?
Dr. Maxim os Storm hunts all kinds of evil things. He is the other protagonist and POV character in the trilogy, and all three books end with Maxim POV scenes. Maxim looks thirty-something but he’s actually seventy, with the jaded perspective to match. Even the prospect of becoming king of his people fills him with dread rather than excitement.
2026 promises some big changes in my life. I will be helping some family members moving into a smaller place. Also, I will dealing with some new and different writing challenges. I have three WIPs, all in different genres/settings, plus a different approach to marketing my work. Fingers crossed!
What if a rancher’s daughter discovered that monsters were real?
Chloe Fortebat left her father’s ranch in Silberne with nothing but her horses, her knive, and a mysterious inheritance. She expected to find a new life in the Old World. What she found instead were werewolves, necromancers, and a sharp-dressed monster hunter who would change everything. This is the story of how a pragmatic frontier woman became the co-protagonist of the Hunter Healer King trilogy.
A 40-foot mecha dances to Slavic-inspired folk music in this music video from the Hunter Healer King trilogy. The Armor of Arent has been waiting for a worthy pilot. Now it has one. 🎬 Created with AI tools (Midjourney + Suno) 📚 From the gaslamp fantasy series by Mel Dunay! The Hunter Healer King trilogy combines steampunk monster hunting with slow-burn romance. For fans of Patricia Briggs and Lindsay Buroker.
The name’s Chloe Fortebat, and I don’t understand this place at all. Maxim and I are engaged, but there’s a problem: his late mother may be too closely related to my mother. We need answers about her past, but she abandoned me as a child, and we don’t know where she is now. Meanwhile, a candidate for Emperor was attacked by a vicious beast, and Maxim’s friend the Prime Minister is pushing him forward as a replacement. I think Maxim would be good at it, but right now, we have bigger problems. We have to find my mother, and stop the monster stalking this city. But neither the monster nor my mother may be what we expected. My name is Dr. Maxim os Storm, and I hunt the beasts that haunt the night. I want to marry Chloe more than anything, but first we must find her mother, who vanished years ago under suspicious circumstances. As we investigate, the questions multiply. What creature killed one man and mauled another near the Beast Garden? What is the meaning of the signet ring marked with a face that is half woman, half dragon? Why does the Prime Minister want to thrust the Imperial Crown onto my head? But Chloe’s courage never wavers, no matter what ancient horrors await us. We will find the answers we seek, and face the darkness together.
Jaglion Press 