James A. Hunter

Vigil's Justice - ARC is HERE!

Hey everyone! Here is the complete book 1 ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) all nice and formatted and ready to be read on your preferred device. Just click the link below, download your copy and give it a read if you haven't already. Please let me know what you think in the comments.

Also, for those who might be interested, I'm hard at work on book 2, Vigil's Valor. I'm about 30k words in (twelve chapters) and plan to start posting next week on Tuesdays and Thursday (and maybe Saturdays, we'l...

Vigil's Justice: 40 - Afterparty

We partied for two days straight. We used Gustav’s manor, his booze, his food, and his quarters. The whole town was invited. Everyone except the snooty turds that called Pithom Row home. They had to sit inside their sprawling estates and watch the rager of the century while the poor, needy, and hungry streamed into their pristine neighborhood. They stewed in silence, watching while working men and women drank the rarest of Gustav’s private wine collection from gold chalices and crystal fl...

Vigil's Justice: 39 - Just Rewards

I pulled a small golden marble from the pouch at my belt. It thrummed with a soft but potent power. The True Form Transformation Token. I knew exactly what kind of monster Annelli was—it was time she found out what kind of monster I was.

“You fucked around,” I said, clasping the marble in my fist. “Now you’re gonna find out.” I squeezed down and consumed the token. A wild, chaotic blast of energy surged through me, racing along every inch of skin, every fiber of muscle.

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Nine

A NEW SHADOWCROFT CHAPTER EVERY MONDAY!

Logan walked out onto the balcony of the Arena Suprema’s party room which overlooked the arena itself. He needed a break from the press of bodies and the unrelenting clamor of voices, which was loud even without the booming beat of the music.

The headmaster of Saudrian’s School of Guardians, turned out to be a sentient squid bard, named Vos Mynih, who played the drums with impeccable rhythm and impossibly good timing. No...

Vigil's Justice: 38 - Rematch

The Hexblight was fast—too damned fast, given its size—and thrust a meaty hand forward, summoning a shimmering dome of arcane light, which easily absorbed my enchanted round.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” Annelli snarled in defiance, a vicious smile spreading across her beautiful lips.

“No shit, Sherlock. Cal, now!” I bellowed.

My spectral partner in crime materialized from the mouth of a connecting alleyway and consumed the Transformation Token in his ...

Vigil's Justice: 37 - The Reveal

It was full dark by the time I was ready to rock and roll. A small army of town guards, led by Commander Arendu were secreted away in every shop, home, and tavern inside a half mile radius of the Three Chimneys. Across the street from me a curtain fluttered and I caught the uneasy face of a guardsman clutching a spear to his chest. They were nervous. Frightened. I couldn’t blame them. They were waiting on my command to flood into the surrounding streets and alleyways.

They weren’t h...

Vigil's Justice: 36 - Connecting the Dots

“It was all right here,” Arturo said, a manic grin stretching across his face as I walked into his private living quarters. The room was a mess—liquor bottles laying everywhere, crumpled balls of parchment piling up in the corners. The Padre didn’t look any better than his room. There were deep bags under his eyes, his hair was a greasy tangle, his clothes rumpled, and his beard unkempt. He looked like a Marine who just spent a long weekend partying hard on Liberty in Thailand. He tap...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Eight

A NEW SHADOWCROFT CHAPTER EVERY MONDAY!

It was two weeks later when Professor Suresh took the Ninth Circle into the Tartarucha Cells to prepare for the upcoming Crucible. Logan and the rest of the class were left alone in one of the normal classrooms with two big crates, one marked for the First Cohort and one marked for the Terrible Twelfth.

They’d seen Weavelord on campus, now and again, accompanied by other auditors. They weren’t the only visitors trickling...

Vigil's Justice: 35 - Waiting Game

The next five days passed in a hazy blur, tension and fear slowly building in the air of Ironmoor. The creature was coming. Everyone knew it from the meanest street urchin to the folks hiding behind the locked doors of Pithom Row. We all knew it. And there was nothing any of us could do to stop it. Not even me. I jumped feet first into my Vigil training. I was still no closer to figuring out who was beneath the mask, but at least I wouldn’t be an easy target when we squared off next time. A...

Vigil's Justice: 34 - Confessional

There was a flash of movement in my peripheral vision. I slammed the hidden compartment shut while simultaneously searching for a pool of shadows to blend into.

False alarm. It was only Cal.

The shade stepped through one of the bookcases, a wide grin on his face.

“You okay, dude?” he asked, sounding genuinely concerned. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” A slow smile spread across his lips at the stupid pun.

“That was bad and you should feel bad for sayin...

Vigil's Justice: 33 - Breaking and Entering

“You’re on interference,” I growled into Arturo’s ear, “I can’t afford to get pinned down by Gutav or Stigge.”

The Magistrate was sweeping toward me, a false smile plastered onto his face. Arturo was already on it. This was a different kind of battlefield than what I was used to, but thankfully the priest seemed as comfortable here as he did brandishing a war staff against Stone Spiders. He squared his shoulders and slipped past various ball goers, patting arms here, shaki...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Seven

A NEW SHADOWCROFT CHAPTER EVERY MONDAY!

Logan and the Terrible Twelfth hurried through the root ceilings and muddy paths of the Cruelwood Dungeon. They were running a bit late to thaeir Tournament class, but so far, it had only been Professor Suresh going over his biography. They’d had six classes in total, and each of them focused on one of his many titles; so far they’d discussed Suresh the Merciless, the Cunning, the Bloodthirsty, the Magnificent, the Se...

Vigil's Justice: 32 - Party Crashers

Arturo and I milled around the chapel for most of the day, comparing notes and talking over theories. Even after a few hours of going over our suspect list, we didn’t know anything more than we had the night before. The monster on the loose wasn’t an Elder Changeling, but a Githrokh, which had been locked up deep within the earth before a bunch of greedy miners had accidentally busted the lock on its cell. We also knew that the Hexblight attacked approximately every two weeks—t...

Vigil's Justice: 31 – Re-Spec

The rest of the trek back into town was uneventful, and eventually we split ways. Cal retired to the Etheric Realm to recuperate. Arturo headed over to the chapel to get shitfaced—no surprise there. Renholm hauled ass into the night, probably looking to loot the town or score some alone time with his blue sprite friend. So long as he didn’t score in my room or on top of my stuff, I couldn’t care less. As for me, I made my way to the Three Chimneys, ready for a hot meal, a hot bath, and ...

Vigil's Justice: 30 - The Bannermen

I stowed all of my newly acquired items in my Soul Vault—thank the Good Lord Almighty for Fae Tether—then we dragged our tired asses out of the cave. We didn’t talk much as we navigated the warren of passageways back to the surface. Other than Renholm. The stupid murder parrot talked enough for the rest of us combined, rambling on and on and on about our new “seat of power” and how much more awesome the Greenbriar Court was than the Oblivion Court and how jealous Jeff was going to b...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Six

A NEW SHADOWCROFT CHAPTER EVERY MONDAY!

“You’re not serious, Marko, are you?” Inga stopped in the middle of the stony corridor on their way to their next class, Cruelty Incorporated: The Business of Destruction.

Marko shrugged. “What? You can’t be mad that I didn’t take your suggestion on my elective. I’m liking our alchemy class. I just wanted something a bit different, ya know?”

Logan took that moment to retrieve the ball of twine ...

Vigil's Justice: 29 - Royalty

“Might be best if you hang back, padre,” I whispered, while pressed up against the unnaturally smooth stone wall. I stole a peek around the corner. The gloom was hard to penetrate even with my enhanced vision, but I could see an enormous shape in the center of the cavern beyond. We’d found the queen bee alright. “I’m thinking things might get pretty ugly on the other side.”

Arturo shrugged, unconcerned. “I’m sure I’ve seen worse. Besides, this is all part and parcel of...

Vigil's Justice: 28 - Mask-Shaped Clue

“I think I’m going to need a drink,” Arturo said as we squeezed our way through the crevice and into a chamber beyond. Unlike the rough limestone walls that comprised the rest of the cave system, the chamber was crafted of expertly cut gray stone blocks. Glowing red sigils and bloody runes covered the floors, ceilings, and walls. The odd jagged script swam in my vision and even with my Tongue of the Cosmos ability, I couldn’t make out what it said.

A deformed and desiccated body...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Five

A NEW SHADOWCROFT CHAPTER EVERY MONDAY!

Hiro “Hardclaw” Shirazi had known the truth about dungeons, dungeon cores, and Apothos ever since he’d first joined the dungeoneering guild. Hardclaw was a Ferox, a cat man, from far-off Kitterxob. He’d had a happy childhood until his parents died running a local thunder lizard’s dungeon.

Hardclaw had sworn revenge, but he’d been a relatively weak cultivator, so he’d teamed up with a mysterious team of raiders ...

Vigil's Justice: 27 - Stone Spiders

The heavy iron gate was clearly designed to keep the Stone Spiders in, not the miners out, and though the lock was beefy, it wasn’t made to stand up against a Soul Bound mace. One hard swing smashed the clasp and granted us access to the restricted area. The tunnel twisted and turned this way then that. At first, it was shrouded in a deep gloom, dispelled only by the flickering torch light Arturo carried. But after minute, the ground slopped down and the gloom gave way to a ghostly biolumin...

Vigil's Justice: 26 - Into the Dark

Arturo was about as happy as a wet hen about my decision to head into the mines, but I was the holy Vigil, summoned by the god he revered, which made me the de facto shot caller. Renholm on the other hand was a prissy little dickhead and refused to venture into the tunnels without his furball friend, which is how I wound up with a grumpy cat the size of a small dog clinging to my shoulder—his tail, swishing all up in my grill—while I clambered hand over foot down a set of iron rungs, set ...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Four

A NEW SHADOWCROFT CHAPTER EVERY MONDAY!

Logan decided to do some decorating before the real work of the schoolyear began. It was always important to have a space just for yourself, especially after a long day of classes and brutal cultivation.

He added God’s Eye Caps, a fungal growth used in Core purifying elixirs. It gave his cozy quarters a nice blue glow from the bioluminescent spores. He also filled the corners with Ashvein, a mushroom that could be used as ...

Vigil's Justice: 25 - Brews and Clues

I blinked against the glaringly bright light streaming in through the stained-glass windows of the chapel.

Arturo was waiting for me, looking haggard and even worse for the wear than I did. He wasn’t the only one hanging around for my arrival. The orange tabby from the night before was sitting in a pool of sunlight, flicking his tail and purring contentedly. Lounging on the cat’s side, hands laced behind his tiny head, was Renholm. Cal was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn’t entir...

Fresh Shadow Alley Art — Comin' At You!

One of the things I love the most about running Shadow Alley is all the awesome art I get to commission for all of the amazing books we produce. J.D. Astra (author of VGO Firebrand and Bastion Academy) has a new trilogy of novellas coming out this year (the audiobooks will be free through the Audible Plus Catalog!) and I wanted to share the first awesome cover for Monster Haven 1, Reluctant Dungeon! Absolutely love the way this one turned out. What do y'all think?   

Vigil's Justice: 24 - Soulsmith

I grabbed my hobo sack, slung it across my back once more, and crawled into the Forge. I could practically hear Drill Instructor Screw Y’All thundering at me to keep my chin up and my ass down, “Don’t want to take a bullet to the spine, do ya Recruit?” Turned out buildings to the spine weren’t any better.

The Forge itself had glossy onyx walls on every side and a host of benches, tables, and tools. A huge portion of the room was taken up by a crystalline forge with an...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Three

A NEW SHADOWCROFT CHAPTER EVERY MONDAY!

At the welcome dinner that night, Logan and the Terrible Twelfth sat at their usual table near the back of the Golden Serpent Hall, which offered them a great view of all the incoming Freshman. There were some tragedies there. The Threshing had been especially cruel that year.

Logan didn’t much care about the food being served. Marko had found a Wayfarer Inn breakfast burrito at the bottom of his suitcase and Logan had tos...

Vigil's Justice: 23 - After Action

I woke up to Arturo slapping me across the face. I reluctantly blinked my eyes open and squinted against the glare of orange candlelight from the chapel’s chandelier. I groaned and immediately wished Arturo had just let me die in peace. That monster had pulped my nose and it honest to god felt like I’d taken another frag grenade to the gut. Even worse than the pain was the absolute lack of feeling in my legs.

“Thank the gods you’re not dead,” Arturo said, staring down into my ...

Rogue Dungeon 6 - Celestial Citadel Art!

That's right, folks! Rogue Dungeon 6, Celestial Citadel, is finally done and we even have art for it! I couldn't be happier with the way this awesome piece of art turned out. Seriously, it looks incredible. More good news, the book itself will be dropping in the next three weeks and, best of all, Patrons at the $10 level are going to all be getting an advance copy this Friday! This is the last book in the series. I have to admit, it feels a little sad to see it coming to an end, but I'm thril...

Vigil's Justice - Part 1 of 2

Hey everyone! I've been working my butt off to get Vigil's Justice fixed up and ready to go and I'm happy to say it's FINALLY finished. I'm also pretty happy with how it turned out. With that said, I'd love to get some feedback on it. 

Launching a new book (and a new series) is always daunting and this one has me feelin' pretty nervous--probably because I've wrapped up VGO and the final book in Rogue Dungeon drops in just a few weeks. 

Anyhow, here's the first half of th...

Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Two

A NEW SHADOWCROFT CHAPTER EVERY MONDAY!

CHAPTER TWO:

Logan swiped a fresh cup of coffee from one of Treac’s walking steampunk trays. He was pretty sure those powdered-sugar dough rings wouldn’t rot—there were enough preservatives to keep even his mold from taking hold—so he’d have to find something else for his digestion pit under his bed.

He glanced Inga, eyes darting toward binder stuffed full of papers on her lap. What was that ...