Enter the World of Blightshade
Watch your footing. The woods are treacherous
In this newsletter…
✨ Enter the World of Blightshade
✨ Living in Veil
✨ Dark Fantasy Freebies and New Books for a New Year
Source: Alison Wright Artistry
Enter the World of Blightshade
Clutched in the roots of an ancient forest lies the city of Veil—a modern witch society where the lines between the magical and mundane run thin.
Ivy consumes the university of Veil where students mix Charging potions into their energy drinks to survive all-nighters. Blooming moss grows thick on the hospital where Healers and Doctors work side by side. Spell components flower from the cracks in the sidewalk and magic blooms in rich, lush manifestations of olive blossoms, hyssop, irises, and lily of the valley.
But strange things lurk in the dark
Beyond the city limits, spirits haunt the forest, monsters make their homes in the earth, and a power beyond measure pulses from the heart of the woods.
As a Curse Crafter, Lorne Atwater doesn’t belong among other witches. He doesn’t even belong in his own family. His magic is rare and unwelcomed, and a mysterious blight only makes him more volatile. Terrified of rejection, Lorne isolates himself first and hides in an icy shell of perfection.
But the blight is rotting him out.
Finding a cure will force Lorne to accept the magic he’s despised, face the relationships he’s severed, and expose just how deep the rot runs.
Blightshade will launch on February 25, 2025 but pre-orders are incredibly important! When you order prior to launch, you help an independent author gain crucial visibility in an algorithm-driven market.
Living in Veil
The world of Blightshade was an absolute joy to create because no one could stop me from making the fantasy world I would want to live in.
✨A modern city enmeshed with a living forest
✨A magic system built around flower language
✨A world where every shop and street corner was jam-packed with all the beauty, magic, and macabre little trinkets I always wish I could find
Personally, I would be a Glamour witch, living in an old Church District apartment with vinca vine absolutely carpeting my balcony. Wanna see where you fit in the world of Blightshade?
Special thanks to LuckyMaggiePie (on X, Instagram, and Tiktok) who did the beautiful sketches of the city of Veil in all its charming, overgrown glory. Mags is currently a part of an all-queer, entirely homebrewed DND podcast called Mystic Muses. If that sounds up your alley, check it out @MysticMusesDND!
Blightshade is seeking reviewers!
Want to be a part of the launch? I am sending out Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) in exchange for reviews. This will involve reading Blightshade (92k words) by February 25th and leaving your honest feedback on the day of the launch. If you want to be a part of the review team, send me a message on Substack or email me at AlisonWrightArtistry@gmail.com with the subject line ‘Review team’ and introduce yourself!
Want a sneak peak of Blightshade?
You can grab the first chapter for free in the Dark Fantasy Freebies book bundle.
While you’re in there, you might find other favorites like…
🖤Elegy of Flesh and Blood, where the last free city faces annihilation by an army of stone automatons and a teenage addict must step up as its unlikely savior.
🖤Death Reckoning, where mortals wage war using the power of dead gods.
🖤Yelena & Yelena, where a woman falsely accused of sorcery must leave home to find the source of the fungal rot plaguing her village and prove her innocence.
Looking for something new?
You can find the first chapter of Blightshade or my short story, Multiplicitii in the New Books for a New Year bundle.
Find other brand new reads like…
✨Cinderella’s Deal, where a sorceress offers Cinderella a way to take back the life her stepmother stole from her, if she’s up for it…
✨ Forevermore, where three vampires are bound by a shared destiny facing a growing threat in the dark and wild Louisiana bayou.
✨ Indestructible, a short story collection where a girl ventures into the mountains to kill a king, a seer counts down the days until his own death and an unfortunate pedestrian falls prey to an unexpected type of siren.
Gosh I love me a good map for my stories!!!!! And I am so in love with those sketches!!!!!! Nothing like a bunch of plants swarming my balcony to get me immersed in the magical world of blightshade!!!!!