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Slayers of Old is Out Today!

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It’s New Book Day, my second of 2025! Today marks the release of SLAYERS OF OLD. This is a standalone contemporary fantasy, pitched as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Golden Girls.”

Cover art for Slayers of Old, showing an old man with a cane and a cat with tentacles and extra eyeballs.

Jenny Winter is our slayer-type character, a retired Hunter of Artemis who now helps to run Second Life Books in Salem, Massachusetts, along with half-succubus and former private investigator Annette and 99-year-old wizard and part-time baker Temple Finn. From the publisher’s description:

“A calm, peaceful, tourist-filled oasis, where they never have to worry about saving the world. Until some of the locals start summoning ancient creatures best left where they were . . . and they discover their bookstore basement just may be the portal to the underworld. These ex-heroes may have thought they were done . . . but if they want to finish their retirement in peace, they’ll have to join together to save the world one last time.

Why leave saving the world to the young? Cozy mystery readers looking for an extra dash of magic will eat this story up: fun, funny, and heartwarming, it’s a novel about community, second chances, and the healing power of scones.”

This one was a lot of fun to write, and there’s been a good amount of early buzz. People seem especially fond of Squidward, the cat pictured on the cover. And I love the friendships of Jenny, Annette, and Temple.

The audio book will be available in mid-December. You can order (or pre-order) from your local bookstore or any of these links:

Amazon picked it as one of their Best SF/F releases of October, which was pretty cool.

If you’re in the Michigan area, I’ll be reading and chatting and signing at Kazoo Books in Kalamazoo this Saturday at 1 p.m., and I’ll be signing books at Schuler Books in Okemos on Nov. 22 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this book happen, including my agent Joshua, editor Navah, and my wife Jen, who came up with the title.

I hope you all enjoy it.

I’ll close with a sampling of people saying nice things.

“…a delightful, somewhat cozy fantasy with a fast pace and snappy supporting characters, both human and supernatural.”

–Library Journal

“Highlighting the best of two trends—the blending of dark fantasy with the cozy and the
appeal of the mature protagonist—Slayers of Old will open a portal to new worlds for a wide
swath of readers.”

–Booklist

“An instant classic and most highly recommended!”

–Julie E. Czerneda, Author of the Night’s Edge series

“I just absolutely fell in love with this found family that is so fiercely protective of each other and keeps adding new members.”

–Not Just Fiction