Novels and story collections by Geoff Hart

All novels and collections are now available for purchase.

Now available

Jester (January 2010, revised 2nd ed. August 2020)

It’s been two centuries since the Exodus, during which humans fled across a great ocean to escape the magical catastrophe that destroyed their old world. In the new world, they’ve begun to rebuild their civilization, but in a world where magic has been banned to prevent recurrence of that disaster. Morley, a dwarf, has found precarious safety as the court jester in Ankur. But safety is not acceptance, and he’s at best shunned, feared and tormented at worst. When a mysterious sorcerer offers Morley a chance to be normal, he accepts without hesitation. But powerful magic always carries a price, and Morley finds the payback may be far costlier than he’d expected—it may even cost him his world. In this sequel to Chords, we learn more of the history of the post-Exodus world, what the true stakes are should magic re-enter the world, and what price Morley is willing to pay for acceptance.

Chords (January 2010, revised 2nd ed. July 2020)

War’s afoot! The kingdom of Amelior has invaded the Eastcountry, and many have been caught up in their invasion—including Bram, a former Ameliorite knight, and Gareth, a mercenary. But magic’s also afoot, in the form of a mysterious bard from the days before the exodus that brought humans to these new lands. Where his music is heard, death soon follows. Thrown together by circumstances, Bram and Gareth are forced to work together to help the Eastcountry stem Amelior’s advance. But Bram’s past has followed him, and he’ll need Gareth’s help to defeat the ancient magic that’s following in his wake. On the surface, this is a familiar tale of friendship in a time of war. But Chords uses the story of Margrethe, their companion, to reveal what the male narrators neglect to tell us, thereby shedding new light on an old tale.

A "young adult" fantasy novel; that is, one with teenage protagonists but not dumbed down because of it. In the story world, there has traditionally been a truce between Light, the prevailing force of stability, and Shadow, a force of change and dynamism and possibly even chaos—but not in the clichéd sense of "evil" (pronounced with a dramatically drawn out initial "eeeeee"). Light predominates where humans live; at some distance from these areas lie regions of Shadow. Powerful and poorly understood forces cause humans who enter Shadow to change as fluidly as shadows seem to transform in a campfire's dancing light. Those who have acquired some understanding of Shadow can harness that energy; for example, a hunter might choose to become a wolf, at the risk of forgetting their humanity if they retain that form too long. Amodai, our protagonist,is one of a small group of Rangers who have been trained to safely enter areas of Shadow, retaining their humanity or taking on the form of any forest animal without losing that humanity. Their responsibility is to watch for and deal with any creatures of Shadow that might threaten their isolated village. The freedom of Shadow is intoxicating, and spending time in Shadow is far more interesting than mundane duties such as retrieving strayed livestock and hunting for food. As the story begins, travelers between villages have grown few, and Shadow seems to be encroaching on the areas of Light. Can Amodai and his fellow Rangers cope with this potential threat to their way of life?

A Higher Power and Other Stories (January 2012, revised 2nd ed. July 2020)

A collection of the 17 short stories and one longer piece that I published online before 2012.