Tales of the Fractured Realms
A Horror/Dark Fantasy Cosmology
The Fractured Realms is my own fictional cosmology from which I plan to create numerous tales of supernatural horror and dark fantasy, many of them tied together, some more loosely than others. The basic concept is presented in the poem below which will be reprinted at the beginning of all Fractured Realms collections:
The eleven known realms once were sealed
Until the fractures were revealed
Now, portals and fissures provide the way
For those who strive for their further decay
Humans as they are, as they were, and as they may become
Collide in new Between Realms, undone
And Those Who Should Not Pass
Embark on journeys of chaos and disunity
They desire the Unmaking and
Their greatest defense is our disbelief
Ages come and go, legends fade
And most die away in time
But we must take heed of the
Tales of the Fractured Realms
For in them lies the key to our survival
Tales Already Published in
“On the Verge of Madness”
The novella, “Victor Chaldean and the Portal” is the first in a series of three novellas to feature the title character. Victor’s story begins as a simple quest to find his missing wife, and his journey to the eventual solving of that mystery also introduces him to a realm called Shinneh-Sirrah, a region that lies between our own and others, and a place filled with the restless dead and other dangerous beings that travel through the fractured realms.
While this novella provides a resolution of sorts in the solving of his wife’s murder, there are many loose ends caused by the story’s climax and these will be further developed in the second novella, “Victor Chaldean In and Out of Phase,” to be included in my next collection, “Silhouette of Darkness.”
“The Chronicles of Raven: Part One: Murmurers” introduces Raven. He lives in an alternate future. Bitter and weary from serving in the last three world wars, he wanders an earth that growing larger and more empty of humans every day.
An inexplicable event called The Turning suddenly removed a vast amount of the earth’s human population and, without law and order, the worst aspects of human nature have generally ruled among those left behind. Battling mysterious creatures called Murmurers as well as his own inner demons and just about everyone he meets in his wanderings, Raven rescues a young woman from violation and they travel together.
This story, like “Victor Chaldean and the Portal” is largely an introduction to Raven’s character and his strange world. The concepts of the fractured realms are only hinted at in both stories, yet the seeds are sown.
In “The Chronicles of Raven Part Two: It’s Like Flipping a Coin,” also to be included in “Silhouette of Darkness,” there will be many more revelations regarding the fractured realms. There will be at least four Raven stories.
An excerpt from the novella and the entire text of “Murmurers” are available in my den.
Plans for Future Tales
Beginning with these sequels, the Fractured Realms will more overtly enter the realm of dark fantasy, but there will still be plenty of dark and dreadful elements to place them in the arena of horror as well. The second installments of these two series will introduce several new characters and elements of the overall concept of The Tales of the Fractured Realms.
There will be a third Fractured Realms entry in “Silhouette of Darkness,” a standalone tale that will illustrate how versatile this cosmology can be with plenty of realms and characters to draw from. Still untitled, this story giving me a chance to write about a huge and ominous haunted house, and I hope it proves as fun to read as it has been to write. The only teaser I will offer is the house, or more specifically the entity within, has devoured many humans at different points in time and now they are trying to find a way out together.
Aside from these Fractured Realms tales, “Silhouette of Darkness” will contain at least six more stories with an overall theme of restless spirits and haunted places.
Two of these stories, “Belong” and “The Blues in A minor” are available in my den.
By the end of the summer, I plan to have a “Silhouette of Darkness Preview” in print. This will include a longer article regarding The Fractured Realms, excerpts from the three Fractured Realms tales, “Belong,” “The Blues in A minor” and two more stories, one of which will only be available in the preview.
My third collection will be entirely devoted to The Tales of the Fractured Realms. In the third Victor Chaldean novella and Parts Three and Four of The Chronicles of Raven, it will become apparent that all the tales are more inter-related than readers may have expected. To say anymore would spoil the surprises.
Thanks for your interest
George Wilhite
