Settle in. Someone will explain the gnomes… eventually.
For fantasy-obsessed readers looking for a palate cleanser with pronounceable names, heroines adult enough to roll with the chaos, ride-or-die friendships, and a world learning that monsters have been people all along.
This includes the dwarves. Yes, Venn, and hobgoblins.
Join the Weirdos' GazetteYay! We survived the apocalypse. Er, we lost electricity and half the world's population.
But hey, we got magic.
Historians are still reeling from learning some ancient mysteries had a perfectly magical explanation.
Waiting a YEAR for the next book in a series is rough. We get it.
Maybe we can help fill the gap. Our vibe...
Life-affirming Contemporary Fantasy • Elemental Magic • Mature Heroine • Comfort, Not Cozy • Ride-or-die Friendships • Mystery of Some Sort • Slow-Burn Romance Across the Series • Requisite Battle Scene at the End • No Vampires or Werewolves
Ten years after the Shift, Earth is still Earth.
For the most part.
Helpful Background That’s a Tad Boring. Aether is an element naturally occurring on other planets out in the vast multiverse. It’s what gives magicborn the ability to “do” magic—the common vernacular for us fantasy-loving folks. When the portals connecting us to those worlds broke open, aether crashed into the elements and gave them agency. They weren’t happy about it, and they let their displeasure be known.
Besides the insane amount of damage to infrastructure like buildings and roads, the Shift also changed our physics. Just enough that all that lovely human technology that made us happy ceased to function. Yeah, no more fast food or malls.
Then What Happened? Well, the visitors from the multiverse, known collectively as the Anû, brought their tech, ingenuity, and community-minded attitude to help us adapt. Set up shop right in downtown Washington, DC. Now? People have adapted. We fill out paperwork, make friends, fall in love, and complain about our neighbors.
Oh, that’s the other thing. We’ve had to redefine what we mean by “people” now that our friends, coworkers, and neighbors happen to be dwarves, orcs, dragons, hobgoblins, and other people humanity used to think were myths.
Magic has worked its way into everyday life, and everyone is figuring out what normal looks like now. There’s work to be done, and we’ve all had to roll our sleeves up and get on with life.
That Sounds Like a Lot! It is, really. Unfortunately, none of the changes have made bad people suddenly good or made strange things stop happening. Most days, though, people go to work then hang out with friends afterward. Turns out, apocalypse or no, life goes on.
Welcome to Where Magic Settles.
The Snowglobe Conspiracy
Book 1 of Where Magic Settles
Explaining I heard the wood screaming in my mind was a good way to get locked in the loony bin.
Hedy Parker arrives in Washington, DC, a city run entirely on magic, to learn about the abilities she can’t control. Immersing herself in this melting pot community of humans and formerly mythical creatures is a process, but she’s game.
Until she stumbles over the shriveled-up corpse with a shattered magical snowglobe nearby.
The wooden base is screaming, and only she can hear it because Hedy can feel the emotions and intentions of trees.
As the body count rises, each with a snowglobe, Hedy goes in search of answers to questions no one else is asking. What she finds instead is a snazzy hobgoblin who can’t effectively plot without sandwiches. Together, they uncover a conspiracy that could kick off the next apocalypse. Unfortunately, Hedy is a little too familiar with how easy they are to start… having caused the last one.
The Snowglobe Conspiracy is a contemporary fantasy where the monsters have day jobs, the bad guys never win, and finding your ride-or-die people might just save the world.
P.S. Book 1 introduces Fenlo, an adorable gnome specializing in chaos.
The Artifact Cascade | Book 2
Public Service Announcement: Imps are thugs.
Hedy is happily building a life in her new house. It’s powered by dwarven tech. Or will be, if Torin and Fenlo can stop blowing holes in the floors and walls.
As part of her “Get A Life” project, she’s building Parker Boxes in her latest attempt to find her “thing.” Each wooden box is bigger on the inside thanks to her newfound magical abilities. Everyone loves them. She can’t make them fast enough.
Who would have thought such a simple project could possibly level Washington, DC to the ground? Technically, though, it’s not Hedy’s fault.
It was the imps.
Check out what the weirdos are up to.
News, questionable interviews, and occasional evidence that the gnomes remain unsupervised.
Already one of us? Read past issues.
About Tina
Tina Scogin lives in Virginia, where she spends her days in operations bringing together people with very different personalities, perspectives, and priorities to solve complex problems. This may explain why her fictional worlds are also populated by groups of wildly different people attempting to solve complex problems. Hers just have hobgoblins and orcs.
In her free time, Tina keeps her head buried in a variety of fantasy and science fiction worlds. Some say too many. All agree too much. She argues these are her friends now. No amount of explaining reality versus fiction has swayed her to date. We don’t recommend using the names Doctor Who, World of Warcraft, or Terry Pratchett unless you have some time. Never bring up Star Trek. You’ve been warned.
She also has a lifelong fascination with ancient history and struggles with the fact that some evidence historians and scientists can see and touch still defies a neat explanation. The aforementioned fantasy obsession finally cleared things up for her: obviously, we misunderstood the aliens.
With this clarity, Tina began Where Magic Settles, her adult fantasy series about an unlikely gaggle of grown-up weirdos discovering that life is considerably more interesting together.
When she isn't writing, Tina can usually be found researching something completely unrelated to whatever she was supposed to be doing. Interventions are currently being planned to address her insatiable need to question everything.
Her debut novel, The Snowglobe Conspiracy, is the first book in the Where Magic Settles series.
Her writing is supervised by Lola, whose plot remediation plans remain suspiciously treat-dependent.
The gnomes are under control.
Probably.