When a ghostwalker is killed by arcane means, one word echoes through the ginnels of York…
W I T C H C R A F T
Arcane archivist Harper has always been plagued by dreams of grotesque creatures and bloody deaths.
Only her foster-sister knows her secret since any taint of witchcraft could get her hanged.
Plagued by guilt after she ignores her vision of the ghostwalker’s death and determined to let no one else die,
human or supernatural, Harper forms a team to stop the killing on both sides.
Along with her Christian, demon-hunting sister; a Muslim forensic scientist; the deception demon she accidentally summoned;
a techno-witch, and a shapeshifting cat, Harper must find a balance before humans and supernaturals destroy each other.
The Seer of York books are folkloric fantasy set in a dark, alternate York. With found family, Gothic dark academia vibes, and supernatural creatures, this series will appeal to fans of books by Leigh Bardugo, Philip Pullman, and V.E. Schwab, and of TV series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and True Blood.
Purchase a Signed Edition of The Hiding or Reawakening, or buy bookish swag via my Ko-fi.*
*Books are UK only due to postage. Swag can be posted internationally except potentially to the USA. Please contact me with any queries before purchasing.
QUERYING
LEGEND OF THE BARD previously sold to Northodox Press for publication in June 2026. Northodox have recently made the decision to close at the end of 2025 with all rights reverting to their authors.
LEGEND OF THE BARD
In a world where music can reshape reality,
one voice may hold the key to salvation or destruction.
Amateur musician William O’Shaughnessy (he/him) blames the country’s choking pollution and constant war on tech dependency and the rich-poor divide. Increasingly, he feels like the only empathetic voice in a sea of AI homogenised lies. Caught in the familiar claws of depression, Will searches for solace in an old-fashioned library. Instead, reality unravels further when a statue speaks to him, claiming to be an imprisoned muse, and a haunting book of folk music dredges up macabre visions of long-banished magic.
Fleeing delirium, or so he thinks, he finds Legend (ze/she). Secretive yet mesmerising, the tealeaf-reading elven hacker also shouldn’t exist. Ze claims Will has an innate power never before seen in a human: the rare and coveted music magic that left him open to the muse’s call. They embark on a quest to release the muse, who promises to reignite humanity’s creativity and empathy. As Will and Legend navigate the treacherous realms of Danu, Faerie, and the In-Between, they find themselves pawns in a centuries-old war between humans and fae. The prize is guardianship of the human realm. Their weapons—a song and a cup of tea.
LEGEND OF THE BARD (112,000 words) is a Queer Adult SFF ‘cyberfae’ novel. It will appeal to fans of the dangerous elven courts and queerness in Faebound by Saara El-Arifi, the capitalist cli-fi stakes of Ian Green’s Extremophile, and the realm-spanning dystopian romance of The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson.
Hi, I’m Alethea!
Alethea Lyons is a queer writer of various types of SFF.
Ze is the author of The Hiding and the Seer of York series published by Brigids Gate Press, and a number of short fiction works published by Eerie River Publishing, Bag of Bones Press, and others. She’s currently querying cyberfae adventure Legend of the Bard.
Alethea is also the British Fantasy Society Event Coordinator for Greater Manchester. Ze lives in Manchester with zir family, a cacophony of stringed instruments, and more tea than ze can drink in a lifetime.