Long title banners
https://ashandblue.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-Artboard-1500.png

Ash & Blue is a long-term urban fantasy serial project.

We love describing it as "Men in Black, but fantasy", and it takes inspiration from an array that stretches from fairy tales to The Matrix.

The world is vast, and contains everything from undead mermaids to blazing-fast fairy internet, and from anti-magic memes to restaurants in living trees.

It's a story of finding new family, of being brave enough to make new friends, and learning to be gentle with yourself.

We'd love for you to come and join us.

The Story

An Angel Adopts a Nerd.

Stef Mimosa doesn't remember dying as a child, it's always just been a strange dream of drowning and darkness. What she does remember is the angel who saved her.

Agent Ryan never thought Stef would remember him. Agents are designed to fade into the background, to do their duty and move on without making too many ripples.

Stef's a messy little ripple he never expected. A recruit who can't keep her shoes clean for half an hour, but attentive to every detail and fact about magic that he can impart.

In a world where magic and tech play in harmony, an angel and a loner might be the family each other needed.

Stormy Sto Helit - Copy

Mental Health

We strive to deliver realistic depictions of various mental health issues, and we like showing our characters make progress - something that's never linear - and cherishing their small victories as they achieve them.

Something as simple as getting through a conversation without wanting to run can be something to celebrate.

Stormy says: I wanted to show off characters who have mental health issues without it being brushed off as "quirky" or something that's dealt with after one special episode.

I wanted Stef to be someone beyond excited to discover magic, but be second-guessing her worthiness to be part of the Agency.

And then to be assured that she doesn't need to be perfect to belong. That she's got a place, even if she disassociates during a meeting, goes non-verbal from stress, or gets distracted with an internal conversation.

Her journey is one of realising she has value, and showing all the small steps it takes to get there.

By the same token, she's not the only one. Everyone in the Queen Street branch of the Agency has got their own problems. And all of them will grow and change over the course of the series.

No one gets "fixed", because that's not how it works, but things can and do get better.

We also have a chapter-by-chapter set of content warnings for Mirrorfall available here.

Queer Characters

We have a joke that in our main cast, we've got one straight guy (Curt), and...that's pretty much the truth.

The overwhelming majority of both our main and secondary/reoccurring cast are queer - and all at various stages of their journeys.

Some are already out and have been for years (like Magnolia), and others come out during the course of the series (like Stef).

We've got pretty much the entire rainbow covered, including ace characters, bi characters, gay characters, and genderfluid characters.

Stormy Sto Helit
Stormy Sto Helit 2

Everyone is their own Protagonist

While Stef is our introduction to the world and the series, she's not the only point of view we hear from. Other characters get to share their stories and opinions, allowing a fuller vision of the world, as you can't always see the full truth from one angle.

We love our main cast as well as our secondary cast, and try to breathe as much life into them as possible - knowing that they lead their own full lives, even when we can't see them.

This manifests in two ways - the first, currently-available short stories from perspectives like Curt and Mags (who, while main cast, tend to get less chapters than Stef and Ryan), to supporting characters like Screen.

Stormy says: I need to stop commissioning art of Screen. But she's so adorable.

The second are books planned for later in the series where we will switch the primary points of view, Book #5, for example, will have Magnolia as the primary point of view.

It's going to be a long series, and we've got a lot of stories to tell.

Long title banners (1)

We're happy to offer review copies to anyone who requests them. By default, we send Kindle/mobi and ePub (though if you need other formats, feel free to ask).

To get your copy of Mirrorfall (or Mirrorheart, if you've reviewed Mirrorfall already), simply email us, or fill in the form below.

Author