LARA MESSERSMITH-GLAVIN
Book 1 of the Tellers Series
RUINER
due out in March, 2026 from AK Press!
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A political fantasy where storytelling is combat magic and ordinary people must fight against exploitation and environmental destruction.
From AK Press:
"War and physical violence have been rendered obsolete. Now tellers are pitted against each other, spinning tales out of storylight to outmaneuver the other, whether in battle, for glory, or in a bid to stave off poverty and hunger. But the teller must be careful, as a story lost in combat is lost forever—and with it, a part of the teller.​
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RUINER is the first installment of the Tellers series, an epic fantasy of colliding worldviews that demands its fighters draw on all their resources to stop an encroaching extractivist power. Lush and complex, the story wrestles with trauma, the high cost of resistance, and the nature of violence. Lara Messersmith-Glavin’s depiction of strategy and dedication in the face of despair offers us energy for the times ahead."
Advanced Reviews:
“Ambitious…clever and unique. … Readers seeking surprising postapocalyptic fiction will want to check this out.”
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Publisher’s Weekly
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"RUINER ruined me. A magic system like nothing I've ever seen before, and the characters and the story are every bit as fresh and dazzling as the worldbuilding."
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Sam J Miller, Nebula-Award-winning author of Blackfish City
“An intricate spiral staircase of a book that offers a rich invented world, lovingly rendered characters, and a propulsive plot that examines power, play, community bonds, and societal structures…It fascinates from first page to last.”
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Madeline ffitch, author of Stay and Fight
“RUINER is the sort of fantasy I always yearn to find, and find all too rarely. It’s an amazing, beautiful work of imagination focused on the struggles, sorrows and terrors of daily life in a world not ours, a world with strangeness to spare; and yet, through its meticulously built mythos, becomes a lens through which to view our own troubled world. Storylight for finding our way forward.”
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Molly Gloss, award-winning author of The Dazzle of Day, Wild Life, and Unforeseen
“A vivid and unique fantasy world rich with imagination, unforgettable characters, and high-stakes arcs…A thrilling reminder of how all things are shaped by and connected to the power and permeability of storytelling.”
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Tiffany Morris, author of Green Fuse Burning
“RUINER resounds with the power of stories to heal, to wound, to sustain, and to make revolution.”
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Blake Hausman, author of Riding the Trail of Tears
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