C Gockel Writes

Featured Fantasy: Magician Apprentice (Riftwar Saga Book 1) by Raymond E. Feist

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Featured Fantasy: Magician Apprentice (Riftwar Saga Book 1) by Raymond E. Feist

$1.99 as of November 8, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US (Full-price: Canada, Australia)

A worthy pupil . . . A dangerous quest

To the forest on the shore of the Kingdom of the Isles, the orphan Pug came to study with the master magician Kulgan. But though his courage won him a place at court and the heart of a lovely Princess, he was ill at ease with the normal ways of wizardry.

Yet Pug’s strange sort of magic would one day change forever the fates of two worlds. For dark beings from another world had opened a rift in the fabric of spacetime to being again the age-old battle between the forces of Order and Chaos.

Praise for Magician: Apprentice

“Totally gripping . . . A fantasy of epic scope, fast-moving action and vivid imagination.”—The Washington Post Book World

“Most exciting . . . A very worthy and absorbing addition to the fantasy field.”—Andre Norton

“The best new fantasty in years . . . has a chance of putting its aughor firmly on the trone next to Tolkien—and keeping him there.”—The Dragon Magazine

Featured Fantasy: Murder Above the Fold (Mag and Clara Balefire Mysteries Book 1) by ReGina Welling & Erin Lynn

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Featured Fantasy: Murder Above the Fold (Mag and Clara Balefire Mysteries Book 1) by ReGina Welling & Erin Lynn

FREE as of November 8, 2025
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New town, fresh start… and one very dead welcome wagon.

Mag and Clara Balefire thought moving to Harmony, Maine would mean quiet mornings, fewer magical mishaps, and maybe—just maybe—time to actually run their antique and apothecary shop, Balms and Bygones, without supernatural drama.

They were spectacularly wrong.

When a dead body turns up among the vintage furniture, the local police shrug it off as a tragic accident. But the Balefire sisters didn’t become two of the strongest witches in their bloodline by ignoring their instincts. Something about this death reeks of murder, and it’s not just their enhanced magical senses talking.

Determined to uncover the truth, Mag and Clara dive into Harmony’s deceptively placid waters—only to discover that their picturesque new home harbors secrets darker than a moonless night. Between dodging the machinations of power-hungry coven leader Hagatha Crow and trying to keep their magical abilities under wraps, the sisters must solve their first Harmony mystery before the killer decides to permanently close their shop.

Welcome to small-town life, witch style. The body count is already climbing.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Finally, witches who feel like real people! Mag and Clara’s banter had me cracking up even during the murder scenes. Can’t wait for the next one!”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Perfect blend of magic and mystery without being too cutesy. These sisters know how to handle both spells and suspects—loved every page!”

Featured Fantasy: Urban Magick & Folklore Series by C. Gockel

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Featured Fantasy: Urban Magick & Folklore Series by C. Gockel

Start the series FREE (Book 2 only $2.99)
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Once upon a future-time, in a city of steel, concrete, and Magick, a wicked queen trapped a mighty warrior with a curse …

In the tiny village of Somer, far from the city, Cherie knows nothing of the evil spell. Her home is a safe, Magickal place. The Fae travel freely along its roads, Magickal humans and animals are welcome, and everyone is hidden from the Queen’s sight by Jack Frost, the local ghost, who blurs the Queen’s mirror with snow and ice.

But when Jack’s spell begins to crack, the Queen’s eyes fall on Somer. Nothing will keep her from abducting all of Somer’s Magickals, not even a war with the Fae.

To avert a war, save her village–and herself–Cherie strikes a perilous bargain. Aided only by Jack and her own small Magick, she’ll set off on a quest … If she fails, she’ll lose more than her life.

The first two books are retellings of Snow White Rose Red with Urban Magick, plenty of folklore, and a Princess Charming. Perfect for fans of Naomi Novik’s Uprooted and Spinning Silver. Books 3 through 5 are a retelling of Grendel & Beowulf.

Featured Sci-fi: Freedom Fleet Books 1 – 3 by Daniel Arenson

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Featured Sci-fi: Freedom Fleet Books 1 - 3 by Daniel Arenson

99¢ as of November 8, 2025
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What if WWII were fought in space?

From the USA Today bestselling author of Starship Freedom comes Freedom Fleet, a series of military science fiction and alternate history. This box set contains the first three novels.

In 1944, a secret Nazi experiment split the universe in two. In our universe, we won. Hitler died. Freedom prevailed. But in a parallel universe, the Nazis discovered the atom bomb first… and conquered the world. The light of freedom perished, and the Nazi shadow spread across Earth, the solar system, and the stars.

In 2207, a portal opens between our two universes. One universe of freedom. One of tyranny. And through this portal flies the Weltraumwaffe, the space fleet of the Third Reich.

James King was enjoying his retirement. He once commanded the Freedom Fleet, an armada of starships tasked with defending Earth. In his fifty years of service, Admiral King fought many battles. But he never faced anything like this.

He is old. Tired. Battle-worn. But he must don the uniform again. He must lead the Freedom Fleet once more. Or the shadows of our past will swallow us all.

WWII rages again. This time in space. The Freedom Fleet will face off against the Weltraumwaffe. Freedom or tyranny—only one can win.

Featured Fantasy: Fated to Burn (Grid Fae Book 1) by Lilith Darville

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Featured Fantasy: Fated to Burn (Grid Fae Book 1) by Lilith Darville

New Release
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Editor’s Note: I don’t usually share fantasy or sci-fi romance of the spicy variety (the author says the series will be five peppers hot 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ … which I think is the hottest pepper rating.) But the idea of this TWISTY FAE IN F1 was so much fun I had to share!

She sees the impossible. He’s been hiding it for eight centuries.

Xio Valencia’s gift ruined her career at MIT—the ability to see probability threads that predict crashes before they happen. Now she hides in the shadows of Formula One, sending anonymous warnings to save drivers who’ll never know her name.

Until she notices something impossible about Thorne Blackthorn’s lap times.

Thorne has concealed his fae nature for eight hundred years, using probability magic to dominate every circuit. But when a brilliant analyst starts seeing through the glamour—and her scent shatters the binding that’s kept him numb and touch-starved for centuries—his carefully controlled world implodes.

The courts want her eliminated. He’s supposed to obey—he’s killed for them for two centuries. Instead, he claims her as his fated mate, defying his king to keep her alive as they navigate Grand Prix circuits by day and court assassins by night.

Her awakening power could save them both. Or condemn the entire supernatural world to exposure.

He’ll burn the world before he lets them touch her.

One fierce mathematician. One tortured fae enforcer. One impossible choice.

Drive to Survive meets A Court of Thorns and Roses in this scorching, high-heat fated-mates romance featuring a touch-starved antihero, forced proximity, and possessive protection that knows no limits.

Featured Sci-fi: The Sam Gunn Omnibus—Every Story About Sam Gunn and Then Some by Ben Bova

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Featured Sci-fi: The Sam Gunn Omnibus—Every Story About Sam Gunn and Then Some by Ben Bova

99¢ US / $1.99 CA as of November 8, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, Canada

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Seven hundred four pages of sci-fi action. The collected adventures of Sam Gunn, astronaut, explorer, opportunist, and rogue—from a six-time Hugo Award–winning author.

A hero without peer or scruples, Sam Gunn has a nose for trouble, money, and women—though not necessarily in that order. A man with the ego (and stature) of a Napoleon, the business acumen of a P. T. Barnum, and the raging hormones of a teenage boy, Sam is the finest astronaut NASA ever trained . . . and dumped.

But more than money, more than women, Sam Gunn loves justice. (And he really does love money and women.) Whether he’s suing the Pope, helping twin sisters entangled in the “virtual sex” trade, or on trial for his life on charges of interplanetary genocide, you can be sure of one thing: this is one space jockey who’ll meet every challenge with a smile on his lips, an ace up his sleeve . . . and a weapon in his pocket.

Now, for the first time between covers, author Ben Bova presents all the tales of Sam Gunn to date, including three never before collected in book form. Here is the entire chronicle of Sam Gunn, trailblazer and scoundrel, as he scams his way from one end of the Solar System to the other, giving bold new meaning to the term “venture capitalist.”

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