Fiction Writing

I write fiction because I can't help myself. Story is how I interface with the world. I'm not in it for the money. I write books and stories that I want to read, period. They're self-published because I don't want to make compromises to find a broader audience. I want an audience of weirdos, outsiders, and malcontents, like the ones that populate my stories.

Some of the things here are long-form novels and novellas, some are shorter stories. Anything with the "published" tag is available now. Others marked "WIP" are works in progress, or "ARC" can be read as an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Books

Inside Every Circle

FantasyGeneral audiencesPublished

For centuries, the Seven Cities have enjoyed peace and prosperity. Four strangers — a mute scribe, an orphaned prophetess, an elderly politician, and an egomaniacal autocrat — independently pursue glory, fame, and forbidden knowledge as they approach the end of the age. Will their increasingly intertwined paths lead to enduring peace or unspeakable horror?

Evans' imaginative and thought-provoking debut novel is a genre-bending literary fantasy that explores themes of identity, privilege, the quest for meaning, and every person’s struggle to find their own voice and place in the world.

Muglub

FantasyAdventureMiddle Grade (7-11)WIP

Mimlai Honsalee isn’t ready to start learning proper grown-up things. The youngest of two sisters and four brothers, she’s used to not being noticed … and getting to do whatever she pleases.

Most times, you can find Mimlai in the forest, playing with her magical pond-dwelling friends, the muglubs. They’re small and round and greeny-brown, and have their own way of doing absolutely everything. They’re loyal and wise, but happy not to know much about the human world — just like her!

Her best muglub friend Laggy sneaks into to her oldest brother’s wedding to Lindabel, the worst kind of person in the world: a nice pretty lady who sings when she talks and always smells like strawberry pie. Things get messy, and Mimlai gets all the blame.

Down at the pond, she wishes to never grow up. Her muglub friends take her at her word, and by next morning, she’s been turned into one of them! Now she’s on an adeventure to find out how to change back — or if she even wants to.

Behemoth Rising: A Novel of the Recent Future

Sci-FiDystopiaAdultWIP

Constant distraction. People who aren’t people. Work that isn’t work. Death that isn’t death.

Epsilon Naught is a little fish who doesn’t see the deep water he’s in, and Cass, the AI who lives inside his head isn’t about to let on. Something is clearly Very Wrong, with Epsilon, with Cass, the latest data recovery contract, the company and its algorithms — hell, maybe with the whole world.

In this darkly comedic and deeply cynical cyberpunk horror satire, Steel skewers grind culture, “AI,” the media-industrial complex, cryptocurrency, intellectual property law, food chains, supply chains, billionaires, and anything else that comes to an addled mind colonized by a steady stream of intrusive thoughts.

Written under the psuedonym “Ivan Steel”.

Stories

I have a few, I just haven't posted them online anywhere yet. Coming soon!

Talk Back!

The best thing you can possibly do for an author is drop them a line about what you thought of their book. You can contact me on Bluesky if you like. My DMs are open for followers, or just @ me. It's fine. Even if you hated it, I'm happy to engage. I'm not on the other social media sites because I don't care for the feed algorithms.

The second-best things you can do are leaving reviews on online stores or Goodreads, and tell your friends about this cool, weird book you read.