Shadowed Sun
Mythic, atmospheric world-building & A visceral, psychological thrill ride.
In the village of Valderakh, time stands still, but the shadows are moving.
Behind the stone walls and locked doors of a village forgotten by the world, an ancient hunger has been waiting for centuries. Ten-year-old Luciana Reznik was raised on the whispered warnings of her elders: never open your window after dark, and never answer the scratching at the glass. In Valderakh, the monsters aren't just stories; they are a legacy carved into the very earth of the Jaska Ravine.
But Luciana is no ordinary child. She is the "fruit of three hundred years of careful planning," a vessel designed for a darkness she doesn't yet understand. When the charismatic and terrifying Mircea steps out of the midnight mist, not only does he want her life.. he also wants her soul to bridge the gap between the living and the eternal.
The nightmare does not end with childhood. Shadowed Sunset follows Luciana's harrowing evolution from a frightened girl into her twenties, as she navigates a world of clandestine Church hunters, ancient noble vampires, and a family secret that dates back generations. As her own blood begins to change, turning her senses into weapons and her hunger into a curse, Luciana faces a choice: succumb to the intoxicating freedom of the night or fight to remain human in a place where the sun has already set.
The harvest has begun.
"Valderakh is a masterpiece of folk horror, but Luciana is the heart of the story. Her journey into her adult years is a masterclass in character-driven dread."
"Elegant, bloody, and sprawling. This is more than a vampire story; it is the biography of a monster in the making."
"Rarely do we see a protagonist's evolution handled with such poetic brutality. J.E. Smith has created a gothic legend that feels both timeless and dangerously fresh."
