About the Series

Tales of the Assassin Without a Name is a series of fantasy adventure stories featuring an assassin with a skill for murder and a penchant for fine wine. While each story is self-contained, there is a larger storyline at play as strange forces are on the move. Through happenstance and his own compulsion to look after his own interests, the Assassin Without a Name becomes embroiled with these forces, and not in a good way. Hunted by Black Guardsmen, plagued by death priests, and inexorably involved with a society whose mission is to further the advance of technology, our reluctant hero may take the high road at times, but always in his mind lurks the memory of one glorious night of murder when he gave up his true identity and never looked back. Now, with his city under threat, the Assassin Without a Name will do whatever it takes to preserve his way of life and protect the family who thinks him dead. He gave up his life once so that others could live. If he has to, he’ll do it again.

Light from torches held by Jakaree priests standing all around the machine made its metal shine. Or maybe it gave off a glow of its own as it spun and whirled around the exact thing I was hoping wouldn’t be there: a ball of energy so dark it was a sphere of utter blackness amidst the machine’s otherwise metallic sheen.

The Assassin's Blade

A Tale of the Assassin Without a Name #1-7

I had a name once, same as everyone else, but after one glorious night of murder it was no longer safe to use. Small sacrifice for ensuring my sister's safety, I figured. So now I don't use one. In my line of work, it's not necessary anyway. What is my line of work? Murder, of course, though I fancy myself more than just an assassin. Gentleman, thief, wine connoisseur, adventurer, a man of a thousand names and none. I'm all of those things and more.

My life was about as normal as one could hope until one particular job came along. Kill the artificer, steal the plans, make an exchange. Simple enough, until a band of fanatical priests ambushed and tried to kill me. Turns out the plans have something to do with a source of dark energy. The priests aren't the only ones interested in it, either. I've no interest in being a hero, but I'll do whatever I have to do to keep my city--and my sister--safe. There's already blood on my hands. What's a little more?

***

Enter a world of intrigue, adventure, magic, technology, and, of course, murder, as the Assassin Without a Name finds himself embroiled in a secret war where all is lost no matter who wins.

The Assassin's Blade is a compilation of the first seven Assassin Without a Name fantasy adventure stories. It includes:

  1. Fine Wine
  2. Killing the Dead
  3. Night of Zealotry
  4. The Goddard Affair
  5. Thief's Gambit
  6. Assassin's Justice
  7. Witch's Imperative

This was supposed to have gone down quick. Kill the mark, then take my leave with no one the wiser.

Fine Wine

A Tale of the Assassin Without a Name #1

Abelard has made enemies. The Assassin Without a Name is sent to deal with him. But death isn't always the answer.

In this short introductory tale, an assassin makes a deal.

Fine Wine is available as part of The Assassin's Blade compilation, but you can read it for free.

“We wish you to dispatch a man…who is already dead.”

Killing the Dead

A Tale of the Assassin Without a Name #2

Some say the dead should stay dead. Not everyone agrees.

The priests purged one of their own with holy fire. Now they need the Assassin Without a Name to finish the job.

In this short tale, an assassin is hired to kill the already dead.

Killing the Dead is available as part of The Assassin's Blade compilation.

Call it a sixth sense. Call it magic. Call it whatever the hell you want. I’ve just always had an intuition when my life was in danger, like I knew it was right now.

Night of Zealotry

A Tale of the Assassin Without a Name #3

Take out the mark, retrieve the scroll, and avoid getting killed by his protection detail of Black Guard mercenaries. That was the job. Simple enough, or so the Assassin Without a Name thought, until he finds himself smack in the middle of three organizations all vying for possession of the item he just stole.

Of the three, the worst is the Jakaree, a group of fanatical priests willing to kill to fulfill their mysterious goals. But by making the Assassin Without a Name a target, they're about to get a lesson in death themselves from one of the best.

Night of Zealotry is available as part of The Assassin's Blade compilation.

“You are no doubt aware of the technological revolution presently sweeping across Uhl. Airships sail our skies, alchemical lights brighten the night’s darkness, and steam and alchemically powered carriages navigate our streets with greater and greater frequency."

The Goddard Affair

A Tale of the Assassin Without a Name #4

The Assassin Without a Name is on the hunt, looking for the secret organizations which recently tried to kill him before they can try again. But the work of his trade doesn't stop just because of personal business, so when a new client named Walter Goddard comes around wishing to have a rival eliminated, the Assassin Without a Name takes the job.

Only after the task is complete does he learn that Walter Goddard is a member of the Society for the Progression of Science and Technology, one of the very same organizations he's been seeking. At one of the society’s premiere technology galas, the Assassin Without a Name meets Gwendolyn Morgan, a beautiful widow with society problems of her own. Not only does she believe the organization hired an assassin to murder her husband, but she’s certain she’s next. Convincing himself he’s only helping Gwendolyn in exchange for the society’s darkest secrets and not because of his part in making the woman a widow, the Assassin Without a Name finds himself in the unusual role of protector as the society dispatches their Black Guard watchdogs to kill them both.

The Goddard Affair is available as part of The Assassin's Blade compilation.

As if on cue, dark-robed Jakaree streamed into the chamber in numbers which seemed to grow exponentially. Liz and I put our backs to one another. Not that it was going to do us any good against the sea of tattooed faces quickly facing us from every direction.

Thief's Gambit

A Tale of the Assassin Without a Name #5

The hunter has become the hunted, as the Assassin Without a Name is forced from his usual haunts by Gwendolyn Goddard and her Black Guard watchdogs. On the run and out of patience, a welcome distraction arrives in the form of an old flame, Elizabeth West, who recruits him for a special Warder mission. The fanatical Jakaree are on the move, searching for an ancient relic so diabolical, the Warders are intent on destroying it before the zealots can lay a hand on it.

But the Assassin Without a Name soon learns that Elizabeth has something bigger in mind. Suspicious of her employer's true motives, she sets out to uncover the truth, leading them on a harrowing escapade across Alchester's rooftops, deep beneath the city's once grand temples, and into the sky onboard a Warder airship.

Thief's Gambit is available as part of The Assassin's Blade compilation.

“Gentlemen,” Kaileesh said, his words laced with silk, “your payment awaits you. You need only take it from this man’s corpse.”

Assassin's Justice

A Tale of the Assassin Without a Name #6

The Assassin Without a Name has a new client and a new job in the form of Kaileesh, a Southlander too sly for his own good. The job goes down without a hitch, but things sour when it comes time to settle. Finding himself at the receiving end of a double-cross isn't anything new for the Assassin Without a Name, so he knows just what to do to Kaileesh. But the situation becomes more complicated when he learns Kaileesh was in league with an influential member of Alchester's gentry. What starts as simple revenge becomes something more as the Assassin Without a Name formulates a plan to bring his own particular form of justice down on the heads of those who betrayed him.

Assassin's Justice is available as part of The Assassin's Blade compilation.

It wasn’t every night one beat back the dead and stared into the abysmal eyes of an otherworldly being.

Witch's Imperative

A Tale of the Assassin Without a Name #7

"Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." - William Shakespeare

Trouble arrives for the Assassin Without a Name when he is waylaid by a woman with strange powers and a stranger disposition. Claiming she is not a witch, but "something worse," she tells him her name is Mathilda and that she wishes to hire him. The mark? None other than the supreme leader of the Warders, an organization Mathilda believes will bring death and destruction to Alchester unless they are stopped.

But the Warders aren't the only ones with such grand, dire designs. The Progressive Society, led by Gwendolyn Goddard, sets in motion an ambitious plan that will put Mathilda and the Assassin Without a Name's fortitude to the test, for they'll have to fight more than just the living if they hope to survive.

Witch's Imperative is available as part of The Assassin's Blade compilation.