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Books by D.L. Jennings

This is epic fantasy with worlds and characters you have never met. If that sounds like your kind of read, you are in the right place.

What's Next

work in progress

An Aztec-inspired epic fantasy. New world, new characters, and the same commitment to magic and stakes that runs through every page of the Highglade Series.

Overall Progress
62%

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4

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What's Next

the highglade series

A complete epic fantasy trilogy published through Simon & Schuster. Beverly Hills Book Award Winner, BIBA Winner, NYC Big Book Award, and Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist.

If you read Tolkien, Sanderson, or Robert Jordan, this is where you start.

Book 1

GIFT OF THE SHAPER

Beverly Hills Book Award Winner

“Armies will clash, and even gods will die…”

The Award-winning, epic debut from author D.L. Jennings

For thousands of years, the Breaker of the Dawn has been locked away in the Otherworld. When a young blacksmith’s apprentice finds himself caught between the noble Athrani and the malevolent Khyth, he becomes the key to a war that will decide whether creation survives. Armies will clash, and even gods will die.

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Book 3

awaken the series

“Beyond the Wastes of Khulakorum, a storm is rising…”

Book two of the HIGHGLADE series

2020 Best Indie Book Award for Epic Fantasy. Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist.

The Shaper of Ages is gone, and the world of Highglade is fracturing. Aldis Tennech, once the greatest general in Gal’dorok, is in exile. Ancient powers that have been dormant for generations are being called upon again. Battles will rage and cities will fall, and only the most desperate or reckless would seek to awaken the three.

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Book 3

Days of the Dark

For some, even death is not the end.

The chovathi have been contained underground for generations. When a new power joins with their hive-mind, even the gods of creation find themselves threatened.

Ahmaan Kaa, the outcast Lord of the Dead, sees the chaos as his opening, and the last hope for humanity reveals itself in the most unlikely of places, from the most unlikely of allies.

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honor

a sci-fi & fanstasy anthology

Travel from distant planets on the edge of space to enchanted worlds filled with magic. Laugh with plucky thieves and cry with aging mages. Discover ancient wisdoms, rise above unbeatable odds, and reflect on personal sacrifices.

In late 2025, Z.S. Diamanti and Golden Griffin Press brought together twenty-two independent science fiction and fantasy authors for a single anthology. The result is HONOR, a 200,000-word collection of brand-new short stories ranging from enchanted kingdoms to the edge of known space.

My contribution is a short story I wrote specifically for this collection. If you’ve read the Highglade Series, you’ll find it familiar. If you haven’t, it’s a clean place to start to learn how I write..

the full lineup:

Amanda Auler, Liz Delton, Z.S. Diamanti, David Estes, Ericka Evren, Tim Facciola, Charles Hack, E.A. Hendryx, Brady Hunsaker, D.L. Jennings, Dan Kenner, Victoria McCombs, Andrew D. Meredith, J.L. Odom, T.D. Orel, Sam Paisley, Blake & Raven Penn, Morgan Shank, Herman Steuernagel, Tori Tecken, Bryan Wilson, and E.A. Winters.

why i said yes:

Zac Diamanti emailed me the pitch and I said yes before I finished reading it. Anthologies like this one are how readers find new authors they didn’t know they were looking for, and how authors like me get to share pages with writers we’ve been quietly rooting for. The whole thing got funded on Kickstarter before it ever went to print. That tells you something about the people who read in this genre.

If you’ve been meaning to try a new fantasy or sci-fi author, HONOR is twenty-two chances to find one.

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