One-Fifth Dragon
DRAGONS, ASSASSINS, AND NINJAS!
By a Baen Fantasy and Adventure Finalist and Indie Star
Cover by Dungeons and Dragons artist Todd Lockwood
They call themselves my found family, but they slaughtered my kin. Now, I will pay back the murderers in blood tenfold.
Their ruin is a mirror they polished themselves. They took me as a child and hammered me into a weapon.
They taught me the art of disappearing: how to slip through a room like a shadow at noon, how to dress a face in lies until no one recognizes the man beneath. They taught the small, hands-on cruelties: how to hide poison, how to slit a throat before the man can make a noise.
Most dangerous of all . . . they taught me patience. They taught me to never quit until the job was completed.
So let them sleep in their castles and whisper of safety. Let them keep their cleverness and secrets. I already know their sins. When darkness comes—and it will—I will be the thing beneath the floorboards, the breath on their necks, the quiet that becomes the scream. I will return what they took, multiplied by the cruelty they practiced.
Their hands built the blade.
Their choices sharpened it.
Their blood will be the prize.
Shami Stovall
In a world where magic and myth meet sharp intellect and historical nuance, Shami Stovall stands out as a voice that knows how to twist the familiar into something entirely unexpected. Whether she’s breathing new life into war-torn battlefields or crafting magical academies from scratch, her stories pulse with a vibrant energy—equal parts heart, grit, and wonder.
Raised in Salt Lake City and grounded in a deep love of history and law, Stovall brings a thoughtful, richly layered approach to fantasy and science fiction. Her background—teaching history and criminal law after earning a BA in History and a Juris Doctorate—adds a distinctive texture to her worlds. The politics, conflicts, and character choices in her books often echo real-world dilemmas, but they’re refracted through the lens of griffins, arcanists, and ancient powers long buried.
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