Lantern Log #3 — Shadows and Strangers
If the BADLVCK-Verse is the wider universe, then Shadows and Strangers is one of the lanterns lighting it.
This fantasy series explores fractured realms, strange companions, and ancient forces quietly shaping reality from behind the veil. It is one fragment of the wider BADLVCK-Verse, but it is also its own journey. A story about wandering through Realms that no longer behave the way they should.
At the center of the series is Maxen, a boy who begins to realise that the world around him may be far older, stranger, and more fragile than anyone has told him. Along the way he encounters unusual allies, mysterious travellers, and creatures that seem to know more about the nature of reality than they should.
The series leans into strange landscapes and unusual magic systems—fractured realms, ancient crystals, forgotten structures hidden beneath cities, and forces that shape the fabric of existence itself. Some places feel familiar. Others feel like they should not exist at all.
Like many stories in the BADLVCK-Verse, Shadows and Strangers blends elements of fantasy, mystery, and the surreal. The goal isn’t just to tell a single adventure, but to slowly reveal a world that feels deeper and older the further you travel into it.
The first book in the series, The Fractured Path, was released on 31 October 2025. It marks the beginning of Maxen’s journey into these broken realms and introduces many of the strange threads that will continue to unfold throughout the series.
The idea for this story has been quietly developing for years—growing from early concepts about fractured worlds and strange laws of reality into the larger universe that now surrounds it.
The journey doesn’t end with the first book.
Work is already underway on the second instalment in the series, The Broken Song, which will continue exploring the deeper mysteries of the realms and the forces that bind them together.
Like everything within BADLVCK Press, Shadows and Strangers is part of a larger creative experiment—a world told not only through novels, but through music, art, and fragments of lore that slowly reveal themselves over time.
If you’re stepping into the series for the first time, welcome to the path.
The lantern is lit.
— BADLVCK Press
Explore the Series
• The Fractured Path — Book One of Shadows and Strangers
• The Ember Memory — a short story set in the world
