The Steppe Saga
Brothers shall fight | and fell each other,
And sisters' sons | shall kinship stain;
Hard is it on earth, | with mighty whoredom;
Axe-time, sword-time, | shields are sundered,
Wind-time, wolf-time, | ere the world falls;
Nor ever shall men | each other spare.
—The Poetic Edda, “Völuspá” (Prophecy of the Seeress)
Determined to choose her own fate, an ambivalent young warrior confronts the dark consequences of war and the true meaning of sacrifice.
Fierce tribes of Skythian horsemen have roamed the steppes north of the Black Sea for centuries. Now, with expanding Greek colonial influence in the south and mounting pressure from rivals to the east, the Skythian people face stark choices, asking if—and how—they can hold back the tides of colonialism and inter-tribal warfare. Their king has three ambitious sons, each by different mothers—one Greek, one Thrakian, and one Skythian. One day, their contest for succession will touch off an epic battle, not just for power but for the soul of a people.
Into this chaos comes Anaiti, a young warrior who, for good or ill, will forever alter the fate of the kingdom. The Steppe Saga is the story of her journey.
Set during the fateful reign of Scythian King Ariapeithes (fifth century BCE) and the bloody struggle for succession between his three sons, the trilogy gives voice to the unsung barbarian culture whose real female warriors inspired Greek myths—and fears—about Amazons. Exploring a vanished world of astonishing brutality and beauty, it is a story about the dark paths our lives take and the war—or peace—we make with adversity.
Of Wind and Wolves
The Steppe Saga I
“You don’t yet know what you are. What you truly love or hate. What you’ll kill or die for. Not until you’ve been out there. . . .”
Anaiti is a hamazan, trained in riding and archery yet untested in war. When her father seeks alliance with the Skythian king, she consents to an arranged marriage—but no hamazan may wed without first taking an enemy’s scalp. Riding with the warband offers her both promise and peril. Fiercely protective of her freedom yet desperate to prove her worth, refusing to kill could win her liberty . . . or lose her all she loves.
When Anaiti reluctantly agrees to marry the aging king of the Skythian nomads to forge an alliance, she never expects the price of peace will be an enemy’s scalp—or that she’ll have to take it with her own hands.
Trained since youth in riding and archery, her education was cut short, and she's never faced true combat. Though she has no taste for bloodshed, her desire to remain free outweighs her fear. Thrown into the lawless wilderness, she joins a ruthless warband whose loyalties and suspicions are as fierce as the unforgiving steppe. There, her skills and courage are tested to the edge, and she forms an intense bond with their commander—a formidable warrior who believes Anaiti possesses a rare gift. Determined to evade her fate, Anaiti devises a daring plan to stay with the warband. But as her defiance threatens the pact between kingdoms, she must decide if her longing for freedom is worth the cost—of countless lives, perhaps her own.
Of Wind and Wolves is the first volume in The Steppe Saga, a haunting and subversive retelling of events recorded by Herodotus. Set against a backdrop of astonishing beauty and brutality, it reveals the lost wisdom, traditions, and beliefs of the Scythian people, whose powerful women once inspired Greek myths of the Amazons.
The Gifts of Heaven
The Steppe Saga II
Coming Soon! Expected Release in Fall, 2026
“The night would be starless, at least for a time, and we’d be left to wander, groping in the dark. ”
In a kingdom where resilience is life and women once rode beside men, Anaiti was born to fight. A hamazan warrior, she earned her place with blood and courage—until a royal marriage forced her into silence. When her husband is murdered before their union is sealed, Anaiti is cast adrift in a court where her weapons are taken, her voice dismissed, and her body becomes a pawn.
But the true threat isn’t silence—it’s Skyles, the Greek-educated prince who ascends the throne and seeks to stamp out the nomadic way of life, its seers, its sacred rites—and women like Anaiti. To him, she is a relic. A scandal. A perversion.
Caught between a fading way of life and the polished contempt of Hellenic “civilization,” Anaiti is thrust into a political maelstrom where tradition is spurned, freedom is dangerous, and vengeance may be her only path forward. Guided by a defiant seer and haunted by visions taken for divine truth, she must decide: will she be a symbol, a survivor, or a sword?
The Gifts of Heaven is set in the fifth century BCE on the Pontic Steppe north of the Black Sea in present-day Ukraine and Russia among the nomadic Scythian tribes. It is the sequel to the acclaimed Of Wind and Wolves, and the second book in the Steppe Saga trilogy.
PeaceWeaver
The Steppe Saga III
“To be a Skythian means knowing what it is to burn everything you have to keep everything you love.”
On the brink of civil war, an outlaw warrior is forced to question everything she thought she knew about trust, honor, and forgiveness. Can she and her companions still save their country? Or does the place they’re trying to restore no longer exist?