FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York, NY, USA The mercenary underworld of Arkest known as the City of Gates—has a new obsession. STARFALLER: SHADOWBORN: The Grim Shadows: Book 1 arrived in hardcover on April 5, 2025, thrusting readers into a ruthless, coin-first brotherhood led by its deadliest assassin, Starfaller, and a city teetering on the brink of annihilation.
Set amid rain-slick alleys, gilded palaces, and ley-line fractures that hum beneath cobblestones, the novel follows the Grim Shadows as eldritch horrors stir, zealots chant the name of a long-forgotten god, and an artifact the Eye of Shadows tempts Arkest with either salvation or ruin. As rival factions sharpen their blades, Starfaller faces a war he cannot win, secrets that refuse to stay buried, and enemies for whom death is a mercy. It’s grimdark fantasy at full tilt: brutal magic, cursed relics, power-brokering guilds, and villains who kill villains, all stitched to a breakneck, cinematic pace.
“Everything has a price. Especially your soul,” says author Randal Rucker, distilling the book’s core thesis about power, loyalty, and the cost of survival when the ledger never balances. “I wanted to write a story that doesn’t flinch about mercenaries who are honest only about the lie they live, and a city that eats everyone who tries to own it.”
What begins as a single contract kill fans into a citywide conflagration as cults, crime syndicates, and shadow-mages vie for control. From conspiracies in warehouse catwalks to riots in the Eastern District and auctions where human lives are currency, Arkest’s gears grind forward on whispers, blackmail, and blood. The Eye of Shadows threads through it all: a relic old as fear itself, promising revelation to those who dare and annihilation to everyone else.
Rucker brings a distinctive edge to the genre. A veteran of the Iraq War and a fifth-generation soldier, he writes characters who understand hierarchy, logistics, and the way chaos actually feels when plans meet reality. He grew up in New York City and holds a master’s degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology; his background in psychology, business, and behavioral analysis informs the book’s obsession with motive, manipulation, and consequence. Off the page, he’s a devotee of strategic and tactical games, with a soundtrack that leans EDM, Gothic, and Industrial energy that crackles through the novel’s set pieces. Rucker is currently at work expanding the Grim Shadows saga. As Starfaller learns, some things are older than the gods and hungrier.
STARFALLER: SHADOWBORN is available now in hardcover, with additional formats, ebook, and paperback. Readers who crave a darker, high-stakes adventure will find Arkest impossible to leave. Reviewers, booksellers, librarians, and media are invited to request interviews and review copies; press materials and assets are available upon request.