Half-Baked

A hilarious cosy comic fantasy set in the world of the New York Times-bestselling Dreadful, featuring a goatherd with the wrong Destiny, the reluctant heir of the Witch King and their wildest dreams of running a little bakery. Perfect for fans of Sarah Beth Drust, Travis Baldree and Heather Fawcett.

Arali is a goatherd. That is, until a Fairy Godmother mistakes her for the fairest in the village and taps her to fulfill a Destiny she doesn’t want. You see, after the last White Wizard Artharno got herself killed, her sentient Tower full of magical items is vacant and the Godmothers want someone they can control running the place.

Red is the heir to the feared and seemingly invincible necromancer, the Witch King. Raised in the martial arts since birth and possessing blood that can reanimate the dead, all Red wants to do is open a cute little bakery somewhere. So he steals a little treasure, gets Daddy’s general Pardok turned into a crocodile, and runs away from home. The town of Swordsward seems perfect. Except one problem. Red doesn’t actually know how to bake.

By way of manticores, evil armies, Fairy Godmothers, and a Bake-Off showdown, the two must overcome the manifest forces of narrative and expectation that would have them rule the world, instead of getting through a day with a delicious slice of cake.