Last Fight of the Old Hound
Roy van Waldenberger is two people.
To those who know him, he’s just Roy – a middle-aged man, tired of the limelight, and looking forward to retirement.
To everyone else, he’s The Wolf of the North, celebrity wrestler and werewolf. One of the most fearsome fighters in the history of blood sports.
It’s a mask he wears, and he hates it.
This story is about Roy – not The Wolf.
It’s about how he prepares for the last fight of his career.
How he must stand against the only opponent he can’t beat: his own inner beast.
But it’s also about how he must let go of a past that binds him, and of a love that was never meant to be.
If he can’t, it’ll be the end of not just him, but of everyone he still cares about.
Last Fight of the Old Hound is the first part in the Lost Dogs series.
A deeply character-driven story in a modern-day fantasy world.
“I love seeing fantasy used as a way to approach real life conflicts, and the author does a superb job of this.”
— Leland Lydecker, author of Necrotic City
“Roy is someone it is easy to empathise with and the relationship between himself and Jen is one of the most realistically presented cross-gender friendships I have ever read.”
— E M Swift-Hook, author of the Fortune’s Fools series
Undeserved Second Chance
“Do you have to follow your heart?”
Roy van Waldenberger ruined everything.
His life is falling apart, and his career is over.
He tried to defeat the wolf within himself, and failed.
That’s when a short message on the phone turns his entire world upside down.
Toini, the only woman he ever really loved, is alive – and she needs him.
It’s an easy decision.
With nothing left to lose, and without a moment of hesitation, Roy drops everything and leaves.
Buys a ticket.
Gets on a train.
Leaves his old life behind.
Free. Finally.
Only, the Syndicate won’t let him off so easily.
Roy killed their champion and made a mockery of their plans.
Now they need him to fight for them in the finals.
And Jen still has a family to look after.
She can’t just up and leave.
Even then, it can’t be helped…
When the love of your life comes back from the dead, you go to her.
A Freak Among Freaks
“If I was careful I wouldn’t be here in the first place.”
Alene Moneya, aspiring young travel journalist, did not find the secret jungle temple her source told her about. Instead, she found herself stuck in a dead-end dump of a town, and with the full moon just two nights away.
Now she needs to find a safe place to shift and hunt or the consequences will be deadly, both for her and for whoever gets in her way.
At a dive bar at the edge of town, she finds Harold, the leader of the local pack. He’s got no interest in letting outsiders in on his territory, and unless she can pay what he asks, she’s not welcome. With no money to her name, Alene’s only option is to accept an unexpected offer to help out at the bar.
Work hard. Keep smiling. Don’t cause any trouble, and don’t start a fight. Easier said than done when everyone wants to test the limits of the new girl.
She must keep it together though, or once the moon comes around there will be no one to control the mad beast within her.
Lost Naked Furious
Her inner beast hates her…
…and it wants out.
Alene Moneya wanted to be a journalist. Travel the world and write about exotic places. Eager and naïve, she made one mistake, ended up in bad company, and got betrayed.
Now, she’s a murderer, lost in the jungle, and with no hope for the future she dreamed of – all because of the blood thirsty beast living within her mind.
Her one hope is to make her way back to town, get on a train, and escape without anyone noticing she’s still alive. A simple plan, but a difficult task. The jungle is vast, unfamiliar, and hostile, but she can’t let that stop her.
Giving up is not an option.
Just because the life she had is over, doesn’t mean she won’t fight for another one.
A Freak Among Freaks
“Why do the weirdos always sit next to me?”
Roy van Waldenberger just wants to go home. The love of his life has come back from the dead, and she needs him. He’s in a hurry, he’s on the wrong train, and he’s got no interest in company.
When a strange young woman takes the seat opposite his and starts asking questions, he’s less than thrilled.
Especially as the young woman is covered in blood after taking on the gang of therianthropes that tried to capture him, and that he wasn’t able to handle on his own.
On top of that, she’s some kind of journalist, and she’s decided to be his sidekick.
Not gonna happen.
Only, she really did help him out when he was attacked, and she knows it.
He owes her.
When the chance comes to get rid of Alene for good, Roy’s first instinct is to go for it.
He did tell her he didn’t want anything to do with her.
He did tell her he wouldn’t wait.
He told her.
But weirdos are people too…
A Freak Among Freaks
Paivi woke up with a raging hangover…
…and remembered that her sister had come back from the dead.
Sixteen years. That’s how long it’s been since Paivi got the letter saying her sister was Missing In Action.
Now, she’s back.
Or so she claims.
The woman sleeping it off on Paivi’s living room couch has next to nothing in common with the sister she remembers. Sixteen years is a long time, and it changes a person – inside and out.
It’s hard to believe it’s really her.
But the eyes don’t lie, and the stupid jokes her sister used to crack, they’re the same.
She still likes her coffee black.
It’s definitely her, only different.
So very different.
Toini is back, but she’s changed, and she won’t stay long.
There is something she must do, and she can’t let things like family and friends get in her way.
Maybe it would have been better if she hadn’t come back at all?
A Break in the Clouds is the sixth book in the Lost Dogs series. Here, for the first time, we will finally meet Paivi, and we’ll learn what’s kept Toini busy for so long.
Some questions will be answered, and new ones will be asked.
Three Howls in the Evening
It’s a perfectly ordinary little town…
…and it’s out of the way, and no one has any reason to go there.
Roy van Waldenberger is a wanted man. For reasons he won’t reveal, Roy won’t be able to pass through the border controls into the Midlands Union. Much as he hates to admit it, he needs Alene’s help.
She’ll grab his things and enter the union the normal way, while Roy himself turns into a wolf and sneaks across in secret.
From a map, they pick a small town just past the border to meet up.
Quiet, and out of the way. Peaceful.
Alene can get some much needed time to relax and take it easy.
At least, that’s the plan…
Turns out something’s not quite right in Lil Eddy, and the townsfolk aren’t exactly welcoming to outsiders.
It’s a small and traditional town, and they like to keep it that way.
Alene herself doesn’t much care. She doesn’t need anyone else, and she can stand up for herself if she has to.
What she doesn’t expect is how sitting around and waiting for Roy will affect her.
There’s a difference between alone and lonely.
…and it becomes all the more obvious in a quiet little place where no one likes a stranger.
Three Howls in the Evening is the seventh book in the Lost Dogs series. This book marks the beginning of the second major story arc. It is strongly recommended to read the previous books in the series first.
North Into the Past
Together again, for better and for worse…
Roy made it across the border and met up with Alene, just like they’d agreed on. He’s back in human form, and they’re on a train going north.
It should be easy.
All they have to do is keep going, keep a low profile, and not draw any attention to themselves.
Yeah, that worked for about twelve hours, until they saw the morning papers.
Someone recognized The Wolf of the North, took a picture, and sent it to the press.
Now, everyone knows they’re there, and it’s not just the police who wants to get hold of Roy. There’s more than one reason he wasn’t able to cross the border the regular way.
The hunt for Roy and Alene is on again, and keeping a low profile isn’t nearly as easy as it should be.
Werewolves On A Train
What’s your story, Alene?
Alene Moneya had hopes, dreams, and ambitions – and now she has nothing.
She thought she had a friend, and she was wrong.
She dared to trust, and was betrayed.
The Honest Man is a lie, and Roy van Waldenberger isn’t the hero she thought he was.
Stuck together in a boxcar for thirty-six hours.
Neither of them wants to talk, and least of all with each other, but you can only sit around in a small space for so long before words demand to be said.
With words come stories, and with stories, come secrets. The ones that hide in the dark and that you don’t want to remember.
And then there’s the matter of what awaits at their destination.
If Alene could figure out what train Roy was hiding on, then others can too…
Emma’s Story
Snowflakes dance like butterflies.
A lantern’s glow is ever weaker.
Young Emma of the anfylk dreams of a quiet life in her little village in the big forest.
She wants to raise a family and grow old in peace and quiet, with the love of her life by her side.
It’s a plain and simple dream, but it’s hers, and she’ll do what it takes to achieve it.
Or, will she?
Her lover is a scoundrel and a rogue, who dreams of adventure and glory, and who’s more at home on the road than by the hearth. Is he truly the man she needs for the life she wants?
As the time draws near for Emma to finally make up her mind, a huge bear comes down from the mountains to terrorize the forest, and everything else will just have to wait…
To seek aid for her village, Emma must travel farther than she’s ever been before, and maybe, just maybe, she’ll find the answers her heart desires.
Emma’s Story is a cold, wintry tale about making difficult decisions, living up to expectations, and how things don’t always turn out the way you hoped.
Bundle up in your favorite blanket and read it tonight.
“I was blown away by the undercurrents in this tale, which you can hardly detect if you’re not paying attention, but that are there, and will break you if you see them.”
— Ruth Miranda, author of the BLOOD Trilogy
“Beautiful is a too tame word to describe this tale. Haunting and memorable, wintry and heartwarming, so many nuances and so many undertones!
Exceptional is what I choose to call it.”
— Laura, reviewer at The Magic Book Corner.
Nils Ödlund 