Author:
Corey McCullough is an independent copy editor, proofreader, ghostwriter, and author. He lives in western Pennsylvania with his amazing wife Vanessa and their two beautiful daughters. His favorite pastimes are reading, writing, playing video games, spending time with his best friend (Vanessa), and, most of all, being a dad.

A teenager’s wish to escape his stressful life just came true — with otherworldly consequences.

Nothing is going right for Justin Holmes. Like many seventeen-year-olds, he sometimes wishes he could just run away and leave everything behind. But he gets more than he bargained for when he storms out of the house after an argument with his father and accidentally steps into a parallel universe of swords, shields, magic, and monsters.

Suddenly, Justin is desperate to find a way back to his ordinary life in small-town America. His search for answers takes an unexpected turn when a strange old man and a powerful mercenary recruit him to rescue a kidnapped princess. But their rescue mission quickly takes a disastrous turn and becomes a life-or-death flight deep into the unknown wilds. Justin and his unlikely allies are on the run from dark forces wielding deadly, arcane power — demonic beings that seem to have suddenly arrived from somewhere beyond this world . . . just like Justin.

Justin may not be a fighter, but he is intelligent and strong-willed. He soon realizes that nothing in this world is what it seems. Even his allies’ mission may have all been a ruse . . . to get to him.

Ancient secrets are revealed that could shake the foundations of this alternate world . . . and might unlock Justin’s portal home.

The Fallen Odyssey is a contemporary portal fantasy novel for college and “new adult” audiences. It is the first of a trilogy but can be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel. If you like epic, serious fantasy about dangerous quests in magical worlds, check out The Fallen Odyssey.

The Fallen Odyssey

Eight legs fell kicking spasmodically-four backward and four forward-as the horse split in half. One of the cythraul's legs fell, too, ripped out of its hip. Closing the tap of his power, Justin lowered his sword. The rest of the cythraul's body rode a geyser of aurym like a rocket, rising higher and higher above the city. Finally, at its zenith hundreds of feet over Hartla, the energy exploded. A fireworks show of green aurym energy bloomed across the sky, swallowing up what remained of the cythraul.


Horse pieces and slimy, black viscera were still raining down on Justin as he jumped to his feet. He sheathed his sword, sprinted to the fallen building, and plunged his hands into the rubble.


"Maera!" he shouted as he dug. "Feliks! Can you hear me? Hold on!"


Chapter 65: The Caress of Steel (Part 2)