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Bittersweet stories about flawed people and queer love and fighting for what you believe in, no matter what you have to sacrifice.

Author of The UnbrokenAmbessa: Chosen of the Wolf, and a handful of novellas, short stories and essays exploring love and war and the joys of our bodies.

Fortune’s Wake

Fortune’s Wake

Kova of Stormwatch wants to become a monster slayer for fame, fortune, and the love of her sweetheart. When she fails to win her apprenticeship, she goes back home with her tail between her legs–only to find the monsters are waiting. And you can’t fight monsters with love.

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Hey, I’m C. L. Clark

I’m a novelist, a short story writer, sometimes even an essayist obsessed with what it means to be a hero. I am obsessed with the difficult choices we make for love. I write about war because it still shapes so much of our lives. I’ve been praised for the intensity of my writing and condemned for it. I write about shitty—sorry, complicated—relationships and I’m good at it. I write about people trying their best to disastrous results—and I write about people becoming heroes, with all the complications that entails. Courage, honor, hope, failure. Redemption.

I write about bodies, training themhow they build and break and hold us up anyway, how the world is nothing without them, our love and our hatred for them, the ecstasy and the agony of them. Yes, that includes sex. It also includes dancing and running and falling and fighting and feeling the rain on your skin and the taste of sweat and new foods.

I build worlds and write about the people in them, the beasts and the monsters, how they come together to make cultures, make societies, make alliances and conflicts. I write about how we’re all connected and always will be, for better but also for worse.

I write to inspire myself. I hope it inspires you, too.

Find out more about me.

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Praise for C. L. Clark

Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review

"Clark’s precise, thorough worldbuilding allows this remarkable novel to dive deep into the intricate workings of colonialism, exposing how power structures are maintained through social conditioning and exploring the emotional toll of political conflict. The result is a captivating story that works both as high fantasy and skillful cultural commentary." [The Unbroken]

"This strong debut is filled with exciting action and worldbulding, intriguing characters dealing with themes of colonization, military conscription and indoctrination, and an explosion of feelings. Readers will be clamoring for more of Touraine and Luca before they finish." [The Unbroken]

Library Journal, starred review

"Clark's worldbuilding continues to grow...the sequel to The Unbroken extends the deliberate journey towards independence from an empire and the past, and the love in two women’s hearts." [The Faithless]

Locus Magazine

“Clark’s worldbuilding in The Faithless is just as stellar as in The Unbroken … Where the novel and series shine brightest is in their gritty reckoning with power and humanity and their delivery of an uncompromising worldview in which there are few good choices.” [The Faithless]

Library Journal, starred review

"Clark’s intense conclusion to the “Magic of the Lost” trilogy, after The Faithless, is filled with high-stakes physical and political actions, personal sacrifice, and intertwined relationships. Themes of colonization, revolution, and forgotten magic are woven through with Clark’s hard-hitting, emotion-laden prose." [The Sovereign]

Alix E. Harrow, author of The Everlasting

“With Fate's Bane, C.L. Clark has written a book that feels like a ballad sung at dusk, or a tale told by torch-light: haunting, ancient, full of bad blood and true love. Gather round, listen close--I promise, you'll never forget it.”

Grace Curtis, author of Heaven’s Graveyard

“Fate's Bane was everything I wanted: a wildly romantic bogland fable, tough and tender by turns, gripping to the last moment. This book is a wonderful well-crafted little thing and I'd recommend it to pretty much everyone.”

Hannah Kaner, bestselling author of Godkiller

“Bardic and powerful, Clark weaves a timeless narrative of pain and retribution, love, loss and family against the backdrop of the ancient fens." [Fate’s Bane]

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