The old willow
Branches like fingers in the water. Above them the air flickers as it does over hot asphalt, only it is cold. Whoever walks through hears the reeds rustle, though there is no wind.
Book 1 · Dark Fantasy
Place Without Shadows
Dark fantasy about the longing to belong somewhere, and the price no one names.
I · The Book
Place Without Shadows
On the banks of the Rhine in Bonn, Germany, stands a circus that shouldn’t exist. No city map shows it. The ravens on its masts don’t take flight when you come near. And the ringmaster looks exactly the same in a program from 1998 as he does today.
Fero “Feo” Aren is seventeen, and he knows the word the world has for people like him: madness. At Circkool, no one asks about it. Here there are others like him. Here, for the first time, he sleeps without fear.
But once a month, the moon is full.
And once a month, someone leaves the circus.
The others call it luck. The ringmaster calls it graduation. No one ever comes back, and no one asks where they went.
Until Feo finds a door in the waters of the Rhine, one that exists only in the reflection. Behind it lies a gray without light, and in that gray stand jars that glow.
At the next full moon, it’s a girl no one will ask about.
Feo will be the first to ask.
- Circkool, book 1 of 4
- Dark fantasy
- about 86,500 words
- English; also in German (“Ort ohne Schatten”)
- 14 and up
Content notes
These notes cover the whole of book 1 and may give away twists, so they only open when you click.
- Manipulation and emotional abuse by a trusted adult
- Exploitation of vulnerable teenagers
- Death
- Loss of a loved one and grief
- Loss of memory and identity
- Mental health crisis, psychiatric hospitalization and misdiagnosis
- Stigma and exclusion
- Family conflict, estrangement and parental rejection
- Betrayal
- Violence, not graphically depicted
- Body horror and physical pain
- Blood and injuries
- Strong language
Buy now
These links lead to Amazon: the paperback to the Amazon store, the e-book to Kindle.
II · The World
Behind the willow, the air shimmers.
Black, with silver
A tent of black cloth, its lettering flaking. The curtains hang half open, as if someone had just looked out. Inside it smells of sawdust and old wood and of something waiting.
Wheels grown into the earth
Wagons in a half circle, strings of lights between them, only half of them ever lit. One smells of caramel. In front of another, a plate sits on the step.
»No one asks you who you are. That is not politeness.«
III · The Residents
Tonight’s program
Abilities that have no names outside.
Fero »Feo« Aren
The »Pictureman«. Taciturn, watchful, dry dark humor. Anger that breaks through without warning.
»What’s in the forbidden wagon?«
Dorian Winters
Tall, slender, dressed in black. A warm smile, a notebook and a hat he never puts on.
»Older than I look. Younger than the contracts say.«
Rian Wilk
The funny one. Forces his body into shapes. Baggy sweaters, wisecracks, nicknames. Behind the joke, the pain.
»You’re good, Pictureman.«
Bria Ginaya
Loud, cheeky, swears. The protector of the group.
»Then we have to.«
Celine Marek
Few words. Every one of them lands.
»Sometimes, it’s like something’s counting.«
Aria Delmaris
Feels the weather before it comes, and the weather in people. Matter-of-fact, direct.
»Wind today. Around four. Off the river.«
Ilias Delmaris
Aria’s brother. Makes things lighter or heavier. Deadly serious.
»Close to Winters’s wagon, gravity is different.«
Damian Keller
His voice draws people in, and he hears every lie. Theatrical, precise, dry.
»That’s my insurance. Easier living, with insurance.«
Marius Schwarzberg
Sees two tomorrows at once. Tired, absent.
»Mostly, it means: someone makes a choice.«
Edwin »Ed« Belov
From Saint Petersburg. Hardly a word, hands that always want to fix something.
»The bird’s crazy.«
Vanessa Vogel
Friendly, practical and strangely empty.
»Make sure you come back.«
Pepper
Says sentences he cannot have heard.
»The jar is full.«
Kies
Old and gray. Never crosses an invisible line.
This far. Never further.
The one with the white feather
One of the nine ravens on the tent poles. A single white flight feather, bright as a chalk line.
Does not fly up when someone comes.
IV · The Shelf
Behind the forbidden door
Every jar has a little label. None has a name you know.
»Don’t touch. Just look.«
V · The Series
Four books. One stands in the light.
Place Without Shadows
Available
Light Without Breath
In preparation· · ·
In shadow· · ·
In shadow
VI · Author
F. Eren
F. Eren writes dark fantasy in which safety is more dangerous than violence. Circkool is his debut and the start of a series. Born in Bonn, he moved to Düsseldorf for work at twenty-three and still lives and works there. He writes at night, because sentences are too polite by day.
Newsletter
We write when the moon is full.
You will receive an email with a confirmation link. Two short welcome emails follow over the first two weeks, after that only at full moon. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link in every email.
Pepper is already at the campfire, talking.
Discord