The standing sun
A black disc with a burning rim. It doesn't set, it doesn't rise. An eye without a lid, watching.
Book One · Dark Fantasy · Grimdark
Shadows & Pain
The sun hasn't set in a year. It hasn't risen either. It just hangs there, black, with a burning rim, and watches.
Kindle edition · out now
Paperback and hardcover coming soon.
German edition: 31 October 2026 →
A man raised his hand, and his own shadow did not raise it with him.
That was how it began. Not with fire, not with thunder, but with a small, polite gesture that went unanswered.
Read a sample on Kindle
The story
Some doors are held from the inside.
Kael can call the darkness. It obeys him, and takes a piece of him every time. First the feeling in his fingers. Then the warmth of a child's hand he is holding and can no longer feel.
Veylan, who carries two powers that want to tear him apart, stays at his side regardless, and neither of them ever says why.
When they reach the last safe place in the world, a woman and her eight-year-old son with them, they find walls, rules and bread. An old museum behind boarded windows, guarded by consecrated relics.
But the most dangerous walls are the ones still standing. The order that takes them in fights the darkness with weapons made of darkness, and beneath its foundations lies the reason. Chained. And a long way from dead.
Sometimes a curse is the only way to freedom.
Content notes
Systematic torture and mutilation within a religious order, body horror, graphic violence, death of a main character, loss of loved ones seen through a child's eyes, captivity and restraint, loss of bodily sensation, religiously motivated violence, self-sacrifice. No happy ending.
Prologue and 44 chapters · approx. 87,000 words
Editions
| Edition | ISBN | Copy |
|---|---|---|
| English · Shadows & Pain | ||
| Kindle ebook · out now | Amazon | Open |
| Paperback · coming soon | 978-3-67636-009-8 | |
| Hardcover · coming soon | 978-3-67636-008-1 | |
| German · Schatten & Schmerz · 31 October 2026 | ||
| Paperback | 978-3-67636-004-3 | |
| Hardcover | 978-3-67636-003-6 | |
| Paperback, sprayed edges | 978-3-67636-007-4 | |
| Hardcover, sprayed edges | 978-3-67636-006-7 | |
| Ebook | 978-3-67636-005-0 | |
Any bookshop can order the print editions with the ISBN.
One year after the fall
Our world. Just without a tomorrow.
No castles, no knights. Roads, bridges, power lines, cities you know. Except the shadows have come loose from their people, and ever since, something has been crawling out of them that no longer has names. Only purposes: to feed, to hunt, to lure.
The shadows
They follow no one any more. Whoever can call the darkness pays for it, every time, with a piece of themselves.
The museum
The order has barricaded itself inside an old museum. Boarded windows, catacombs, consecrated relics. Whoever stays follows the rules.
Morgena
The city that didn't fall. A warding circle holds it, and the women who draw it let no one in uninvited.
None of them is chosen
Characters
Kael
the shadow
Says little. If a look will do, he says nothing. Fights like a survivor, not a hero, and carries everything alone.
Veylan
the wall
Carries an awakened sword and two powers that want to tear him apart. Likes to crack his jokes in the middle of a catastrophe.
Yel'Arizel
the whisperer
A demon, and the only one who can tell you this story. He was there. Whether you should trust him is up to you.
Liora
the mother
On the road with her eight-year-old son and whatever she could save. She doesn't trust the two men. She doesn't have a choice either.
From the book's interior
44 chapters, 44 ink drawings
Every chapter opens with its own drawing. Here are the first few, spoiler-free.
Chapter 1Control or Pain
Chapter 4What the City Kept
Chapter 5The Long Shadows
Chapter 6The Road East
Chapter 7False Walls
Chapter 9The School of Fear
Chapter 10The First Count
Chapter 13The Shadow Hand
Chapter 15A Good Day
Chapter 21Voices in the Fog
Chapter 23The City That Didn't Fall
Chapter 24City of Witches
The universe
Book One is only the beginning.
Mark of the Cursed opens a trilogy. Alongside it, a second novel is taking shape in the same world: City of Witches. Both tell the story of the same night in Morgena, from two sides.
Book One · Shadows & Pain
Kindle out now. German edition on 31 October 2026.
II
Announced
Book Two · Title to come
The story picks up where Book One leaves you standing.
III
Announced
Book Three · Title to come
The end of the trilogy.
Crossover
Announced
City of Witches
A standalone novel. The same events, a different heart.
Crossover
City of Witches
The fall should have swallowed Morgena. The city still stands, held by a warding circle and by women who were denied every kind of power before the end. After the fall, they took an older one. They are not gentle.
In Mark of the Cursed, the order sends a unit to Morgena. City of Witches tells what happens there again, from the coven's side. Each book stands on its own. Together they show what each side keeps quiet.
The witch has no true name yet.
The most powerful woman in the coven knows Kael for what he is at first sight. What she is really called will be decided by the readers. Join the Shadow List to take part in the vote.
Join the Shadow List
Launch & signing
31 OctHalloween · Memmingen, Germany
For the German release, Nemoria celebrates together with horror author Carsten Mayer. Two books, one Halloween night, one signing.
- Shadows & PainThe English edition comes out on Kindle.
- Review copiesEbook review copies for bloggers, Bookstagram and BookTok, on request.
- Launch party with signingDistrict13, Kuttelgasse 30, 87700 Memmingen, Germany
- The world keeps growingBook Two, City of Witches and the vote on the witch's name.
Double launch
On the same night, Terrorphobia by Carsten Mayer comes out. Psychological horror, merciless and German.
terror-phobia.comFrom the Shadowbloggers
What the first readers say
All reviews come from Shadowbloggers who received a free advance copy. Nemoria approved them but did not edit them.
For readers, Bookstagram & BookTok
Carry the curse.
An indie debut lives on people talking about it early. If Mark of the Cursed gets under your skin, each of these small things does more than any ad.
- Story, reel or postShow the cover, the first line or your favourite shadow, and tag @nemoriablackthrone.en.
- “What would you give up?”Kael pays with a piece of himself every time. Tell us in a short clip what you would give. Nemoria will share the best answers at launch.
- Write a reviewOn Amazon, Goodreads or your blog. Review copies are available on request.
- Come to a signing31 October at District13 in Memmingen, Germany, from 10 pm.
Pass it on
Have you heard of Mark of the Cursed by Nemoria Blackthrone? Dark fantasy, grimdark, a demon narrator and a world where the shadows no longer follow. “A man raised his hand, and his own shadow did not raise it with him.” Out now on Kindle. https://mark-of-the-cursed.com/
If you received a free copy or anything else in return, please mark your post as an ad or #gifted.
Message Nemoria
The Shadow List
Be the first to hear what comes next.
Titles and dates for Book Two and City of Witches, the vote on the witch's name, and everything that happens before it reaches the shops. No spam, unsubscribe any time.
For press, bloggers & booksellers
Press & review copies
Review copies are available as EPUB or PDF on request, personalised, in English or German. Interviews and guest posts by arrangement, for example on self-publishing, grimdark in the German-speaking world, or a German novel that came out in English first.
Contact
contact@nemoria-blackthrone.com
Instagram & TikTok: @nemoriablackthrone.en