Lisah Jayne Walden is a dark fantasy and horror author whose work explores the intersection of folklore, history, and the supernatural. Holding both a BA and MA in Creative Writing, she is the author of Let Them In, a contributor to multiple anthologies, and the creator of The Breaking and Crushing of Bone series, which blends Irish and Jamaican mythology, maritime history, and dark fantasy into richly layered tales of survival, transformation, and magic.
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A Breaking And Crushing of Bone
Book One:
Wrecked
When grief-stricken influencer Conor O'Sullivan is sent to Ireland after the death of his parents, the last thing he expects is to find himself trapped within the estate of his enigmatic uncle, Jonathan. Perched on the rugged coast of Tramore, the sprawling manor seems idyllic at first glance. Beneath its walls, however, something ancient and terrible stirs.
The sea whispers of stolen magic, captive fairies, and creatures torn from their rightful homes. Among them is Brianna, a fierce young selkie whose stolen seal skin has bound her to the land. She wants nothing to do with Conor, especially when he bears the name of the man responsible for so much suffering. Yet as dark secrets surface and forbidden feelings grow between them, both are forced to confront a truth more dangerous than either imagined.
Because Jonathan is not merely collecting stories.
He is collecting lives.
As Conor uncovers a hidden world of mermaids, selkies, and ancient sea magic, he must decide how much he is willing to sacrifice to set them free. But some cages cannot be unlocked. Some wounds cannot be healed.
And the sea always takes back what belongs to it.
Wrecked is a dark fantasy romance steeped in Irish folklore, filled with cursed magic, haunting secrets, forbidden love, and the devastating cost of freedom.
Other Available Tomes
A sleep-deprived college student trying to find a quiet place to study for finals finds herself in a section of the library that is so surreal, it's literally on another level.
An uptown photographer returns to her hometown to attend the tea party of her high-school best friend, unprepared for the gravity of the tea being spilled.
A troubled teen passes away, and her uncle, an eerily gifted maker of funeral dolls, returns to town to pay his respects, whether it's wanted or not.
Let Them In contains these stories and more! A display of Walden's roots in the horror genre, Let Them In is a collection of 14 short stories filled with monsters, human or otherwise, mystery, and murder. This is horror you can eat in bites before bed that you'll think about long after the lights go out!
Features and Collabs
Once Upon A Wicked Heart: A Fiction-Atlas Press Villains Anthology, 2022
From the Deep: A Fiction-Atlas Press Anthology, 2021
Blood Sport: A Fiction-Atlas Press Vampire Anthology, 2020
Fate's Design: A Fiction-Atlas Press Charity Anthology, 2024
Upcoming Projects
Wretched:
A Breaking and Crushing of Bone
Book Two
Conor Sullivan should have died at sea.
Instead, he awakens aboard a fishing vessel, carrying the grief of the girl he could not save and the memories of a world he wishes he had never discovered. Brianna is gone. Jonathan's estate lies behind him. Yet the horrors hidden along the coast of Ireland have followed him across the Atlantic.
As strange changes begin to take hold within his body, Conor discovers that escape was only the beginning.
Drawn to the shores of Jamaica, he finds himself immersed in a land shaped by conquest, survival, rebellion, and stories far older than those found in Jonathan's journals. There, among forgotten coves and waters steeped in legend, Conor learns that Ireland's sea creatures were never alone. The Caribbean holds its own ancient beings, hidden kingdoms, and powerful oceanic magic that has remained concealed for centuries.
As he uncovers the history connecting these distant shores, Conor is forced to confront unsettling truths about himself, the sea, and the legacy of cruelty left behind by the man he once called family.
Guided by Imara, a formidable mermaid commander sworn to protect her people, Conor is pulled deeper into a world where myth and history intertwine. But while he struggles to understand what he is becoming, forces are already moving beneath the waves, and old debts are beginning to surface.
The sea that nearly claimed his life now demands something far greater.
Because some stories do not end when you escape the monster.
They begin when you discover how many monsters remain.
Wretched is the second installment in The Breaking and Crushing of Bone, a dark fantasy romance blending Irish and Caribbean folklore, mermaid mythology, ancient sea magic, forbidden love, and the devastating journey of rebuilding yourself after everything you believed in has been shattered.
Coming December 2026!
Wakened:
A Breaking and Crushing of Bone
Book Three
Brianna should be dead. When her seal skin was burned, it destroyed far more than her freedom. It shattered her magic, fractured her soul, and left her drifting between worlds. To save what remains of her, the selkies and merfolk carry her into the deepest waters of the Atlantic, far below the reach of sunlight, where ancient powers still stir beneath the waves.
But healing comes with a price.
As Brianna descends through forgotten kingdoms and hidden realms untouched by humankind, she learns that the sea has chosen a different path for her. One that will demand she surrender the life she once knew, the selkie she once was, and perhaps even the memories she fought so hard to keep.
Among sea crones, ancient merfolk, and creatures older than recorded history, Brianna uncovers secrets buried long before Jonathan's crimes ever began. The deeper she travels, the more she learns that her suffering was never an isolated tragedy. It is part of a story woven through generations of stolen magic, broken promises, and a war quietly brewing beneath the waves.
Yet even as her body heals, something else is awakening.
Somewhere beyond the horizon, Conor still walks the world of the living, unaware that the girl he mourns is being transformed into something neither selkie nor mermaid.
Something far more powerful.
Wakened is the third installment in A Breaking and Crushing of Bone, a dark fantasy romance steeped in Irish folklore, oceanic mythology, ancient magic, and the haunting transformation of a selkie forced to become something entirely new in order to survive.
Coming December 2026!
What the Voices Say
Warning: This book is delightfully creepy and unsettling. There's the story of a succubus, a creepy doll maker, and a gentleman's club with a gruesome purpose, among others. The book is graphic in terms of its violence and sexual contact, but these aren't things that bother me. The best way to describe this book, in my opinion, is that it's a written version of a Salvador Dali (or other surrealist) painting. Some surrealists worked to create an undercurrent of dread to show a break in reality, and this book accomplishes that.
ANYA PAVELLE, AUTHOR
A Stunning atmosphere with stories that will haunt you!
This collection is full of creepy, scary, and downright unsettling stories in the best way! Walden knows how to set an atmosphere and I look forward to reading more from this author!
C.L. Cannon,
Author
Evocative and creepy, stirs your senses and leaves an unsettling feeling: this collection of tales is a dark, diverse and disturbing read that pulls you into a reality not quite the same, but not far off...
Amazon Review
about the author
Lisah Jayne Walden is a dark fantasy and horror author who blends folklore, mythology, history, and atmospheric suspense into stories of transformation, survival, and the hidden costs of power. She holds both a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and an MA in Creative Writing.
In addition to her novels, Walden is the author of a horror short story collection and has contributed short fiction to multiple anthologies. Her work draws heavily from mythology, cultural history, and folklore, exploring the spaces where the supernatural intersects with the human experience.
She is the author of Wrecked and the creator of The Breaking and Crushing of Bone series, a dark fantasy saga that intertwines Irish and Jamaican folklore, history, and sea mythology. Through stories that span oceans and generations, her work explores themes of identity, displacement, resilience, and the enduring connections between cultures shaped by the sea. By blending Irish fae traditions with Caribbean legends and historical influences, Walden creates richly layered worlds where myth and history collide.
When she isn't writing, she can often be found researching folklore, maritime history, mythology, and the lesser-known stories that inspire the worlds she creates.
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