News and discussion about The Alchemists’ Council series (ECW Press).
AWARDS
2019—Book Two: The Flaw in the Stone
Independent Publisher Book Award: BRONZE MEDAL FOR FANTASY
2017—Book One: The Alchemists’ Council
Independent Publisher Book Award: GOLD MEDAL FOR FANTASY
Book One
As a new Initiate with the Alchemists’ Council, Jaden is trained to maintain the elemental balance of the world, while fending off interference by the malevolent Rebel Branch. Bees are disappearing from the pages of the ancient manuscripts in Council dimension and from the outside world, threatening its very existence. Jaden navigates alchemy’s complexities, but the more she learns, the more she begins to question Council practices. Erasure ― a procedure designed not only to remove individuals from Council dimension but also from the memories of other alchemists ― troubles Jaden, and she uses her ingenuity to remember one of the erased people. In doing so, she realizes the Rebel Branch might not be the enemy she was taught to fight against. Jaden is caught between her responsibility to the Council and her growing allegiance to the rebels, as the Council finds itself at the brink of war. She is faced with an ethical dilemma involving the free will of all humanity and must decide whether or not she can save the worlds.
Book Two
Rebel scribe Genevre, exploring secreted libraries with Dragonsblood pulsing through her young veins, accidentally discovers a 5th-Council manuscript with a long-forgotten alchemical formula whose implications could permanently transform both the Alchemists’ Council and the Rebel Branch. A revolution looms as High Azoth Dracaen strengthens the power of the Rebel Branch, Cedar and Saule take treacherous steps against fellow alchemists, and the unprecedented mutual conjunction of Ilex and Melia changes the fate of all dimensions. With insurgents gathering, Ilex and Melia’s attempt to open a forbidden breach through time could bring salvation — or total destruction — to the elemental balance of the world.
Book Three
In Book Three of The Alchemists’ Council trilogy, eternal conflicts between the Council and Rebel Branch escalate. Secrets about time-travel manipulation are revealed, uncomfortable truths about alchemical children are discovered, and Council dimension itself begins to disintegrate. Amidst this fallout, the Amber Garden dissolves, conjoined pairs suffer torturous separation, alchemists die in the process, and Cedar is banished to the outside world where she endures a living death within her conjoined partner.
Book Three will be available in March 2020
About the Author
Cynthea Masson is a professor in the English department at Vancouver Island University. After finishing a PhD in English with a focus on medieval mysticism, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship, which included work with alchemical manuscripts at the British Library. Her academic work includes the co-edited book Reading Joss Whedon. The first novel in the Alchemists’ Council series was shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize and won the Gold Medal for Fantasy in the 2017 Independent Publisher Book Awards. She lives in Nanaimo, British Columbia.
News from Council Dimension 
May I kindly draw your attention to the alchemical hermaphrodite, Michael Maschka has recently release under Creative Commons License? https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hermaphrodit.jpg
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Thank you for dropping by and providing other readers and me with this link! How fascinating to see a recent representation of the traditional alchemical image! Both you and Michael Maschka may be interested to know that The Flaw in Stone (Book 2 of The Alchemists’ Council) focuses extensively on Ilex and Melia–Council dimension’s embodiment of the alchemical hermaphrodite and mutual conjunction. Perhaps you can picture them with the faces in Michael’s depiction!
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