Cover art by Mmeizn
Séances and speakeasies. Flyboys and flappers. It’s 1929, and the world is roaring—right up to the edge of collapse. Werewolves and fairies are just bedtime stories. Science is thriving. Magic is nearly dead.
Or so people believe. Operation PYRE was meant to safeguard dangerous magic; now they’re being consumed by it. Nicoletta is entrapped by those in power and forced to hunt other creatures. Fex is pulled in by promises he can’t trust and threats he can’t escape. Together, they’re sent on missions that grow darker, deadlier, and far more personal than either expected.
As corruption spreads, Nicoletta and Fex realize that as operatives, they’re expendable. Their only chance at getting out alive may be to burn the organization to the ground, and damn the consequences.
Operation PYRE ©2026 is entirely human written by JB McDonald and Zach McCallum. Edited by C Eastman. All our em-dashes are home grown.
★★★★★
JB and Zach are experts at their craft, and Operation PYRE is a goddamn delight to behold. With richly rounded characters and attention to detail usually reserved for watchmaking, I can’t recommend this enough. There is a dedication to worldbuilding here that pulls you in as easily as Nicolette and Fex find themselves slipping into trouble. -Morgan D.
★★★★★
Fex and Nicoletta are fully realized and wonderfully written! I’m really enjoying watching their relationship develop as they work to extricate themselves from situations that range from unpleasant to life-threatening. Page-turning action scenes mix beautifully with deeply felt emotional ones. I can’t wait to see what happens next! -Catharine E.
★★★★★
The authors do a fantastic job of grounding you in the story immediately, laying a perfect foundation for a cast of characters whose sharp, witty chemistry leaps off the page. -Chelsea V.
June 1st, 1929 Sunrise was still an hour and then some away, with just a hint of paler night sky on the eastern horizon, when Fex followed the uniformed soldier out of his apartment and to a waiting car. It wasn’t a frantic summons to the hospital for Vano like Fex’s last pre-dawn rousting had…
May 28th, 1929 Nicoletta was napping on the too-soft bed in her sterile room when a knock rattled the door, startling her clear up onto her feet. Corporal Moore’s voice came next: “Up and at ‘em, doll. Get your stuff and get moving.” Nicoletta stared at her closed door blankly for a moment, as if…
May 27th, 1929 It was warm enough—unseasonably warm—that Nicoletta had requested some summer dresses. They hadn’t come. Her handlers had refused to collect any of her former belongings, either, and in a fit of pique she’d torn the right sleeve off one of the old winter dresses they’d supplied—leaving the left sleeve over her mechanical…
