Artists want one thing: catharsis. The characters in the following eight stories will go to great lengths to find boundless inspiration, and the more complicated those means get, the bloodier.

A boy uncovers the secrets of the largest military organization in his world, and just what lies in the east.

With a history of mental illness, detective Jim Neumann goes down a dark path trying to uncover whether he is an amnesic serial killer. James is an ex-psychologist sent to profile him. Jason is an unstable teenager obsessed with James.

Powers are normal, if uncommon. But those who have them must chose a side, since their only employer is a military force called Pearl’s Guild, committed to keeping global peace.

Three people become the best of friends while stealing from a restaurant in 1991 Peoria, Illinois.

A dissatisfied duke stows aboard a powerful captain’s ship, planning to journey with her to the fabled Land of the Dead. Neither is who they seem to be, though, and their journey ends up bringing each more than just the adventure they had expected.

Stream-of-conscious poetry intertwines with autobiography in this self reflective journey of mental illness and sexuality. Complete with dozens of original illustrations, K.N. Clem’s heartbreaking, sometimes hilarious debut will leave you breathless.

Two exhausted soldiers flee across the world, from their war-torn homeland in the Mediterranean to the Pacific Rim. Since they have shit luck, they end up in a civil war about two years later.

Two divergent mages of contrasting privilege uncover true potential through uneasy alliance, inciting discovery of one another’s arcane secrets.

A shaman visits Seyna’s family. They accompany her to market one day, and Seyna learns the shaman’s secret, and her heritage...