From the beginning to the great deluge, men and women lived, loved, fought, and died. Those were the days of the Vaporous Realms.
Rival clans and city-states vie for supremacy. Earthly lords war over lands of shadow and mist. Empires span vast steppes and deserts. Vicious raiders menace coastlines from the tundra to tropical isles. Conspiracies and cults abound.
In the Vaporous Realms, generations of mortals and immortals contend for power and souls across a young world. Strange and terrible beasts, and stranger and more terrible beings, roam the land. Life is fleeting, but when the kingdoms of heaven and earth hang in the balance, every breath counts.
Encompassing seven epochs and five clashing civilizations, the story-cycles of the Vaporous Realms—Dustsong, Northsong, Southsong, Eastsong, and Westsong—are epic in scope. Yet every snippet comes from a profoundly human place.
I write “clean” (PG to PG-13), somewhat dark fantasy. I’ve taken to calling it “sword and spirit”: most of the particular stories fit best in the “sword and sorcery” subgenre, but supernatural power in the Vaporous Realms is spiritual rather than magical in the usual sense. Taken together, though, these little stories fit within an epic whole—so the story-world includes aspects of high fantasy.
Vaporous Realms and Vaporous Realms at War books, character miniatures, and other products are available via links to our online shops and at in-person events.
Subscribe to Vaporous Realms today!
Free subscribers now receive a monthly post featuring 1) a brief world-building article about the Vaporous Realms story setting, 2) a quick story snippet, and 3) any reading recommendations, Vaporous Realms publishing or product updates, or Vaporous Realms event news. Another monthly post will include a new or updated character profile for Vaporous Realms at War tabletop gaming. Posts are archived (available to paid and complimentary subscribers) after three months. You may have access to teasers of certain other paid content.
Becoming a paid subscriber (annually, for a steep discount) means you receive the monthly free posts and get access to the full archive of story snippets, serials, and other posts, including the Dustsong: Len the Wanderer novella ebook and the most current Vaporous Realms at War resources as free downloads. Future Vaporous Realms ebooks will likewise be available to all paid subscribers.
Founder-level subscribers receive invites to monthly Vaporous Realms at War creative meetings. (You’ll have the chance to submit creative input in writing instead, if you prefer.)
Besides new posts on this platform, my 2025 focus is on completing a novella and tabletop campaign for the character Sceg, as a prequel to Dustsong. A revised and expanded edition of Len’s story, and Kaelii’s, are on the docket for 2026.
In the meantime, please enjoy the new content and (for paid and complimentary members) past story snippets. Feel free to explore, comment, and join me in Chat. Send your most pressing and perplexing Vaporous Realms questions my way, and I’ll answer to the best of my non-spoilery ability.
Together with you, our readers, we'll immerse ourselves in the ever-widening array of heroic (and unheroic) folk, far-flung lands, and perilous adventures the Vaporous Realms have to offer. Thank you in advance for becoming a subscriber so we can all continue this epic journey (writ small) together!
About the Author
Vaporous Realms author M. B. Heywood is a wandering storyteller and editor from a little ways south of the Mason-Dixon. He loves his Lord, his wife and kids, their kith and kin, coffee and pie, fantasy fiction, miniature models, and historical anecdotes.
