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.
Check out this comprehensive guide to the Vaporous Realms website content and this overview of the current Vaporous Realms at War content.
Vaporous Realms and Vaporous Realms at War ebooks are available to our paid subscribers on Substack. Find print books, character miniatures, and miscellaneous collectibles on our bookshop and other platforms, linked from our main page.
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Free subscribers receive a monthly post that usually features 1) a quick story snippet, 2) a brief world-building article about the Vaporous Realms story setting, and 3) reading recommendations and any Vaporous Realms publishing or event updates. And new for 2026—select parts of the archives, like the monthly posts and old standalone snippets, will be free for all subscribers.
Becoming a paid subscriber (annually, for a steep discount) means you receive the monthly free posts and get access to the full archives, including ebooks and serials, tabletop resources, previous editions, and old drafts. That includes the Dustsong: Len the Wanderer novella ebook and the latest rules and character profiles for Vaporous Realms at War. Future Vaporous Realms ebooks, and audio content like livestream recordings, will likewise be available to paid subscribers. You’ll also be privy to select drafts and excerpts from current works in progress!
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We hope you enjoy your exploration of the Vaporous Realms, with their ever-widening array of heroic (and unheroic) folk, far-flung lands, and perilous adventures. 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.
