Ghosts of Moonrise

A village vanished in a single night. Decades later, its final days resurface in the journal of a missing adventurer.

Q’razab Nassai expects nothing more extraordinary than a quiet life in her ordinary town. Then she discovers a weathered journal belonging to an explorer who disappeared decades ago while searching for Moonrise—a legendary village lost after a succession of seemingly supernatural events.

The deeper Q’razab reads, the stranger the account becomes. Hidden within its pages is another testimony: the journal of Moonrise’s final spiritual leader, chronicling sleepless nights, altered minds, and a terror descending upon the village from beyond the known world.

Told through journals and recovered accounts, Ghosts of Moonrise is a standalone illustrated novel of xenofiction, psychological horror, and cosmic science-fiction mystery set in the Z-Verse.

Ghosts of Moonrise is the third novel in the Z-Verse, an interconnected series of xenofiction and science-fantasy stories told through alien perspectives.

At its centre is Q’razab Nassai, a young member of the Irjizi species, a people only beginning to understand the wider cosmos and their place within it. The Irjizi live as vassals of the mighty and merciless Rit-Phyr, who remain largely indifferent to Q’razab’s distant world. Restless and uncertain of her own place in life, Q’razab nevertheless idolises the powerful Rit-Phyr and dreams of adventure beyond everything she has known.

One night, she discovers the journal of an Irjizi adventuress who vanished a century earlier. Its pages recount her journey to Moonrise, an abandoned village surrounded by rumours of a terrible night in which its inhabitants simply disappeared.

What follows is a story within a story. As the adventuress explores the ruins of Moonrise, unaware of the danger into which she has wandered, she uncovers an even older record: the testimony of the Moon Prince, the village’s final leader. His account of Moonrise’s last months reveals a disturbing history involving a mysterious discovery atop a nearby mountain and an ancient, alien presence that should never have been disturbed.

Blending folk horror, xenofiction and found-document suspense, Ghosts of Moonrise traces a mystery across generations, with each new account drawing its reader closer to the truth of what happened at Moonrise.

Solidly creepy for nighttime horror reading…perfect for reading before bedtime when I want to be creeped out.

Amazon Reviewer

A fascinating story that is sure to delight and enthrall the reader

Amazon Reviewer

The characters were written perfectly for this type of book and I enjoyed the overall feel for the genre.

Amazon Reviewer

Delve into the rest of Z-Verse, and explore what comes next in the thrilling saga.