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Parallel Parks series

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Pile of Bones (2013—Parallel Parks series -1) by Bailey Cunningham

Pile of Bones (2013—Parallel Parks series) by Bailey Cunningham

Parallel Parks series — by Bailey Cunningham.

NEWS!

  • NEW Release: Prize of Night #3 — June 30, 2015

Genres and Sub-Genres[]

Hybrid Epic/Urban Fantasy / New Adult

Series Description or Overview[]

This hybrid epic/urban fantasy focuses on the lives of four graduate students in the Canadian prairies who stumble upon a magical park. The park leads them to Anfractus, a dangerous city in a world ruled by chance. Every character has two sides. By day, they grade papers, teach tutorials, and struggle to pay the bills. After dark, they explore the city of infinite alleys, where they might stumble upon a mechanical fox or hungry salamandris. When Roldan, an auditor who can talk to spirits, is enlisted to appraise a rare artifact, his company finds itself thrust into a political conflict that could end their lives. ~ Goodreads | Parallel Parks series

Lead's Species[]

  • Human / 

Primary Supe[]

  • Magical Realm

What Sets it Apart[]

  • Geeky grad students get transported to an alternate world through a park.

Narrative Type and Narrators[]

  • Third-person omniscient voice, but it is divided into four section, each focusing on one of the major characters.

Books in Series[]

Parallel Parks series:

  1. Pile of Bones (2013)
  2. Path of Smoke (2014)
  3. Prize of Night (June 30, 2015)

Shorts, Novellas, Anthologies and Guides[]

none yet

Other Series by Author onsite[]

Themes[]

  • Risking greatness (throwing the dice to fate)
  • Trade of of technology for magical abilities

World Building[]

Setting[]

Regina, Saskatchewan / Anfractus

Places:

  • Plains University:
  • City of Anfractus: alternate world that can be entered through Wascana Park at midnight
  • Silenus:

Supernatural Elements[]

✥ Magical Park, Magical kingdom, warriors, elemental spirits, animated mechanicalS, bards, archers, gladiators, real-life role-playing game, giant salamander, magic,

Glossary:[]

  • Sagitarri: archers
  • Artificers: techies
  • Saggitarii: soldiers
  • Miles: soldiers
  • Trovadores: musicians
  • Auditores: people who can hear/feel/see and communicate with the elemental spirits of Anfractus
  • Basilissa: power-hungry ruler, plans conquer Anfractus; the students' enemy—allied with the Silenoi.
  • Silenoi, satyrlike creatures who hunt humans—allied with Basilissa.

List of Types: acedrex, aedile, aegis, arquites, arras, Arx, Auditores, basia, basilissa, carcer, caupona, chlamys, cinna, clepsydra, clerestory, cloaca, fibula, fricatives, gens, halberds, hortus, hypocaust, lares, impluvium, latrinculi, lupanaria, lupo, lyceum, meretrix, miles, morpheme, nemo, nemones, oecus, popinae, Sagittarius, scale loricae, sharbah, silenus/silenoi, spadone, stola, tabularia, triclinium, trovadores, vici, xamat (list incomplete)

Groups & Organizations:[]

World[]

✥ Anfractus seems like a combination of an online role-playing game, a version of ancient Rome, and a shared hallucination based on the preoccupations of graduate students (who must spend much of their time in the geeky world of their own faculties and their own minds). Wascana Park has always been unreal in some sense. It was originally a dumping-grounds for buffalo bones, but was transformed into a large city park, dotted with trees that all had to be planted (some imported from outside Canada), and a lake that had to be dredged on the site of a sluggish creek. The park was actually someone's fantasy before it became part of a deliberate effort to remake a very unpromising natural setting into the capital city of a Canadian province. ~ GR reader Jean

✥  The main characters are Canadian graduate students who live in the city of Regina. By day they grade papers and teach classes while wondering what they will do to graduate, what they will do after they graduate, and why they exist--just like grad students everywhere. By night, they go to the city park and transfer to another world, where artificers (techies) soldiers (saggitarii and miles) musicians (trovadores) and (auditores) people who can hear/feel/see elementals, try to better their lives by risking greatness (throwing the dice to fate) ~ GR Reader Maurynne Maxwell

Protagonists[]

✥ The novel is divided into four section, each focusing on one of the three major characters.The characters themselves forget about our world when they enter Anfractus.

  • Andrew / Roldan, the "auditor" (one who can hear and communicate with the elemental spirits of Anfractus) is a key player, and the one who first understands why the two worlds must be kept separate.
  • Shelby / Morgan:
  • Carl / Babiecca:

Sidekick[]

  • Name: / What: / Sidekick-to: / About: / Book First Seen:

Characters Chart[]

Real Life Name Anfractus Name What About
Andrew Roldan auditor in Anfractus Andrew seems to be the person everyone wants a piece of;
Shelby Morgan pursuing an internet hook up, or attempting to
Carl Babiecca
Basilissa Latona n/a power-hungy leader tries to conquer Anfractus; raising a new army i #2, still determined to create her own empire, both worlds will be in danger if she succeeds;

To expand the table, in Edit–Visual mode, right-press on a Row of the table or Column (Control-press on a Mac)—choose add Row or Column. In Source mode: Copy paste rows.

Bailey Cunningham

Bailey Cunningham — Interview for Pile of Bones

Author[]

Bailey Cunningham

Bio: Bailey Cunningham and Jes Battis were born five minutes apart. Battis writes in the genre of urban fantasy, while Cunningham prefers epic fantasy and historical fiction.Battis teaches in the areas of queer theory, childrens literature, and creative writing. Cunningham sticks to medieval studies and Restoration fiction. Their interests converge on three topics: The Satyricon, the autism spectrum, and Firefly. Battis earned his Phd from Simon Fraser University, and went on to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship at the City University of New York. He currently teaches in the Canadian prairies. Cunningham attended the Roke Island School of Magic, where he was put on academic probation. He currently divides his time between several imaginary cities. ~ FF

Contributors[]

Cover Artists[]

Other Contributors:[]

  • Audio Book Narrator: — Source:
  • Editor: — Source:

Publishing Information[]

  1. Pile of Bones (2013)
  2. Path of Smoke (2014)
  3. Prize of Night (2015)

Book Cover Blurbs[]

✤ BOOK ONE—Pile of Bones (2013): In one world, they’re ordinary university students. In another world, they are a company of heroes in a place of magic and myth called Anfractus…… The Cree called the area Oscana, "pile of bones," a fertile hunting ground where game abounded. The white settlers changed that to Wascana. And centuries later, it became Wascana Park, a wooded retreat in the midst of the urban sprawl of Regina. For a select few, who stay in the park until midnight, the land reverts into a magical kingdom, populated by heroes and monsters. They become warriors, bards, archers, gladiators. In the city called Anfractus, they live out a real-life role playing game. All harmless fun—until they find themselves in the middle of an assassination plot which threatens to upset the balance of everything. Politics are changing, and old borders are about to disappear. The magic of Anfractus is bleeding into the real world—an incursion far more dangerous than the students suspect. Only they know what is happening—and only they can stop it. ~ Goodreads | Pile of Bones (Parallel Parks, #1) by Bailey Cunningham

✤ BOOK TWO—Path of Smoke (2014): In Wascana Park, they’re ordinary university students. But after midnight, when the park transforms into the magical kingdom of Anfractus, they become warriors, bards, and archers in a real-life role-playing game… The company of heroes has thwarted the plan of the power-hungry basilissa to conquer Anfractus, but not without a cost. Andrew’s character, Roldan, died, leaving him cut off from the mystical realm without any memory of its existence. If the others reveal the park’s magical nature to Andrew, his banishment will become permanent. So they must hide their nighttime adventures—and hope that his memory returns. Pursued by the basilissa’s forces, the rest of the group keeps a low profile in Anfractus until they uncover an unholy alliance between their enemy and the silenoi, satyrlike creatures who hunt humans—an alliance that threatens to cross the barrier into the real world. And while his friends struggle to prevent an invasion in both worlds, Andrew receives a visitor determined to restore his memory of Anfractus by leading him down a very dark path… ~ Goodreads | Path of Smoke (Parallel Parks, #2) by Bailey Cunningham

✤ BOOK THREE—Prize of Night (2015): The author of Pile of Bones and Path of Smoke returns to the world of the Parallel Parks. In the city of Regina, they’re just graduate students. But after midnight—in Wascana Park—they are transported to a land where they can be anything: bards and archers, heroes or monsters…. In the nighttime world of Anfractus, the company of heroes has thwarted the basilissa’s plans to assassinate the queen of a neighboring city. Things seem somewhat back to normal, until Shelby learns that Anfractus isn’t what it seems. Wascana Park doesn’t take you to another realm; it just shows what’s beneath the surface of this one—and what’s there isn’t pretty. Basilissa Latona is raising a new army, still determined to create her own empire. If she succeeds, both worlds will be in danger. Shelby knows she must rally the company of heroes against her, but, in the dark streets of Anfractus, telling friend from foe becomes harder than ever, as loyalties shift and shatter. Especially when the person who could do the company the most harm may be one their own… ~ Goodreads | Prize of Night (Parallel Parks, #3) by Bailey Cunningham

✤ BOOK FOUR—:

First Sentences[]

  1. Pile of Bones (2013) — Roland touched the walls of his alley.
  2. Path of Smoke (2014) — He sat in the wind of the black basia, watching the suburb below.
  3. Prize of Night (June 30, 2015) —

Quotes[]

Trivia[]

Awards[]

Read Alikes (suggestions)[]

— Series with similar elements: Alternate Worlds:

New Adult:

Notes[]

Written by a geek for geeks.

See Also[]

External References[]

Books:

World, Characters, etc:

Reviews:

Interviews:

Artist:

Author:

Community, Fan Sites:

  • none


Gallery of Book Covers[]


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