Novels, Stories, and Poems

Preview the Written Works of Author C. J. Ward

Want to get a taste of my writing? Check out a selection of my featured projects—including hand-picked quotes and downloadable previews!

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The Spark’s Listener

— Epic Fantasy Novel —

The Spark’s Listener is my debut epic fantasy novel about a faithless prophet’s journey of reclaiming her faith in order to save her people from a mysterious, devastating magic technology.

The Faithless Prophet, The Politicking Artist, The Innocent Youth, And the God Who Cannot be Trusted. The actions of these few have sealed the land of Solmara’s fate. Whether they saved it or doomed it—this is for you to decide.

A fantasy-style book cover titled "The Spark's Listener" by C. J. Ward, featuring a woman with long blonde hair in a flowing dress standing on a cliff overlooking a castle illuminated by a bright, glowing sunburst in a picturesque landscape.

Preview The Spark’s Listener

Fill out this form to read the first three chapters of the novel

  • Beneath the disapproving gaze of the Sparksun above, Audira heard the frantic whispers of the god who judged her right along with it. As she often did these days, she tuned them out. They really were quite the inconvenient distraction to her journaling.

    —Chapter 1 | The Spark’s Listener

  • But I do tell you this—you should be ashamed for attempting to smother a young boy's hope simply because you lack any yourselves. For if I were still a leader in my faith, I would take one boy with belief like his over a congregation of followers like you.

    —Chapter 2 | The Spark’s Listener

  • Audira shook her head in disbelief. "You trusted me to be your Listener. To unite Solmara's three tribes. To build and lead your perfect city. Yet you don't trust me enough to give reason for my suffering."

    —Chapter 8 | The Spark’s Listener

  • Then she experienced the strangest sensation. Almost like a whisper from Vocar, she sensed a wave of confusing thoughts and emotions wash over her. Fear. Pain. Loss. Betrayal. They came and went so quickly she couldn't make sense of them. Suddenly, the pain in her body subsided as the whispers reached a crescendo. She felt an incredible energy course through her veins that seemed to reinvigorate her.

    —Chapter 20 | The Spark’s Listener

  • Audira accepted Korra's sorrow as her own, squeezing as if to draw the girl's emotions from her. Because she wished she could. She wished she could take all the pain her actions as Listener had caused to the people of Solmara and bare it on her shoulders. She knew she would be crushed beneath its weight, but part of her felt that was what she deserved.

    —Chapter 24 | The Spark’s Listener

To The Heavens

— Literary Fantasy Short Story —

To The Heavens is a tale of a young woman’s climb to a mountain’s summit in search of the fabled Heavens beyond—and the parallels such a quest holds with our own journeys in life.

What are stories, dear reader, if not a way to crystallize hope? A means of capturing the very essence of the human spirit and delivering it to the spiritless. For though a story may be fiction, there is nothing more real than a reader inspired.

Preview To The Heavens

Fill out this form to read the prologue of the short story!

  • Often, I have found the most difficult step of any journey to be the first you take. Heavy with the inertia of expectations and the weight of uncertainty, your feet refuse to carry you forward. But once you take that first step...

    —Chapter 1 | To The Heavens

  • It seems that growing into your true self is often as much of a destructive endeavor as a constructive one. Facing—and then casting away—the aspects of you that no longer serve your purpose is a critical step in the process.

    —Chapter 4 | To The Heavens

  • If you know not the destination, is the journey worth the pursuit? What is there to gain if you find not what you seek? Everything, I would argue. You have everything to gain. And you have nothing to lose.

    —Chapter 5 | To The Heavens

Turning The Page

— Slam Poem —

Turning The Page is one of my slam poems—adapted for written form—that explores the magic of living your life inspired by story. And the crisis of realizing your story may not be all that was promised.

But wait… Did you miss the plot along the way? You keep turning and turning, but can’t keep the doubt at bay. Reality has a funny way of making the story hard to follow. Life shines its bitter spotlight on you, revealing you empty and hollow.

Read Turning The Page

Fill out this form to read the Turning The Page poem