C. Robert Cargill Books In Order

Publication Order of Dreams & Shadows Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

C Robert Cargill is a science fiction, horror and urban fantasy novelist that is also known as film critic, screenwriter and podcast host. Other jobs he has held over the years include waiting tables, freelance writer, video store clerk, voice actor, travel agent, day care provider, camp counselor, sandwich artist and airline reservation agent. The San Antonio native was a military brat that moved all around the United States and it was only as a fourteen year old that he ended up in SA. He then spent much of the 1990s in SA where he was heavily involved in literary and poetry scenes. He got his first semi professional job at “The Sun Poetic Times” that was a literary magazine. His first foray into print was when his editorial was published both in the “Express News” and the “San Antonio Light” when he was just fifteen. He would go on to cut his teeth in poetry and during this time got to interact with many leading lights from whom he learned a lot.

Cargill always wanted to become an author ever since he was a child and hence spent a lot of time trying to become one. His jobs working in literary magazines in the 1990s certainly provided a platform where he could practice. From the literary magazine he would become a film critic at a hip magazine even as he worked at a video store to supplement his income. He had always loved movies and hence working in a video store was something that he absolutely loved. During this time he was making a very good living working as a film critic in addition to several other jobs. He was then working more than 60 hours every week but he loved it and deemed it an exceptional experience. As the 2000s were coming to a close, she started seeing that there was not much of a future with the many changes happening on the internet. As social media became bigger, he started seeing plate journalism evolving. Stories that had been broken by one journalist would be copied and pasted with only a little repurposing. He realized that there was not much of a future in journalism and decided that maybe he should try his hand at fiction writing.

Having cut his teeth as a film critique for more than a decade, he had made friends with a lot of people in the industry. One of these was Scott Derickson who loved his writing and began communicating with him and they would soon become fast friends. It was while they were having drinks at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas that he pitched the idea for sinister and Derickson was immediately sold. A week and a half later, they sold the concept to Scott barely a fortnight later. Since Scott had once read over the manuscript for his debut novel “Dreams and Shadows,” he asked if he would like to complete it and he accepted the offer. His path to becoming a novelist flowed from his work as a screenwriter. Once he wrote the script for “Sinister” and it got sold, word got out that he had a manuscript and was looking for a publisher. Through Scott, he was introduced to David McIlvain who would then become his manager. Peter McGuain would then ask to read the script and soon after signed him as his agent. A few meetings later, he sold the manuscript to Harper Voyager who published it in 2013. It was quite the journey as he embarked on writing the novel in 2008 and was done two years later. He would usually write on the weekends and during the night and it all paid off when he published “Dreams and Shadows” which went on to become a bestseller.

“Dreams and Shadows” the debut novel by C Robert Cargill is a novel set in Austin Texas. At the opening of the novel is the story of love pure as snow. But such fragile and beautiful things usually don’t last. It is not a story of two lovebirds that make each other miserable but rather something out of their own control. The couple’s child is taken by faeries who replace it with a changeling of their own. This is how Ewan finds himself in Limestone Kingdom. Several years later, the then child Colby bumps into a Jinn while playing by himself and as expected asks him to show him everything. It is the innocent wish of a child but Yasher the Jinn grants him what he desires but has his own reasons for doing so. He also has a very tragic past that could rival one of the greatest ancient tragedies. At the meeting of the two boys, they form a strong bond that could enable them to bridge the barrier between the two worlds. But it is a relationship that could result in rivers of blood.

C Robert Cargill’s second novel “Queen of the Dark Things” is set six months since Colby the wizard lost his best friend. He had becoming too engrossed fighting the army of faeries that originated from the realm of darkness and mystery known as the Limestone Kingdom that no one in his world had ever visited. While Colby has succeeded in vanquishing and banning the faeries from their realm, he was no longer the anonymous being he once was and this opened him up to all manner of threats. His acts and deeds had spread like wildfire and now powerful enemies were coming against him. One of these is a person he thought was his friend but was now coming back to take revenge. The city is getting enveloped in a strange darkness and as Colby tries to find answers in his old memories, he cannot see any way out of his quandary. He is running out of time and very few of his old enemies or even allies are ready to provide nay help. He now has to turn to very dark forces to get help and these may just get him into an even worse position. Writing in the great tradition of the likes of Kim Harrison, Lev Grossman, Richard Kadrey and Erin Morgenstern, the author takes us on an extraordinary journey of hope, darkness, despair and wonder to reveal the monsters and magic inside and around us.