Clayton Snyder Books In Order

Publication Order of Thieves' Lyric Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Clayton Snyder
Clayton W. Snyder was born and raised in Michigan, and is a North Dakota transplant that lives with his wife and two dogs.

He has worked as a developer, system admin for a video game retailer, and project manager, and has penned many short stories that have been published by numerous magazines. His writing influences include Robin Hobb, Roger Zelazny, and Stephen King.

Clayton started reading Hans Christian Anderson, the Brothers Grimm, and Madeline L’Engle, as well as others from an early age. It kickstarted a love of the darkly funny, the strange, and the magical within him that has never left.

He is rather fond of “Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret?”. It is a book that has taught him everything about grimdark.

The first story he remembers writing was something that never had a title. It was something awful about an angel that fell down from heaven to hunt demons. However, they ended up getting captured by some man in the city, kept chained up to a doghouse, and fed a steady diet of heroin.

Clayton is inspired to write by such things as: music, melancholy, and anger. Quirks of his include needing to have nicotine, coffee, and soda as he writes.

He finds that the middle is the toughest part of writing a book, as well as the part that he hates the most. Writing novels is like baking a cake. The edges get crispy first, while the middle is just a bit undercooked. However, if you leave it for too long, it’ll burn. To Clayton, this is the make or break part of something he writes, and if he isn’t careful, they are liable to come out soggy.

What he does to get through this part of his story is to step back, and see where the plot is heading. See where it could go off the rails, and if there is enough conflict. He is still learning this last lesson. Sometimes, Clayton just wants to write something that is pulpy, and even though this is fun, there isn’t much weight to any of that. If things are bad for one of his characters, he does his best to make them that much worse.

Clayton is a panster writer, since outlines have a bad habit of just bursting into flames around him.

He finds that inside each one of his characters, there is a bit of himself. Then he stretches it, like a bit of taffy, until it fully fills the silhouette.

Clayton tries to just sit down and just write for a couple hours each night.

He wrote “River of Thieves” to poke a bit of fun at fantasy tropes, at the world, and certain ideas. He learned through writing it that he can tell a story for people to enjoy without confusing them entirely.

During his spare time, he enjoys gaming, movies, hanging out with the pups, miniature modeling, and playing guitar.

Clayton’s debut novel, called “River Thieves”, was released in the year 2019. He writes fantasy and horror mainly, and a bit of comedy.

“River Thieves” is the first novel in the “Thieves’ Lyric” series and was released in the year 2019. They were the worst sort of people. For the best of reasons.

After a robbery that went terribly wrong, Cord, the cursed thief, broadens his horizons and plots the heist of a lifetime. With Nenn, knife connoisseur and fellow thief, with him, the pair begin building their ragtag bunch in order to target the heart of Midian kingdom, which is the seat of the tyrant King Anaxos Mane.

While treachery, terrifying creatures of nightmare, as well as opposition block their path at each turn, and the gang has to depend on skill (martial, intellectual, and magical) to deliver them out of an endless summer and keep them all free from evil despotism’s clutches. If they do not screw everything up first.

Readers found this to have fantastic characters that are violent, snarky, and fun and they go on some outrageous adventures to fill their pockets. You get to know them, and love them and feel all their joy and pain, even while they say and do some of the craziest things. Readers found that Clayton delivers an entertaining heist tale with a dark and twisted sense of humor.

“Thieves’ War” is the second novel in the “Thieves’ Lyric” series and was released in the year 2020. Dead is not always dead. When Nenn sails into Gentia, she discovers the warmongers in the city-state are but the least of her troubles.

Now faced with their Harrower lords, slavers, and a past that promises to unravel her life, she has got a single shot to make things right. Provided Cord doesn’t foul things up first.

Each of these characters is deep and full of their own personality. The banter they have is witty. There are turns and twists all of the place with plenty of action.

“The Obsidian Psalm” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2020. Resurrected by a guy he should loathe. Betrayed by those that he trusted. A head filled with memories that he didn’t actually make.

Rook is forced into a bargain that may kill him if he refuses it, and if he accepts it, might mean the end of existence. Trapped in a shadow war between necromancers, his options are coming down to only one. Cut a bloody path of revenge across humanity’s final remaining city.

“Demons, Ink” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2020. If you have a job, Jack Nyx will do it. For a price. He is about to discover that some things aren’t worth the money. A job he is unable to refuse lands his way, he enlists the aid of witch and friend Ivy to hunt down a missing child.

He finds instead merely the tip of a dangerous iceberg, and some presently unseen forces that work on making his life hell. Jack is caught between the devil he doesn’t know and the demons that are bound to him.