Nico Harlakenden
Author ✦ Illustrator ✦ Mythmaker
Founder of Maimaktes House
I write dark speculative fiction and cross-sphere mythic narratives—empyrean, earthly, and chthonic—threaded with ritual, longing, and a precise, intimate strangeness. My stories live where the beautiful turns dangerous, where devotion becomes defiance, and where the uncanny breathes new life into the human heart.
🎙️ Co-host of BAM! Now You Know Everything
Cosmologia:
live experiments in myth-making
newsletter & broadcasts
Stories, ritual clarity, strange essays, & the quiet metaphysics of an artist’s life. My unfiltered channel for longform posts & creative experiments.
Alternate Reality Game (ARG)
A multi-year narrative spanning print, puzzles, Substack, and coded artifacts. A story told across media, stitched together by the Order of Owls. Come play.
Publishing Imprint
A small press of speculative fiction, mystery, weird literature, and occult-adjacent art. Home to works that follow the psychopomp’s route: moving through sky, soil, sea, & beneath, returning with something raw, strange, & worthwhile.
Opera: books & works
Forbidden Fruit, 2025
Dark speculative fiction anthology from award-winning and debut authors (horror, sci-fi, fantasy).The first gateway into The Curious Post narrative.
Kiss in the Coil, 2025
A dark romantasy of snake witches, cursed knights, and ancient gods under the floorboards.Updated weekly on Substack.
Saltknife, Coming Soon
A salt-soaked tale of devotion, power, and ruin. Novella coming soon.A dark maritime fantasy.
Cupbearer, Swordbearer,
Querying Soon
Epic literary dark fantasy.Revolution, ritual, and the awakening of ancient power. Book I of the Silver Isle Trilogy.
Operations
Art, illustration, & commission work
Commissions
Character portraits, sketches, book covers, and custom illustration projects.Worldbuilding art for authors, editors, and fellow mythmakers.
Collaborations
Story events, puzzle design, promotional art, cross-media narrative design, and representation.
Shop, offerings, contact
Collaborations with other creators
ICC: Indie Creator Collective
Author illustrations & stickers for flagship release, Where Magic Is Made
Fabric of the Realm
by S.B. Ryazakhov
Book cover illustration for Kickstarter special edition & YBB special edition
Your Bookish Bestie
Caricature illustrations & books supplied for social reading group on Facebook and their bookish gift subscription
