queer transmasc enby (he/they)
indie adult, queer fantasy writer

About

Hi! I'm Jake Vanguard (he/they), and I am a queer author of dark fantasy, science fantasy, and a slice of horror and erotica.
My first novel FIRST SNOW - Book 1 of Deity Chronicles - a dark science fantasy story about deities and finding yourself, was self-published May 25th, 2024.
Higanbana - an urban fantasy/slice of life story with angels and lots of trauma - was released on August 29th, 2024.
On itch.io, you can find short stories like OUROBOROS (dark erotica) and Pain For A Price (body horror).I also write short stories for anthologies, the first published one being Heliophilia for Indie Bites Issue 17 - Pirates & Prophecies.

Upcoming

FIRST ROSE
Deity Chronicles 2
Different MC, Dual POV
May 25th, 2025

PARTS Anthology
Queer anthology about the vast concept of
humanoid bodies and body parts
Late Summer 2025

Angelverse Book 2
More of Nate and Raziel
More angels, more demons, more trauma
Autumn 2025

Ko-Fi

First Snow

Deity Chronicles 1
Adult Science Fantasy
May 25th, 2024

What if you only exist because you're the splinter of someone else's soul?After spending his whole life in his brother's shadow, Zanoah gets banished from his home, paying the price for his brother's crime.Thrown into a world unknown to him, he'll have to find himself and a purpose to live for. Crossing a half-sentient jungle, he's bound to find his destiny—a forgotten deity of all things.

first rose

Deity Chronicles 2
Adult Science Fantasy
May 25th, 2025

Five years after the cataclysmic events in Tadena, Helio is living her best life—until her sister, Zalika, gets attacked and her niece, Nyssa, is kidnapped. And to make matters worse, Zalika has transferred her responsibility as the deity of technology to Helio.Desperate to find the culprit and her niece, Helio sets out on a journey with her best friend, Julyen, to enlist the help of two other deities, Zanoah and Caean. Not only is she worried about Nyssa, she's also having to deal with the new forces coursing through her, which she’s unable to fully grasp and control.Their journey brings them to Evergarden, the home of Ambroz, the deity of lust and Helio’s new mentor. But learning to control her powers from him isn’t the only connection they form. As the two fall for each other, Helio finds herself torn between her attraction to Ambroz, missing her peaceful life in Tadena, worries about Nyssa and Zalika, and her fear of facing her sister's attacker—who wants to vanquish every single deity and cleanse the world of them.Can she face the man she once loved? And what will happen when she does?

Higanbana

Slice of Life
Urban Fantasy
August 29th, 2024

Nate didn’t need a savior, a guardian angel.Nathaniel has never known happiness or a life free from struggle. Stuck in an abusive relationship and damned to work minimum-wage jobs, he has no energy or motivation to make himself better.That is until he meets a mysterious stranger.Raziel, Archangel of Heaven, was wrongfully stripped of his grace and banished to life on Earth. Lost on his own and haunted by loneliness and the injustices inflicted on him, he meets Nathaniel.
Struggling to navigate free will, he starts exploring the human world and falls in love—not just with the world but with the human guiding him through it as well.Will they save each other from their demons? Or will they drag each other deeper into Hell?

anthologies

Heliophilia

Short Story
Indie Bites Issue 17
Pirates & Prophecies

Living in endless day, Icarus is drawn toward a cathedral. They've heard of prophecies, of Heralds of Light and Darkness changing endless day into night and vice versa.
What they didn't expect was to find a preacher so bright, they're blinded by his light, reciting the prophecy - and revealing Icarus is part of the prophecy.

Born From Earth

Short Story
We Can Always Tell
Trans Erotic HorrorComing April 2025

Mars goes through a ritual to make them more like their lover Callista. Non-human, one with the forest, reshaping their body to their wishes. The ritual includes roots having their own mind, taking Mars apart from the inside out.

Callista didn’t tell me everything about the ritual, only what it’ll do. How it’ll change me, promising I’ll become a part of the forest, as my true self. A part of her.
“I’m ready,” I whisper, my voice almost carried away by the wind.

short stories

OUROBOROS

Shorty Story
Dark Fantasy Erotica

Equinox, the princeling of the Underworld, finds out their father has kept the existence of their brother, their twin, a secret all their life.Desperate to find out the truth, they embark on a journey through the Underworld, to find their brother on the Overworld. They're aided by their partner - Letum, Death incarnate.Pulled into the realm of Chaos, Equinox agrees to a trade granting them strength - in exchange for satisfying Chaos' curiosity.Will they find their brother? Or will their journey be an infinite undertaking?

Pain For A Price

Short Story
Body Horror
Gigeresque/Beksinski-esque

Ezra is a young human, forced to live through his most painful nightmares, time after time. When he wakes up in a macabre spaceship, he finds himself kidnapped by an alien race and on a desperate search for his partner.Pain For A Price is a body horror short story with gigeresque elements. It's about accepting peace—whatever this peace may be.