Welcome to the world of the Garden Knight
This is the homepage for The Garden Knight, a heroic fantasy-adventure series by Justin Greer. Please feel free to follow the links below to purchase the books, learn more about the author, and see progress on various projects. Don't forget to join the mailing list on the Contact tab and receive a free prequel novella!
Purchase the Books
Welcome! I'm glad you've found your way here. The Garden Knight is a series of fantasy-adventure stories about Derry Melyvante, a gardener in a remote mountain village who finds himself frequently pulled into adventure, intrigue, mystery, and more alongside his faithful dog Barrow and a host of friends and allies. Join Derry as he battles monsters, uncovers foul plots, investigates strange and aberrant plants, explores ruins and temples, and adventures his way through imperiled lands — all in an effort to get back home to his gardens.Please click on the images below to purchase the novels on Amazon in ebook and paperback formats.
About the Author
My name is Justin Greer. I was born in Provo, Utah, and currently live in Salt Lake City, Utah, though in between I have spent significant time in Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wales. I've been writing stories for most of my life, starting with a yellow legal pad at age 10 when I first learned it was possible to write stories like the ones I loved. Over the years, my love for fantasy, adventure, science fiction, and horror has deepened and broadened, culminating in publishing my own stories for the world to read. I hope you'll enjoy reading The Garden Knight stories as much as I've loved writing them. There are many more adventures forthcoming.My favorite writers include JRR Tolkien, Terry Brooks, David Gemmell, James Clemens/Rollins, Kate Forsyth, Brandon Sanderson, Steven Erikson, Tim Akers, Poul Anderson, Bradley P. Beaulieu, Terry Pratchett, Italo Calvino, Katharine Kerr, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Brian Lumley, and Tad Williams. You can see the influence of most of these writers in my stories.I'm also a big fan of music (pop-punk, Celtic, symphonic metal, synthpop, folk), movies (action, thriller, SFF, noir, comedy), videogames (The Legend of Zelda, Bravely Default, Valkyrie Profile, Final Fantasy, Skyrim, FromSoft, Kingdom Hearts, any Mario platformer), board & card games, Icelandic sagas, tabletop RPGs, and mythology. Many of these things also make their presence known in my fiction.Beyond writing, I'm a father of two fantastic boys and a husband to a wonderful wife. I spend my time reading, exercising, taking long walks, traveling, cooking, studying languages, and working as a freelance editor.
Contact
I'd love to hear from you! Please feel free to reach out with questions, comments, speculation, whatever. If you just want to chat about videogames or music or something, that's cool too.You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit by clicking the icons below, as well as via email, which is probably the easiest way to get my attention directly at justin@thegardenknight.com.Most importantly: I have a mailing list, and it comes with a free story! Below, you can sign up to receive my newsletter (no spam, just updates about my writing), and as a free perk you'll receive the first tale of The Garden Knight, a special novella called Leafdust & Deadwood that serves as the proper introduction to Derry and Barrow prior to the events of Tangleweed & Waterbloom. This is a must-read for fans of the series — and a great way to try out my stories and see if they're for you.Happy reading, and welcome aboard!
Blog
Welcome PostWelcome to this corner of my website, where I can say whatever I want without any editorial oversight!
Post: March 25, 2025In honor of the publication of Woodfire & Lakelight two weeks ago, I wanted to write a bit about the inspiration for that novel and its worldbuilding. Spoilers ahead for the novel and for the Garden Knight books more generally—but relatively minor ones, I suspect.I’ve talked before about the initial seed of inspiration for The Garden Knight: I was on a run around an island in the Allegheny River outside downtown Pittsburgh in the spring, jogging among the ducks and geese, listening to a podcast about King Arthur, and started to imagine what it would be like for an ordinary person like me to encounter a bunch of knights fighting a dragon. It would be a whirlwind adventure—and then I’d go back home to my wife and kids and work and hobbies and interest. Profoundly changed, certainly, but still the same person I am: an everyman who tries to be a good person and enjoys the simple, pleasant, wonderful, and peaceful of the world.That inspiration took hold. I wrote Leafdust & Deadwood and then immediately launched into Tangleweed & Waterbloom. Those first two stories encapsulated much of what I’d initially envisioned for the world—a gardener and his dog; knights in armor; magic of a fey, wondrous, and unknowable sort; magicians of similar mien, good and bad; a beautiful world with many medieval influences, as well as complex in-the-background worldbuilding for religion, history, politics, geography, and the natural world.After I finished Tangleweed, I knew I wanted to continue writing the series, both novels and novellas, and let Derry and Barrow set out on many more adventures. I’d built a fascinating world, and I wanted these characters to guide us in exploring the world’s many secrets and locales. I started brainstorming and outlining future books. (I’d already had a sense of many of them, and seeded foreshadowing and references in both Leafdust and Tangleweed.)I’ve written a lot of notes on the future of The Garden Knight. There are lots of cool climates and regions to explore, as well as different types of characters, conflicts, challenges, and—of course—plants, magical and otherwise. There’s also an overarching plot building that will eventually move to center stage in the series. I started figuring out how to tie everything together and what pieces needed to go where as I moved forward with writing the next stories.But—importantly!—I have always wanted to preserve a few important things about these books. They’re a blend of cozy and spooky, with a strong current of heroism, adventure, and wonder. They’re about good people taking on challenges to help others. Derry remains a gardener; Barrow remains a dog. And each story is self-sufficient as a Garden Knight novel, as a snippet of Derry’s life and an escape into a brighter, nobler, fantastical world.The books aren’t exactly standalone—they’re meant to be read as a series—but I wanted to make sure that each novel and novella feels complete in itself. I don’t want any of them to just feel like a stepping-stone to a bigger fight or plot twist or something. I want readers to be able to pick up any of the Garden Knight novels at any point and just fall into the world for a few hours, come away enriched and happier and perhaps more thoughtful.That’s why the novellas are more self-contained, by the way. Smaller-scale adventures to focus on the heart of the series in between bigger adventures. And, by way of a bit of a teaser, book 2.5 leans hard into the cozy nature of the series without much of an impact on the larger series plot—except, of course, in all the most important ways.So now we get to Woodfire & Lakelight. I wanted the next step after Tangleweed to take us to a new location in the world, to explore a new set of characters and themes and problems, to address new concepts, to let Derry and Barrow grow in new ways. But I wanted it to feel like a gentle broadening of the world—I didn’t send the party out to the frozen wastes to battle ice-spirits or have them summit the forbidding slopes of Ashfrost Volcano to retrieve a dead god’s ancient talisman. (Saving those for later in the series!) No, I wanted book two to feel like a natural progression, a way to showcase some of the other influences and inspirations for the series in a very familiar way.And so we travel to Scotland.Not really, but kind of. There’s plenty of Celtic influence in The Garden Knight (in all my writing), both modern and historical and mythological. I wanted to write about misty highland moors, where ghosts and strange sounds can pervade the mysterious night, where an ancient manor-house can hide all kinds of secrets. I developed Jhanad Province as a kind of analogue to the Scottish highlands, infusing it with a sense of history and perhaps a bit of melancholy as a necessary counterpart to the bright blue skies and snapping banners of Mirivar and Illywyst Provinces as seen in Tangleweed. More specifically, I imaged the estate of House Ulforre to be a wild and overgrown collection of interesting artifacts and remnants of times not so far distant that they can’t still influence the present.I patterned some of the layout of the estate after Kirk in the Hills, a Presbyterian church in Michigan, which in turn was designed after Melrose Abbey in Scotland. I visited Kirk in the Hills during the outlining stage for Woodfire & Lakelight; so much of what I saw and felt there made it directly into the book—the gardens, the doors and towers and windows, the secret crannies inside the house, and the overall sense of antiquity and wonder and welcome. I thereafter expanded the landscape around the estate to reflect some of my own experiences, brief though they have been, in Scotland. (The background for this website at the time of writing is a photo I took on the Isle of Skye, for example.) I pictured bogs, wild woods, rolling hills, rain and wind, wild animals, rivers and streams, monasteries, untended wildernesses, and a host of imagery, folklore, and tradition that remind me of the highlands.And then, of course, I got to fill the actual manor-house with plenty of interesting people. Lord Dúnabar Ulforre’s esoteric interests allowed me to showcase a wide range of cultures and folktales from all over the world of The Garden Knight, while also keeping the focus on the main theme of woodfire and lakelight, or revelation and reflection. Each tale told at the Dance was a joy to write about. Some are based on real-life folklore; others are invented but following the rubric of real human history for millennia.The theme of woodfire and lakelight was an outgrowth of the writing of the story. It was on my mind as I outlined and wrote the novel, but it didn’t crystallize until I was well into the draft and was learning things alongside my characters. This duality of legacy versus love, of duty versus passion, of having conflicting inspirations and desires—it felt relevant to Derry as a development from the events of Tangleweed and Splinterleaf alike, but also to myself as I was writing. I hope that every reader has found something of value in the lessons of the Dance of Fire and Light. The book concerns itself greatly with crossroads of decision; it’s been my experience that we have many of them, all our days, and we develop our principles and passions out of those questions asked at each intersection.It was a joy to write Woodfire & Lakelight. I hope it’s a joy to read. I’m proud of the story it tells, of the conflicts and mysteries and lessons. And I’m also pleased with how it interacts with the other stories in the series, how it works well to deepen our understanding of the world and pushes Derry and his friends to consider new thoughts and ideas.I have more to say on these points—in fact, I was intending to write this post about the etymology of the word "woodfire," which is discussed in the novel in a mirror of a real-world experience with writing the book. But this has already gone on quite long; so I’ll save that for an upcoming post instead.Woodfire & Lakelight is another adventure for Derry and Barrow in the wild and strange world they inhabit. Many more are to come, but I think I’ll often find my thoughts straying to House Ulforre in the highlands—to the misty bogs, the puzzle-garden, the grove, the feasting-board, and the lakeside of the Scáraf where much great and wonderful magic occurs.—JAG
Post: February 25, 2025In today's fun writing discoveries: don is just a contraction of "do on," as in to "put on" something; doff, likewise, is a contraction of "do off." Both were near-obsolete except in northern dialects until they were preserved by Sir Walter Scott (though sadly dout and dup didn't survive).As someone with some formal linguistics training, I'll note that such etymologies are exceptionally rare, so this was a fun one. I'll see if I can somehow work these into my writing! Either way, it's discoveries like this that make for really good verisimilitude in writing, hence the need for constant reading and learning and living as a writer.—JAG
Post: October 21, 2024It's been a little while, so I figured I'd jot down a quick update for the blog.I sent out my latest newsletter today, and it got me thinking about the various ways in which I want to interact with the public. There's the newsletter, which goes out to subscribers monthly (or sometimes more) and includes writing updates, reviews, blurbs, announcements, and other fun information. Then there's my social media - I'm most active on Instagram, but I've got accounts on Reddit and Twitter and Discord, and then my personal Facebook account, and I guess Goodreads and Slack and what have you.And then this website, and specifically this blog. What's the difference between all three?Well, here's what I'm thinking for now. The newsletter is meant kind of like a push notification - it's me jumping into your inbox to say "hey, here's a new book coming out, here's what I'm up to, don't forget about me!" If you're a fan of my writing, you should definitely join the newsletter. Announcements will be made there before anywhere else.Then there's social media. Instagram is the main platform I use, so it gets those same announcements about actual publication stuff (usually a day or two after the newsletter), as well as teasers, snippets, and general promo/marketing/miscellaneous content. (I've got a rough schedule of things to post about that I try to stick to.) It's my way to interact quickly and directly with readers and fellow authors and, hopefully, to attract new fans.The other social media accounts are kind of ancillary to IG. Twitter I'm a little more active in promoting stuff on; my Facebook is personal, so it's more sparing news for family and friends; Reddit is when something comes up on r/Fantasy or wherever; Discord is for specific writerly channels; Goodreads and Slack are kind of just as necessary.So the newsletter is my way of directing reaching out to self-professed fans; Instagram is the hub for all outward-facing content, promotion, marketing, and announcements; and the rest of social media follow on from that.Then, again, we're back at the blog. And working through this mentally has helped winnow down to a useful answer. The website is meant to be permanent. Not static, certainly, but enduring. Yes, I keep copies of my newsletter emails, and yes, my social media accounts' histories are backed up and publicly accessible - but those things are generally all "encounter them, consume them, move on."Whereas the website is something you can bookmark and return to time and again. This is a place to hang out. (Hopefully one day with an actual forum, but right now it's just me.)Yeah, if you're looking for the latest updates from me - read the newsletter or hop on Instagram, that's fast and you'll get the answers. But if you're looking to explore my writing further - to refresh your memory on a book's plot, to read more about characters and settings, to look at maps, to listen to thematic music, to chat with me directly, to read behind-the-scenes excerpts, to see my progress on a given book in between newsletters - for all of that, this is where you come.So, by that logic, the blog is a place for more longform and longstanding content. This is where I can really run free talking about my books - entries on inspiration, plotting, the publishing life, plans for new books. I can write longer reviews for books - or even movies or videogames or whatever. I can document signings or fan events or whatever else. I can talk about stuff and not worry that I'm dragging on too long, because coming here is voluntary and easy to repeat.Look, I get it, I'm basically just writing down the exact stated definition of a blog, but it was a good thought process for me to work through. I've got enough writing to get to with my fiction - I don't need extra venues to write unless they're helpful to someone (even if it's just me).So, those are my thoughts for now. I'll keep writing newsletters and keep posting every couple days on Instagram. You can always find me on social media or via email. But here in the blog, which I'll try to update every couple weeks, I'll leave a wider variety of information on a much wider variety of topics - a place for me to muse and share and think through things; and a place, ideally, that readers like to come hang out in for a while.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On that note, just for posterity's sake: Splinterleaf & Hollowfrost came out last month and I'm really proud of it.More to come soon.—JAG
Post: April 14, 2024Welcome!I'm excited to report that everything has been finalized for the publication of Tangleweed & Waterbloom on April 19. Now I can just sit back and let the laurels pile up!. . . Kind of. I'm definitely enjoying the fact that all the prep work is done. I'm also super excited to see this book out in the world. But in the meantime, I'm hard at work on writing. Wouldn't really have it any other way, of course.For Tangleweed, I'm working on some maps using Inkarnate. For now, I'll be hosting these on the site, but I do plan to eventually also include them in the published books once I have the time to finalize them properly. I'm starting with a map of Haverdell and a map of the eastern provinces of Ambarax, which will cover the events of 0.5, 1, and 1.5, but after that I'll expand to create maps of Ambarax, Ambarax and the surrounding countries, the western half of the continent . . . and then beyond!As for other projects, my main focus for right now is Garden Knight 3. The first draft is about halfway done and is going really well. In the queue I also have a middle grade fantasy adventure story and book 3 of an epic fantasy series, both of which I'm hoping to finish this year; the revision of book 2 of that series; and a variety of short stories in progress that I would like to get back to. I hope all of these will see the light of day eventually, though for now the focus will continue to be The Garden Knight.And that's all from me for now!—JAG
Post: March 9, 2024Well, Leafdust is live, Tangleweed is up for preorder, and I'm starting the social media post rollout now! Super exciting!I'll be back for a proper welcome post soon.—JAG
Post: March 7, 2024I've uploaded the files to Amazon for Leafdust & Deadwood in both paperback and ebook formats. Just waiting for their reviews to be complete and then I get to post about it! The preorder for Tangleweed is also under review. Hoping for tomorrow—it's exciting to be at this stage.—JAG
Post: March 5, 2024Well, this is the inaugural post! Wow!It's a shame I don't have anything pithier to say, really. Right now I'm working on finalizing cover art for Tangleweed so that I can initiate the preorder and then publish Leafdust. It's a really exciting time, honestly. I'll probably do a proper Welcome to the Blog post at some point when people are actually reading this, but for now, it's nice to just acknowledge that things are starting to come together and it's really exciting to be getting ready to put my writing out into the world.If you stumble upon this post: Stay tuned, I guess! I'll have lots more coming soon.—JAG
The World of the Garden Knight
This is where I'll post extra content from The Garden Knight, including maps, Q&As, lore, playlists, character bios, etc.Feel free to let me know what you'd like to see! I'll basically just use whatever time I have to provide as much interesting information as I know I'd like to see about my favorite stories, so I'm happy to oblige requests.
Playlists
I almost always listen to music while I write. It helps me focus and tune the world out. Years ago, I started curating specific playlists for individual books (in addition to the general "writing playlist" I use, which is like 1,500 songs at this point). I wanted to cultivate a particular feel for a particular book, so I channeled the inspiration of songs that gave me the right vibe.Well, that practice grew over the years, and I started creating playlists prior to beginning a story, selecting songs that already reminded me of characters and plots I planned to write. This has helped me worldbuild and outline, but it's also had the magical effect of allowing me to instantly get into the right headspace when I work on a particular novel. Even if I've set it aside for months, all I need to do is hit play on the right playlist and I'm instantly transported into the appropriate mindset.With that in mind, I want to share some of these playlists as I publish different stories. I'm starting with the official playlist for Tangleweed & Waterbloom, which is embedded below. Have a listen, and do let me know what songs you like!
Maps
Here we have some maps that cover the towns, cities, provinces, kingdoms, and countryside featured in the stories of The Garden Knight.This collection will grow over time as new stories are released (and, frankly, as I have the time to compile them!).Of special note: Many of these maps are intended to be in-world traveler's guides or state documents. They are therefore in different styles and hands according to the mapmaker and the map's purpose. Moreover, many of these maps focus on particular areas to the exclusion of other details - and in some cases, the maps are intended to be general guides rather than exact topological and geographical surveys. Consequently, please assume that any errors are artifacts of the real foibles of the characters within The Garden Knight.
A MAP OF THE EASTERN PROVINCES OF THE AMBARAX KINGDOM
A MAP OF THE VILLAGE OF HAVERDELL
The Garden Knight takes place in a world teeming with life, magic, religion, interesting characters, and unique locales. I thought a glossary might be a helpful tool - a compendium of what the reader will encounter as they journey through the series.This is very much a work in progress, and I'll do my best to avoid spoiler content, marking it as such if it occurs. If you have any questions about any of the entries or would like further clarification, please send me a message and I'll be happy to get into it!
Character List
Haverdell
- Derrovar Melyvante (Derry): the gardener of Haverdell. A man with dark hair to his neck, sunbrowned skin, and brown eyes. He hails from Parathe in Nythaia Province and has traveled extensively before settling in at the cottage on the lake.
- Barrow: a mighty and loyal hound of indeterminate breed with black-and-white fur, a shaggy coat, and brown eyes.
- Jaslyn Odell: A seamstress in Haverdell and frequent companion of Derry and Barrow; black hair, green eyes, fair and freckled skin.
- Jeran: The former blacksmith a large man with short hair.
- Mary: Jeran’s wife.
- Jeddi: Jeran’s son, the new blacksmith.
- Samuel: The owner and proprietor of The Emerald Tavern, Haverdell's only tavern and inn.
- Perri: Samuel’s daughter, twelve years old
- John Brennet: A stablemaster, married.
- Hannah: A woman in town.
- Kalligan: an apothecary from Adelus Province, known for her shiny, wide, silvery-pale eyes, coppery skin, keen intuition about malady and healing, and sharp and caring wit.
- William Alesse: A farmer known for his cabbages.
- Merrit: A baker.
- Brannad: A crofter, married to Annisi.
- Annisi: A fishwife, married to Brannad.
- Beran: Son of Brannad and Annisi.
- Elizabeth: Daughter of Brannad and Annisi, goes by Ellie, in her mid-teens, an apprentice to Kalligan.
- Celyse: A spinner, married to Alistar.
- Alistar: married to Celyse, raises messenger birds.
- Evanander: The butcher, father to Thomas, husband to Amelia.
- Amelia: wife to Evanander.
- Thomas: son of Evanander.
Projects & Progress
This is where you can see the various projects I'm working on and their status.The progress bar is updated every two weeks or so (or when a specific milestone is reached). It highlights the main things I'm working on now or have just finished. Below that is a master list of all projects, past and current.updated 10/21/24
The Garden Knight#0.5: Leafdust & Deadwood
Published in ebook and paperback on March 8, 2024!#1: Tangleweed & Waterbloom
Published in ebook and paperback on April 19, 2024!#1.5: Splinterleaf & Hollowfrost
Published in ebook and paperback on September 22, 2024!#2: Woodfire & Lakelight
Published in ebook and paperback on March 11, 2024!#2.5: [title to be revealed]
First draft completed, awaiting beta reader feedback in early 2025, expected to publish in autumn of 2025.#3: [title to be revealed]
Almost finished with the first draft! This will be the longest Garden Knight novel to dateThe Prophecy of the Five#1: The Servant
Final draft is underway. Supplementary material is also in progress: maps, glossaries, index, errata. Cover is in final design process. Promotion and publication schedule is in progress. Publication planned for June 28, 2025.#2: [title to be revealed]
Draft 2 has been completed! Beta feedback has been received. Progress will continue after book 1 publishes.#3: [title to be revealed]
About 40,000 words into draft 1. On hold for a while, but drafting should resume in April 2025.Other NovelsMiddle-Grade Fantasy-Adventure 1
Currently in draft 2. Chapter 1 completed.Middle-Grade Fantasy-Adventure 2
About 9,000 words into draft 1. On hold for a while, but drafting should resume in April 2025.Science-Fantasy Trilogy
In heavy worldbuilding phase. A basic map has been drawn. Magic systems, characters, plot events, and flora/fauna are being developed.Secret Project 1
In proofreading stage; announcement expected soon.Secret Project 2
In pre-production stage; announcement expected by April 1.Shorter Works and Other ProjectsCrag's Folly
Spooky short story. Outline completed, about 500 words written, estimated length 15,000 words.updated 3/11/25