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Lantern is setting out the next page.
LanternCalley Jones
✨First Million WordsFounding word contributor
How it was earned: Published work that helped Lantern reach its first one million story words.
🎒Back to SchoolSeptember 2026 event author
How it was earned: Participated in Lantern’s September 2026 Back to School event.
Spunky, imaginative fantasy from cozy to heroic
FantasyCozy FantasyYoung AdultScience Fiction
26,045published words across 1 Lantern story
Behind the byline
About the author
Calley Jones remembers the distinct moment, around the age of five, when she realized that someone actually wrote all those books she loved to read; a quarter-century later, she hasn’t looked back. True, there was a detour for a decade or so when she pursued a PhD in molecular biology, thinking she could cure cancer, but her stint in academia led her right back to her keyboard with a million new stories to tell.
Writing about science by day and strange worlds by night, Calley publishes fantasy and sci-fi stories spanning from cozy to chilling. A connoisseur of iced tea, a lover of sea turtles, and (quite probably) a human being, she spends her free time chaperoning her dog through the wilds of North Carolina, hoping to bump into her muse.
⌖ Your favorite coffee shop
Visit the author’s website →The fun stuff.
The little things readers always want to know after the last page.
In the headphones
Writing soundtrack
- Cinematic instrumentals
- Pure unfiltered angst
- Dog snores
Tiny author lore
Things to know
- Would probably give life for a baby sea turtle
- Doesn't understand how to tell a "long story short"
- Dog's name is Rosy (thank you for asking!)
- Fierce advocate of coffee-fueled third places
On Lantern
Stories by Calley Jones
Fantasy
Traitor to the Throne
The young royals’ best friend is hiding something—even if he can’t lie.
Thirtyx Venmagalion was sent to the elite Wydewood Academy to betray the prince and princess. But when his people—the shifty, anarchist Veriths with a physical inability to lie—abandoned him, he befriended the monarchs instead. Now in their final year of school, the trio faces a threat to the unprecedented peace they’ve enjoyed under King Grimmary. Someone is after the throne. And despite Thirtyx’s best efforts to protect the prince and princess, his heritage makes him a prime suspect.
As essays and exams take a backseat to survival, Thirtyx quickly learns that keeping a low profile won’t get him to graduation, especially with his fiery new friend Seerla urging him to embrace his Verith identity. Can Thirtyx juggle death threats, apprenticeship applications, and guarding the royal family's most dangerous secret? Or might he be the one who brings the delicate peace crashing down?
Beyond Lantern
More books by Calley Jones
Finished books, full-length worlds, and other stories waiting wherever you buy books.
Published book
Mobius Drip Volume 1: Life, Love, and Lattes
A college freshman. An interdimensional coffee shop. A siren who can't control his powers. What could go wrong?
When aspiring journalist Addie Lancet finds a portal in the basement of her dorm, she claims the coffee shop beyond as her new study spot. Added bonus? She can blog about the wacky characters and otherworldly hijinks to build her reporting portfolio. Did she account for giant rock people, a barista who can't lie, or a customer perpetually stuck at his table? Perhaps not. But the allure of eclectic new friends and the chance to learn about worlds beyond her wildest dreams keeps her coming back. That little siren song incident with the shop's newest employee might have something to do with it as well.
Can Addie make sense of this new stage in her life by embracing the interdimensional unknown (and avoiding rabid pumpkin spice hunters)?
Buy or learn more →Found a new favorite?