A light is moving through the stacks
Lantern is setting out the next page.
LanternHow it was earned: Published work that helped Lantern reach its first one million story words.
How it was earned: Participated in Lantern’s September 2026 Back to School event.
Queer magic, haunted places, sharp edges, soft hearts.
Behind the byline
Toryn Cross writes queer YA fantasy from the Adirondack North Country of New York, where old forests, college towns, strange folklore, and long winters have a way of making the impossible feel close.
Their stories are filled with haunted places, hidden magic, sharp-tongued characters, messy friendships, found family, and usually queer love while something supernatural is usually going very wrong.
When not writing, Toryn can probably be found wandering somewhere they should not be, collecting odd bits of folklore, or wondering whether that light in the woods was actually moving.
⌖ Adirondack North Country
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On Lantern
Queer Paranormal Mystery
Shandy LaVigne came to Waterside College for a fresh start.
She did not come for the ghost stories.
Unfortunately, her lifelong best friend Katie has always had a thing for the unexplained, and Waterside seems determined to prove her right. Strange laughter echoes through the halls of their historic dorm. Tempers flare for no reason. Local legends have a habit of sounding a little too specific.
Shandy can explain all of it.
Probably.
But the longer she stays in Waterside, the harder it becomes to ignore the feeling that something in this old river town has noticed her. And as Shandy and Katie start digging into the stories everyone else treats like harmless folklore, one question becomes increasingly difficult to laugh off:
What if the legends aren't warning them away?
What if they've been waiting for Shandy to come home?
Found a new favorite?