By clicking “Accept,” you agree to the use of cookies and similar technologies on your device as set forth in our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy. Please note that certain cookies are essential for this website to function properly and do not require user consent to be deployed.

A Kiss of Crimson Ash

Contributors

By Anuja Varghese

Formats and Prices

On Sale
May 26, 2026
Page Count
400 pages
Publisher
Orbit
ISBN-13
9780316591843

Price

$19.99

Price

$25.99 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. Trade Paperback $19.99 $25.99 CAD
  2. Audiobook Download (Unabridged) $31.99

Inspired by medieval India’s most epic love stories, this debut Romantasy blends rich storytelling, lush worldbuilding, and spice of every variety. Perfect for fans of Nisha J. Tuli and Tasha Suri.

Nandapore is a city of secrets and spellcasters where seduction reigns and a power-hungry king is never satisfied, plotting to unleash a weapon that has only lived in myth… until now.

To stop him, an ancient goddess seeks out a newly crowned queen, a heartsick prince, a common thief, and a courtesan with magic in her blood. Together, they chart a course through brothels, temples, taverns, and palaces, setting a trap for the empire’s most powerful men.

Linked by desire, destiny, and a dangerous foe, they each must decide…

What will they risk for a weapon worth dying for, and a love worth staying alive?

  • "I loved getting tangled in this lush and twisty braid of magic, intrigue and desire. Varghese breathes new, and spicy, life into epic fantasy."
    Davinia Evans, author of Notorious Sorcerer

Anuja Varghese

About the Author

Anuja Varghese writes literary fiction, SFF, and erotica/romance— and combinations of all three—where women of color get leading roles! Her work has been featured in many literary magazines and anthologies, including Best Women’s Erotica Volume 6 (Cleis Press, 2020), When Other People Saw Us, They Saw the Dead, (Haunt Press, 2022), Queer Little Nightmares (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022), and Devouring Tomorrow: Fiction from the Future of Food (Dundurn Press, 2024). Her short story collection titled Chrysalis (House of Anansi, 2023), explores South Asian diaspora experience through a queer, feminist, speculative lens. In 2023, Chrysalis won the Writer’s Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction. In 2024, it was longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and shortlisted for the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Fiction. Anuja lives in Hamilton, Ontario with her partner, two kids, and two cats.

Learn more about this author