Fairawayland

Step inside Fairawayland, the legendary film capital of Zendula, where silent cinema, gothic mystery, and supernatural horror collide beneath the fading glamour of a forgotten golden age. At the heart of the series stands Horsham “Daffy” Gilbert-Blackheart, the enigmatic “Dark Star” whose meteoric rise made him the greatest actor of the 1920s—and whose mysterious death transformed him into Hollywood’s most enduring legend. Decades later, abandoned studios, decaying backlots, lost nitrate films, haunted movie palaces, and whispered industry secrets continue to conceal the truth behind Daffy’s final production, Only For The Lonely, where six actors and actresses vanished forever during a closed-set filming that no one has ever been able to explain.

Across six interconnected novellas, Fairawayland blends classic Hollywood nostalgia with gothic horror, detective fiction, romance, ghost stories, and cinematic adventure as filmmakers, historians, investigators, actors, and supernatural forces peel back layer after layer of the industry’s greatest unsolved mystery. Was Daffy murdered? Does his restless spirit still haunt the crumbling ruins of Gigantic Studios? Can a cursed nitrate film kill, and what really happened on the night Fairawayland’s brightest stars disappeared? Richly illustrated and steeped in the mythology of classic cinema, the Fairawayland series is both a love letter to the silent-film era and a haunting meditation on fame, memory, obsession, and the ghosts that refuse to leave the screen.

Novella 1:
Only For The Lonely

Novella 2:
Beyond the Pale of Forgiveness

Novella 3:
The Darkness Inside the Human Heart

Novella 4:
The Magic of the Movie

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Novella 5:
The Trojan Horse

Novella 6:
Daffy’s Revenge

Series Bundle

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Illustrations

Gallery

Novella 1: Only For The Lonely

Silent movies are dead. Their stars may not be. In 1930, Gigantic Motion Pictures is desperate to survive the arrival of sound. Its greatest star, Horsham “Daffy” Gilbert-Blackheart, has died mysteriously. His legendary costar is dying. And the studio’s ruthless chief has ordered every silent film burned for its silver. Newlywed scientist Sidney Laugton is expected to build the furnace. His wife Elsa is determined to save the films.

Then Daffy begins appearing in the flickering light. As the studio completes his final movie, Elsa discovers that nitrate celluloid may preserve far more than a performance. Behind the screen waits a perfect world of beauty, romance, and stars who never grow old. All she has to do is leave reality behind.

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Novella 2: Beyond the Pale of Forgiveness

Everyone knows the story. Joe Dupeii was the hero. Morgan Amerceable was the killer. The lawmen died doing their duty. The trial delivered justice. Then Daffy Gilbert-Blackheart begins researching the movie. The bullets do not match the testimony. The witnesses remember more than they admitted. And the condemned man may have accepted punishment for crimes committed by others. Titan Motion Pictures wants a heroic spectacle. Daffy intends to film the truth.

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Novella 3: The Darkness Inside the Human Heart

Dean Tanner Cunningham was Fairawayland’s finest director. Generous. Respected. Discreet. Beloved. Then someone shot him through the heart. His body was moved. The murder weapon was discarded along a hidden trail. His servants are lying. And the identity buried beneath his celebrated name may belong to a wartime fugitive.

Daffy Gilbert-Blackheart begins investigating the crime and discovers that Cunningham’s flawless reputation concealed a past no performance could erase. Everyone has darkness inside the human heart. Someone was willing to kill for theirs.

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Novella 4: The Magic of the Movie

Eric Von Haught believes movies are magic. Daffy Gilbert-Blackheart knows they are work. The exiled European director wants to create a masterpiece. Daffy wants to keep the production historically accurate, affordable, and alive. Their rivalry becomes collaboration. Their collaboration becomes obsession. Then people begin dying.

As Von grows fixated on the silver-screen image that transforms Daffy into a demigod, the historical villains inside their film begin echoing the violence outside it. The director controls the camera. But he may no longer control himself.

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Novella 5: The Trojan Horse

Daffy Gilbert-Blackheart knows women love the Dark Star. He still hopes someone will love the man. Then Maralinga arrives in Fairawayland. Cold, beautiful, ambitious, and certain of her own greatness, she despises Daffy almost as much as he despises her. Until one unrehearsed love scene changes everything. Their passion becomes the scandal of Fairawayland. Their next film becomes Anna Karenina. And the studio chief who has always wanted Daffy destroyed finally sees his opportunity. Maralinga is more than Daffy’s lover. She is the weapon waiting inside his gates.

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Novella 6: Daffy’s Revenge

Gigantic Motion Pictures wants Daffy Gilbert-Blackheart gone. His publicity has vanished. His films have been demoted. His friends are being fired. And the studio’s new star has been chosen to replace him. Daffy is given one last cheap picture and one month to finish it. He takes the crew into the desert.

There, beneath an experimental power plant, workers whisper about disappearances, sabotage, corruption—and a monster inside the tunnels. Daffy begins filming. The fiction exposes the truth. Then he returns to Gigantic for one final production. The studio believes the Dark Star has surrendered. It has no idea how many people are waiting to help him take revenge.