Tom Rowe

A young man finds himself in a land thick with malice and violence, the graveyard of a fallen civilization being picked apart by scavengers. Resolve and determination he didn't know he had has granted him another day, another breath, but this place is relentless.
Even as he begins to unravel the mysteries of an ancient world, great powers rally to crush the invader, the stranger. Only raw power can save him, but power always has a cost, and even as he finds his footing, he may lose his mind.

An Unwelcome Stranger was written around the time of my first child’s birth and the advent of Covid 19 in Australia. I was living in Melbourne at the time which experienced one of the most severe lockdowns in the world. What does one do when locked inside 24/7 for months on end with nothing to do except warm up milk and change nappies? Write a book of course. At first I had no idea what i might create, but it soon became obvious I had a story that needed telling.

The result was a brooding dark progression fantasy, dense and remorseless. A lot of themes are explored, but trauma, violence and power floated to the top of the pile as the writing continued.

I published a rough (but still heavily edited and proof-read) version of the book on Royal Road in 2023. Despite still needing a little polish the book was well received, maintaining a 4.5/5 rating after being read more than 140k times.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/71690/an-unwelcome-stranger

As of the time of writing this (23/03/2026) We are still in production of the Audiobook version, which has been made into a full audio-environmental listening experience. The final written version of the book will be published alongside the audiobook when both are ready. Here is a little teaser: