Join Inner Circle
Home / Stone of Amun-Ra
◆ Stone of Amun-Ra ◆
A Three-Book Adult Urban-Fantasy Thriller

The Stone was never meant to be found.

A 23-year-old history grad stumbles onto an Egyptian artifact that makes him impossibly lucky — and the number-one target of every secret society that has been hunting it for three thousand years. A modern-day adventure across continents, centuries, and the ancient hidden world of the Theurgica.

3 Books · Trilogy
+1 Free Novella
PG-13 Adult Urban Fantasy
2027 Finale Release
Start with Book One → Get the Free Novella
About the Series

Modern thriller meets an ancient hidden world.

Stone of Amun-Ra began with a question I couldn't stop turning over: what would life actually look like if you were supernaturally lucky? Out of that came Mitzy — Stanley Mitz, a twenty-three-year-old history grad from Montana who trips over an artifact that rewires his fate and makes him the most hunted man on earth.

A hidden realm called the Theurgica runs underneath our world — satyr chefs, talking dogs, Great Houses, nefarious power-mongers, and a dozen factions who have been searching for this Stone since the pharaohs. Book One starts in Montana. Book Three ends there. In between: Paris, Santiago, the Australian outback, New York, and the slow unraveling of what it costs a man to be luckier than everyone around him.

Three books. One escalating stakes. Two intertwined fates — Mitzy's, and the world's.

Read the Books The Origin Story
Ephie Risho with a copy of The Unbearable Luck of Being Mitzy, Book One of Stone of Amun-Ra
The Premise
"What would life actually look like if you were supernaturally lucky?"
The Origin

How a question about luck became a trilogy.

I wrote the first chapters on an airplane. Seven drafts later, Book One was a fan favorite. Here's how it got there.
01 · The Spark

A question I couldn't put down.

I wanted to explore what life could look like if you were supernaturally lucky. Mitzy came out of that — a 23-year-old who finds an artifact that makes him lucky and turns his whole life upside down in the process, as he becomes the number-one target of secret societies. He studied history in college, and instantly hones in on the Egyptian inscriptions. It became an adventure of the present and the past, running for his life while unlocking ancient secrets.

02 · The Motley Crew

Friends, sharpened into characters.

Gonzo was a morph of a couple different wise-cracker friends of mine, and took on a life of his own. Vee came from the tough friends I've had who also have a quiet soft spot — Mitzy needed someone competent in a fight. And Chrissy formed into shape as the emotionally intelligent, artsy one. The motley crew that surrounds Mitzy isn't invented from scratch. They're real people, filtered.

03 · The Flight

Written at 35,000 feet.

I wrote the first couple of chapters on a flight to a work meeting. I love writing on airplanes — the solitude and space to focus does wonders for me, and the story gushed out in one shot. Upon arrival, I read the first pages to a colleague who was instantly piqued. That was the moment I knew this story had something real in it.

04 · The Luck Problem

The hardest thing I've ever written.

Writing about luck was one of the most challenging things I've faced so far in my many years of writing. Protagonists are likeable because they work for it. Someone who's lucky, good things just happen to them. But nobody likes a full adventure with Mr. Magoo, blindly making everything work out. Earlier drafts had many Mr. Magoo scenes that had to be gutted and reworked.

05 · The Balance

Initiative, then luck.

Later drafts found Mitzy taking more initiative and growing, so his luck could put two and two together. Luck didn't just save the day every time. It was a combo of his hard work and initiative — and when I found that balance, the story began to form into something that has become a fan favorite.

06 · Seven Drafts

The bones were there. The rest took years.

I finished the first draft of Books 1 and 2 in record time — three months. It was half the length the finals would be, and blew past all sorts of world-building, character growth, and depth of explanation. But the bones were there. It was a story with tons of potential, and I loved it. By the time Book One published, it had gone through seven drafts.

07 · The Theurgica

A hidden world, built in layers.

I've always been intrigued by the idea of a secret world of magic around us. As I considered how it could play out, the Theurgica was born. The more I wrote, the more believable it became, and more fun. From talking dogs to nefarious power-mongers, the unseen realm became real to me. Then real enough to sustain a prequel novella — and a trilogy.

08 · Montana, Full Circle

It starts here. It ends here.

I love that I started in Montana. I've wanted to pay homage to the state, since I was born and currently live here in the mountains. Book One starts there, and Book Three will end there. It all comes around full circle.

09 · From Life

Everything real. (Except the explosions.)

I love drawing on real-life experiences, and this series drew on them in spades. Many of the characters reflect real people I know or have met. The locations and some of the places within them are all written from my actual experiences, one way or another. That is, except the explosions.

“Luck didn't just save the day every time. It was a combo of his hard work and initiative — and when I found that balance, the story began to form into something that has become a fan favorite.” — Ephie, on finishing Book One after seven drafts
The Three Books

A trilogy in three volumes.

◆
Each book raises the stakes. Each book widens the map. Read them in order — and when you get to Book Three, there won't be any going back.
★ Book One · Released
The Unbearable Luck of Being Mitzy — Book One of Stone of Amun-Ra, cover
Available Now
Book One

The Unbearable Luck of Being Mitzy

Finding the artifact was the easy part.

Stanley Mitz — Mitzy to everyone who knows him — is twenty-three, a history grad, and entirely unremarkable. Until he finds the Stone. Suddenly every bit of luck in the universe tilts his way. The problem: every secret society that's been hunting this artifact for three thousand years now has Mitzy in their sights. From Montana to Paris to Santiago, Mitzy has to stay alive long enough to figure out what the Stone actually is — and what it's going to cost him to keep it.

★★★★★"A contemporary fantasy thriller with a great sense of humor. I couldn't put it down."

— Reader review · Goodreads

★★★★★"Mitzy is the most charming reluctant hero I've read in years. Bring on Book Two."

— Reader review · Amazon
Adult Urban Fantasy · PG-13 Montana · Paris · Santiago Paperback · eBook
Book details → Read Chapter One
Buy: Amazon Apple Books Barnes & Noble Kobo
Book Two · New · April 2026

Wrath of the Raven and Other Inconveniences

The luck runs out. The hunt begins.

The Stone is in play and Mitzy is on the run. A new faction — the Raven — has stepped out of the shadows, and they don't want the artifact destroyed. They want it wielded. Mitzy, Gonzo, Vee, and Chrissy race from the Chilean hideouts to the red heart of Australia to the streets of New York, trying to stay ahead of a power that doesn't need luck on its side. Book Two cracks the Theurgica wide open — and changes the map of who's hunting whom.

★★★★★"Somehow even better than Book One. The crew finally feels like a crew."

— Advance reader · ARC

★★★★★"The Raven is a terrifying antagonist and I cannot wait to see what happens next."

— Advance reader · ARC
New Release Chile · Australia · New York Paperback · eBook
Book details → Read Chapter One
Buy: Amazon Apple Books Barnes & Noble Kobo
◆ Book Two · Just Released
Wrath of the Raven and Other Inconveniences — Book Two of Stone of Amun-Ra, cover
April 2026
◇ Book Three · Finale
Stone of Amun-Ra · Book III
Mitzy and the Mostly Inevitable Apocalypse
by Ephie Risho
Cover reveal · 2026
Coming 2027
Book Three · The Finale

Mitzy and the Mostly Inevitable Apocalypse

If the world's going to end, it might as well end in style.

The magnetic poles are shifting. Hurricanes are forming in the wrong places. Yellowstone is getting ready to blow. For most people, that would spell the end of the world. For Mitzy, it's just another opportunity to push his luck. The Stone is still out there. Every faction wants it. And this time, the crew is coming apart at the seams — Chrissy's powers are spiraling, Gonzo's got new friends you absolutely won't like, and Mitzy's luck is stretched thinner than the Raven would ever have predicted. The epic finale ties every thread, ends where it began, and dares to ask what "saving the world" even means when the world is already on fire.

Forthcoming · 2027 Series Finale Montana · Full Circle
Preview the teaser → Get first access
◆ Companion · Prequel Novella ◆

Before Mitzy ever touched the Stone, Patricia was already working.

◆
A standalone novella set nine months before Book One. Different protagonist, same hidden world. Free for Inner Circle members.
Surviving Dinner and Other Occupational Hazards — A Theurgica Novella by Ephie Risho
A Theurgica Novella · Prequel

Surviving Dinner and Other Occupational Hazards

Filet mignon, political maneuvering, and at least one murder.

Nine months before Mitzy ever touches a shard, Patricia Brighton is excellent at her job — trained to observe, intervene, and disappear without leaving a trace. Until a high-end dinner becomes a deadly game of poison, illusion, and betrayal, and she's forced to pick a side in a war she was hired to stay out of. A sharp, self-contained introduction to the Theurgica — and to one of the quietest, deadliest characters in the whole series.

Prequel Novella Adult · PG-13 Free for Inner Circle
Explore the Novella → Get it free via email
Ephie Risho, author of the Stone of Amun-Ra trilogy
The Author

Written from the mountains of Montana.

Ephie Risho writes modern fantasy from Montana, where Stone of Amun-Ra is also set. Book One starts in Missoula. Book Three ends there. In between: seven drafts, three months of gushing first-draft fever, one very productive flight to a work meeting, and a slowly built belief that a hidden world of magic might actually be running underneath the one we live in.

The series is the adult-fantasy sister to Ephie's middle-grade-to-YA saga The Elementalists, co-written with his child Blue Risho. Different worlds. Same instinct: build something real enough that you can step inside it.

Author
Ephie Risho
All three books · solo
Setting
Missoula, Montana
Where it starts · where it ends
Read the full bio →

Where to start.

Read in publication order for the intended experience. The novella is optional but recommended — it introduces the Theurgica before Mitzy gets pulled into it, and sets up a character you'll see again.
Optional · Prequel
Surviving Dinner (Novella)
Book 1 · Released
The Unbearable Luck of Being Mitzy
Book 2 · New
Wrath of the Raven and Other Inconveniences
Book 3 · Coming 2027
Mitzy and the Mostly Inevitable Apocalypse
Surviving Dinner and Other Occupational Hazards — free Inner Circle novella
Step into the Theurgica

Get the free novella before Book Three drops.

Drop your email and I'll send you Surviving Dinner and Other Occupational Hazards — a standalone prequel novella set nine months before Mitzy ever finds the Stone. You'll also get first access when Book Three goes on sale in 2027, occasional notes from the writing desk, and whatever else is worth sharing from the mountains of Montana.

Delivered via BookFunnel. Unsubscribe any time.