13 Secret Cities
Book One of the Coil Series
The Beginning of the Descent
In 13 Secret Cities, a young woman named Clara Montes stumbles upon a hidden truth beneath the streets of a dystopian, fascistic Chicago — a doorway to Mictlán, the Aztec underworld. What begins as an act of rebellion against the world above soon becomes a journey of spiritual awakening, queer becoming, and cosmic war.
As Clara fights to survive the wrath of ancient gods, she discovers that the monsters she fears are also part of her — and that social justice will require more parts of herself than she knows.
This is a story about the way ancestral traditions shape who we are, and who we can be. It’s a dark thriller that takes the reader deep into a fantasy world infused by real-life tradition: Mictlan
Making Contact with the Aztec Deities
13 Secret Cities is the first novel in The Coil Series, a queer dark-fantasy saga that reimagines Aztec cosmology for the modern age. Each installment reveals a new layer of the mythic relationship between mortals and gods, life and death, the body and the divine.
Through its mix of urban fantasy, horror, and the surreal, The Coil Series invites readers into a living mythology — one that challenges the borders between reality and ritual.
“13 Secret Cities reveals itself to the reader the way that night opens its secrets to us..”
✴️ Praise for 13 Secret Cities
“A fast-paced, intense, and visionary novel. The horror and the fantastic are well balanced, leaving you hungry for more.”
— Maplebooks
“Torres creates a vivid mythology of resistance. 13 Secret Cities feels like a ritual as much as a story.”
— Indie Reader
🌗 Continue the Descent
The Coil Series continues in:
[9 Lords of Night →] (Book Two)
[Hall of Mirrors →] (Book Three, coming 2026)
🪶 Buy the Book
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