One-Liner
Talio gets entangled with a shady healer who may have a cure for Pazli’s lethal illness…but he may destroy his legal career in the process. (Adult fantasy, 100,000 words).
Read If You Like…
- Courtroom dramas
- Medical thrillers
- Fantasy Noir
- Horseback rides
- High-stakes gambling
- Gay MCs and LGBTQ rep
- Religious intrigue
- Mixed marriages
- Talio wearing a giant purple wide-brimmed hat
- Peach pie
- Pantomime plays
- Stone fish heads
- Happy endings
Plot Summary
To save the man he loves, Talio Rossa is going to have to use a little bit of magic…
Magic might be the cure, but magic is gone…
Six months after the events of Talio’s Codex, Talio and Pazli are living and working court cases together, but struggling with their mixed-religion relationship. When a lump on Pazli’s neck appears malignant, Talio must do all he can to find a cure, even by magic. But since all mages were killed fifty years earlier, that should be impossible, shouldn’t it?
Hobb, a medical historian, claims to have the elixir of life: a universal cure for any disease. As Talio investigates the mysterious man, he wonders if he might be the real thing…or if putting Pazli under his care will kill him.
As he races to uncover the truth about Hobb, Talio must also raise a huge amount of money to pay for the surgery. High-stakes gambling is the answer, even though he may lose his hand in the process. But with Pazli’s life hanging in the balance, Talio has to discover what Hobb’s hiding—a secret that will change their world forever.
Discover a great M/M relationship in the sequel to Talio’s Codex, from J. Alexander Cohen!
Genres: Fantasy / Thriller / Legal / Adventure / Gay / LGBT
Publishing Links
- Publisher: Space Wizard Science Fantasy
- Publication Date: June 16, 2026
- Book Link: https://www.books2read.com/elixiroflife
Content Warnings
Note: This is a legal fantasy thriller – fantasy noir. I usually write cozy or cozy-adjacent fantasy, so you might want to take a look at these content warnings…
- Angst (intense emotional scenes)
- Discrimination (religious)
- Cultural/religious conflict
- Substance use (alcohol, alcoholism—Vinne again)
- Violence (one imagined murder, a prolonged fight, and…but I don’t want to spoil anything)