Queer Fantasy and Weird Tales for the People
If he has to, Berend will kill Arden Geray a second time. There’s probably someone in the Church of Ondir who knows how. That man should not be allowed to walk the earth, even as a ghost.
The Book of the New Moon Door
Good morning! There’s a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door available on Patreon. You can find all the previous chapters at the Stories tab above (under the Menu if you’re on mobile).
Revelations II
Isabel closes her eyes. As she has no physical eyelids at the moment, it doesn’t do anything. Her vision is still filled with ghosts, crowding in around her, blocking all escape routes.
But they’re not coming for her. They’re moving past her, like an unending river of death across the fields. Their incorporeal steps sink into the ground as though they’re trudging through a mire, slowly and doggedly.
“Where am I?” asks the ghost of a young woman, a tattered shawl gathered around her head and trailing misty fibers. Tied around her chest is a sling to hold a young baby, but it is empty, lying flat against her swollen breasts.
Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Two, Chapter Twelve”It is as though the fabric of the world is unraveling, and soon it will break free from its moorings like a damaged sail on a ship.
Chapter Twelve
So the good news is that there’s a new chapter up on Patreon, and the bad news is that things are not going well for Berend and Isabel. You can read this chapter right now by becoming a patron, or wait until next week when it makes its way over here to the blog!
Revelations I
Isabel falls quiet. There’s a long walk ahead of her, and a longer night after that. She has to conserve her strength. There have been more sleepless nights in the last week than she ever had to endure as an apprentice, and even then, young as she was, she had not endured them happily.
The wind blows cold, and it carries a smell of frost as it crosses dry, brown fields on its way to the sea. Isabel can just make out the shapes of cut rows on either side of the road. Harvest time is well under way, and winter will follow, bringing with it a slight relief from the walking dead. Spirits are no less angry in winter, but bodies without the breath of life cannot keep their limbs from freezing solid, and their decay slows along with their chance of spreading pestilence. Winter, as the old sayings go, is when Sentinels retreat to their cloisters to study the same dusty tomes they studied the year before, and the year before that, going all the way back to the first Sentinel Rainier.
With a sudden ache like a knife to her ribs, Isabel misses the library in Vernay. Her superiors will learn of her failings in a few short days, when Father Pereth’s request for her replacement reaches them. They will turn her away, or worse, allow her in and follow her through the halls with looks of pity and distrust, as though she’s a vagabond relying on their charity.
Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Two, Chapter Eleven”Nothing will be normal at the Belisia estate, because Warder’s device was used there, and there is nothing normal about Warder’s device.
Chapter Eleven
The world is growing weirder, and there are secrets only the dead know in the latest chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door. Read it right now by becoming a Patreon subscriber!
Theology
“Well.” Berend shifts, the varnished wood uncomfortable under his still-sore legs, and moves himself closer to Isabel. “It can’t be all bad, can it?”
She gives him a look, her brows furrowed and her mouth twisted into a confused frown.
Try as he might, Berend can’t think of anything to tell her to lift her spirits. “The weather’s lovely,” he tries, but it falls flat even to his own ears.
Isabel folds her hands in her lap and looks over her shoulder. A lone petitioner, dressed in heavy black layers and a mourning veil, enters the cathedral and turns toward the priests’ offices. Her shoes echo a slow, steady rhythm under the dome. They sound expensive.
Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Two, Chapter Ten”It sounds horrific, now that he says it aloud. He feels ghostly hands around his neck again.
The Book of the New Moon Door
Can Berend solve JUST ONE of his many problems? Head on over to Patreon to find out!
Temple
“I’m afraid I have to leave tomorrow,” Berend says.
Lady Breckenridge’s brows go up in a dubious expression. She holds up Berend’s old bandage, stained pink with less blood than he expected. “I don’t think you’re in any shape to go anywhere.”
He groans, a little louder than might strictly be justified, and props himself up on an elbow. The luxurious feather mattress adjusts to his new position. He’s going to miss it. He’ll miss Lady Breckenridge more. “I know, but I’ll live. I can’t let the Belisias find me here.”
“Belisias?” She scowls. “They wouldn’t dare.”
The fresh bandages wrapped around Berend’s chest are clean and neat, indistinguishable from the job the nurses did at the hospital. He’s never asked if Lady Breckenridge ever did a stint at a temple of Isra. “They’ll dare quite a bit, as it turns out,” he says. “The younger son murdered a serving girl, and his father doesn’t want it to get out.”
“I always thought there was something wrong with that boy.” She gets up and washes her hands in the floral-patterned ceramic basin, folding the dirty bandages into a towel.
Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Two, Chapter Nine”There is something about armed guards under the sweeping arches and high columns of the churches of Alcos and Isra that unsettles him. They used to have knights, he reminds himself, whole armies of them.
The Book of the New Moon Door
The newest chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door is now available on Patreon! There’s a new chapter of THE BOOK OF THE NEW MOON DOOR up on Patreon! Berend is recuperating from his encounter with a serial killer and more ghosts than he’d like to count, and he discovers that the situation is even worse than he thought.
This chapter will make its appearance on the blog next week, but you can read it early and support my work (and my cats) on Patreon for just $3 a month.
Rest
Berend has, indeed, noted that Herard Belisia only wanted to do right by the girl his brother murdered after being cut off from his inheritance, but he can’t fault the man. He is, after all, a mercenary. By definition, his loyalty can be bought. Herard is buying it with promises, at the moment, and Berend’s conscience is heavy enough that he doesn’t need more.
He can’t do anything for Bessa Kyne’s soul now. Not until Warder wakes up—and he will, Berend just has to believe it. His collection of incomplete, nonsensical, water-damaged notes crinkle and crunch under his arm.
He’s headed for the city center, and the Lady Breckenridge’s apartments. Dressed in borrowed clothes from the hospital, he’s inconspicuous, but he looks over his shoulder every few paces, just to make sure. His ribs ache with every breath, and his steps are short, but he can walk. It’s midday, and the sun is warm and the wind is cool, and the first yellowed leaves drift down from overhead and skitter across the pavement.
It’s a beautiful day, and he’s alive, after a second brush with death. He didn’t even lose an eye this time.
Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Two, Chapter Eight”
Space Whales Press 