Song of the Week

Dessa, “Call Off Your Ghost”

Good morning and happy Labor Day! I hope you have a rest from your labors today.

First, the usual suspects: new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter will be up here on Wednesday.

I am plugging along on rewrites, and they continue to go slowly. I did finally get my meds, thanks to the combined efforts of my husband and a very nice pharmacist, so my brain is much more functional and my writing pace is increasing. Time is running out, but I’m not quite ready to officially call an October release out of the realm of possibility. Give me another couple of weeks, and I’ll make the call then. I have two events in October (Bitchcraft Fair and the Autumn edition of What the Hex), so I really want to have a new book in stock, but I can offer preorders if I don’t make it.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the holiday, and stop by again soon!

The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Three, Chapter Eleven

Thankful

The Book of the New Moon Door cover image: A book with yellowing, wrinkled pages lies open on an old wooden desk, with a sprig of lavender lying in the center.

Table of Contents

The upper half of the University District, as Berend has taken to calling it, is more or less intact—surprising, considering the earth beneath it can’t be stable anymore. On the street leading up to Emryn Marner’s red-brick house, the cobbles are loose, sitting in hollows too large for them and shifting under Berend’s feet. He could be imagining things, but each house looks a little farther from its neighbors than he remembers. 

A crack splits the steps leading up to the painted door. Berend places one foot on the first stair, lowering his weight slowly. It’s sturdy enough. He won’t have to be here long. 

Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Three, Chapter Eleven” →

New Patreon Post/The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Three, Chapter Twelve

“I’m sorry,” she says to the ghosts, stopping at the edge where the iron grass gives way to greenery. “I wish you had someone better.”

The Book of the New Moon Door

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and it’s full of ghosts? You can read this new chapter on Patreon right now!

Song of the Week

Ryan Amon/ The SIE Sound Team, “The Night Unfurls” (from Bloodborne)

Good morning! Here’s a horror soundtrack to get you in the mood for more of The Book of the New Moon Door.

A new chapter will be on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter will make its appearance here on Wednesday. It’s also the end of the month, so the newsletter is going out (noonish my time on the 31st). If you haven’t signed up yet, and you’re interested in bonus cat pictures, garden updates, and event announcements, you can put your email address in the box at this link.

I am hoping to bring you good news about publication soon, but it’s slow going. I will bring you an update as soon as I can.

Thanks for being here, and have an excellent week.

The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Three, Chapter Ten

Bridges

The Book of the New Moon Door cover image: A book with yellowing, wrinkled pages lies open on an old wooden desk, with a sprig of lavender lying in the center.

Table of Contents

Berend wanders back the way he came, down the hill past the temple of Ondir. The doors are shut, and the low dome sits like the carcass of an enormous beetle, hollow and still. Presumably, there are still people inside, but they don’t show their faces. 

Maybe all of Ondir’s holy men are hiding. The ghosts lingering around the Temple District followed Isabel when she left, but Berend is sure there are more—there certainly will be, if the world shifts again and the district falls into a chasm, or if either of the walls holding back the many-eyed thing (or is it a place? Berend can’t keep it straight) finally fall. 

He’d feel better if there were four walls, but at this point, he’s taking what he can get. It probably doesn’t matter, either way, because the walls are just ideas. Or something. 

Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Three, Chapter Ten” →

New Patreon Post/ The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Three, Chapter Eleven

Of course the end of the world has to come around now,when he’s a little over a year shy of forty, and not when he was twenty-two, had both eyes, and had never had so much as a hangover to slow him down.

The Book of the New Moon Door

The apocalypse happens on no one’s schedule. You can read this latest chapter on Patreon.

Song of the Week

Wickerbird, “The Fold”

Good morning!

I’m neck-deep in The Book of the New Moon Door and enjoying the one day I can keep the windows open before the heat hits again. When my cats can’t watch the birds and insects flying around, preferably from right up against the screen, they get antsy. Winter is a hard season for them.

While I work on rewrites, you’ll have a new chapter of New Moon Door on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s Patreon chapter will be up here to read for free on Wednesday. Also, August is almost over (how??), so the newsletter will go out next week. Here’s a signup link if you haven’t done so already.

As always, thanks for being here. Stop by again soon!

The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Three, Chapter Nine

Transformation

The Book of the New Moon Door cover image: A book with yellowing, wrinkled pages lies open on an old wooden desk, with a sprig of lavender lying in the center.

Table of Contents

The grass beneath Isabel’s feet is metal wire, brittle and sharp. As she enters the silent village, the crowd of ghosts at her heels, she checks her hands and the hems of her sleeves for any sign that she’s undergoing the same transformation. Her fingers remain flesh; her coat is still wool. Whatever happened here is over now. All that remains is a village made of iron. 

What had Emryn Marner said? Something about the red star, and a town half a day away—and the story a traveler had told about it, passed from alehouse to inn until it reached the University District. Isabel had dismissed it then. She’d had more pressing concerns. 

A scraping, rattling sound that makes Isabel’s teeth hurt sweeps through the village as the wind rustles the grass underfoot and the thatching on the roofs. Flat surfaces—walls, fence posts, and the sides of the unfortunate cattle—shine dully in the midmorning light. She avoids looking in any more windows, but that doesn’t spare her the sight of a stablehand, no older than ten, cowering by the fence with iron arms covering his head. His hair is fine wire, coiled tightly, and the ends crumble as the wind passes through it. Iron dust falls to the iron earth. 

Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Three, Chapter Nine” →

New Patreon Post/ The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Three, Chapter Ten

He has a warm coat and enough bread to last him the day, which is about how long he can be sure he’ll live, so he’s content. If he sees tomorrow, he’ll worry about providing for it then.

The Book of the New Moon Door

Berend struggles to traverse the shattered landscape and get his sword back. You can read this chapter right now on Patreon.

Song of the Week

Tori Amos, “Juarez”

Happy Monday again!

I have very little to report today: I’m working on rewrites of The Book of the New Moon Door, and there will be a new chapter on Patreon tomorrow, followed by the latest chapter here on the blog on Wednesday.

As always, thanks for being here, and have an excellent week.