Song of the Week

Dirtwire, “The Well” (featuring Rising Appalachia)

Good morning!

I was sick all last week (picked up a virus from my baby niece, who is the most adorable and needed extra cuddles. I washed my hands so much, but I still caught it). I think I’m reaching the end of it, so my plan is to post the Patreon chapter of Journey to the Water later this week (instead of the customary Tuesday). The most recent chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door will be up here on Wednesday.

As I get back to the minor blog redecorating that I was intending to do last week, please let me know if there’s anything I can do to make my website more accessible! I’ve chosen the font and color combination to be easy on the eyes, and all images should have alt text. Please feel free to leave me a comment if I can make reading a better experience for you.

Have an excellent week, and be sure to stop by again soon.

Journey to the Water Chapter XXVI: The House of the Weaver-Woman, Part Two

Journey to the Water cover image: three evergreen trees stand on a hillside, shrouded in bluish fog. Subtitle reads: the sequel to Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea.

Table of Contents

The rest of the tale of the falling star I knew already. It had landed near Phyreios, in the form of a lump of enchanted iron, and the Ascended had forged it into the Sword of Heaven, the tool of their own destruction. They could no more resist the will of Khalim’s god than he could, as much as they tried. It was only by Torr’s volition that the sword now lay safely among the other treasures beneath the mountain where the dragon made its home. 

What could I do in the face of a destiny already preordained? Seven gods had failed even to prevent the creation of the Sword of Heaven and the arrival of their former master to the city they ruled, even carried as he was by one man crossing the wastes on foot. A sandstorm, a single arrow, a knife in the dark, or some slight injury to their forge could have sent Torr back to the nether world for another thousand years. Instead, he walked the new streets of Phyreios with an iron crown on his head, and Khalim was gone. 

Taherah stared into the fire, and two burning points reflected in her eyes, but she saw nothing. It was as though she gone far away, and left her body behind to stir her copper pot and keep my sad company. 

Continue reading “Journey to the Water Chapter XXVI: The House of the Weaver-Woman, Part Two” →

New Patreon Post/ The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Two, Chapter Twenty

“You’re a necromancer. I’m a Sentinel. I’m sure you’ve read enough history to know what was going to happen.”

“You were a Sentinel,” Geray snarls.

The Book of the New Moon Door

Berend and Isabel’s brief respite is plagued by the still-present ghost of a murderer in the latest chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door. You can read it now on Patreon.

Song of the Week

Simon & Garfunkel, “The Sounds of Silence”

Happy New Year!

I’ll be doing some new year’s cleaning and maintenance on the blog and social media over the next several days, so don’t be alarmed if things move around. In the meantime, I’ll be posting a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door on Patreon tomorrow, and the latest chapter of Journey to the Water will be up here on Wednesday.

I hope the first week of 2023 treats you well. Thanks for being here.

Reminder: newsletter

If you haven’t been receiving my email newsletter, and you’d like to be, put your email in at the box at this link. It will send you a confirmation email, and you’ll need to click on it to subscribe. I send the newsletter once a month, at noon Central time on the last day of the month, and it contains writing updates and extra cat pictures.

If you’re content with receiving updates from the blog or social media, feel free to disregard this message.

The Book of the New Moon Door: Part Two, Chapter Nineteen

Isolation

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 takes the desk chair from Emryn’s bedroom and places it against the wall between the sitting room and the kitchen, facing away from the kitchen door. Its slats dig into his back. He’s reasonably sure he won’t fall asleep in it, but he wouldn’t be willing to wager any actual coin. 

Water splashes as Isabel wedges the huge kettle sideways into the first bucket and takes it back to the stove. The hiss of steam follows. 

When she asked him to stay by the door, Berend had assumed there would be some sort of conversation. He’s starting to doubt that the uncomfortable chair will be enough to keep him awake. 

“I wasn’t ever going to take you to the temple of Isra,” he says. “You know that, right?”

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

New Patreon Post/ Journey to the Water, Chapter XXVI

I came here to ask your help. One day, I will find a way to cross over, whether by magic or might. I will find Khalim. But our time together was so short, and I had not the foresight to ask him where he might go if he had all the realms of the gods to choose from.

Chapter XXVI: The House of the Weaver-Woman, Part Two

Eske’s journey continues in the latest chapter of Journey to the Water, now available on Patreon.

Year in Review, Part the Second

2022 is almost over. Where to start?

I lost my beloved cat Odin, my steadfast writing buddy, this year. He was the sweetest, most anxious boy, who needed constant hugs (over the left shoulder, so he could rub his face against your face). No one could ever replace him, but we did adopt a kitten in the summer. Shepard has adjusted well to her new home, and gets along all right with Solaire (who quite liked being an only cat for a few months).

This was also a year of civil engagement for me, as I voted in all four elections by mail so that I could work at a polling place each time.

I did some writing, too!

  • I published Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea in January! It is now a real book that you can hold in your hands, keep on your e-reader, and/or place on your shelf. If my math is correct, I’ve sold 97 copies so far. It’s not much, in the grand scheme of things, but that’s more people than I ever expected to read anything I’ve written.
  • I continued Journey to the Water, the sequel to Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea, and though Eske’s adventures aren’t finished yet, he’s made a lot of progress.
  • Though I didn’t finish NaNo this year, I did complete Part Two of The Book of the New Moon Door! Those chapters will continue to post week by week as I begin Part Three.
  • I started adapting my Call of Cthulhu module, The Well Below the Valley, into the script for an audio drama, released (mostly) once a month on Patreon.
  • I started The Tarot of the Gates, a collaborative project with Brooke Marie Miller, my very good friend and the artist behind the Figuratively Speaking Tarot.
  • Also with Brooke, I went to my first event as an author: Bitchcraft Fair Milwaukee!
  • The second Reader Poll indicated some interest in an email newsletter, and I finally started it at the end of October.
  • Lastly, I did finish a (truly awful) draft of the “big book,” a 500+ page manuscript, and read it over.

Here are some of my goals for next year:

  • I want to finish The Book of the New Moon Door and publish it by the end of 2023.
  • I also intend to finish Journey to the Water for a 2024 release.
  • The script for The Well Below the Valley will continue! It’s too early to say when it will be finished.
  • I want to make a plan for the publication of the Tarot of the Gates book and deck, and get started on that.
  • I hope to go to more events in 2023 and sign more books!
  • I’ll return to the “big book” and start a better draft.
  • I’m not great at short stories, but I want to be better, and publish some short fiction on the blog.
  • I also want to write more discussion posts.
  • To help with my reach, I want to do more with Twitch and YouTube.
  • Depending on when my current projects finish, I might start a new serial novel.

Happy New Year! May 2023 bring you good things.

Year in Review, Part the First

It’s the last Monday of the year, when traditionally I gather all the Songs of the Week into one handy playlist and hope that YouTube doesn’t delete any of them before I can share them with you. As of this writing, they are all there.

Tomorrow I’ll have the second part of the Year in Review, when I make some lists of things that happened this year, and a new chapter of Journey to the Water on Patreon. We’ll close out the year with The Book of the New Moon Door on Wednesday and a year-end edition of the newsletter.

Stop back soon! Have an excellent week.

Journey to the Water Chapter XXV: The House of the Weaver-Woman

Journey to the Water cover image: three evergreen trees stand on a hillside, shrouded in bluish fog. Subtitle reads: the sequel to Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea.

Table of Contents

The man who greeted me at the bridge gave his name as Sala and his profession as the village smith, though Nagara had not seen a new shipment of iron for many months. I feared the great mine of Phyreios had not yet reopened, and that it perhaps never would, but Sala had no way of knowing what occurred on the other side of the rust-red desert, and I would not press him for answers that he would not possess. The less I knew of Phyreios, the better I could focus on the task before me.

Though I had sailed many miles and walked for four long weeks to reach this place, a terrible dread came over me in place of my anticipated relief. Sala’s face was grim, his brows heavy and his mouth a thin line. I had brought this quiet village the news it had feared for two long years, that their favored son would not return. 

Continue reading “Journey to the Water Chapter XXV: The House of the Weaver-Woman” →