Berend stands under a sky filled with blinking, staring eyes, surrounded on all sides by the restless dead. A red star shoots overhead like a firework, disappearing below a distant horizon in a blaze of ruby light. The world shakes with a terrible shriek, and Berend falls into it, the sound tearing him apart from within, his vision turning black at the edges and a burning pain spreading from his heart to his fingertips.
The god beneath the island had returned to its endless sleep, leaving the mortals who walked under the sun to fend for themselves.
Chapter XXI: Calm Seas
Eske is continuing his quest at last! The island is safe, but new perils arise in the latest chapter of Journey to the Water, now available on Patreon.
Happy Monday! It is now less than TWO WEEKS until Bitchcraft Fair Milwaukee! My friend Brooke, her Figuratively Speaking Tarot, and I will be at booth #116 in the Wisconsin Center. You can find more information (and tickets) here.
I am doing my level best to maintain my posting schedule as I prepare for this event. The next chapter of Journey to the Water will go up on Patreon tomorrow, and the latest chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door will be up here on Wednesday. I am working on The Well Below the Valley also, but that may be the proverbial spinning plate that drops or gets postponed.
I did finish the first chapter of The Tarot of the Gates! Please appreciate my efforts at something resembling time management. That will be up here on October 1. There’s more information here, plus a picture of Shepard the kitten, if you haven’t seen it yet.
Thanks for being here! I promise I’m not scary, and I welcome comments. I’d like to get to know my readers! Please tell me your favorite book that you’ve read recently, or the music that’s making your ears happy these days, or whatever you’d like to talk about.
Like most of the people of Salmacha, the priest Chanjask was tall and long-limbed, and his age was difficult to tell. His skin lacked the rough, oaken quality of his superior, Ucasta, so I guessed him to have lived forty or fifty years. He possessed bright, dark eyes that darted quickly from face to face in the crowded throne room. He was a clever man, if not a wise one; he knew which way the winds were turning, and he would set the sails of his life and career accordingly.
He finished his recitation of the law as Mara had asked, and he bent to kneel on the floor, touching his brow to the marble tile and raising his hands in supplication—to the princesses, it would appear, though Mara still held the power to decide his fate. She dismissed him with a wave of her hand, and he stood, more quickly than his apparent age might allow. He backed away, holding his empty hands palms-up as though he were offering a gift. He let the gathered mass of noblemen envelop him, and I was certain he intended to disappear.
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).
Hello again! It’s Monday. Autumn has arrived early here, bringing a full day of rain and some minor flooding. While I wait for my towels to dry so I can sop up more water in my basement, how about an update for the week?
First things first: I have a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door that will be up on Patreon tomorrow, and the latest chapter of Journey to the Water will be here on the blog on Wednesday. Both projects will continue until they are done!
However, if you’re looking for something new and exciting, I have good news! My friend Brooke has recently published her first tarot deck, and we’re working on a collaborative book-and-deck project. I am excited to announce that both the (first?) book and the deck will be called The Tarot of the Gates. For more details and some worldbuilding, you can read last week’s post here. The first chapter will release October 1!
Also, in case you missed it, we’re going to be at booth 116 at Bitchcraft Fair Milwaukee! It will be at the Wisconsin Center on Sunday, October 2. I hope to see you there! It’s my first event, and I am both excited and scared, as you can tell by all the exclamation points.
You will be able to find Space Whales Press and the Figuratively Speaking Tarot at booth 116!
We’re listed under Figuratively Speaking Tarot, because Brooke is the best and signed up for both of us and was very kind to invite me along.
The map!
Bitchcraft Fair Milwaukee takes place on Sunday, October 2nd (less than a month away!) at the Wisconsin Center. I will have books, and you can also bring a copy of Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea you already own for me to sign! Also, you get to check out Brooke’s beautiful art. This is my very first event, and I’m both excited and scared.
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.
“The book does nothing,” said Chanjask. “But with the book, Ucasta could preserve the body and soul of the king, and with it, I can retrieve the soul you want and place it in the correct vessel. Its original body seems to be out of the question, so would you prefer a gem? A lamp? Another body? It would be a simple matter to sacrifice one of the prisoners—”
Chapter XX: The Temple of the New Gods
While the survivors of Salmacha’s near-disaster argue over how their new government is going to be run, Eske’s attention turns elsewhere: to one of the priests who helped the late king almost achieve immortality. Can this man help Eske on his quest? Or will the price of his evil magic be too high? Find out right now by subscribing to Patreon and reading this chapter! Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until next week.
Happy Labor Day! In honor of workers past and present, I hope you find some rest today.
Because I don’t have enough projects (ignore the stacks of notes and half-finished drafts; those are my emotional support works in progress), I’m starting something new on Instagram (you can also see it on my Facebook page). My friend and collaborator Brooke started a project called #tarotember last year, wherein each day of September is focused on a different tarot card or suit. Last year, she painted the majority of her deck, the Figuratively Speaking Tarot, while I took some moody pictures and made a playlist.
This year’s Tarotember prompts
This year, I am introducing the universe for a new and as-yet-untitled project, a space opera set in a galaxy of warring kingdoms and palace intrigue, psychic pilot-knights and lost alien civilizations, and also queer romance and tarot themes! The first chapter, titled “The Knight of Ships,” will release on October 1, after the challenge concludes (and one day before Bitchcraft Fair Milwaukee!). Eventually, this project will be both a book and an accompanying deck, currently titled the Tarot of the Gates. Brooke has painted a few cards for it already, and while she works on other projects, I’m creating placeholder graphics for the challenge. Each day reveals more about the setting, so follow me on Instagram and/or Facebook for some new sci-fi/fantasy goodness.
Don’t worry, I am not abandoning any of my other projects! A new chapter of Journey to the Water will release tomorrow on Patreon, and the latest chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door will appear here on the blog on Wednesday. Also, in case you missed it, Episode 6 of The Well Below the Valley is available on Patreon as of September 1, and you can read a free preview here.
As a final note, Shepard is six months old today, and just as cute as ever:
A rare moment when she’s sitting still enough for a picture.
I think that’s all for this week! Thanks for being here.
Space Whales Press 