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

Friends

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 marches Isabel out of Father Pereth’s office. His grip on her arm is immovable as a rusted iron hinge. Isabel struggles, twisting her elbow and pulling against him, but it’s no use. Fear restricts her vision to the end of the hall, where the dome allows in a few thin beams of sunlight. She expects the chapel will be filled with constables, but she might still be able to get away, to disappear into the back corridors and out into the graveyard—if she could only get herself free of Berend. 

She trusted him. She’d thought he cared enough about the state of the world, about protecting the people of Mondirra, that he would help her. He saw the same terrible vision in the nether that she did. She’d even thought he supported her against the high priest’s accusations, until he’d smiled and acquiesced and grabbed her by the elbow. 

“I’m not going to the temple of Isra,” she snarls through her teeth. She doesn’t want to hurt him, but if she has to, she’ll drive the heel of her boot straight into the soft leather instep of his. It’ll have to be quick, and then she’ll have to run. He’s still injured. That will slow him down.

Instead, Berend lets go. He holds both hands out, spreading his fingers to show they’re empty. “I know.”

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

New Patreon Post/ Journey to the Water Chapter XXIII

I once had a traveler in my inn, years ago, who told a story like yours. He said he met a boy in the river valley who possessed a strange talent for magic.

Chapter XXIII: The Port of Charkand

There is a new chapter of Journey to the Water available on Patreon! Eske leaves the sea and his new friends behind as his quest continues. You can read this chapter RIGHT NOW by becoming a subscriber, or you can wait until next week, when it makes its appearance here on the blog.

Song of the Week

Kamelot, “On the Coldest Winter Night”

Good morning! I hope you’re well on this chilly Monday.

I am slightly less behind on NaNo as of today, and I’m continuing to try to catch up. Part Two of The Book of the New Moon Door is almost done. I think I’ll be able to start Part Three before the month is out. What this means for you, dear reader, is that I’ll have a lot fewer interruptions to the posting schedule going forward, and New Moon Door will be finished and ready to begin the publishing process (including many, many rounds of edits) around mid-2023, and (tentatively) published by the end of the year. This is very exciting for me, because I didn’t think I’d be able to get another book out next year, as both New Moon Door and Journey to the Water are looking to be much longer than Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea.

So, for this week: a new chapter of Journey to the Water will be up on Patreon tomorrow, and the latest chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door will be here on the blog on Wednesday.

I think that’s all my updates for today! Take care and have an excellent week.

Journey to the Water Interlude Three: The Broken Road

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 creature clung to Khalim’s back, breathing a quick, shallow rhythm against his neck. It was light as a bird, and its fingers ended in tiny, sharp talons, black and shiny as obsidian, that clicked together as it adjusted its hold on his shoulders. It was a meat-eating creature, Khalim guessed, based on the claws and its many pointed teeth—though maybe it didn’t eat anything. He hadn’t been hungry since his still-shaky memories of the world before the citadel, and there wasn’t anything identifiable to eat in this place even if he had been. He was lost, and so very cold, but the world beyond had not been as cruel as he’d feared. 

The question remained, then, why someone would lay a trap to catch small creatures in the wood, if not to eat them. Its iron jaws could have easily closed on Khalim, had he been less fortunate. At the very least, he wouldn’t have starved to death before he freed himself.

“So,” he said. His voice was flat and muffled to his own ears, swallowed up by the forest. “Where are we going?”

Continue reading “Journey to the Water Interlude Three: The Broken Road” →

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

“Do go on, mercenary,” he says. “I’ll expect a recitation of your own sins, after. You can start with how you shot me in the chest.”

The Book of the New Moon Door

The dead aren’t staying down, and Berend and Isabel can’t catch a break, in the latest chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door, now available on Patreon! You can subscribe to read this chapter right now, or wait a week for its appearance here on the blog.

Journey to the Water will update here tomorrow!

Song of the Week

Sara Lov, “My Body is a Cage” (Arcade Fire cover)

Good morning!

If you’re in the US, tomorrow is election day! Go vote if you haven’t already! It’s important for the health of our democracy that everyone has a hand in choosing the people they’re going to argue with for the next 4-8 years. Here’s a handy link where you can find your polling place.

I will be working at a polling place tomorrow, so the new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door will go up on Patreon Wednesday, and the latest chapter of Journey to the Water will be up here on Thursday.

In other news, I’m already behind on NaNo. Hopefully I can catch up this week.

If you haven’t signed up for the newsletter yet, you can put your email into the box at this link. It’ll send you a confirmation email. The next issue will go out at the end of the month. At some point, when I have the mental fortitude to stare at HTML for half an hour, I will embed a button on the site somewhere.

I think that’s it for today! Have an excellent week, and stop by again soon. I appreciate you.

New Patreon Post/ The Well Below the Valley, Episode 7

The newest chapter of my Lovecraftian audio drama is now available on Patreon! This is a project that’s only available to subscribers, but you can see a free preview below the cut:

Continue reading “New Patreon Post/ The Well Below the Valley, Episode 7” →

New Patreon Post/ Journey to the Water Interlude Three

“Other places.” The creature’s bone mask found a spot in the crook of his shoulder, left bare by his ragged clothing, and came to rest there, sending a chill through his chest and down his back. When it spoke, its teeth brushed against his skin. “Places with people. Gods’ places. You’ll see.”

Interlude Three: The Broken Road

The newest chapter of Journey to the Water is now available on Patreon! You can subscribe for just $3 a month, or wait until next week for this chapter to appear here on the blog.

Song of the Week

Joe Hisaishi, “The Dragon Boy” (from Spirited Away)

Good morning, happy Monday, and a pleasant spooky/harvest holiday to you!

The first order of business for this week is the newsletter! The inaugural October issue will go out at about noon today. If you would like to receive it, and haven’t signed up yet, you can put your email into the box at this link. It will send you a confirmation email. Once you’ve confirmed, you are on the mailing list!

Second order of business: the next chapter of Journey to the Water and Episode Seven of The Well Below the Valley will both be released on Patreon tomorrow!

Third and last: NaNoWriMo is coming. My goal is to write 50,000 words of The Book of the New Moon Door in the month of November, finishing Part Two and making some headway into Part Three (possibly finishing the entire thing, depending on how it goes). This will give me a nice backlog that will prevent future disruptions to the usual posting schedule and get me closer to being able to edit and prepare it for publishing!

I think that’s all for today. Thanks for being here, and have an excellent week.

The Newsletter, finally

I have created the first edition of the official Space Whales Press newsletter, and it will go out on Monday!

You can sign up by placing your email into the handy box at this link. It will then send you a confirmation email. You won’t get the newsletter until you confirm.

Remember, this is different from the email signup you may have done via WordPress, which notifies you whenever I post something new. The newsletter will be one email a month, with news and updates and bonus cat pictures. They are distinct in form and function, so please feel free to sign up for both, either, or neither. I’ll never sell or give away your email, and I’ll be sure to warn you if the newsletter frequency changes.

Also, if you gave me your email at Bitchcraft Fair, I’ll be adding you to the subscriber list manually, so you don’t have to subscribe again. Keep an eye out for the confirmation email!