Queer Fantasy and Weird Tales for the People
New Order, “Blue Monday”
It’s Monday again.
I will do my best to get a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door out this week, hopefully Wednesday or Thursday. We’re heading toward the end of Part One!
No streaming this week–Amazon workers are striking, and Twitch is an Amazon subsidiary. Please help them out by not crossing the picket line: don’t shop on Amazon or use Prime. Tea and Sidequests will be back next Monday (the 15th).
Have an excellent week.
Howard Shore/J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Passing of the Elves”
Happy Monday! I hope the sun is shining on you today.
Now would be a good time for a general reminder that a new President does not mean all–or any–of our problems are solved. Here is a form to contact the White House and send a strongly-worded message, perhaps about student loan relief, COVID relief, immigration reform, or the recent bombing in Syria.
No new chapter this week, so now’s a good time to get caught up! All the available chapters are under the Stories tab above.
I’ll be on Twitch tonight and Saturday night, 6-8pm Central time.
I will see you again soon. Have an excellent week.
Resurrection Act
It’s well into the afternoon by the time Isabel rides back to Mondirra. She can’t help but feel that the visit to the Warder estate has been a waste of time. She’s found some evidence—a scratch on a carriage that she wasn’t able to see, and a mention of a new research partner but not the man’s name.
It’s too much to be a coincidence, she tells herself, but still, she isn’t certain. There could be any number of fine coaches across the countryside that left varnish on the warehouse door, and there were more ways to find a set of red robes and prayer beads than having studied at Alcos’s church. She didn’t have enough to find the murderer, much less to have him arrested. A long time has passed since the days of the Inquisition, when a Sentinel’s word was more than enough to convict an accused necromancer.
Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Seventeen”Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, “I Put a Spell On You”
Finishing out a string of blues originals for the month of February.
Hi. I hope you’re staying safe and warm in the Worst Month. February is almost over, though, and we’ll see spring soon.
There will be a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door available this week! I’m very excited to move the plot forward. Stop by again soon, probably Wednesday.
I’ll also be on the Tea and Sidequests channel on Twitch tonight and Saturday night!
I hope to see you soon. Have an excellent week.
Nina Simone, “Sinnerman”
Happy Monday. I hope you are staying warm and safe.
In case you missed it, Chapter Sixteen of The Book of the New Moon Door is now live! You can just scroll down from here, or visit the Stories tab above.
I’ll be on Twitch tonight and Saturday night, playing Darkest Dungeon and Calico, respectively. These are two games with a similar premise–the player inherits property from a relative and must perform tasks to improve it–but very different themes and presentation. I hope you’ll join me!
Have an excellent week.
Warder Estate
“There’s a message here for you, Sister,” Brother Risoven says.
Isabel looks up from the tiny desk in the chapel’s spare room, on which lies the remains of the sample of red fungus. It is all but entirely crumbled into dust. Risoven stands in the doorway, holding out a small, folded paper sealed with wax.
She takes it. The wax is red, the seal a stylized W set above the image of a fence on what might be a grassy hill. It lifts easily when she slides a finger underneath it. The handwriting is old-fashioned, canted sharply to the left with tall, thin loops.
Sentinel Rainier, it reads,
Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Sixteen”Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy, “When the Levee Breaks”
Happy Monday! It’s cold both inside and outside my apartment today. I hope you are safe and warm, wherever you may be.
There will be a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door this week on Thursday or Friday, so stop by again! I’ll also be on Twitch this evening and on Saturday.
Have an excellent week.
The Tea and Sidequests Twitch channel has an accompanying YouTube channel, where you can watch past streams, such as this one:
We’ll be back on Twitch tomorrow evening!
Tori Amos, “Wednesday”
Happy Monday. I am writing this from underneath a snow drift, so that’s how things are going here.
I’ve been having trouble keeping up with The Book of the New Moon Door along with all my other projects and responsibilities. In order to stay on a predictable schedule, I’m going to be posting a chapter every other week. I’ll revisit this when I finish the current draft of my book, either going back to a chapter a week or starting a new project to alternate with it. I am planning on starting the sequel to Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea in the spring, so keep an eye out for that.
So, with that being said, there won’t be a new chapter up this week. The next chapter will be up next week, probably Wednesday.
In the meantime, I’ll be on Twitch tonight playing a game–I haven’t decided which yet. If you haven’t visited the Tea and Sidequests channel, you’re missing out, because we are a delight.
Have an excellent week, and stay safe and warm.
Lady Breckenridge
Berend turns on his heel and starts walking north again, between rows of leaning Shell District construction. He places one foot in front of the other, parallel with the dirty gutter, and at each cross street he moves from one corner to the next, careful not to give himself even the chance to make an unintended turn.
This route should lead him to the place where the Shell district and the West Gate meet, just outside the Temple District. It might not be exactly where he was turned around before, but it should be close. Would he see some kind of shimmering barrier, like in the old stories? Three days ago, he wouldn’t have believed it. Now he’s ready to believe anything. It’s a dangerous state to be in, and he knows it.
I’m not going mad, I’m not going mad, he says to himself with each careful step. There’s an explanation and I’m going to find it.
Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Fifteen”
Space Whales Press 