Queer Fantasy and Weird Tales for the People
Loreena McKennitt, “Coventry Carol” (traditional)
Happy Monday! I hope you are all staying safe and healthy. Please enjoy this, my favorite Christmas carol, and don’t think too hard about what that says about me as a person.
Because of the holiday, there will be no new chapter this week. We’ll rejoin Berend and Isabel and their search for Sterry the Bastard next week. I’ll probably do some year-end things next week as well.
Stay warm, and have an excellent week.
Shell District
“Well, the evening is still young,” Berend says, rising from the table. “Shall we?”
The sun has set out of the range of the narrow window, but the sky is still light, a soft blue-gray tinged with fiery orange. Sailors and dockworkers are filling the bar, encroaching on the space around the corner table. They have a somber demeanor about them, besides the normal heaviness of a long day’s work, and their eyes dart warily across the room; word of the lighthouse keeper’s murder must have spread.
Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Eleven”Kate Rusby, “Annan Waters”
The Decemberists, “Annan Water”
Happy Monday! Please enjoy these two versions of this Border ballad, one traditional and one less so. Fun fact: I named the first chapter of my undergraduate thesis “The Hazards of Love.” Medieval courtly love can be very hazardous, especially with all those eye-beams flying around.
I’ll be back later this week (hopefully Wednesday) with the next chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door. Berend and Isabel will have to locate and deal with a crime lord in order to find the murderer, so don’t miss it!
May you stay safe and warm this week and this season.
River District
There are, Berend knows, two establishments in the River District appropriate for the hushed exchange of information. One is a tavern, poorly lit and more poorly maintained, but adequately supplied with good liquor; the other could generously be called a coffeehouse though the substance it served was only tangentially related to coffee. He chooses the former, and leads Isabel through the growing crowds of returning sailors.
The money from the Belisia job is heavy in his pocket. He’s done well for himself. Still, he trusts Lord Edwan about as far as he can throw the man, and he can’t shake the feeling that he’s just been paid to cover up the murder of the poor girl he saw in the light of Lucian Warder’s device.
He tells himself he’s done what he can. He almost believes it.
Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Ten”Amadou and Mariam, “Je Pense à Toi”
Happy Monday!
I saw snow yesterday, though it didn’t last long. I suppose it’s time.
I’ve noticed a lot of new readers! Hello! Welcome to…whatever this is. Please feel free to leave me a comment anytime, and if there’s anything I can do to improve accessibility and readability, please let me know. There are also useful links down at the bottom: my social media, a list of tags, and a link where you can subscribe via WordPress or email to get notifications whenever I post something new.
I’ll be back with a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door, probably on Thursday. Until then, be safe, be well, and be warm.
Have an excellent week.
Bill Withers, “Ain’t No Sunshine”
Happy Monday. 2020 is almost over.
There will probably not be a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door this week, but don’t worry! If you’re already caught up, there are more things to read under the Stories and Modules tabs above.
Have an excellent week.
Belisia, Again
Berend wakes close to noon in his room at the Fox and Dove. He slept, and soundly, but it feels as though he hasn’t. His back aches and his eyes are heavy.
The carriage ride back from the Belisia estate had been tensely silent on Berend’s part, but Lucian Warder had given no indication that he noticed. He made notes in his book for the first hour and then had slept, leaning on the case that contained his strange device.
Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Nine”HIM, “Lose You Tonight”
Happy Monday. I’m back.
I’ll have a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door up this week, hopefully on Wednesday.
I hope that you all remain safe and healthy over the holiday.
Have an excellent week.
Kate Bush, “Lily”
Happy Monday! Please enjoy this song.
I’ve managed to catch a hopefully non-Covid related cold, so there probably won’t be a new chapter this week. I hope you’ll forgive me.
Have an excellent week.
Wryght
“I found this, under the bed,” says Isabel, concluding her retelling of the previous evening’s events to Brother Risoven. She hands him the lacquered bead before standing to gather the breakfast dishes.
Risoven holds up the bead and moves his lenses in and out from his face with the other hand. His owlish eyes squint and blink. Finally, he lowers both hands, turning the small object between his fingers.
“It’s a prayer bead,” he says, with equal measures of confidence and confusion.
Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Eight”
Space Whales Press 