Song of the Week

Sam Lee and Daniel Pemberton, “The Devil and the Huntsman”

It’s Monday.

Have you voted yet? In many states, it’s too late to mail in your absentee ballot. Find an official collection box or go vote in person. Wear your mask! May you all be safe and your voices be heard.

I’m working a full shift as an election inspector tomorrow, so I am going to try to get the next chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door ready before then so it can go up on time on Wednesday. If I can’t manage that, it may go up later in the week. I’ll post an update if anything changes.

Good luck and have an excellent week.

The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Six

The Lighthouse

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

Lucian Warder. 

Isabel examines the record. The date beside Warder’s name is today’s, the twenty-first of Isra’s Moon. He must have gone to the library this morning, after word of the murder in the Shell District spread. Nothing unusual about that. Anyone would be curious—Isabel was, after all.

Still, it’s strange that she’s run into him twice in such a short time, and stranger still that he sought her out after everything that had happened last night. What did he say his device did? Banish restless spirits, rather like she does? What she does isn’t banishment, but that’s only the first of many problems she has with the concept of Warder’s device. 

Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Six” →

Song of the Week

Cat Stevens/Yusuf, “Morning Has Broken”

Happy Monday!

First, a request: if you’re in the US and it’s at all possible for you, vote early. Here are some resources for different states.

I’ll be back on Wednesday with a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door. While Berend has been dealing with the haunting in the Belisia estate, Isabel continues to investigate what happened to Mikhail.

Have an excellent week.

Song of the Week

Kamelot, “Abandoned”

Happy Monday!

Do you have a plan to vote, US friends?

No new chapter this week; I have some work to catch up on and need to outline the next arcs. I will see you soon.

Stay safe, and have an excellent week.

The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Five

The Device

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 breathes in the stale, dusty air, ignoring the pervasive scent of decay. His neck aches. He’s a big man, and a proficient fighter; there’s never been an occasion when someone has managed to get their hands around his throat, but he is certain that’s what he felt in that blasted room. If he recalls it, he can still feel the individual fingers squeezing, pressing into his windpipe. He hopes he’ll never have to experience that again.

There is his pistol, his trusty friend through more fights than he can count, lying in the dust on the parlor floor. Berend doesn’t want to leave it behind, for its sentimental value and the fear of what new absurdities might lie upstairs. 

That means he must reenter the parlor. 

Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Five” →

Song of the Week

Sage Francis, “Black Out on White Night”

Happy Monday!

For my US friends, we’re three weeks from the election. Make a plan to vote.

I’ll be back on Wednesday, if my time management is adequate this week, with another chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door. We’re finishing up the haunted house in this chapter, so I hope to see you then!

ETA: Chapter Five will go up late on Thursday. Thanks for your patience.

Have an excellent week.

The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Four

The House

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

“Did you see that?”

Lucian is already frantically scribbling in his book, a rough approximation of the young woman taking form under his pen. He balances the lantern on the top of his case and rummages in his satchel, producing a glass thermometer wrapped in a handkerchief. 

“Was that the ghost?” asks Berend. With one last look around the stable, and no movement apparent in the body of the horse, he shuts both doors and places the wooden plank across the metal brackets on the outside. 

“Not sure.” Lucian gives the thermometer a shake and frowns at it in the dim lamplight before wrapping it back up and returning it to his bag. “I’ll have to take a few more readings. What did you find in there?”

Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Four” →

Song of the Week

Anaïs Mitchell, “Wilderland”

It’s Monday again. Summer has packed up and gone, and October has arrived with its thin gray mornings and rich, sunny afternoons.

There is less than a month between us and the election in the US. Have you checked your registration? Do you have a plan to vote and keep yourself and others safe?

If all goes well, I should have another chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door up this week. See you then!

The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Three

Belisia

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

To place the box in which Mikhail’s corpse currently resides into the temple’s extensive graveyard, Berend will have to pay one hundred silver pennies. 

He is informed of this by Father Reeves, the priest in charge of funerary services, a tall man with a shaved head and an aquiline nose. He is paternally comforting and coldly distant, often at the same time, and it’s an unsettling effect. Long brown fingers make notes with a quill in a yellowing ledger. 

We all end up as numbers. Berend hands over the money. It’s most of what he has. He’ll need more if he’s going to continue sleeping in a bed until his next job. 

Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Three” →

Song of the Week

London Grammar, “Oh Woman, Oh Man”

Good morning.

I’m planning on getting the next chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door up this week, hopefully Wednesday, but there’s been a family medical emergency. I will try to update as I learn more.

Have an excellent week.