Category: Books

The October Patreon stuff is up!

Yes, we are going a bit early today. As the poet said: “Prepare the viands, prepare the foods, prepare the strange wines, for tonight is indeed a great night!”

…Well, hopefully nothing so dramatic as what happened after, but still.

Patreon!

Behold!

  • Short Story: The Goblin. Fair warning: it’s both short, and fairly horrible. I’m not really sorry about either.
  • RPG Material: The Cunning Land: Introduction. This is the start of the new project. I wanted to see if I could fit the entire premise of the game world in a children’s poem. Let me know if it worked!
  • Poem: Halloween 2024. Just for fun.

#commissionearned

I am in the SPSFC 4 contest!

SPSFC being the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest. I have entered GHOSTS ON AN ALIEN WIND for it, as it is in fact science fiction (also, cosmic horror). Do I expect winnage? I have no idea! I am proud of this book, though, and I hope it does well.

Also, that this whole thing drives a few sales, but you knew that going in.

#commissionearned

10/30/2024 Snippet, NEVER RETURN.

I’m going to try to finish this tomorrow. Fortunately, I already did my short story for the month on Patreon, so there’s that.

Patreon!

 The ghost screamed again, this time a howl of protest that made the air visibly shiver and smashed glass. But even as it screamed, it also receded, pulling itself into itself until it was a globe of black that imploded as I watched.

At least, I assumed it imploded. I did not see directly, as I was diving behind the sofa at the time. Judging from the sudden psychic wind that pulsed above my head, that was wise of me. The stink of curdled magic is wretchedly difficult to get out of one’s hair or clothes.

Curwin popped his head up at the same time I did (he had flipped the shoddy table in the even shoddier kitchen). “So,” he managed after a moment. “What was that, then?”

#NotAWriMo starts in two days!

That’s the best I can come up with – anyway, November is when I finally finish BANSHEE BEACH. Regular writing should get all the bits filled in, and once that’s done I can start thinking about, well, everything else involved in getting that book out of the door. And after that?

The next one, obviously. This train keeps running for as long as I do.

10/29/2024 Snippet, NEVER RETURN.

It’s getting close to being done.

Patreon!

The first warning I had — a faint crinkling as windows and mirrors cracked — had my fingers up in a defensive ward before I quite realized what had happened. That kept the sudden biting cold from gnawing on my brain, which would do until I could lock and reinforce the ward.

Curwin blinked, then shivered as he instinctively moved to my side. I found myself quite glad of his proximity; defensive charm or not, the windowpanes were growing hoarfrost at an alarming rate.

“How long before it happens?” Curwin’s voice was surprisingly loud in the room, and I noticed that his tonfa was glowing, again. I oddly wondered how often the Boston police replaced them.

“If it had been a spell, it’d have happened and been done by now.” I shook my head, grunting in the most ladylike manner possible as I locked the ward in place. “But this is a manifestation, so it depends on how powerful the spirit is.”

“Right, not a ghost.” Curwin sounded in good humor, thankfully, and I presumed through an enviable ignorance. “They can’t generate this kind of cold for long.”

“Well, technically it is just sucking heat out of the area — ah, perhaps later.” An entity was unfolding itself in the air above the pile of books I had turned into an impromptu focus. I frowned at the energies, which felt different somehow, and yet familiar…