Hi all! Double-Blind 2 is now available on Kindle Unlimited. This release kind of snuck up on me. It’s been heavily edited and polished, (I think the first edit alone had something like a thousand adjustments from the RR rough draft), so if you’re interested in reading the definitive version, now’s the time. This was a fun book to w...
2023-08-30 22:35:29 +0000 UTC View Post
Monarch Book 3: Whitefall, is available for pre-order on Kindle Unlimited and Audible for a July 5th release.
We actually made it.
Finishing this book took a lot out of me, so I genuinely hope you all have enjoyed the increased publishing speed of the last few chap...
2023-06-15 01:19:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Double-Blind Book 1 is up on Kindle Unlimited and Audible today! As I said in my announcement post, it’s been massively edited with some small additions, and ...
2023-05-23 17:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostArmor doesn’t make the soldier. Strapping a scholar, butcher, or brigand into a breastplate doesn’t do much to change the appearance of the man within. They’ll present as a better armored albeit potentially wealthier version of their previous selves.
Alten, though? From the moment the servants finished adjusting his ornate silver sheathing and stepped away, he looked complete. As if they finally returned a part of him that had always been missing.
“Heavy,” Alten grunted,...
2023-02-22 22:25:30 +0000 UTC View PostMiles’ eyes bore into me. It wasn’t like during the panel with the feds, where he was already doubting himself and willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. If he caught a single inkling of deceit, there was no question. He was gone.
I continued. “I’m not sure how they knew, but I suspect it has something to do with their patron.”
“Hastur.” Miles filled in.
“They didn’t really pass the sniff test, even that early on. Watched them steamroll a bounty like ...
2023-02-17 23:26:25 +0000 UTC View PostLoss, despair, and a tiny flicker of hope all tore at my mind, burning any semblance of cognizance to ash. Nothing mattered. Not the order, not whatever overcomplicated bullshit I was trying to accomplish here. None of it meant anything if Ellison was gone.
Was he? He knew. Had to. Somehow concluded that once we were out, the system would reward an artifact and made sure it went to me—did he know that because he was aware he and his companions weren’t traditional Users and were ther...
2023-02-16 22:29:56 +0000 UTC View PostBefore
Ellison was particular about schedules. Timing. I’d left him at the library, and he’d instructed me to pick him up at a quarter to seven. So I shifted my schedule around, made sure Russ—my manager at the laundromat—knew I’d be leaving exactly at 7:30, and arrived like clockwork.
That was nearly an hour ago. Night filtered in through the broad library windows, and much of the overhead lighting around the outer edges of the library had already shut off, giv...
2023-02-15 23:37:52 +0000 UTC View PostHi folks,
Sorry about the low output. I’ve been hammering out the details of the end of the arc, and if all goes according to plan, we’ll be finishing out Double-Blind 2 next week, which means we’ll get a proper ending to this interim arc (and at least one chapter without a cliff.) I think you’ll like the direction we’re heading. For now, enjoy the chapter, and I’ll see you next week.
There wasn’t thumping release, or a tw...
2023-02-10 22:50:13 +0000 UTC View PostEllison looked…
I swallowed down the swell of emotion and tried to shake it off.
Kids are small. That’s obvious. But you don’t truly realize until you take responsibility for one, how slowly they grow. Maybe it wouldn’t feel so painstaking if they grew up protected in a vacuum. But they don’t. The world swirls around them, tearing at their unknowing hearts, shredding them with a debris of endless collateral they had nothing to do with. Hurting them for no goddamn reason,...
2023-02-08 22:52:26 +0000 UTC View PostThe movement was blazingly fast and perfectly controlled. Only Mile’s wrist and forearm moved, his shoulder motionless, as he pulled something black and carbon from his inventory and pointed it at me.
Time slowed down.
Muzzle flare flashed three times.
It was likely only due to <Probability Cascade> that the first few shots missed. Something too fast to perceive struck my shoulder armor and knocked me off balance.
Simultaneously, there was a me...
2023-02-04 01:47:45 +0000 UTC View Post“A purse of ten golden rods.” Alten said immediately.
Those who heard him immediately whispered among themselves, and for good reason. The price was astronomical. Enough for a massive home in the noble section of Whitefall, and a gods damned estate anywhere else. I wasn’t opposed. Even if I lost, in terms of the treasury, it wouldn’t leave a dent.
But what struck me was how specific it was.
I inclined my head. It was a large enough sum that I wouldn’t trust anyone ...
2023-02-04 01:42:51 +0000 UTC View PostThe trail of blood led to a small alcove beneath a rock formation reminiscent of an overpass. There it stopped, a small puddle forming on the ground but no Miles.
“Stopped here to rest? Patch himself up?” I mused.
“Or something picked him off.” Talia said. Like she was hoping it had.
Either way, it looked like a dead end. Miles retreated, dragged himself to cover, and judging from the streak of blood on the rock wall, slid down it to rest. But there...
2023-02-02 23:42:39 +0000 UTC View Post“Ordinator. No listed level. So you weren’t bullshitting. Bout time I had some luck, you’re really saving my ass here,” Maria looked up from her screen. She dusted herself off, and for the first time, she smiled.
“I help you, we both help Hastur, eventually we all end up in a better place,” I said. The words tasted like ash.
She looked around at the carnage, and her mouth tightened. “What about the bodies?”
I circled around, studying ponytail guy’s corpse. ...
2023-02-01 23:31:48 +0000 UTC View PostBlood everywhere. Bodies strewn across the ground, limbs and arms overlapping. Armor reduced to chunks of metal and gaping flesh. A twin blade forged of dark iron and silver edges was cast aside, familiar.
She knelt at the center, both hands poised to compress the big adventurer’s chest.His head lolled off to the side, his eyes lifeless. But the woman didn’t move. Almost like she was petrified. Her dark hair was wild, eyes wide, seeing everything but seeing nothing.
Thud 2023-02-01 23:29:26 +0000 UTC View Post
“Kick his fuckin’ head in!”
I’d heard whispers of places like this scattered throughout Topside.
They called them pits. Small, underground brawling rings where disgruntled men and women tested themselves against each other. Under my father’s reign, it was one of many outlets the common folk used to vent their frustrations. But I’d never expected to find Alten in a place like this. He’d struck me as fiercely loyal and refined. And there was a world of difference betwe...
2023-02-01 00:05:57 +0000 UTC View PostHi all,
My apologies for the lack of Monarch chapters this week. Had to do some work on the webtoon, which, as it turns out, is a little time consuming. This won’t happen often, as I’m told pre-production is the most demanding part of the process on my end, and once things are up and running I’ll be mainly proofing scripts and stamping my approval.
But they say a picture’s worth a thousand words, so here’s a bunch. Got permission to show these off and wanted to share the...
2023-01-27 23:44:08 +0000 UTC View PostOne of the controlled vampires rammed a pointed hand into the back of a smaller vampire in front of him, ripping out a red chunk. It was impossible to see at this distance, but given the location it was probably a heart.
A few others carried out the order a split second later, felling twice their number.
The Nosferatu’s ruthless efficiency chilled me. Azure was right. If even only a few of them cornered me, or drawn me into an ambush the way the Grimelings had, it would be over ...
2023-01-27 23:18:36 +0000 UTC View PostHell looked a lot like California.
The towering basalt formations below were like pictures I’d seen of the Devil’s Postpile monument, only warped by nightmares and blown up to a hundred times the scale. A sprawling wasteland of hexagonal red beams bigger than redwood trees formed treacherous, uneven paths that frequently plunged downward, some coming to abrupt dead ends that plunged into black chasms.
Battle sounds
I paused, the mental equivalent of my finger on the butt...
2023-01-26 22:32:51 +0000 UTC View PostI stepped off the elevator. Compared to the beach-party atmosphere of the second floor, the atmosphere here was night and day. It was cold, and instead of vibrant tropical faire, I was treated to a wasteland of gray brick and gothic architecture with a tall ceiling, scattered with bright splashes of red.
A catacomb. How quaint.
Whatever battle took place here dyed the image, spattering its cliche-but-reserved creepiness with grind house red, bodies and trails of blood soaking into...
2023-01-25 05:13:18 +0000 UTC View PostThey know what you did, during the transposition.
You thought no one saw. That you’d just get away with it.
But now it’s over.
You think they’ll take you prisoner? No. Maybe in the old days, but we don’t live in the old days anymore.
And now—the fuck?
With the elevator still suspended twenty feet above the ground, the rogue hauled ass, vaulting the guard railing and landing hard. She took less than a second t...
2023-01-21 00:49:44 +0000 UTC View PostI endured an endless litany of well-wishing, brown-nosing, and curious questions. All throughout, the table at the center of the banquet hall beckoned. I salivated, staring at the spread.
My father had pulled out all the stops. The seemingly endless table was overflowing with every fruit, meat, and wine imaginable. Maybe I’d start with the honeyed ham, or a turkey leg, or the gods damned table itself if it meant I could finally eat. Stuff myself with splinters of wood soaked in grease...
2023-01-21 00:39:24 +0000 UTC View Post“You’re sure you don’t want me to come in with you?” Halima asked for what was probably the third time.
We back-trekked to the creek, just outside of the ripple. The frayed end of the rope was still hanging, abandoned, from the tree, a persisting reminder of how close we’d come. I’d waved Halima over, and was doing my best not to squint at the bright orange aura that surrounded her.
An idea struck me. “Look, let’s just be real for a minute. Your fixation on Nick is...
2023-01-20 00:05:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe cat was dead.
Lillian crouched, careful to keep her skirts clear of the gutter as she placed the sleeve of milk aside and leaned down to get a better look. A slow sadness washed over her as she removed a canvas glove and pressed her fingers to the creature’s neck, finding nothing but damp cold.
“Damn this cold.” Lillian dropped her hand, careful to keep it away from her clothes and glove.
If it was sick, she could have cured it. She had an entire stock at her finge...
2023-01-19 00:45:39 +0000 UTC View PostMy heart raced. Fuck. Fuck. I’d all but spelled out in flashing neon that he was walking into a trap. Miles should have been able to handle it. Realistically, he should have gone in prepared with a strong team, equipped to the nines, fully aware of the potential danger.
<Matt: What happened?>
<Kinsley: I don’t know. There’s a lot of static.>
<Matt: Best guess, Kinsley.>
The...
2023-01-17 02:31:34 +0000 UTC View PostWe waited for the codex’s hold to take effect. Nick shivered, eyes fixed to the ground, paradoxically looking worse the more he healed.
I balanced on the precipice of doubt. As cold as it sounds, this failure was the evidence I needed. Proof that Nick was the same person, that his mind wasn’t twisted and repurposed by Hastur, Aaron, or some other unknown party. He wasn’t infallible, or perfect, or the model of wisecracking indifference. That was a mask. One I’d witn...
2023-01-17 02:29:23 +0000 UTC View PostOver halfway there. There was a part of me that still couldn’t believe this was actually happening, that I’d survived. That the castle—and everyone in it was alive and well.
I actually made it.
My surroundings were a blur. The nobles’s voices were a low buzz. Probably gossiping amongst themselves about how I lacked decorum. Yet they were the furthest thing from my mind.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her. What if sh...
2023-01-14 02:27:41 +0000 UTC View PostWe had caught back up to the carriage quickly, and now Annette stood awkwardly in the center, gripping the hem of her silver skirts tightly.
“Does it help that I’m a delighted to see you, deliriously happy fool?” I tried.
“I think not,” Annette said.
Melody rose, sweeping the skirts of her dress aside. “Take my seat, princess—”
“She’ll do no su...
2023-01-14 02:26:18 +0000 UTC View PostI drove my knife through a grimeling’s jaw, blade parting flesh and muscle as if it I was tearing through paper.
The second the blade was occupied, two of them—distracted with… someone—immediately wheeled and charged me. I pirouetted, keeping the blade in place without driving it home, pushing the wounded grimeling in front of me like a demented puppeteer.
Then twisted the knife.
The grimeling screamed, and its fellows flailed, attacking the scr...
2023-01-09 23:27:02 +0000 UTC View PostI saw her for a flicker in time. One so brief I wasn’t confident I saw her at all. She was younger, to be certain, and the short cropped brown-hair didn’t quite gel with my memories.
My view was obscured as the carriage jostled forward, and I lost sight of her in the crowd.
“Everything alright?” Maya asked.
“Yeah…” I searched between the faces almost frantically before I forced myself to relax. “Thought—thought I saw someone.”
Several a...
2022-12-30 21:13:19 +0000 UTC View PostMy pulse drove a heavy rhythm, and the red strands from <Harrowing Anticipation> pulsed alongside it, accelerating. I read the cave like sheet music, every cavefiend a note, the path forward annotated as if clearly marked with a piece of paper. I tweaked the threads with <Probability Cascade>, adjusting them minutely until the pitch was perfectly in tune with the vision, pounding in my head.
I was dimly aware, somewhere...
2022-12-29 00:54:35 +0000 UTC View Post