Night Nation (Twilight Kingdom book 2) is finally out on amazon!
Audio by Podium Audio should be about in a few months, watch this space.
Cover art by the talented Jeremy Adams.
> I'll be writing Liches Book 5 for the next few months. I'l...
2023-10-23 10:10:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Read by the fantastic Ella Lynch, produced by Podium Audio.
You can find it here: https://www.audible.com/pd/Lich-Hunt-Audiobook/B0C836V5X2?qid=1690546075&sr
If you can, please leave me a rating or review, they help a ton!
blurb:
As the newly crowned undead monarch of Einheath, Maud has many responsibilities 2023-07-28 12:11:46 +0000 UTC View Post
Post Mortem
Pleased with the latest addition to my decorating, I can now turn my attention to more important matters. My loved ones are all looking a bit battered. Re...
2022-07-20 17:41:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe preorder for the Liches Get Stitches (book 1) audio is up on audible.
Its performed by Ella Lynch as Maud, and I think she's fantastic. If I've done it right a sample should be linked to this post.
The ...
2022-07-17 18:05:16 +0000 UTC View PostAt the Temple Pass
The Bright One’s Temple nestled on the side of a majestic peak. Overlooking the mountain pass that linked the kingdoms of Einheath to the west and Bretwalda to the south, it had a distant view all the way across the plains to the Quellec Isles beyond. In winter it was sheltered from the driving snow by steep cliffs. In summer it was washed with rays of golden sunshine. A house of healing, and a p...
2022-07-17 18:03:07 +0000 UTC View PostJanvier
Desert sand shifted beneath Janvier’s feet. The darkness of the void stretched above him, lifeless cold pressing down like a physical weight. It pushed against his skeletal frame, making the very act of standing challenging. Looking into that space, he knew a moment of brief terror. Had Maud found his phylactery? Would this be his final visit to the Whisperer?
No, of course not.
His soul was hid...
2022-07-11 12:33:21 +0000 UTC View PostFire In the Soul
I fly home to Downing as fast as the wind and the beastie will carry me. Janvier’s words chase themselves around and around my head as we swoop over muddy fields, and gushing rivers, over castles and villages, and lakes and hills. Every bone in my body yearns to be home. To see my forest safe and sound. I dread what I will find.
It feels that no matter how well I prepare my home defences ther...
2022-07-05 23:30:20 +0000 UTC View PostA Lich In Time
(A Day Earlier)
Lord Phylas Listener, Beloved of the Dark God, Chief Necromancer of the Cult of the Seven Stars and secret phylactery hunter, crept through the gathering smoke. Downing Forest was well and truly ablaze, and the fires were well entrenched. They ate through both hardwood and the wet, in a magic fuelled frenzy.
When the king killed the upsta...
2022-06-28 14:16:42 +0000 UTC View PostRags to Liches
With great satisfaction I watch as Janvier’s body collapses in on itself. Gleaming motes cluster around the ruins of flesh before imploding inwards. The lich king is vanquished. All that remains is a whisper of frost, hovering in the air like a chilling promise, and soon that too is gone, leaving only tarnished armour rolling gently on the ice.
I poke it with one bony toe and it clanks mournful...
2022-06-22 14:19:34 +0000 UTC View PostNinety-Nine Problems
The undead abominations smash into the shield line. I catch a glimpse of mad eyes, rotting flesh peeling back from bared teeth and outstretched limbs before the world explodes into chaos. The abominations do not fight—they rage. They are stupid; creatures of anger and pain, propelled by a brute savagery and a complete disregard for their own wellbeing. They are incredibly dangerous en masse. An...
2022-06-15 16:24:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe Audacity of This Lich
It looks like everyone has survived the underwater trip. More or less. The void knights are slightly more rusted, the wights and draugr even more bedraggled than usual, and in some cases, draped in fronds of kelp. Some of the decorative skellies have also acquired deep sea accessories; the odd starfish, an octopus scarf, and some conch shells they are blowing on like war horns.
The mag...
2022-06-08 11:12:22 +0000 UTC View PostThe Board Is Set
Fey lights flicker across the sky. A few early stars peek through the shifting curtain of green and blue. Over my head a smudge of purple radiance drifts, lazily. Colours dance on the ice fields, reflecting across the glacial mound of death that is all that remains of the once great city of Fairhaven. My broomstick, the light, and the powder dry wind is the only movement.
The city is a crystal ...
2022-06-02 18:45:10 +0000 UTC View PostMonstrous Regiment
Donning my best war helmet and specially sewn battle skirt (axes round the hem, in black thread, so it’s subtle), I bid farewell to Roland and my home guard. Dunbarra Keep should be adequately defended during my absence. A contingent of wights lines the walls as I wave goodbye. The defensive gardens are in full bloom, and then there is the wailing spirit of the castle itself.
The witches’...
2022-05-27 14:01:17 +0000 UTC View PostSoul Melange, Soul Blancmange
I stare at the gently levitating broomstick. Finally! My army will take to the skies. Wights on brooms! Flotillas of witches descending from the clouds in matching robes, ebony ribbons streaming from their hats, and steel gleaming in their hands! How delightful! Janvier will never see this coming. Or rather, he might, but he certainly won’t be expecting it.
The broom quivers expe...
2022-05-22 22:37:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Cover for book three. This is my favourite title so far XD
2022-05-16 20:53:29 +0000 UTC View PostGhouls Just Want to Have Fun
The heart I no longer possess is bursting with joy. I do not believe Phylas would have spoken to me thus if Janvier was missing his phylactery. The same phylactery that rests at my side right now. Running into the castle courtyard I beam toothily up at my foreman and the draugr and wights on the walls.
“Well done, Roland! Good job everyone!”
I am doubly pleased ...
2022-05-16 20:46:18 +0000 UTC View Post
Baconstrap, who is a very dear friend and a very fine artist, painted Maud as a surprise. I'm a little blown away by this. So many emotions today.
https://baconstrap.carbonmade.com/
More of Bacon's art.
2022-05-10 12:25:41 +0000 UTC View PostMistletoe
The tree spirit throws the wrapped crown at me, and then darts behind a trunk. The package hits me in the chest and then falls to the forest floor.
“I don’t want it,” he shouts, peeking around the trunk. “Put it in your own hollow!”
Is he giggling? It is hard to tell in the angry rustle of foliage and branches. His words certainly seem angry. What a strange creature.
“Alright, ...
2022-05-10 07:58:46 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor Note:
Just to let you all know I’ll be going KU (Amazon exclusive) with arc 1 and 2 of liches from the 28th or so of May. What this means practically is that I will need to remove chapters 1-64 from RR. I will keep updating RR with arc 3 (Lich, Please), as usual, and it won’t affect what I upload to patreon.
The reason for this change is that I have essentially lost my day job and I am now, unexpectedly, living off my writing money. I’m immensely grateful that there
The Pupil Becomes the Master
The beastie and I set off through the woods together. Elizabeth flies on ahead without us.
As I walk, the beastie trickles its way through the trunks and branches, testing out the new size of its body like an overgrown and rather eldritch puppy. It is still growing. Gorging on so many memories seems to have given it a monumental growth spurt. It is now bigger than me, big...
2022-05-06 07:45:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe Friar Dances
Leaving home always pains me. Now that my soul lives in the rooted dirt and the trees, it hurts more than ever. As I take to the skies I wonder if I can expand the reach of my soul? Lowecroft is not so very far away after all. Hmm. Does it nee...
2022-05-01 14:59:25 +0000 UTC View PostSilver Bells and Cockle Shells
I have a few chores to do before I leave Janvier’s keep. Deep under the castle, at the end of the maze, the undead lindwurm lies in pieces. Its broken body bears mute witness to my passage. While the goblin caretaker will have no memory of me, I need to create a plausible scenario to explain the slain wurm.
After some thought, I retrace my steps through the iced up to...
2022-04-25 16:44:27 +0000 UTC View PostSlow Tides
The Beastie dines on the contents of the goblins head - the memories, at least, I don’t let it touch the meat. When it is finished, I place the dazed creature on the ground. He will wake remembering nothing. I could kill him, of course, but I am still hoping to find and destroy Janvier’s phylactery without his knowledge.
I tiptoe out of the treasure room, trailing fluttering birds and ...
2022-04-18 16:04:08 +0000 UTC View PostAll That Glitters
The room is a treasury, that much is immediately clear. Every corner is piled high with glittering riches. Brass banded chests lie open, their innards disgorging goblets, metal plates, gemstones, shimmering necklaces, rings and glittering tiaras into teetering piles. Marble columns veined in precious metal rise from towering piles of coins. ...
2022-04-14 16:00:34 +0000 UTC View PostCrawl
How long has it been a ruin? It is hard to tell, but these are not ancient stones like Dunbarra Keep, if I am any judge. My research tells me this castle was occupied until recently. Like the people of Merrow, I can only assume Janvier’s family did not survive his transition to lichhood.
I walk to the base of the impressive towers. My spies flutter after me, the crows circling above. The tent...
2022-04-09 11:59:18 +0000 UTC View PostSkeletons in the Closet
Janvier Sebastian of Merrow was how Lord Lich introduced himself to me. I know little of Merrow, save that it is a small settlement in the fiefdom of Kara Crag far to the distant north of Einheath. Knowing that I would be going there to search for his soul I have made enquiries.
There is not much to know. It i...
2022-04-04 16:10:29 +0000 UTC View Post[April Fools' Crossover Story]
Featuring:
The Wish Part I - Elaine, from Beneath the Dragoneye Moons
The Wish Part II - Cat, from Stray Cat Strut
T...
2022-04-01 16:12:51 +0000 UTC View PostLiching Hour (Book 2) is out on Amazon! Fully edited (phew) an basically a more polished version of what you have already read.
You are already supporting me just by being here but if you have a moment please give me a rating or review (you don't need to buy the book to do so). It really helps my visibility/ the algorithm.
And thank you all for your support it means a great deal to me.
F...
2022-03-30 18:26:21 +0000 UTC View PostFaire Et Se Taire
Watching the earth drop away beneath me is unsettling in the extreme. I shriek, half in joy, half in terror, and clutch at the thin and insubstantial neck bones of the flying lizard skeleton before me. We rise vertically and there is precious little for me to hold. It feels extremely dangerous. If I move too much to left or right I will fall… and then all that will be left of me will be...
2022-03-30 18:21:31 +0000 UTC View Post