And here we go, with the first set of questions and answers! There's definitely more on the way, don't worry! And we'll be back to proper short stories next month.
What if Talia had actually developed a fire affinity? (Asked by Bingus.)
Most probable scenario:
If Talia had never developed a fire affinity, she never would have gone to Skyhold in the first place. With her tattoos working as fully intended, she would have be...
2024-08-31 13:30:10 +0000 UTC View PostHere's the final issue of Basilisk Street!
This one's... a bit of a mess. I tried to fit too much in, too quickly, without giving things time to breathe. I included too much just because I thought it was cool. (I apparently thought sword canes were cool at that point? Eesh.) I didn't stick the landing exceptionally well, imho- not least because I was clearly wanting to continue it as a series from there. (I don't think it is the worst thing ever, of course, but it far from lives up to m...
2024-08-29 09:50:10 +0000 UTC View PostSorry no vote this months, folks, I just don't have the energy for catching up on short stories after finishing the new book. So it's What If time instead!
No real rules or restrictions, ask whatever questions you'd like! I'll collect the questions that most intrigue me and write up answers to them.
Well, okay, one rule: For readability, please use bulleted lists if you have multiple questions, or otherwise format it to be easily legible.
(Obligatory legal disclaimer, any ...
2024-08-23 06:55:01 +0000 UTC View PostSo, good news, bad news, and... regular news? Ambivalent news?
Anyhow, good news: The City That Would Eat the World, book 1 of my new trilogy More Gods Than Stars, is now with beta readers! Initial reactions have been positive, which is a huge relief to me. (Starting a new series has been very anxiety-making, hah.)
Bad news: I'm sure many of you have heard of Apple's app store money grab- they're claiming a huge chunk of all Patreon fees signed up for through thei...
2024-08-23 06:30:14 +0000 UTC View PostHey hey hey, it's time for Basilisk Street Issue 4!
This issue is the main reason I didn't want to share Basilisk Street until Mage Errant was done.
Also, I kinda forgot how batshit insane the speed and level of escalation was in Basilisk Street! Just... wow, that's a lot, young me. Slow down, huh?
2024-07-21 10:54:28 +0000 UTC View PostThis story is set on the moon of Ishveos, the setting of my upcoming series More Gods Than Stars. It shows off a small part of the magic system, and an even smaller part of the setting. This story was heavily inspired by the works of Craig Childs.
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Some philosophical questions are curiosities or toys, some intellectual crises. Some thrill rebellious youths, while others are profoundly dull and concern only...
2024-07-13 13:56:37 +0000 UTC View PostTime for the monthly short story poll! Just two options this month, I'm in the final stretch on More Gods Than Stars book 1! (If everything goes as planned, should have it to my editor and beta readers in August!)
Sunken Gods (Ishveos): At the mouth of the Santrich river, where the river becomes the sea, lie the shrines of abandoned gods, their inhabitants doomed to starve and wither, unless they can attract the interest of one of the deep dwellers of the ocean. (First look at t...
2024-07-06 15:16:20 +0000 UTC View PostAncestral Relics is set on the world of Limnus, and begins approximately one year after Mage Errant’s conclusion.
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No one in the village of Six-Bridge knew the dying man.
Six-Bridge was an unusual village in many regards. It was among the largest villages on Limnus— with over twelve hundred inhabitants, it was among the vanishingly few communities on Limnus that had run up against the Laws of Growth, th...
2024-06-18 05:44:09 +0000 UTC View PostTime for the monthly short story poll! This month I've got a trio of heavy hitters for y'all, and I'm genuinely super curious what's gonna come out on top. Usually I have a pretty solid guess, but not this time!
Ancestral Relics (Limnus): When a dying stranger stumbles out of the iodine mists below the village of Six-Bridge, raving that he's found one of the ancient relics of the Limnan ancestors, three of the Elders living in the depths are dispatched on a mission to investigat...
2024-06-15 07:50:09 +0000 UTC View PostTime for Basilisk Street Issue 3! Things start to really escalate here.
You can absolutely see early forms of many of the ideas and tropes I love exploring today- weird superweapons, bureaucratic shenanigans, etc, etc. Just... in clumsier form than I'd write them today.
Regular short story towards the end of the month, currently rebuilding my short story buffer!
2024-06-04 13:05:42 +0000 UTC View PostTime for Basilisk Street Issue 2!
It was a struggle for me to not correct minor issues as I reviewed the script, hah. I would do this story very differently if I were to write it today.
But, as is, happy to leave it as an artifact of my earlier writing.
Next month it'll be back to Aetheriad stories, as well as Basilisk Street 3! Work on More Gods Than Stars is going at a great clip right now (knock on wood), and I just got the almost final cover art from my...
The following short story is a non-Aetheriad, second person horror story inspired by a bout of insomnia I had one night a couple months back, and by the sleep paralysis a couple people in my life have. I mostly try to stick to Aetheriad short stories for the Patreon- I know what y'all are here for, hah- but sometimes, inspiration just strikes, and I have a story that I just need to write. Oh, and Basilisk Street issue 2 later this month! And back to Aetheriad short stories- and more Basil...
2024-05-10 12:27:57 +0000 UTC View PostBasilisk Street was a graphic novel script I wrote around 2011-2012. Pretty standard "secret government agency" story in the first few issues, specifically an agency dedicated to monitoring, controlling, and shutting down exotic weaponry- linguistic weaponry, death symphonies, grey goo, that sort of thing. After the first few issues, though, it gets weird fast.
I was a much less skilled writer when I wrote this script- but it's not comple...
Alright, proper poll time! So, this month, we're voting on the order you're gonna get this non-Aetheriad stuff. (Thanks for voting to let me focus on the book!) Important note, all the "Old Comic Stuff" votes are going to be collected together- to see whether it or Alarm Clock will go first. (So you don't have to worry about the comic stuff getting more total votes, but Alarm Clock going first because the individual comic options split the vote.)
Old Comic Stuff 2024-04-14 12:08:56 +0000 UTC View Post
So, got a question for y'all higher tiers:
Right now, I'm making fantastic progress on More Gods Than Stars 1, and writing is going better than it has been in months. (Much of that has just been things going better in my personal life.) I'd like to double down on the book and try to get it to my editor by May, so I kind of want to ease up on writing short stories for now, and just put out the two non-Aetheriad things in the tank out the next couple months. (And it would be good to fina...
This incident report is set on the continent of Gelid, one year after the events of Mage Errant. It is an excerpt from a text on magical urban design, intended for advanced students from the subject.
The Haeverian Fountain Incident is little known outside its immediate surroundings, but is an illustrative case study for those seeking to participate in the design and management of cities in regions of moderate to high aether density. Cities with low aether density do not share t...
2024-03-14 16:43:28 +0000 UTC View PostHere we go again! Y'all know the drill.
The Gorgon Incident and Other Stories: A Mage Errant Anthology, is out now on Amazon and Audible!
Promised y'all a status update on Patreon stuff, here we go!
So, as is, I'm pretty happy with this Patreon. I love writing short stories, this Patreon keeps me writing them, thumbs up all around! Got the first Mage Errant anthology coming out here in a couple weeks, which I may have mentioned a time or three.
I'm also well into the next anthology, which is going to be full of stories from across the Aetheriad. (Organized by world.) Currently at about 60k words, planning the anthol...
2024-02-14 13:47:07 +0000 UTC View PostIn the Sea a Cave is set on the world of Raigon, first introduced at the end of Mage Errant 7.
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This is the story of how I died.
Newcomers to Raigon are often surprised to learn how easy the common tongues are to learn. They think that, with the unnaturally powerful memories Raigon gives its inhabitants, there must be incredibly challenging grammars, countless words, and a profoundly complex writing system.
Raigan languages, e...
2024-02-13 13:13:59 +0000 UTC View PostTime for this month's short story poll! And I actually got it done on reasonable time this month!
Stone's Not Real is set four years before Mage Errant, and most of a year after Sand's Not Real.
Also, quick PSA: The short stories due to be included in The Gorgon Incident, the first Mage Errant anthology, will be removed from the Patreon in early February. You can 2024-01-29 13:01:20 +0000 UTC
View Post
Time for this month's short story poll! Sorry it's so late this month- it's been a rough month, writing-wise! (Life enjoys getting in the way of writing.)
Also expect an upcoming "State of the Aetheriad" post where I discuss my future plans for the Known Multiverse, my upcoming trilogy More Gods Than Stars, and this Patreon! (Don't worry, the short stories are gonna keep on coming! And I've got some BIG plans...)
These notes will be included at the end of The Gorgon Incident and Other Stories anthology, out in late February, so I'll have to take them down at the end of January. At the end of this list will be notes for Murder in Ras Andis and Gram of Clan Castis, which were included at the end of Mage Errant books 4&6 respectively.
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Many of the stories in this book— as well as much of the magic a...
2023-12-18 11:43:04 +0000 UTC View PostIn case anyone hasn't seen it yet, the Gorgon Incident and Other Stories is now available for pre-order on Amazon and Audible!
If you've read all the included stories here on Patreon, no need to pick up the actual anthology if you don't...
2023-12-18 11:35:02 +0000 UTC View PostThis story is set six months after Mage Errant.
The instant Asa the Banisher was out of earshot of the village longhouse, she began interrogating her apprentice.
“Elemental or spirit?” she asked, toying with the thick copper bracelet around her left wrist.
Rem sighed. “It’s going to be an elemental. It’s always an elemental.”
Asa chuckled. “They are the bulk of the job, I’ll admit.”
Rem just sighed again, his usual dour look ...
2023-12-16 14:56:21 +0000 UTC View PostSo I was rummaging around my old writing, and I found a project I'd kinda forgotten about- Shattered Earth, an ecoterrorism mystery comic pitch that Image rejected back in 2019, with multiple pages of completed art and everything.
I'd be happy to share it, but given that rather than a story, it's just a few script pages, five or so pages of art, and a pitch summary, I don't know if it's something y'all would be interested having as a vote option on its own. So I'm letting y'all decide b...
2023-12-03 12:12:10 +0000 UTC View PostAlong Came A Dragon is set a decade before Mage Errant. (Also, I've come to realize that I really enjoy writing short stories about fools.)
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Xandrefax Sphinxslayer had soared through the skies of a half dozen worlds, had looted dozens of towns and cities. He’d slain countless warriors, mages, and monsters. Other dragons feared him, and even the warriors of the Scaled Khanate showed ...
2023-11-28 10:57:48 +0000 UTC View PostPolls should start coming earlier in the month again starting next month, I finally got my buffer built back up! And will this be the month that Basilisk Street finally kicks off? (Lol.)