Time for this month's short story poll!
If you pick the completed story, it will be up in a few days (and it will make my life easier), if you pick one of the other two, you'll have to wait for the end of the month- I'm in the middle of getting ready for my move to Vietnam in a little over a week to be with my fiancee! (Don't feel obligated to pick the completed one, I'll get whichever story done regardless.)
In case anyone hasn't seen it yet, I posted an update about book 7 on my blog, along with a few other news items!
https://johnbierce.com/blog/update-two-kinds-of-bells/
Just as a heads up, I just switched to Patreon's new subscription billing model. That means that anyone who signs up in the future will have a billing date each month on the day they sign up, rather than just automatically on the first. (If there's end of month mismatches involved- say someone signs up on the 31st of a month, on months with fewer than 31 days, they'll just be charged on the last day of of those shorter months.)
This doesn't affect existing subscribers at all, you'll st...
The following short story is set on the world of Kemetrias.
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Many years ago, long before Emperor Anekhten had taken the throne of Hebrast and driven the Bezans to rebellion with his reforms, four knights were sent to hunt a monster.
Each were distinguished, trusted knights for their age— they had been given their armor only a few years before, but all had fought successfully and carefully. All had grown their armor to a ...
2022-09-24 03:09:54 +0000 UTC View PostIt's time for this month's short story poll! As mentioned, from here on out, I'm opening up the multiverse for short stories!
Also, in case you hadn't heard yet, Tongue Eater's audiobook is out tomorrow!
This month, we've got:
Apoptis: The Migration- Follows a herd of mirror-backed grazers as they make their dangerous yearly migration across the sol...
2022-09-12 19:06:46 +0000 UTC View PostNow that the Mage Errant short story collection is completed, we're going to have a bit of a change in how voting works. Namely, the voting tiers will now be voting on Aetheriad short stories set not only on Mage Errant's world of Anastis, but other worlds of the known multiverse as well.
Which, right now, means:
Iopis: The world of The Wrack.
Limnus: The world of giant trees and poisonous atmospheric layers from Tongue Eater.
This story is set thirty-five years before Mage Errant.
There are even more stories about magical fortresses than there are about magical bank vaults, but I’m not interested in magical fortresses. I am, however, interested in covert military facilities, but there are tragically fewer stories about those. Unfortunately, most of those stories are baseless conspiracy theories.
That’s the issue with covert bases— they work best when they’re actually covert. Most such...
2022-08-27 12:18:41 +0000 UTC View PostThis story takes place during the events of The Lost City of Ithos.
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Lane always struggled with normal gravity— they hadn’t stepped off Solintus' shell and onto the ground until they were twenty-two years old. Even after years of diplomatic missions for Solintus, normal gravity still felt… flat, dull, oppressive. None of the subtle twists, curves, or loops like those atop Solintus’ shell. When you leapt on the surface of Ana...
2022-07-16 04:46:55 +0000 UTC View PostTime for this month's short story poll! Just a reminder, we're doing something a little different this month: since we're dealing with the final stories to be fit into the Mage Errant short story anthology, whichever short story wins will be this month's pick, and the other will be next month's.
That, by the way, won't be the end of the short stories, by any means- got lots and lots more planned. I think y'all are going to be real excited about some of the short story option...
2022-07-05 22:56:09 +0000 UTC View PostThis story is set three and a half centuries before Mage Errant.
The ascent of King Harahld, uniter of Highvale, is an epic one, full of great battles, epic feats of mage-craft, dragon-slaying, betrayal, intrigue, and grand romance.
And, for all that it makes for a wondrous story, it is, in many ways, far less significant to history than what came after.
That is to say, the design and construction of King Harahld’s throne.
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2022-06-12 22:49:24 +0000 UTC View PostSo, changing up the drill a little the next few months. These are the final three short stories I intend to include in the first anthology, so you're really just picking their order. We'll have another vote next month to pick the second (and by elimination, third), so just vote for whatever you want first. (The short stories will be arranged chronologically in the actual anthology, so The Castle Thief will be near the end, Beyond Fire's Grasp somewhere in the middle, and Highvale's Throne nea...
2022-06-09 02:29:51 +0000 UTC View PostI'm wondering how many of you have already finished reading Tongue Eater- not just out of curiosity, but also when to start offering short story options that involve spoilers for book 6.
2022-05-24 19:28:58 +0000 UTC View PostThis story is set two years before the fall of the Ithonian Empire. The city of Greywise is long-since destroyed and abandoned by the time of Mage Errant, but its ruins can be found in the heartland of the Havath Dominion, and the river that once ran alongside it still shares its name.
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The corpse of the dragon Seltivor Cloudscale sprawled across the ruins of the Greywise Governor’s Manse. It wasn’t a peaceful ...
2022-05-17 07:33:01 +0000 UTC View PostSo I've made some changes to how I'm running the short story poll- nothing that should affect y'all, though, just back-end process stuff. Most notably, I'm trying to build up a buffer of short stories ahead of time- which is definitely helping keep up my enthusiasm for the process, since I can just work on whatever short story I'm feeling a whim towards at the moment.
Anyhow, time for this month's poll! (Two are complete, one's half-done, but it won't be long until I finish it.)
If anyone hadn't seen already, Mage Errant Book 6: Tongue Eater is out now!
Hope you all enjoy!
2022-04-24 21:28:47 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Tongue Eater gets uploaded, Gram of Clan Castis is going to be at the end of it! This means it's getting pulled down off Patreon before then, so if you haven't read it yet and would prefer to read it here, you should get on that soon!
As for the Tongue Eater release- in the next few days! No pre-orders this time, alas. Tomorrow is unlikely, but the 21st-23rd are all possible!
This exchange of open letters occurred at the Ctesian Enchanter’s Society thirty-five years before the events of Mage Errant.
Open letter from Kanderon Crux to the Ctesian Enchanter’s Society, at the invitation of the Society:
Magic swords are utter foolishness, and no self-respecting enchanter should be crafting them.
I’m well aware of the weight of magic swords in stories and the collective imagination of civilization— it wou...
2022-04-14 21:58:01 +0000 UTC View Post(Accidentally messed up the original poll, made it available to all tiers- this one should only be available to the correct tiers.)
I'm back in civilization from the depths of rural Kansas! Actually got a couple of short stories written while I languished without internet on my mom's farm- On Magical Swords and Who Killed Seltivor Cloudscale?
Y'all know the drill! (And while I'd prefer if you vote for one of the already written ones, it's fine if you want The Castle Thie...
2022-04-11 20:29:45 +0000 UTC View PostApril's voting poll should be up on the 10th or 11th, and the short story itself near the end of the month. I've got very limited internet access at the moment, and busy with a lot of stuff for the book 6 release.
(Probably won't do another preview as a voting option, given how close the release is- aiming at the 20th-23rd sometime.)
2022-03-31 22:36:54 +0000 UTC View PostTime for the Book 6 Preview! Tongue Eater will be out sometime next month. (Exact date TBA)
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Hugh Stormward wasn’t paying attention to where he was going.
The halls of Skyhold were still mostly empty, save for Havathi corpses and scattered Skyhold patrols. It would be hours yet, if not longer, until the bulk of Skyhold’s population would be let out of the battle shelters, while Skyhold’s seers and...
2022-03-18 01:30:35 +0000 UTC View PostSomething something you know the drill!
God Doesn’t is the single oldest short story that I’ve written (from 2015) that I consider good enough to share with the public. (Well, if when I visit my mom later this spring I can track down my first ever short story I wrote, from, like, first grade or something, I might share that with y'all.) I’ve mostly kept my hands off of God Doesn't, aside from a few typo fixes and prose tweaks for clarity I just couldn’t resist.
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2022-02-20 08:09:42 +0000 UTC View PostSo, just saying, since I'm getting closer to finishing work on Book 6, if you pick the already finished story (God Doesn't), it means less time away from working on Tongue Eater... (Though definitely feel free to pick whichever you like, it's not that big a deal, lol.)
This story is set four centuries before the events of Mage Errant.
There was sulfur in the air as Kayro’s wagon rolled through the grey stone city of Alikea. Admittedly, there was always a hint of sulfur coming from the hot springs and volcanic vents on the sides of Mount Cairn, but it almost choked the air today, lying heavy enough that the air itself seemed tinted yellow.
Kayro scowled, moved the quarterstaff leaning next to her on the wagon’s bench, and ...
2022-01-19 14:11:10 +0000 UTC View PostTime to vote on the first short story of 2022!
Link to Ghost Ship Part 1.
Ghost Ship is set four and a quarter centuries before Mage Errant. I really like writing horror stories like this (which you also might have noticed parts of in ME4 and ME5)- how does everyone feel about it? Would you be interested in more horror stories in the future?
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Day 20:
Unfortunately, no Glory Days this month. Like I warned before, sometimes short stories just... don't work out for me. (Maybe one in six or seven? Don't really keep close track.) Glory Days turned out to be one of them, unfortunately. So, like I laid out in the tier for these cases, going with the number two choice, Ghost Ship! Or, at least part 1 of Ghost Ship- it was already pretty late in the month when I gave up on Glory Days and started Ghost Ship, and Ghost Ship is going to be a fair...
2021-11-30 10:24:28 +0000 UTC View PostNote: Whoops, forgot to, you know, include the actual poll on the last version of the post. (I swear, I'll get it right one of these months, lol.)
Time to vote on next month's story! You'll note there are fewer story options this time around- haven't come up with any new, compelling story ideas this month, and I temporarily took The Shape of Memory off the list, because I seriously don't have the energy to work on a science story involving that much research this month. (Busy plugging ...
This story takes place during The Siege of Skyhold, shortly before the climatic events of that book.
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Ampioc was arguing with a talking boat when Havath attacked Lothal.
Well, a ship, not a boat, but Ampioc was always getting that mixed up. Despite ruling a seaport, Ampioc had intensely little interest in learning the sailor’s dialect, with its pointless alternate names for everything.
He was, however, interested in...
2021-10-25 12:15:03 +0000 UTC View PostSorry, had to redo the vote- accidentally made it available to everyone last time. Time to (re)vote on next month's short story!