DWinchester

Tenebroum PLUS Ch. 95-96

Ch. 95 - The March to War

In a world of darkness, a man with a little light was king. That’s what they said about him, though Brother Faerbar downplayed it. No matter what accolades his brothers tried to place upon him, he would only accept Paragon. That was why they marched, after all. They were a vengeful crusade that would see justice done for their fallen god.

He had almost ten thousand men with him now. Less than half were true warriors in any real sense,...

Death After Death Ch. 72

Ch. 72 - Lives Worth Saving

That was how Simon spent the better part of the week, more or less. They didn’t linger in the dressmaker’s shop long because it wasn’t very defensible and because it didn’t have much in the way of food. The fact that the room with the blood-covered dolls freaked him out was also a part of it, though.

That was the same reason they didn’t return to the inn, even though there was food in there. Somewhere in that place was Freya...

Broken System Ch. 53-54

Ch. 53 - Discovered

Benjamin was dreaming about fast food when he awoke to a short, sharp shake in the darkness before dawn. As he opened his eyes, at first, all he saw was a silhouette, but it quickly resolved into his friend Matt’s face. His finger was pressed to his lip as a warning for silence before he whispered, “Someone’s coming. We’ve got to move.”

Everyone was up and getting ready, packing everything they could then. No one asked what he’d s...

On Writing (By Stephen King)

I've been reading books on how to write better lately. While I'm pretty happy with my overall voice, there are several things I need to work on. Right now, I think my biggest problem is I have turned the virtue of "simple, fast paced prose" into a bit of a vice. Reading back through some chapters I feel like some of the bigger moments are rushed. It is something I will address in the next draft. 

This leads me to the biggest point I've found so far from King's book: that theme is s...

Tenebroum PLUS Ch. 93-94

Ch. 93 - Ten Thousand Candles

Even with the great dome of the temple toppled and the sun missing from the sky, the surviving leaders of the church would not listen to him. He, like so many of the other veterans who had survived the onslaught of monsters they’d all faced, urged their leaders to act with all the strength they had left and strike at the heart of the evil that had silenced their god and almost eradicated his temple. The ecclesiarch refused, though.

Death After Death Ch. 71

Ch. 71 - Aftermath

Walking upstairs was a little more challenging than he’d expected, so instead of immediately heading out, he changed his mind and decided to take a quick nap in the innkeeper’s bedroom since that was the safest part of the whole inn. He slept fitfully as he struggled with his regret at how he’d handled the situation, his anger about Freya’s fate, and the vague anxiety about the newest hazard he’d introduced into the world.

By the tim...

Broken System Ch. 51-52

Well - now to be the most unpopular man of the year. Broken System has slowed down to 2 chapters a week on RR so it will be here as well. Baring unforeseen circumstances that means this story will finish the second book sometime early next year and the third book... next fall-ish.

Will the story end at book 3? I'm not sure. I don't think so. I'm kind of falling in love with the world I'm building here, but if I do decide to sign Broken System to a publisher, they will want at l...

Happy (Belated) Halloween

I hope everyone is enjoying their spooky season. I wanted to share a couple things with all of you. 

First is that I and a couple authors I know sponsored a small Halloween short story contest. One of my fine readers even joined it, so if you like creepypastas, give them a read (and vote for a winner!)

The second is 2023-11-02 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post

Tenebroum PLUS Ch. 91-92

Two chapters for everyone! Forever! (hopefully)

Ch. 91 - Safe Harbor

Tagel-by-the-sea was burning on the horizon well before they reached it, creating a macabre lighthouse of sorts. Even though that was the case, they were still going to have to stop, however briefly, to try to find something to eat and drink. Normally, the biggest city in the county of Lidvell being put to the torch would normally be considered an unmitigated disaster, but as the sun had not ri...

Death After Death Ch. 70

Fair warning: Extra brutal chapter. 

Ch. 70 - Devourer of Flesh

“Did you kill her?” Simon demanded, “Or did you let the zombies do it for you?”

“I… what?” Brenna said, confused.

“Freya! Did you fucking kill Freya?” Benjamin shouted.

That was enough noise to attract attention, and he heard a moan from the next room, followed by the sound of the board on the window giving out. By this point, Brenna was weeping openly and sl...

Broken System Ch. 46-50

You know - even though I know in my head that I have a buffer, and there's nothing to worry about, when I go to post large blocks of chapter to Patreon I always worry: did I write all these yet? Did I finally out? I did not though. I have still written through 53, and plan to further increase that buffer... mostly because I'm having a lot of fun with the most recent chapters. I'm sure you'll see why below. Thanks for reading!

Ch. 46 - Light at the End of the Tunnel 2023-10-30 13:57:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Well, It Finally Happened

After 14 months of regular writing and posting, for you, my beloved audience, a publisher has shown interest in some of my stories. Specifically, in Tenebroum  and Broken System. They are a small gamelit-style fantasy publisher, and there's no associated advance on offer, so I'm not at all sure I'll even say yes to either, but I do think it makes for another great milestone.

Of course, I'll keep all of you posted in any further developments, but it changes nothing...

Tenebroum PLUS Ch. 90

Ch. 90 - An End for Abenend

As a fifth-year apprentice, Jordan would never be privy to the conversations that the venerable mages of the Collegium would have had the day the sun didn’t rise. They’d cloistered themselves away in the Chancellors office while the trumpets had woken everyone else as always. However, by the time the students had risen, there was neither a sun nor classes to greet them. Instead, he’d gotten dressed in silence and waited in the auditor...

Tenebroum Ch. 6 - A Trip into Town

Death After Death Ch. 69

Ch. 69 - Finishing a Level

The rats weren’t even the faintest threat to Simon anymore. He stomped one, kicked two, and skewered three on his sword in a series of precise thrusts. Then he spent a minute looking for the seventh rat before he decided that only six had spawned this time.

“I wonder why that is,” he said to himself as he flung the ugly collection of rodents from his blade and resheathed it, so he could look around, “more importantly, though - ...

Broken System Ch. 44-45

Ch. 44 - Snow Day

“So we’re just going to jump because she says so?” Emma asked.

Benjamin noticed that she hadn’t let Matt heal the cut on her throat, and the red scabbed-over line stood out in sharp contrast to the pale skin of her throat. The wound was an accusation as much as her words, and as Benjamin clicked open his eyes, he closed them immediately.

He was tired of fighting. He had other things to focus on.

Benjamin had been up half the...

The Subtle Art of the Comments Section

When I started writing a year ago, I was thrilled by the trickle of comments that I got. Even if they were mostly just corrections, or people pointing out that X or Y didn't make sense, I still loved them all. They were like a tiny bonsai tree that I trimmed carefully every day. 

Now my comments sections are overflowing, or if we continue the garden metaphor, overgrowing. This is not a complaint. I still love my comments, and every morning while I wake up, I spend 30+ minutes revie...

Tenebroum PLUS Ch. 89

Ch. 89 - The Infinite Dark

Tenebroum slept as the world burned, but it still dreamed, and through those dreams, it watched fitfully as events played out. It couldn’t help it. The Lich was both the darkness at the center of its domain, controlling everything like a spider in a web, as well as every drudge and construct that was currently marauding across the face of the world. So, its sleep would never really be dreamless. It couldn’t be when ten thousand parts of ...

Death After Death Ch. 68

Ch. 68 - A Moment of Reflection

Simon woke slowly, unsurprised, to find himself in his own bed. He didn’t even leap to his feet to check the mirror. He already knew what he’d see. His hair would no longer be gray, his hands would no longer be wrinkled, and his life would no longer be at its end.

The ring he’d worn since his wife had been murdered would be missing, though, and he couldn’t bear that disappointment just yet. Instead, he lay there contemplat...

Tenebroum PLUS Ch. 88

Ch. 88 - A Night of Blood (part 2)

He’d been awake to watch the sunrise stop and transform into sunset, unleashing a wave of apoplexy upon the assembled priests and acolytes. Brother Faerbar had only spent a few seconds taking in the panicking and the disbelief before he left the Courtyard of Retribution and walked to the south gate. He’d known for a long time that the priesthood had largely become a vestigial part of the church. It was rather like a peacock’s t...

Tenebroum Ch. 5 - The Birth of the Necromancer

Death After Death Ch. 67

Did you think I was going to skip posting this week because I dropped two posts last week? I'll bet you did. But going a week without an update is a disappointing thing, and the fault was entirely mine, So, in a few months when I start posting twice a week, I will use that time to readjust the schedule, but for now we keep things moving!

Besides - this is the Book two finale!

Ch. 67 - A Life Well Lived

Moments later, the monster’s head rolled free of its...

Lessons from Launch

So, this week I'm launching my new story, Broken System, as many of you already know. On the one hand, it's been a great success. It got more followers in a week than Letter of the Law got within a year. On the other hand, though, it has disappointed my expectations.

This is a graph of the number of followers for the first ten days of the story. It's fine. It was good enough t...

Death After Death Ch. 65

Ch. 65 - Just One Life

Simon quickly found a clean cot and moved it into the shade of a building far from the corpses, then he picked up the stranger and carried him over, and then he started to evaluate the stranger. Simon knew very little about medicine. To be honest, physiology and anatomy were the last things he would have expected to need to know about in a fantasy world, but he’d learned the hard way that just wasn’t so.

Magic needed to be wielded with...

Tenebroum PLUS Ch. 87

Ch. 87 - A Night of Blood (part 1)

For a brief moment, there had been hope. Despite the fact that gates were in flames and dead lay in the streets, the sun was rising, and the goblins would not stay once they faced the light of day. Markez had not joined in the cheers when the bloodthirsty raiders had begun to retreat toward the comforting darkness of the thick pine forest. He’d merely offered a silent thanks to his father’s fathers and tossed another javelin into...

Death After Death Ch. 66

Ch. 66 - A Single Moment

The swamp was gone, just like the forest had been before. Simon could see that, but he had no idea why that was the case. He definitely wasn’t remembering it too well. If you had told him that last time it had been swamp then plague city, he might have believed it - but it had definitely been around here somewhere.

He rubbed his side as he remembered getting stabbed with that wooded spear and recalled how disgusting it had been to heal...

Tenebroum PLUS Ch. 86

Ch. 86 - The End of Days (part 2)

Their invisible, twisted struggle occurred in an arena spanning dozens of square miles in the physical world. It stretched from the heavens to deep underground as the two entities fought their battle of wills in the ether. No one but the most sensitive could have even glimpsed what had occurred. To mortal eyes, the sun dimmed and set, but to those with vision, the sun was pulled from the sky and tumbled to earth.

Each time Siddr...

Death After Death Ch. 64

Ch. 64 - Dead City

There were a lot of parts about his last journey this deep that were a little hazy to Simon. For instance, it wasn’t until he was standing at the block of ice that he could really remember if the swamp level or the plague level came first. One thing he was certain of, though, was that he wasn’t staying in the same house he’d slept in last time, just feet away from a corpse.

“That shit was vile,” he muttered to himself as he started walking down the s...

Tenebroum Ch. 04 - Gazing into the Abyss

Sorry for the Mess

Recently I've gotten feedback about the messiness of this Patreon. 

I've been told that lately that people have trouble finding what they are looking for. I'm sorry about that. It is an unfortunate byproduct of writing more than one series and having more than one pledge level for a series. Maybe that was a mistake, and I certainly welcome feedback. 

If you ever can't find a chapter, you should have access to - please shoot me a message and I will correct it. I have emai...