Sebastien
Month 8, Day 30, Monday 7:30 a.m.
Giving Sebastien the report on his research seemed to have released something held taut within Damien, and as they and their friends gathered for breakfast, he slumped listlessly in his seat.
The food was better than normal, perhaps to encourage them to put their all into the exams. Ana pushed a plate of eggs and toast towards Damien. “You need to eat something,” she said, her voice tinged with concern. “You look...
2024-10-04 01:57:00 +0000 UTC
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Author Note: As you know, I took last week off to go through an Iteration pass on the first 20 chapters of this book. I have changed some things that are relevant to this chapter. Really, just to set up the existence of this chapter at all.
The only big thing you need to know is that Oliver managed to talk to Kiernan, and then left before Siobhan's meeting with the Red Guard, in a big hurry to stop what the Architects had planned.
If you would like to re-read chapters that have ...
2024-09-27 00:34:37 +0000 UTC
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Siobhan
Month 8, Day 30, Monday 4:00 a.m.
Siobhan set aside her mind-reeling speculation about the cause of the Black Wastes and continued to read. The author of the scroll next delved into theories about why and how the Black Wastes affected the mind.
It was commonly known that the skin was a powerful and inherent barrier. That was why it was basically impossible to reach into someone’s chest with magic and directly stop their heart.
Th...
2024-09-12 23:59:05 +0000 UTC
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Siobhan
Month 8, Day 30, Monday 2:30 a.m.
Siobhan’s left temple pulsed with the beginning of a headache. She released her Will’s hold on the glyphs, allowing Myrddin’s journal to revert into Delphic gibberish. She let out a soft sigh, her shoulders sagging slightly as the strain of maintaining her focus lifted. The sudden loss of meaning left her feeling oddly hollow. “I must take a break,” she announced, rubbing her temples. “My Will requires time to recover.”
2024-09-06 00:08:38 +0000 UTC
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I wanted to do something nice for all my readers to celebrate A Practical Guide to Sorcery's 222nd chapter, and Stefanie stepped up to the plate and helped make it happen! Feast your eyes on Myrddin's spiced hot chocolate recipe.
Text: Myrddin's Delicious Spiced Hot Chocolate Recipe
Traveling for three months to collect rare spices is worth it, just for this. A bit of burn deepens the comfort. In my not-so-humble opinion, better than a shot of whiskey for soothing the mind ...
2024-09-04 01:59:49 +0000 UTC
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Siobhan
Month 8, Day 23, Monday 12:15 a.m.
“My intentions?” Siobhan repeated slowly, trying to buy time while she figured out how to answer Thaddeus’s question. Her divination-diverting ward had not activated, meaning that he was not attempting to divine the truth. But she still preferred not to lie, if possible. He was astute, and might be able to tell even without the help of magic, but lying also weaved a web that she could get tangled in someday.
Thadd...
2024-08-29 23:45:42 +0000 UTC
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Siobhan
Month 8, Day 28, Saturday 12:00 p.m.
Liza reached up and drew out one of her decorative hair-sticks, partially loosening her mass of curls. She held it like a battle wand, her grip steady and practiced. Her left hand, bearing three chunky golden rings, came up in an outward facing fist, hinting at some kind of shield spell.
The sight jolted Siobhan into action. She drew out her own battle wand, the weight of it suddenly comforting in her hand. ‘...
2024-08-23 01:19:32 +0000 UTC
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Sebastien
Month 8, Day 28, Saturday 5:30 a.m.
Saturday morning, before the sun rose, Sebastien walked out to the Flats. Professor Lacer had asked her to meet him there in class the day before, and she didn’t know why. ‘Best case scenario, he wants to assess my progress on the three transmutable substances he assigned. Slightly worse, he wants to test my capacity with the Henrik-Thompson—though I’m not sure why he would have us meet on the Flats for that. W...
2024-08-16 01:42:32 +0000 UTC
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Siobhan
Month 8, Day 25, Wednesday 11:05 p.m.
As Siobhan stepped forward, the familiar-looking teenage girl, the two children, and the homeless man all took a simultaneous step back, almost as if the move were choreographed.
On the narrow bed, Jackal grew even paler. Someone had torn off his sleeve and used that to tie a makeshift bandage around the wound, but the fabric was completely soaked and blood was dripping from his fingertips.
“Sit up,” Siobha...
2024-08-09 01:27:52 +0000 UTC
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Siobhan
Month 8, Day 25, Wednesday 10:20 p.m.
Millennium wanted to accompany them to the headquarters of the Undreaming Order—Siobhan was deeply reluctant to call it a “church”—but Gera and her brother Lynwood insisted that the boy stay home. Their refusal to involve Miles only made Siobhan more apprehensive. ‘What am I about to walk into?’ She imagined a cabal of people staring out from the deep shadow of hooded cloaks, each carrying a pet raven ...
2024-08-02 00:37:39 +0000 UTC
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Sebastien
Month 8, Day 23, Monday 11:15 p.m.
Sebastien’s mind was spinning so fast and intently that she seemed to blink, look up, and find that they were already outside of the warded room in the depths of the white cliffs, walking back to the University library. ‘How did this happen?’ she wondered, catching herself as she started to trip on a rough segment of the floor.
Professor Lacer gave her an exasperated look. “Please do not forget how to...
2024-07-26 01:04:44 +0000 UTC
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Hey guys!
I am away from home on family vacation but popping in to mention this in lieu of the weekly chapter.
We got a lot of good feedback from you about what kind of Practical Guide to Sorcery themed items you might want.
Now, we're taking final ideas for what to put on those items. Cool quotes, spell arrays, images, etc.
I know there's been interest in having me draw up Siobhan's personal glyph that she put together with the chanting ritual, an...
2024-07-19 15:37:30 +0000 UTC
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Thaddeus
Month 8, Day 23, Monday 10:15 p.m.
Damien remained silent while Thaddeus escorted him back to the dorms and all the way to the end of the walkway between sleeping cubicles, but as soon as they arrived at the far end of the room, the young man stepped forward and ripped back Sebastien’s curtain. As Sebastien bolted up in alarm, Damien blurted, “I told him about the kidnapping attempt and the stranger who saved you. I’m sorry, I just thought it would be b...
2024-07-12 01:03:08 +0000 UTC
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Damien
Month 8, Day 23, Monday 9:20 p.m.
Back at the University in time for curfew, they found Tanya Canelo waiting at the entrance to their dorm room, doing what looked like a practice exam. This would be the end of her fifth term, giving her a Journeyman certification if she passed. She looked up at Damien expressionlessly as they approached. “Professor Lacer is looking for you, Westbay. He wants you in his office.”
Damien checked his pocket watch. “This...
2024-07-05 01:04:25 +0000 UTC
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Damien
Month 8, Day 23, Monday 6:00 p.m.
When Ana returned from whatever social warfare she had been engaged with, her hair was frizzing out around her temples from sweat, but she was holding back a grin and flitting around with excess joy. She poured this energy into getting all of Damien’s friends to agree to accompany them out for a play that evening, despite the fact that a few of them might have been better off spending that time studying.
Though Alec pro...
2024-06-28 00:02:59 +0000 UTC
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Thaddeus
Month 8, Day 21, Saturday 10:30 a.m.
Despite Thaddeus’s attempts at efficiency, paperwork and in-depth after-action reports still took longer than they had any reasonable right to. It consumed almost two hours before he could depart the Red Guard’s main field base. By that time, he already had his next steps firmly in mind.
Using his fame and his identity as a frequent consultant for the coppers, it was fairly easy to get access to the records at th...
2024-06-21 00:06:00 +0000 UTC
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Siobhan
Month 8, Day 21, Saturday 8:15 a.m.
Siobhan felt the moment when they escaped whatever method the Red Guard had been using to track her from the maze. As the strain on her divination-diverting ward fell to the normal low-level prickle and coldness of working against her dowsing artifact, her shoulders relaxed and her jaw unclenched. “We are clear,” she announced, triggering a simultaneous sigh of relief from everyone else in the small boat.
Beside he...
2024-06-14 01:03:57 +0000 UTC
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Hey guys!
As I know many of you have been looking forward to, the audiobook for A Practical Guide to Sorcery Book IV: A Foreboding of Woe is here!
Narrator Gabrielle de Cuir has outdone herself once more. Seriously, this is some of her best work, IMO, and this woman has won Audie awards for her vocal performances before. She really brings the story and characters to life in a way that's so rich.
The audiobook is currently in exclusive early releas...
2024-06-05 20:20:58 +0000 UTC
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Thaddeus
Month 8, Day 21, Saturday 7:50 a.m.
As Thaddeus, Captain Aisling, and Agent Marcurio forced their way free from the ever-changing hedge maze trying to trap them within, Captain Aisling spoke. “I do not believe I’ve ever said this before, but I think we came out of that negotiation on the losing end. The Raven Queen controlled the flow from beginning to end, and I am only now beginning to realize how skillfully.”
Thaddeus agreed. Captain Aisling ha...
2024-05-31 00:23:17 +0000 UTC
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Siobhan
Month 8, Day 21, Saturday 7:05 a.m.
Professor Lacer turned on Siobhan and scowled. “I distinctly remember mentioning that I would be observing from the edge of the board. So why, I wonder, did you start casting your anti-divination spell halfway through your demonstration?”
Siobhan remained awkwardly silent. She hadn’t even considered what activating the divination-diverting ward’s full effects might do, even though she knew that it protected her...
2024-05-23 23:39:25 +0000 UTC
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Siobhan
Month 8, Day 21, Saturday 6:55 a.m.
Captain Aisling and Agent Marcurio shared a look of surprise and distrust at Siobhan’s offer of a shadow-familiar demonstration.
“Totally safe,” Siobhan repeated.
Agent Marcurio’s tails lashed back and forth in agitation. His voice was tight, and his accent came through more thickly. “You want to show us the spell you used against the other agent who fought against you? The same one you used on the Pend...
2024-05-16 23:49:23 +0000 UTC
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Siobhan
Month 8, Day 21, Saturday 6:35 a.m.
One unexpected benefit of no longer needing to sleep was that Siobhan could set appointments at times that would be inconvenient for others. Such as before the sun rose on a weekend morning.
One of Oliver’s people had ferried her across the Charybdis Gulf in a four-person speedboat, and would be waiting to take her, Enforcer Gerard, and Enforcer Huntley back from the Lilies in an hour if all went well. The two men es...
2024-05-12 02:31:21 +0000 UTC
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My writing computer, an iMac, has been a trooper for many years with zero problems, but in the last few days has very suddenly slowed down to the point it takes minutes to load a web page. It will not even open Scrivener--which I need access to for all my lore and plotting notes. I am taking it into the repair shop directly after posting this message, but if they cannot fix it I'll need to buy a replacement. I'm almost certain to miss this week's Thursday chapter. It's just one ...
2024-04-30 15:29:25 +0000 UTC
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Siobhan
Month 8, Day 15, Sunday 5:00 p.m.
Though it was a hassle, since she planned to talk to Professor Lacer that evening, Siobhan changed into her other form to travel back to the University. She didn’t have confirmation that the Red Guard were willing to wait until the meeting time she would set, or even that they would be amenable to a conversation at all. And though it might not hold true if they changed methods, they had indicated that they were unable to fin...
2024-04-26 01:09:46 +0000 UTC
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Siobhan
Month 8, Day 15, Sunday 3:15 p.m.
‘It is amazing how even adults—thaumaturges!—can be so impressed by the simplest of magic, cast by the Raven Queen with a bit of added flair and mystery,’ Siobhan thought.
She had needed a momentary break from the edge of helpless pressure building into insanity inside her, and so had descended among the children to perform some party tricks for Theo’s birthday. And, well, she had turned ...
2024-04-19 00:50:57 +0000 UTC
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Thaddeus
Month 8 Day 15, Sunday 6:00 a.m.
Thaddeus had not slept.
The Raven Queen—Siobhan, as she had told him to call her—had left his cottage hours before, disappearing into the trees during the darkest hour of the night when most of the city slumbered. Theoretically, there had been time for him to catch a bit of rest, but Thaddeus had not even attempted to lay his head on his pillow. He knew sleep would not come. Even now, he was still buzzing with the energy of her v...
2024-04-06 00:59:09 +0000 UTC
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Bio: Liza is your not-so-friendly local illegal thaumaturge, perpetually low on both gold and spare fucks to give. She was conscripted to the army during the Haze War, when she was only a teenager. She survived the war, but her decades of service in the army after the war might have been worse than the war itself. Her losses have left her bitter, and she holds her secrets close.
Again, I remain open to ideas for things you'd like to have in merchandise. A quote you want on a t-shirt? ...
2024-03-21 22:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Bio: By day, Grandmaster Kiernan is the head of the History Department at Lenore's famed Thaumaturgic University. By night, he moonlights as a key member in the subversive thaumaturgical society, The Architects of Khronos. He believes himself to be more sneaky and subtle than he actually is, and is willing to make questionable deals to achieve his goals.
Hey guys! As I mentioned previously, I would like to create some PGTS-themed swag/merchandise. Stuff like notebooks, stickers, or ev...
2024-03-18 22:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Bio Text: The manager of the Verdant Stag is a pragmatic woman with a biting attitude to match her striking appearance. Out of necessity, she took in her nephew, Theo. She struggles with the day-to-day balance between raising a child, successfully running a criminal organization, and keeping her boss alive and the business in the black.
Sorry about the delay on this, guys! I got incredibly sleepy yesterday afternoon, took a nap through the evening, and forgot about everything else onc...
2024-03-01 23:30:06 +0000 UTC
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Bio Text: Bearing obviously non-human heritage that has given her a blue tint, Ilma is widely considered one of the best History professors at the University. She expects her students to critically analyze historical sources (including their potential biases) rather than memorize by rote. Her own mentor was fascinated by the legends of Myrddin. She is friendly with Thaddeus Lacer.
Here's the first of the promised continued character cards.
Coming next (this Thursday): Ka...
2024-02-27 00:06:00 +0000 UTC
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