“I’m dead, you know,” he said suddenly, breaking the silence of the room. The fire still crackled away merrily, and the enormous black dog in front of it whacked its tail against the stone hearth, no doubt expecting some attention at the voice. The King turned to look at Master Richard. “Well, this is the […]
The phone was beeping and rattling on the nightstand. Eyes closed and face half-buried in the pillow, he scrabbled around, grabbed it. Dragged it closer. “What?” “George, it’s me. Tony. You awake?” “mrgl… yeah, I guess. What the fuck, Tony!? It’s three in the fucking morning!” “George, wake up. This is important.” “Yeah, yeah, I’m […]
304 Bleth Chapter 1 Prologue Sit there. Record every word I speak. I will review your work personally… yes, I read your foreign writing, Han scribe. And if there is one error, you will suffer. These scrolls are for my own reference. I have lived long, I suspect longer than you can imagine. My memory, […]
“Is the King in today?” The doors were massive, apparently carved of single slabs of rose crystal, every inch covered with carvings of heroes and monsters and more, cavorting across their polished faces. I could not identify the legends they illustrated, although I recognized several of the nightmarish creatures depicted there, fortunately not rendered in […]
The first story in the Book of Richard, “Fleeting Dreams,” started the whole thing. The original idea came to me decades ago, probably in the mid-1970s when I was doing a lot of RPG stuff (playing and writing), but it took half a century to get it down on paper. I can’t post that part […]
Chapter 1 The shantak circled lazily around the fort, wings barely moving as it drifted downward. There was a crash as the scorpion a few meters away let loose, sending a bolt into the air. Jake watched it rise ever so slowly to impact neatly on the shantak’s chest. It would have been a kill […]
Chapter 1 “Jake!” Nadeen dropped to her knees next to him and clasped his head in her hands, staring into his face. His eyes were closed, a grimace of pain frozen on his face as blood dripped down his chin. “Mintran!” Mintran ran over and squatted down next to her, one hand prying open Jake’s […]
Chapter 1 The cloud of birds erupted into the sky again at the sound of the explosion, and even the horses in the corral, who should have been used to it by now, whinnied their displeasure. Jake waved his hand to disperse the smoke. “Well, it’s got plenty of umph, but it’s still too damn […]
Chapter 1 Jake pulled out the hard case and slipped on his sunglasses, relieved to see the harsh sunlight of the dunes reduced to a cooler shade. He carefully put the hard case back into the leather pouch on his belt. He didn’t wear his shades much these days because they attracted so much attention—they […]
Jake was a side character in the Book of Richard, and I had always intended to use him somehow. I had a lot of ideas about tying in various Australian (and maybe other) agencies and groups interested in the Dreamlands for one reason or another. As it turned out he totally ignored my wishes and […]