You can now download my award-winning short story “An Acolyte of Black Spires” as a digital standalone. This is the first time I’ve made the story available outside of Writers of the Future Vol. XXII, where it originally debuted. It serves as a (less direct) prologue to Turn Over the Moon, introducing key ideas and supporting characters, so it another way you can prepare yourself for the full epic coming in October.
The new digital edition features another stunning cover by Robert Zoltan:
I’m marching toward the November release of Turn Over the Moon, moving into the final revisions on the manuscript and putting the promotional materials in place. But you don’t have to wait to read a new story set in Ahn-Tarqa: order a copy of issue #4 of Tales From the Magician’s Skull now (either in print or PDF) and read my novelette “Dead Queen’s Triumph.”
Continue reading “New Story Available: Dead Queen’s Triumph”“You—don’t yet believe—that I am your queen.” The tongue moved freer as the abomination became used to speaking. “For long, I forgot that I was as well. But I am royal blood still. See?” One of the manipulated arms placed its hand over a flap on the chest cylinder. Fingers gripped the sides and pulled it open.
“Dead Queen’s Triumph”
Well, it’s sure been a stretch since I last posted. There are some stories about that—and not only pandemic related—which I’ll get into later. Right now, I have a fantastic announcement for my return. Here, I’ll let the trailer take care of most of the work:
My novel Turn Over the Moon will be available in print and ebook this Fall from Dream Tower Media. Behold the cover, from illustrator Robert Zoltan, who also designed the book trailer and composed its music:
What’s Turn Over the Moon about? It’s a science-fantasy adventure in Ahn-Tarqa, the epic setting I’ve used for numerous stories over the last ten years. It continues the story of Belde, the girl of the novelette “Farewell to Tyrn,” five years after she escaped from the masked creatures who murdered her parents. Now a young woman, Belde sets off on a dangerous quest that may hold answers to the dark mystery of the continent and the strange illness, “The Sorrow,” that has drowned it for millennia. The events also connect to my award-winning short story “An Acoylte of Black Spires.”
Turn Over the Moon is the first book in an ongoing series, “The Saga of the Sorrowless,” that cross over the continent and its people as the fight against the Sorrow rises among the people who have found how to break free from it. I hope to have Book 2 out in 2022.
It’s difficult for me to express how excited I am at seeing this novel finally come out. It’s my personal favorite of all my work, and the chance to share it with a wide audience is one of the best awards a writer can enjoy.
I have more news coming up—did you know a new Ahn-Tarqa story was published this spring?—and I hope to have plenty more to share with you about Turn Over the Moon as we approach the release date.
For a limited time, my novelette “Farewell to Tyrn” will be available for free download from the Kindle Store. (Regular price 99¢.) This is an excellent entry point to my Ahn-Tarqa science-fiction setting. Read what one Amazon reviewer called, “The best fantasy world I have read about since the silos in Hugh Howey’s Wool.”
“Farewell to Tyrn” will be free to download September 25–29.
Ryan Harvey 