No Lack of Courage – the Cole Wright short story collection

My Cole Wright series is now at six novels, with the seventh due in July (more on that in another post). Kevin J. Anderson mentioned in a seminar I was attending that most series don’t take off until book six. Maybe that’ll be book seven for me (or eight, or nine, grin – yes I will keep writing them).

Through 2022 each time I released a new Cole Wright novel, I also put out a short story, as an ebook, a print book and, for a limited time, free to read here on the website.

There was also a novella Cold Highway, and a limited free story with that. That’s enough stories for a collection, I figure. Even though releasing a collection kind of effectively kills the sales of those individual stories. It’s nice to see them gathered together like this.

Available here from the Universal Book Link.

ebook $6.99 (preorder for March 20th), paperback $16.99, hardback $21.99 (both available now)

Contents:
Dark Fields
Schedule Interruption
The Forest Doesn’t Care
One Little Broken Leg
The Handler
Cardinals
A Steep Climb
What Do You Say Gus?
Cold Highway


Probably a good time to mention that the seventh novel in the series is almost out for preorder, for release in June.

More news on that soon.


Then there’s other writing happening. The next Captain Arlon Stoddard novel Tramp Steamers has been copyedited and proofed and we’re looking at scheduling that for October, though the next Karnish River Navigations novel Rorqual Saitu is complete, just awaiting those edits. We were hoping to have that out in August, but we might switch those around.


And then with the day-to-day writing, I’m deep in the heart of a new book which started out as, I thought in my naivety, a short story that might break 5000 words (think twenty pages) and is now somewhere north of 30,000 words. Yes, it will be another novel. This is good news for fans of my Morgenfeld Saga, on which nothing has happened for a few years (busy with other series as you see above) – the new book is tentatively titled The Wintermas Paintings and might even be out before the end of the next year.

At the risk of extending that naivety, I thought I’d pop in the draft of Chapter One below for any who might be interested. This is raw, remember, not tinkered with, not copyedited, not even proofed. But it might still give a feel for where this book is going.

Art not final – just an ai version of what it thinks of Morgenfeld’s Tower of Bats.


The Wintermas Paintings

Chapter One

Despite the size of the space, the air in the old cavernous hall was musty and damp and thick.

Jason Trone shivered, pressed up to one of the windows. The glass was cold, and from somewhere came angry bellows.

Someone shouting his name.

Far off for now. He had a moment.

Jason sat on a low wooden bench seat. It was hard and had once been polished to a fine shine. The lustre was long gone, and the vanish was cracked and pitted and discolored. Probably oak, with a strong grain and a few knots. The legs were still strong.

Lying on the bench were the spoils of his plunder. Trinkets and baubles mostly. Two iron necklaces with gold plating that was already wearing off. Some glass sapphires and emeralds set in brass brooches. The pins on two were snapped. A pair of pearl earrings that might have been genuine, but they wouldn’t fetch much.

He scooped them back into his soft leather satchel. It had been a gift from his grandmother and wouldn’t she be disappointed now with the use he was putting it to.

Jason sighed.

The windows behind stood thirty feet high. They hadn’t been cleaned in decades. A dust patina lay across them, and bright green lichens spread on some of the panes, with darker green mosses looking lush and vibrant in edges and corners of the framing.

Jason wiped at one of the windows, removing just enough dust to be able to see through. The next part of the building stood about forty feet away, and he was about level with the edge of the roof. There were rows of windows, leading down three, no four, stories. The brickwork was festooned with dead vines, as if someone had cut the poor plant off at the roots.

An orange cat strolled along the parapet–the building’s walls rose higher than the roof, so there were gutterings hidden behind. The cat stopped and turned to lick at its side, stripes showing and tail flicking.

If Jason could get around to where the cat was now, then that would give him more options. The question was how to reach it.

Looking over the hall again, Jason marveled. It would have been quite impressive back in its day.

The vaults of the ceiling was a good forty feet from the wooden floor. The remains of chandelliers hung, sad and drooping.

Across from the windows there was a long mezzanine balcony, rather than a wall. Stiff plaster pillars still showing signs of their original gilding held the floor in place, and the railing was complex and twisted. Probably wrought iron. It had once been painted white, but now the only remaining paint was a few chips, and rust showed.

Perhaps it had been a ball room, or even a throne room. Perhaps there had been huge thick woollen curtains over the windows and where he sat now had been occupied by a stage. There might have been performances held of Crespin’s The Draper’s Revenge, or any number of Peart’s complicated plays. Or chamber quartet shows.

Jason closed his eyes a moment, imagining the hall filled with chairs, the audience chattering away until a master of ceremonies stood at the stage front and cleared their throat.

Another bellow from the distance brought him out of his reverie.

Closer.

What he hadn’t figured on, when he began fleeing with his purloined jewelery, was getting chased by constabulary with the mindset of zealots. That, with finding his escape route blocked, had thrown him into disarray.

Probably shouldn’t have even taken this moment to catch his breath.

Jason scooped the pauper’s jewels back into his satchel. One missed and fell to the floor. One of the faux-sapphire brooches. It glass jewel glinted with a fabulous blue.

With a quiet curse, Jason slipped off the bench and reached around for the jewel. An big black spider scuttled away. Jason caught a glimpse of its tunneled web, leading back from a hole beneath the window framing.

As he stood, he heard another bellow.

“Jason Trone! Stay right where you are.”

The voice echoed around the hall.

Turning, Jason saw a hefty officer just at the entry door at the far end.. Dressed in a dark blue uniform with gold buttons and brocades. His hat was slightly askew and his mustache was thick.

Another officer came up behind him. A woman. Smaller, with narrowed eyes and an angry mouth.

“Stay right there,” the male officer said. “You’re nicked.”

Jason tucked the flap of his satchel in.

“Don’t think about it son.” The officer took another step.

Jason slung the satchel over his shoulder.

“Get on your knees,” the female officer said, coming around, drawing her baton.

Jason ran. He sprinted right at one of the old plaster pillars.


copyright 2023 Sean Monaghan

The Chimneys in Atterton – book 3 in The Morgenfeld Saga, out now.

Since I was much younger, I’ve loved Mervyn Peake’s Ghormenghast books. Dark and complex, with rich worlds and bizarre characters in a strange, strange world. My three Morgenfeld books are heavily influenced by those, though (I think) my style is very different to Peake’s. I can only aspire to his depth and emotion.

Still, these are fun books to write. I enjoy hanging out in the endless city of Morgenfeld, and I’m glad that some readers do too.

The blurb goes like this: “As Head Mapmaker of Morgenfeld, Cole Palmer deals with everything from politics to cartography to simply finding his way through the maze of the endless city.When dead factories start belching smoke from ancient chimneys, and people show up dead, Cole and his colleagues race to solve the mystery before it costs more lives. And endangers the whole of Morgenfeld.A novel of intrigue and desperation from the deep and complex world of the vast city of Morgenfeld.Enter a fantasy world. Following The Map Maker of Morgenfeld and The Stairs at Cronnenwood, The Chimneys at Atterton is book three in the Morgenfeld Saga. For fans of Gormenghast and Mordew.”

Mordew, as mentioned there, is Alex Pheby’s wonderful recent fantasy that I recommend. You can just slip into it and wonder how our world seems so very normal when you return.

The Chimneys in Atterton is available here – Universal Book Link, $5.99 ebook, $15.99 print. The other books in the series are still available – should show up in series links at most retailers. I’ve updated the covers of the previous two, and I quite like the look now.

Wonderful cover art on all three by Grandfailure, through dreamstime. The mood of the images fits the stories so well.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week.

Sean

The Stairs at Cronnewood now available for preorder

Stairs at Cronenwood (1)Book II of The Morgenfeld series is now available for preorder from the usual bookstores.

Release date is December 15th.

 

Enter a bizarre and twisted world. A building without end.

A missing man. A raid on the Map Archive. A descent into desperation.

______________

 

The vast city of Morgenfeld spreads across the land, an endless array of buildings jammed one against the next.Investigator Gail Deurgans takes on a new and challenging case. Way out of her usual territory. Mapmaker Cole Palmer and his staff work hard keeping track of the maze of the city. Another plunge into the depths of a place not even its denizens understand. The perfect journey for readers who love the fantastic worlds of Mervyn Peake and Michael Moorcock.

______________

mapmaker 2019 (1)Morgenfeld Book I, The Map Maker of Morgenfeld is available too. Both books are standalone, so you can still dive into The Stairs at Cronnenwood first.

 

 

______________

 

Black ChimneysIn other news, I’m nearing completion of writing The Chimneys at Atterton, Book III of the series. This one’s really twisted and doing my head in. The cover and title are just holding for now. Once it’s done and ready, we’ll see how it feels.

Because we were away traveling for an extended period, I’ve been writing it on my mini set up: a phone with a little bluetooth keyboard. The set up works well while traveling, but throws me now I’m back home. Do I transfer the work to my regular writing computer? What if I lose the thread from the mini set up? Oh no (wipes forehead), the trials of being a writer.

Still, I hope to have  Chimneys out sometime in the middle of next year.

 

 

Almost there with The Stairs at Cronnenwood

Stairs at Cronenwood (1)The second book in my Morgenfeld series should be out on December 15th, all going well. As I speak the book has been proofed and copy-edited and print-formatted. Just need to finish the wraparound cover design for that, and get the ebook formatting done.

Oh, and write a blurb.

Here’s how things go for me in terms of writing, from easiest to hardest: novel, novella, short story, blog post, “short bio to accompany your story” and blurb. Yup, easier to write a 60,000 word novel than to write a 100 word blurb. I’ve done some work on it, taken a course or two and so I know some of the techniques – focus on the character and the problem, give away nothing more than is in the first chapter, use active language, and so on and so on. All seems very straightforward when you put it like that. Ha, ha.

I have to write my blurbs on a different computer from my writing computer. The tone and technique and parts of the brain used are all so different. Getting away from the creative space seems to give me access to a different kind of creativity, namely pretending to be a sales person.

Sales is not my natural bent. So, I practice. Maybe I’ll get something that works this time. I’ll post the blurb here in a week or two, once I’ve got it down. Or maybe just whatever I have at that point.

I am fortunate that I’ve been able to organise a space and a clunky old computer dedicated just to writing. No net, no games, no anything except the writing software. Easier to separate out that creative side from the business side.

Also in the works, getting the updated cover for the first in the series –  The Map Maker of Morgenfeld. In the year or so since that came out I’ve learned some about cover design. Long way to go, but I like these new versions. Grandfailure’s images just so suit the work, the broken-down jumble of the city and the sense of space and light and time.

In other, related new, I’m just about finished with the writing of book three in the series. Right now the title is just  Black Chimneys, but I do have a while to consider that, and to look for something with more rhythm closer to the other two, as in  The (something) of/at (somewhere).

Also recently sold a couple of stories, one to  Asimov’s, one to  Analog. Excited about both, but this will be my first in  Analog, and it’s always neat to see my work in a new venue. I’ll post again when I have the publication dates for those.

Since I’m rambling on, I’ll mention that I’ll be at WorldCon in Wellington next year – the World Science Fiction Convention. I’m in the process of putting my name forward to maybe be on a panel or two. If you’re going and we haven’t met, grab me and say hi.

 

 

 

New Release in December

Morgenfeld, a vast city-building, deep in a fantasy world not too far removed from our own, moves to the whims of a different set of rules.

Right now we’re targetting the release of the second volume in the Morgenfeld series for December 15th.

 

The Stairs at Cronnenwood brings new challenges for Cole and Dana as thieves pull off a daring raid on the Map Archive.

Following The Mapmaker of Morgenfeld this new book explores and deepens the swirling complex world that is Morgenfeld. A near-endless fantasy city-building with entire communities hidden away, secret sections and a ruling dynasty that stretches back thousands of years.

Preorder of the book will be up from November 15th. Soon before, we’ll have a free download of a Morgenfeld short story, “The Rocking Horse Mystery”.
Covers are by way of example only final art will be confirmed in November.
Book 1, The Mapmaker of Morgenfeld is available in print and as an ebook from the usual outlets. Cover art update coming soon.

I’m thinking I’ll start writing the third book while I’m traveling in September and October. I wrote the first when we traveled to Easter Island, the Atacama desert and the Galapagos a couple of years ago. Travel to different places definitely stimulates my imagination for the strangeness of Morgenfeld. I’m relatively well-traveled, but Papua New Guinea, Korea and Taiwan should be plenty strange for a someone who lives in a relatively western culture.

Gold-Embers-originalOh, while I’m writing here: Also out soon, on September 2nd, is Gold Embers, book three of The Chronicles of the Donner. Middle Grade SF: action and adventure with a heart. The final secrets of Ludelle reveal themselves in stunning ways. If the survivors of the Donner can figure them out.
If you want a taste of Ludelle and the characters, try out “Trapped”, a short story set there. Matti-Jay and Dub find themselves in a sudden fight for survival. Write to me and I’ll send you over an ebook version.

Sometime I’ll figure out how to integrate this Mailchimp thing into the website and create a proper mailing list.
Thanks for reading.

Rebranding gradually

Ship Tracers 2018 thmbI’m very conscious that while I’m a pretty good writer (ahem), and I’m okay with most of the business side, I’m really pretty lousy when it comes to sales and marketing.

Key point for an indie writer, right? Market yourself.

Some of my books have fairly bad covers. Some have terrible sales copy. I don’t even have a mailing list. This site sits in WordPress’s paid domain, but free side. I’ll be upgrading that (*update, Saturday – upgrade done – already I’m out of my depth with customizing the look. Good – out of my depth means I’ll learn to swim).

All of that was okay in the early days of indie publishing, but times have changed. Around me. And in my dozy state I’m just beginning to notice.

So I’m making a few changes. My website. Trying to figure out managing a mailing list. Trying to get a handle on, you know, the basic stuff if you want to gain a few readers here and there. I did start a facebook author page – here where this blog posts to and I do occasional separate posts. That’s a whole other area of learning – social media.

Now I do have some covers and copy I’m proud of – my Captain Arlon Stoddard series books look okay to my mind. Not up there with the $2500 professionally designed books, but still doing okay.

So this will be a time of experimenting. First out of the blocks, I’m going to update the covers and blurbs for the first series I released, starting back in 2012 – The Hidden Dome. Here’s a preview of the new covers. What do you think?

I’m looking for a consistency of branding there, so at least I think I’ve got that. Next step: amazing sales copy. Then the whole repackage, getting them out as print and ebooks again (somehow I never got around to putting The Eye out as a print book, so it will be good to have them all done).

Will I get more sales? Who knows? The thing is I need to work on my branding, my sales and a whole bunch of other things. This is like a practice round.

The Map Maker of Morgenfeld thumbAfter that I do have a second book coming out in my Morgenfeld fantasy series – The Stairs at Cronnenwood. At the same time I will update the original’s cover (see the current cover here – too many design faults there, though I might even use that image). And if I can figure it out, I’ll create that mailing list and have a giveaway Morgenfeld story for signups.

Plan is to have The Stairs at Cronnenwood out in September.

Then there’s another Captain Arlon Stoddard novel to come out. And the third in the Chronicles of the Donner series. I’m not short of material, but I have so much to learn about getting into the hands of readers.