Yes, it's been quite a while since I've updated Ye Olde Blog, but I've been busy writing a new novel and several new stories. Plus, I teach full-time, and I turned 55 back in October, so I'm getting to the age where health concerns demand more of my time than ever.
There's nothing wrong with getting older (it beats the alternative!), but you simply have to be more mindful of your body than when you're a young buck. What you do with it and what you put into it matter more than ever.
There's a long list of writers who let their bodies fall apart while pursuing their craft, and I don't want to be on that list. Self-care is the new mantra for my life these days, and good health means I can crank out more great stories. An artist should perhaps suffer ideologically and aesthetically, but not physically.
Anyway, some exciting new stuff to shout about:
I have two stories of Carsonne now appearing in two different magazines. "Gravediggers of Carsonne" appears in NEW EDGE SWORD & SORCERY #3, while "Nobody Kills A Wizard" appears in OLD MOON QUARTERLY #8. (Both on sale now at their respective links.) Both of these stories feature the intrepid duo of Brugo & Slint, a couple of enterprising ne'er-do-wells living in the City of Graveyards, where acts of necromancy are as common as rainstorms.
Carsonne is a dark kingdom inhabiting the same world as Yhorom, the empire featured in my Scaleborn novels IMMACULATE SCOUNDRELS and TIMES NEVER CHANGE. Recently, I completed a third novel set in this same universe called WE LAUGH AT DEATH. If all goes as planned, it will be on sale in Spring 2025. The Scaleborn novels can be read in any order, but if you read them consecutively, you get a glimpse of the bigger picture. Meanwhile, Brugo and Slint are doing their thing on the other side of the mega-continent.
Yhorom and Carsonne are the two greatest empires of this world, and their historic rivalry has a definite influence on one another. For example, in Yhorom the study of necromancy is prohibited, but sorcerers are free to master the art of demonology. Conversely, in Carsonne the art of necromancy is fully embraced, but the conjuration of demons is prohibited on penalty of death. Each of these vast kingdoms believes in its own superiority, and they have fought many wars against one another in past eras. If not for the near-impassable mountain range that separates them, they would constantly be at war with one another.
I also have a new story of Gnori the Bold called "She Drinks Blood," which tells the origin of Gnori's arch nemesis the Vampire Queen of Aymeer. It's slated to appear in BOOK OF BLADES Vol. 3 from Rogues in the House, to be released in January.
A FEW ODD SOULS is a "big weird fantasy" novel slated for release from Jackanapes Press in the second half of 2025. I wrote it a few years ago, but it was too weird and unclassifiable for most publishers. However, Dan Sauer at Jackanapes is one fearless mofo, so he's going to resurrect this book from the moldering crypts of time and memory. You have been warned...
SOULS was inspired by the three "Urbille" stories that appear in my DARKER THAN WEIRD horror collection (published by Jackanapes in 2023). The first of those stories was chosen by Laird Barron for THE YEAR'S BEST WEIRD FICTION Volume 1 back in 2014. That inspired the next two stories and eventually the novel. I am thrilled to see this weird-ass monster get a second chance at life. It's a dark epic that blends and defies the genres of fantasy, weird horror, and science fiction in ways that are not easily described.
I am already planning the next Scaleborn novel, as well as some new stories about Carsonne and Gnori the Bold.
Shout-out and a big THANK YOU to everyone who reads my work. You make it all worthwhile. 2024 was the year when I rediscovered the sheer joy of writing, and in the immortal words of Rob Zombie I am "never gonna stop."
Peace, Love, and Broadswords,
John