Newly Released: The Hades Cycle

“Eurydce Otherwise” is a complete short story about a mountain nymph who clashes with the lord of the underworld. But it’s also the first chapter in the saga of Lord Dìs.

Artemis in Chase is a complete novella in which the goddess of the hunt seeks vengeance for the murder of one of her retinue. But it is also the second chapter telling of Dìs’ further fall from grace.

And so it goes for the rest of the seven-tale series.

Now all seven tales are collected in one book to form the braided novel that is the more correct term for the larger story.

He chose hell to preserve his brothers. Will his choice prove his destruction?

Lord Dìs hungers. After millennia expending his immense strength to sustain hell and its shades, the dark god of the dead craves light, love, and life. But this arrogant king of the underworld is stunned when the mountain nymph he steals to be his queen—a glorious creature of sun and breeze—repudiates him and threatens his throne.

Infuriated and desperate, Dìs hunts down a forest nymph to siphon the leaf-dapple and quietude from her soul and replenish his ebbing power. But one such banquet demands another, and as Dìs extinguishes spirit after spirit to feed his ravening need, he drowns beneath an inward tide of darkness, desolation, and death.

Dragging a chain of evil deeds behind him, will Dìs seek redemption? Or will he embrace perdition with the damned?

The Hades Cycle is a braided novel of mythic fantasy. Tales of lovers, friends, and enemies twine through Dìs’ saga to reveal secrets otherwise hidden. If you enjoy deep mythology brought to vivid life, heroes of passion and will, and epic sacrifice, you’ll love this gripping story of the old gods.

Read The Hades Cycle to redeem the accursed today!
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My First Audiobook!

I’m thrilled! My novel The Tally Master is now available as an audiobook! And its sequel Sovereign Night will follow soon.

This has been a dream of mine for over 10 years. Since 2012 I’ve repeatedly looked for options to get my work into audio, and repeatedly the logistics have defeated me.

Let me tell you how the barriers came down.

Apple is pioneering the use of AI narration for its catalog of ebooks, and this August they opened up the program to indie authors like me.

I was skeptical at first. It seemed too good to be true. But when I looked into the program, it was legit. And I really liked the voice sample for the female narrator. She sounded human, and she sounded good. I entered The Tally Master as a candidate for audio, and in early September it went live!

When I listened to the first few pages, they sounded even better than I’d dreamed possible. I’m an expressive reader myself when I read aloud, but Madison the AI does a better job than I could. I’m so, so happy with the result, and I’m eager to make more of my work available through this channel.

When you must dwell in the citadel of your enemies, do you join them? Depart toward exile and death? Or raze their dark tower to the ground?

Gael tries to ignore the significance of his actions. Managing supplies for a warlord’s arsenal, the cursed mage purposefully evades the fact that he’s enabling the destruction of his former people. But when he discovers the precious metal needed to craft the weapons is being stolen from under his nose, he resolves to find the culprit at any cost.

Relentless and driven, Gael follows the trail of clues to expose not just a thief but a chain of heinous treacheries. When he unearths the roles his friends have played, he’s no longer certain whose side he should be on. Especially when his master orders him to destroy a magical artifact that could save them all.

With his protégé imprisoned and facing a death sentence, and his mentor sacrificed to the warlord’s policy, Gael must decide where to place his loyalty. Will he discern and choose what is right, or will he forfeit his last chance at redemption?

The Tally Master is the gripping first novel in the Gael & Keir fantasy mystery series. If you like characters who seem to step right off the page, twisty plots, and vivid world-building, then you’ll love this engrossing tale.

Listen to The Tally Master to choose senseless hope or sober treason today!
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Newly Released: Were It Only Exile as Promised

In a world of silenced voices, one champion vows her sister will not go unheard.

Thania inhabits a far future in which digital goods and virtual reality substitute for physical products and experiences. Thania has always accepted the constraints of her culture, but when her beloved sister discovers real paints and canvas—banned as hazmat—Thania’s complaisance starts to crack.

After Claro publishes her subversive illegal art—putting both sisters in danger—Thania begs her to return to the safe digital work that originally brought Claro fame.

But Claro knows that sometimes the life of the spirit trumps that of the body, and Thania must learn this lesson too or risk losing her soul. Along with everything else.

Were It Only Exile as Promised is a dystopian SF story of art, algorithms, and censorship. If you’re a creative looking to lance the modern boil by plunging into its worst case, this nightmare scenario offers the terrifying catharsis you seek.

Read Were It Only Exile now to seize the comet’s tail!
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Newly Released: Illumine Hades

Darker than dark, ruinous and ravening, the realm of Hades ravages its lord . . .

As ruler of the damned, Lord Dìs sustains the bounds of hell that prevent its shades from escaping to batten on the living. But the drain on his strength, immense as it is, requires him to steal life from the innocent. When Dìs’ wife Persephone insists he refrain from his cruel ritual theft—and he fails—she leaves him.

Alone and broken, Dìs renews his vow to fulfill his duties without the replenishment he craves. But the burdens of judging the newly dead and preserving them from extinction, all while anchoring hell itself, inexorably grind Dìs beneath a crushing weight.

Dìs must learn that merely refraining from evil redeems nothing. Unless he can restore those he destroyed, madness will claim him and the bounds of hell will implode.

Illumine Hades is the concluding tale in the exhilarating Hades Cycle. If you seek heroic sacrifice, redemptive love, and the terror of the ancient gods, you’ll love this cathartic finale in which all the series threads weave together toward glory.

Read Illumine Hades now to plumb the depths and kiss the heights!
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Cover Reveal: Illumine Hades

Illumine Hades will release soon!

Initially it will be available on Amazon for purchase and in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription service for free download.

Illumine Hades is the last of seven tales in The Hades Cycle.

Some months after Illumine Hades is released, all the stories in The Hades Cycle will leave the KU subscription service and be available for purchase on all major e-tailers, including Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Amazon, and more.

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A Sinner’s Origins

In order to write Theobalt’s redemption in “Illumine Hades,” I had to know a lot more about the mortal man than ever made it onto the story page.

I’ll admit that I’m a Theobalt fan. I like his brashness, his good cheer, and his feckless good intentions. I sympathize with his vulnerabilities. I figure the readers of “Illumine Hades” likely include other Theobalt fans like myself. This post is for you!

I’m going to share my brainstorming process (which I did in my journal), because it presents Theobalt’s history as I learned it. It will have the side effect of drawing back the curtain to reveal some of my writerly methods, so if you prefer not to see the sausage being made… Read no farther! 😀

Here we go!

I need to know more about Theobalt. The heart of his issue is that he felt all through his life that he could never measure up. His response to the sense of inadequacy was that he just wouldn’t try. Why try when failure is inevitable?

I think his mother expected too much of him? Why? Was she a widow? No. Theobalt’s father arranged Theobalt’s marriage. I think Theobalt’s father was a lot like Theobalt himself. He was professionally successful, but relationally unsuccessful. Theobalt’s mother didn’t get what she wanted from Theobalt’s father. When she saw many of the same characteristics in her son, she raged at him.

Theobalt’s father was involved with olive oil. Not wine, because Theobalt is ignorant regarding wine and its qualities. Question: was the family a producer of olive oil or did they ship it? If they were in shipping, they would likely not specialize. So…they both grow olives and buy olives from other, smaller farms. They press the olives and sell the oil to folk in the city and to merchants in more distant cities. Ah! The reason Theobalt’s father was away from home so much was because he would meet with these faraway merchants to make deals. While abroad he would seek new prospects to expand his business.

The more unpleasant Theobalt’s mother became, the more Theobalt’s father would find reason to attend to business. The more neglected Theobalt’s mother felt, the more unpleasant she would grow. Vicious cycle.

That’s the family situation. What about Theobalt himself?

He was a happy-go-lucky lad who loved to run and play with his friends. He hated lessons, hated sitting still, wanted to be on-the-go all the time. If his mother had thought to co-opt him as an errand boy, things would have gone very much better. Instead she insisted on lessons, in-home chores, and keeping her company. It was a disaster.

When Theobalt grew old enough to accompany his father, he did, and his mother was outraged that both her menfolk were gone.

When Theobalt married, he took over managing the olive farm and the dealings with farmers supplying additional olives. His mother grew even angrier, since her husband was away all the time. She blamed Theobalt for enabling this state of affairs.

Theobalt himself didn’t find sea voyages necessary for maintaining sufficient distance from his own wife. He spent days in his office and evenings visiting friends. However, the marriage did not start out on such a bad footing.

I need to understand what Theobalt’s wife brought to the mix. She had been her father’s pet. She expected that kind of attention from Theobalt. She didn’t initially whine and demand such attention. That came later. At first she tried giving more to Theobalt. She cooked delicacies that were his favorites. She dressed up for him. She greeted him at the door when he returned home. She visited him at the office. And Theobalt was appalled. He was accustomed to emotional distance in the home. He started sneaking in and out so that his wife could neither greet him nor bid him farewell. He instructed his secretary to tell her he was out when she arrived at the office. He began to cage invitations from friends to spend evenings at their homes.

What did his wife try next? She asked him what was wrong, and he answered that nothing was wrong.

She tried harder. When that did not work, she tried leaving him alone. But leaving him alone meant they just led parallel lives. Then she started to fuss. And that is when Theobalt started to retaliate.

Okay!

Now I need to lay out the therapeutic process for Theobalt. What would get through to him? He is pretty resistant. Which actually makes him ideal for Dìs, since Theobalt absolutely does not want to recognize the truth about himself, and Dìs needs to learn that confronting the truth is what salvation is all about.

So what is Theobalt’s attitude? That women are just too demanding, it is impossible to please them, and one shouldn’t bother to try.

Dìs will ask: What did your wife want that was so impossible?

Theobalt will start on a long list of trivialities.

Dìs: No, those were what she demanded when you refused her what she really wanted.

Theobalt: What did she really want?

Dìs: Your loving presence and attention.

Theobalt: But I was afraid.

Dìs: Why were you afraid?

Theobalt: My mother had always insisted on more from me and found me supremely lacking.

Dìs: What did your mother want?

Theobalt: Me to sit still, keep her company, and do well at my lessons.

Dìs: That was not what your mother wanted.

Theobalt: What did she want then?

Dìs: Your father’s loving presence and attention.

Theobalt: !! Surely not!

Dìs: Yes.

Theobalt: So when she did not get that, and saw how like I was to him, she hated me.

Dìs: Yes.

Theobalt: But I think she was right to hate me.

That is the process—in outline—of how Theobalt might come to understand how he came to be who he is. But how would he regain—or gain—confidence that he is enough as himself? Because he is afraid of sitting still within being. Be here now. What do you hear? What do you touch. What do you smell? What do you taste? What do you see?

Theobalt will strongly resist that. But the only way to be able to give that kind of attention to someone else is to be able to give it to one’s own experience. And Dìs is in a position to hold Theobalt still enough that Theobalt can discover the ability to be present.

Now I need to think about Dìs’ own experience of all this. How does he start out? Where does he go wrong?

In The Goblin Emperor, Maia’s confusion, headache, and impatience with aggrandizing disputants are presented first. Then his realization that since he cannot please everyone, he need please no one. Next we learn that with the need to please removed, Maia sees clearly. We are shown what he sees and we hear his spoken discussion. Then we witness his assertion of his confident authority, and the scene ends.

That is a really important scene in the story, because Maia is an abused adolescent who is afraid of conflict. He has used placation as a means of survival. We need to see his thought process in his moment of growth.

I suspect my scene with Dìs and Theobalt is equally important in my story. The difference is that we’ve already been shown that Dìs is starting to change his autocratic thought process. Ah! And this is not the scene that is the crux of the matter. And it is not a scene in which he is learning a new skill, even though superficially it might seem that way.

The important thing in this scene is that Dìs discovers that his method of penetrating to the truth for the purpose of judgment can be wielded for a different purpose as well. We need not see him making the mistake of being overly sympathetic. In fact, that should be part of his own realization: Oh! he’d always thought Persephone must lean on sympathy and forgiveness, but—no—she leans on truth.

The mistake Dìs would make is that of moving from to truth to judgment, when he should be moving from his own realization of the truth to Theobalt’s realization of the truth.

Yes, that’s perfect.

I need to figure out where Dìs would start. He’s already been thinking about Theobalt and what he knows of him. He doesn’t need to refresh his memory, because one of the attributes of the gods is that when they want to remember something, they simply do so, accurately. Dìs, when he decides to seek Theobalt, can simply begin where they left off, if he wishes, although he will chose a different beginning.

Where would I start with Theobalt, if I were working with him? I suspect I would have a hard time with him, because I would be too soft. Dìs won’t have that problem. He needs to get him talking, maybe complaining.

What are the complaints Dìs (and we) have heard so far? Away all the time. Bringing unruly friends home. Eyeing the physical charms of other women. Being harsh with their son. Betting on horse races and losing. Dirty habits, uncouth language.

Dìs doesn’t want to hear all this again, and neither do we. What we want is a question that will surprise Theobalt into answering with his deepest fear: she wants me prim and proper and sitting still like a statue on a pedestal.

Dìs: That is not what she really wanted.

Theobalt: It’s what all women want! Even me mana mou wanted that!

Dìs: From you?

Theobalt: Yah, from me! Who else?

Dìs: Indeed. Who else?

Theobalt: Oh. (small voice) Me páppa.

Dìs: And was that her heart’s desire?

Theobalt: She said it was.

Okay, I’m ready to write the scene!

Dìs sipped his wine, reflecting that Theobalt knew nothing of wine, if he called this one merely good. It was superb.

But the wine was merely a means. Dìs must not allow its excellence to distract him. He must win the shade’s confidence—admittedly not hard—and then lead him along a path at which he would naturally balk…

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And there you have it, my brainstorming from start to finish. I often find that writing out my own questions and the answers they inspire clarifies my thinking such that I am ready to begin writing immediately at the close of a brainstorming session.

For more about the lore and process behind The Hades Cycle, see:
Heroines in Hell
Hades’ Many Names
A Hero in Hell
The Reputation of Dís

 

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Newly Released: Queen’s Cusp

Does she love him enough to forego her heart’s desire?

As queen of hell, Persephone revels in the freedom granted by darkness. She finds meaningful work in the release she provides shades seeking repentance and atonement. But when her mother bids her beware Dìs’ cruel side, Persephone’s newly won assurance falters.

After her husband invites Persephone to again witness ‘the dance’ at his side—a sadistic rite essential to his rule over Hades—she sees its horror with fresh clarity. And knows she can no longer condone this torture of innocents.

But if her scheme to provide Dìs another source of strength fails, Persephone will confront an impossible choice. Unless she forfeits the god she loves most—and the wellspring of her own strength—the macabre ritual must persist forever.

Queen’s Cusp is the sixth tale in the vivid Hades Cycle. If you enjoy lyrical mythology that moves quickly, keeps you guessing, and magnificently captures the terror and passion of the ancient gods, you’ll love this twist on the story of Hades’ king and queen.

Buy Queen’s Cusp to seek courage over cruelty today!
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Cover Reveal: Queen’s Cusp

Queen’s Cusp will release February 7, 2023!

Initially it will be available on Amazon for purchase and in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription service for free download.

Queen’s Cusp is the sixth of seven tales in The Hades Cycle.

Some months after the seventh tale is released, Queen’s Cusp will leave the KU subscription service and be available for purchase on all major e-tailers, including Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Amazon, and more.

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Newly Released: Persephone Errant

She buried herself to escape her past, but now it’s followed her down to hell…

The dark queen anchors her soul in power—power as her husband’s beloved, power as the guide for shades seeking absolution. When the hero Orpheus invades hell to pluck the heartstrings of its rulers, his song reminds Persephone that beneath her sovereignty lurks weakness she persistently ignores.

Orpheus proves but the herald of another illicit visitor to the underworld. Confronted with her memories in the person of an old enemy, Persephone resolves to bury her past anew.

But hidden amongst congealed impotence, frustration, and swallowed rage lies an opportunity the queen banishes at her peril. If she refuses the challenge, she who saves the souls of the damned will lose her own.

Persephone Errant is the fifth tale in the enthralling Hades Cycle. If you enjoy deep mythology imbued with an intimate focus, you’ll love this rite-of-passage story in which a goddess confronts the choice that will define her for the ages.

Buy Persephone Errant now to face hard truth head on!
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