“Grimdark” is a term that I only picked up on in the past year or so, mostly on Reddit and Goodreads. It is a descriptive, and increasingly pejorative, name for a subgenre of Science Fiction and Fantasy that is pervasively bleak in tone and dwells on the most negative...
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Swords & Cowboys: Genre mash-up time!
This month’s cover art by Todd Sharp features the blood-red silhouettes of three men mounted on galloping horses. The curlicues of the art nouveau background, rendered in textured shades of brown, evoke the hand-tooled leather of western saddles. All three of the men are wearing broad-brimmed hats. Two of...
The Return of Gelgarth Arbekka – Chapter 7 is Live!
We can’t say that it was by popular demand since the first drafts of these stories were written years ago, but a character whom many readers have claimed as their favorite comes blazing back into the stories this month with Chapter 7, the full, glorious title of which is,...
Chapter 6 is NOW Available!
It is always exciting when a new month begins because that means there’s a new chapter to share! “Stone and Sword, or, The Insidious Influence of the Other” arrives today, and it marks a distinct turning point in our series, not only returning to the story of Father Saren...
The End of the Beginning
A friendly reader recently commented that this month’s chapter – “Argument, or, The Raising of the Elect” – could easily function as the book’s opening chapter, despite being the fifth in the release order. We absolutely agree! It is easy to imagine the story beginning right here with Arden...
Coming of Middle Age
When I moved from Boston to Los Angeles in 1996, the plot of what would become “The Elect Stories” was already (more or less) fully formed. While many of the characters and most of the world-building details have changed over time, the plot was already clear to me from...
Ready to Cross The Threshold?
Enjoying your summer? Us, too! If you’ve been taking your Kindle along to the beach or the pool or even just to your own comfy couch, we hope “The Elect Stories” has made it onto your summer reading list and provided a bit of escape. In the first 4...
The Underside of Fantasy
With the arrival this month of our fourth installment – “Negotiation, or, The Various and Sundry Businesses of Mister Jonathan Guess” – we introduce a new character and a new tone to the stories. Unlike Palm, Timriel, See, and Gelgarth, there’s nothing heroic about Jonathan Guess, unless you choose...
Writers Read
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.” That’s Steven King’s advice to aspiring writers from his excellent book, “On Writing.” I...
Jonathan Wild, The Real Thief Taker
In Chapter 4, we meet Jonathan Guess, a young man who rises to power in the city of Vessena as a new kind of law enforcer – the “Thieftaker General” – while also operating as the right hand of Fortunado, the nefarious “Thief Lord” himself. Playing both sides of...