Late into the night, the space outside of the Adventure Society's central admin complex was still crowded with people. To Jason's delight, some enterprising local vendors had wheeled carts into the Adventure Society campus that magically expanded into food stalls, creating an impromptu food market. Since he and Rufus were still waiting for Farrah to emerge, they roamed around, sampling local de...
2021-06-15 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostJason stepped out of the assessment officer’s office to find a stern-looking man and woman waiting for him. They each had a rigidly controlled silver-rank aura.
“So,” he said. “Are you two generic security or are you part of this anti-Builder unit.”
“We are part of the Builder cult response team. Come with us, please.”
“Absolutely,” Jason said. “Take me to ...
2021-06-14 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostRimaros was a city of well-trained and powerful essence users, meaning many strong auras and powerful senses. With the number of essence users present in the city, and more pouring in for the monster surge, it was a disorienting cacophony for those able to sense it. This was one of the main reasons that aura retraction was a key point of etiquette.
While any essence user could sense auras...
2021-06-11 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostUnlike most of the temples in Rimaros, the city’s main temple of Knowledge was not to be found in the temple district on the island of Livaros. Instead, it could be found on the second-largest of the city’s sky islands, one of the few which could be accessed by the public. The island was primarily known for being the location of the Rimaros Magic Society campus, which held ownership and con...
2021-06-10 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostDawn’s cottage bubble flying vessel floated over the deck of the skyship. Dawn emerged from the cottage, walked down the short garden path to the bubble surrounding it and stepped through, like passing through a waterfall. She dropped lightly to the deck and the bubble shrank before dropping into her hand. She then placed the vessel into a pouch on her belt.
Sophie, Neil and Jory watche...
2021-06-09 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostFrom the deck of the cloud yacht, Jason and Farrah were standing with drinks in hand looking at the islands floating in the sky as they drew closer to the city of Rimaros. One of the three main natural islands had come into view, but since Farrah had no idea which one was the island housing the Adventure Society, Jason had arbitrarily picked the local equivalent of Aruba. Approaching from a dis...
2021-06-08 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostTwo skyships moved side by side through the air. One was a traditional vessel crafted from wood with floatation crystals set into the hull. The other was a monstrosity of rough iron and heavy bolts. Despite their differences, both were running damaged.
The wooden ship had been through rushed patchwork modifications to handle the unusual magic conditions it had passed through. It was too l...
2021-06-07 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThis is related to an award, so I really tried to give this post a title of cringe-inducing self-aggrandisement but apparently - unlike Jason - there is a level of shamelessness beyond which I won't sink. Who knew. Anyway, my Kindle publisher, Aethon Books, is doing bit of an awards push. They're hoping to get some of their titles into contention for the Dragon Awards, my own little tale includ...
2021-06-06 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostHere is the complete volume 2, including the interval chapters, in smaller bundles for those whose devices don't like the larger PDF bundles. These will remain available in full until a few weeks before the release of book four on Kindle/Audible/paperback, which is currently scheduled for late December.
2021-06-06 02:09:50 +0000 UTC View PostHere are the large bundles for volume 2, plus the full volume 2 PDF, including the interval chapters. These will remain available in full until a few weeks before the release of book four on Kindle/Audible/paperback, which is currently scheduled for late December.
2021-06-06 02:09:37 +0000 UTC View PostFarrah paused from her explanation of what Jason could expect from their destination once the cloud ship cleared the storm. In only a few moments they went from blasting horizontal rain and mountainous wave crests to calm seas and blue skies. They went out onto the deck of the boat to take a look, leaning against the railing as a cool ocean breeze pleasantly offset the warm air.
Behind th...
2021-06-04 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post“Clive,” Humphrey said. “Is that a kind of skyship you’re familiar with?”
“No,” Clive said.
The group watched the two approaching skyships using the vision-magnifying spell one of the other adventurers around them had shared.
The two approaching skyships were unlike any the group had seen. If Jason had been present he would have noticed a resemblance to old ironc...
2021-06-03 23:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostGary and Jory and Jason’s team were on the open deck of a skyship, heading into the range where they could portal to Vitesse.
“Is everyone feeling that?” Humphrey asked.
"I am," Neil said, the rest of the group agreeing. A tremulation in the ambient magic started small but grew rapidly in strength and was shortly creating turbulence for the skyship.
“What is this?” S...
2021-06-02 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostA bird fluttered out of Humphrey’s jacket, then transformed into a puppy as it landed on the table and started pawing at the projector. Humphrey scooped him up and petted him gently.
“It’s alright, little buddy,” he cooed soothingly.
“That’s it?” Neil complained as the recording ended. “That didn’t tell us anything. I’m so glad he’s alive and I can go back to h...
2021-06-01 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe title says it all, really, which leaves me somewhat at a loss about what to put here. I hope the extra interval chapters over the weekend got everyone primed for the return of the regular schedule. I'm still not completely convinced it was the best plan, since extra work is not the best way to set myself up for the next few months, but I don't always make the best life choices.
If I'd...
2021-05-31 23:05:03 +0000 UTC View PostIn an abandoned outback town, there was something unusual on the dry grass of the football oval. Large stones were set into arches, forming a series of concentric circles. Next to the bar, the only properly-maintained building, was a long wooden grandstand, bleached by the sun. Jason and Farrah had been sitting on it for some time, talking.
“It’s time,” Jason said and stood up.
<... 2021-05-31 23:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostClive drove the flying, open-top carriage through the skies of Vitesse, docking halfway up one of the garden towers covered in flowers and greenery. He disembarked onto a balcony, along with Humphrey and Sophie, where they were met by an Adventure Society attendant.
“Young Master Geller, Mr Standish, Miss Wexler,” he greeted. “Welcome back to the city, and congratulations on reachin...
2021-05-30 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post“Well?” Lady Prani Ajus demanded as she stormed into the large research room in the astral magic research department. Lorelei Grantham was there, along with a half dozen researchers poring over the notes left behind by Clive.
“We found something that Cli… that Standish left behind,” Lorelei said. “He obviously wanted it to be found. It’s a means to track portal network activ...
2021-05-29 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostBelinda followed the signal of her magical device into a dusty desert gulch, a few dozen kilometres south of Rakesh. She roamed around, looking for the source of the signal. She and Clive had only been able to get an approximate location from the Magic Society campus and it was taking days to narrow it down.
"Where is the stupid thing?" she muttered, part of an ongoing stream of disgruntl...
2021-05-28 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostTo all appearances, Marta Fries was an unremarkable resident of the city of Kurdansk. Like many of Kurdansk’s celestines, she had dark skin and silver hair. Her small row house was no different to the others wedged together on the narrow street where she lived.
The plain but powerful aura suppression bracelet on her arm hid her silver-rank aura but also impeded her aura senses, so she d...
2021-05-21 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostI have a confession: I'm unsure about the exclamation point in the title of this post. I'm personally excited, yes, but the overuse of this punctuation, especially in promotional material gives me pause.
Is it trite? Overdone? Yeah, probably. But it's sincere, and I grow evermore weary of sarcastic cynicism. It's definitely not that I'm selling out. Please buy my book.
Book 2 can be...
2021-05-18 14:38:21 +0000 UTC View PostAt the Adventure Society dock in the city of Greenstone, Emir Bahadir’s cloud palace had been replaced with a cloud ship that would dwarf an ocean liner. Humphrey, Sophie and Neil boarded via a cloud dock the led directly into the side of the ship where one of Emir's staff led them inside. They were taken to the owner's stateroom, which was less a room and more like three storeys of typical E...
2021-05-14 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostIn the city of Greenstone, Gary Xandier and Rufus Remore walked quietly along an empty street, the night lit up by magical lamposts. Gary was a huge lion man, yet looked sunken and small, with none of his signature boisterousness.
“It was a good service, I thought,” Rufus said.
“Good service?” Gary reacted angrily. “Good service? He died saving this city and what does he g...
2021-05-07 23:00:21 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 454 concludes volume 2. For silver-rank and above patrons, volume 3 will begin on June 1st in my local time in Australia, with the usual Two/three/four week delays for bronze/iron/free readers. Until then, there will be weekly interval chapters on the day the last chapter of the week would normally come out, whenever that may be for your timezone.
For those who will will be leavin...
2021-04-29 23:05:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Dr Asano, I would like to thank you again for letting us set up the interim government here. Best estimates are over a year before Paris will be restored to the point of initiating repopulation.”
“Thank you for helping push through the Transformed Relocation project with the UN, Mr President,” Yumi said. “The first of the transformed will be arriving this week.”
“It...
2021-04-29 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Do you have any idea how hard it was to get the materials for a category four suppression device?” Gerling asked, jerking the spear again. “I’m impressed that it takes something this strong to shut your powers down.”
Jason collapsed to the ground, the spear still running through him. He groaned through gritted teeth. The surviving vampires and Mr North gathered around.
...
2021-04-28 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostJason had made a tradition of triggering the territory transfigurations alone on his balcony, but he changed his pattern because he was unsure of what would come next. Shade's VTOL plane form was hovering just outside the pagoda entrance, blasting wind. Jason went outside to join the three vampires, Mr North and Gerling.
Standing with them, Jason closed his eyes and initiated the change. ...
2021-04-27 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostA couple of announcements, but just a quick explanation before we start: The online chapters are divided into volumes, while the Amazon releases are divided into books. The volumes are much longer, with volume 1 comprising books 1, 2 & 3. So when I'm discussing book 2, that means the Amazon release of older chapters (114-189), after a professional edit. When I'm talking about volume 2, that...
2021-04-26 23:06:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe sky was bleak, grey and sunless, reflecting the architecture of the city. The territory was another city, but the very opposite of fantastical. Uniform concrete buildings were set out in plain, hard lines, like a distillation of Soviet Bloc design.
Just as the territory was a bland version of a human city, the anomalies were a bland version of human. Identical human men in identical b...
2021-04-26 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post“Well,” Jason said. “This is awkward.”
Every person gathered in the mezzanine lounge of the pagoda had either tried to or succeeded in killing or kidnapping at least one other person present.
“Perhaps I should take the lead,” Mr North suggested. “While I have tried to arrange several deaths amongst the group, I never tried to kill anyone here personally.”
“Wh...
2021-04-23 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post