Mountain Barber posts
Posts: 154
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Future Stories Poll
Got a poll for everyone!Alright, so I'm over two-thirds done writing the Ishveos short story collection. (Which is going to be quite a bit shorter than the first Mage Errant short story collection- that was a bit too long for an anthology, I think.) This means I've got a lot of thinking about what I want to write next!I tend to plan my short stories around future anthologies- at least one to accompany each series, and then a series of Aetheriad anthologies (Aetheriad Tales, the first book of which is already complete with Patreon short ...
The Dying Soldier Speaks with the Penitent Goddess of War
This story was inspired by the “celestial bureacracy” trope common to East Asian and East Asian-inspired stories. It was also the shortest of the three voting options for October- the other two are quite a bit longer. (Though I won't say which the longest is!)The Lieutenant was dying slowly, and none of his magic could stop it.He could punch through stone, bend metal with his bare hands. His sword could hack apart armor, could conceptually slice enemy messages out of the air. He could revert his personal timeline by six seconds every mi...
October Short Story Poll
Hey, sorry I pushed this one so close to the wire, but I've got three options for you again! Got my feet back under me, writing-wise, and just doing a lot better mentally in general. Thanks for being so understanding last month, folks!I wrote two non-Aetheriad stories this month- I love writing the Aetheriad, but writing something outside it can genuinely be great for my passion and inspiration. And, sure enough, once I wrote those two, I was able to finally crack Ship Gods, an Aetheriad story I've been stuck on since... August?Edit: Op...
High Stakes Cartography
No vote this month, this is the only story I have ready to go. I, uh... well, had a rough month, mental health-wise (I'm fine, I just had an extra-bad bout of ADHD fun times), and I'm massively behind on literally everything. Whee! I'll try to rebuild my buffer next month, though.Anyhow, High Stakes Cartography is set a decade before Turoapt's rediscovery.--------------------------------------------Enthen Blue had never met or spoken to his best friend.This was, of course, because of the close in between them. Due to an amusing ...
Moss Gods, Volcano Gods
This story is set on Ishveos' Eastern Hemisphere, far from the Wall.-------------------------------The Divine Accountant Ajoci Etta raised an eyebrow at the forest priestess.“I’m sorry, you called me out here, six day’s ride from Wuchkiri on a golem carriage— a golem carriage with a limp, I should add, making for a truly miserable trip— for moss gods?”The forest priestess cringed. “I know how it sounds, but the moss gods are important to this whole operation. Moss is important in any forest— it helps store nutrients to be di...
Galvachren's History of the Pantheon of the Iterative Honeycomb
“Like Galvachren’s History of the Pridolow Wandering Villages, this short essay is banned by the Wall Guard, and commonly attributed to an older Galvachren, not the one who worked with Landis Ourna. For obvious reasons, enforcement of this ban is performed much more aggressively than the other— nearly so fiercely as censorship against City of Bridges.”-Open letter from The Wanderer, a minor Named of Anastis, to the scholars of the [Redacted].------------------------------------The closest the Wall ever came to being conquered was not by...
TCTWETW Alternate Chapter 1
Finally moved to Portugal, and getting settled in at last! Still going to be pretty hectic this month, so here's the alternate (original) chapter 1 for The City That Would Eat the World, written in... May 2021, I think? You can see a lot that's remained the same, but a ton that's different too- a first person POV, a MUCH more complicated magic system, etc, etc. All differences are non-canon, I'm not planning on including any of them in the main story. Looking at this again, I'm kind of iffy on if this is enough for y'all...
The Eyes in the Crack
This story was inspired by Patricia McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. Another of those fantasy classics I never picked up until my thirties.-----------------------------The Great Wizard Gelleg was not the greatest wizard in the world— but nor could it be said that there were any greater than him. He had rivals and peers, but no superiors.And at the peak of power, well…Most are content. Oh, once every century or two some mad conqueror would rise to power, someone who could not tolerate sharing the peak, but by and large, it was enoug...
Free Mage Errant Short Story
So bad news for me, good news for y'all:First, bad news for me: My old mailing list provider lost most of my newsletter signups. I don't even know how many, but a strong majority. (It's definitely partially my fault, but, uh... I'm not primarily mad at myself.) I got a new list up and running with a different provider before the launch of The City That Would Eat the world, but my signup list is still a lot shorter than it should be. Odds are, if you signed up in 2021 to 2023, I don't have your email anymore. (I don't kno...
Galvachren's History of the Last Migrations of the Pridolow Wandering Villages
“This work, along with several contemporaries, written centuries before Galvachren’s famed collaboration with Landis Ourna, has led native Ishveans into competing theories as to whether Galvachren is an immortal, possibly given the boon of true agelessness by the High Goddess Lamitu; or whether they are merely two different scholars with the same name. For all that Ishveos has far greater awareness of the Known Multiverse than the average world, the moon seems largely unaware of Galvachren’s far-roaming multiversal studies.Before we look ...
Quick question
Do any of my OG patrons still have the email alerts for Murder at Ras Andis and Gram of Clan Castis? I lost the exact Patreon publication dates for them, the first would have been in October 2019, the second split into two across November and December 2019. Not a huge deal, it's just really bugging me, hah.
Consulting Detectives
This story is set on Ishveos, on Cambrias' Wall.------------------------------------Inwood Tors was a traditional Wall Guard consulting detective in every peculiar.Oh, it wasn’t that there was an official uniform for consulting detectives— certainly not, the very thought of it was absurd. No, each and every consulting detective had their own, highly particular, fashion.But… each of their fashions seemed to check items off the exact same list of categories.Inwood Tors was immediately recognizable for his distinctive coat and hat, as mo...
How to Walk Through Hell
This story is set on Ishveos, on the opposite side of the desert from Far Selantur.Samarc had fallen into working with demons quite by accident. His career success in doing so, however, was anything but an accident.It had all started at the restaurant he’d worked at as a boy, working as a runner for the head chef, a six-armed slug-like demon who, for all his blurring speed with spoons and knives, couldn’t move around the kitchen very easily. That turned into a side-job running errands for the chef and his family, which in turn got him a job...
Mage Errant Kickstarter!
I'm sure lots of you have already seen it, but the Mage Errant Illustrated Omnibus just launched (and fully funded!) on Kickstarter!It's illustrated by the amazing Tom Jileson, and I'm so excited to finally show it off to y'all!
It's the Salt's Fault
Sorry for the late post! Forgot February is the short month.This story is set near Far Selantur contemporaneously to More Gods Than Stars, an ocean away from Cambrias’ Wall. It's an odd little slice of life story, overlapping my interests in speculative geology and the lives of ordinary people in extraordinary times and places, and I had a lot of fun writing this one. It's also one of the stories that could have come out prior to the release of TCTWETW, so I tried to walk a careful balance of teasing Ishveos without revealing too much...
Post-Release Reddit AMA!
I'm doing an AMA right now on the Aetheriad subreddit, r/Mage Errant! If anyone has questions about The City That Would Eat The World, More Gods Than Stars, Ishveos, or the Aetheriad in general, stop on by r/MageErrant to ask! Fair warning, full spoilers for the book allowed inside!
The City That Would Eat the World is out now!
The City That Would Eat the World, book one of More Gods Than Stars, my new sword and sorcery progression fantasy trilogy, is out now on Amazon and Audible!Thea is a washed-up mimic exterminator who expected more out of life, not some hero from stories. Aven is an impulsive wandering adventurer whose personal goddess is constantly getting her into trouble. Neither of them have the slightest interest in getting involved in world-shaking historical events.History doesn’t care what they want, unfortunately, and it’s fallen right into their lap...
More Gods Than Stars Preview Chapter #4
Time for the final preview chapter before release! The City That Would Eat the World, book one of the More Gods Than Stars Trilogy, is out February 11th- just a week away! If you could spread the word, that would be amazing! Chapter 4: Flashback: The Black SheepAven’s family had a story they liked to tell about her birth— that the first thing the midwife had said on handing the screaming baby to her mother had been: “This one’s going to be trouble.”Trouble would be understating it.Aven’s very first memory, from when she was still a ...
Theological Obsolescence
Theological Obsolescence is set on the world of Ishveos, the setting of More Gods Than Stars. The Confederacy of Angshan is located in the eastern hemisphere of Ishveos, far from the East Pole, the Meridian, or anywhere of true importance. Also, dang was the vote close on this one! ------------------------------------------------There is always a balance legal systems must maintain in their narratives, between simple chains of cause and effects and complex patterns of behavior.In life, of course, things are seldom simple narratives of cause and...
More Gods Than Stars Preview Chapter #3
Chapter 3: Get that Tablet!Just a reminder: The City That Would Eat the World, Book 1 of More Gods Than Stars, is available for preorder now in ebook and audio, and will be out on February 11th!------------------------------------------------After landing in the middle of the battle, Thea only had a second to breathe before the fight pulled her in.When a home-made polearm came at her from the side, a rusty butcher’s blade tied to a broomstick, Thea raised her combat fork to catch it by reflex, her trajectory boon and long hours of training ki...
The City That Would Eat the World Preview Chapter #2
Just a reminder: The City That Would Eat the World, Book 1 of More Gods Than Stars, is available for preorder now in ebook and audio, and will be out on February 11th!Chapter 2: Flashback: The Golden ChildThea was eight the first time she was possessed by a god, and twenty-seven the first time she witnessed a god being murdered.The former was uncommonly young, the latter was rare to the point of myth. The former was only of particular interest to Thea and her family, the latter was world-shaking.Yet the former was, in many ways, more important ...
The Last Dragon of Ishveos
There were once dragons on Ishveos.Now there is only one.--------------------There were once dragons on Ishveos.They came through a tear in the sky above the Scovan Range, a rip in the Firmament that should have housed a labyrinth. They descended onto the moon in numbers so great their wings blotted out the sky, blotted out the stars, blotted out the sun, blotted out even Viseas.They incinerated every village, every hermit, for twenty leagues in every direction, without making any demands.Their demands began farther out.-------------------There...
The Monastery of Useless Gods
The Monastery of Useless Gods is set in the Eastern Hemisphere of Ishveos, far from the events ofMore Gods Than Stars. (And wow, was the vote for this one close. I swear, the lead between it and The Last Dragon of Ishveostraded places every time I checked.)--------------------------------------Teppit woke as she did every dawn, to the commandments of ten thousand hungry gods.She’d slept with her soul suppressed, of course— it was the only way to sleep in the Monastery of Useless Gods. The only way to spend more than a few hours in the place...
The City That Would Eat the World Preview Chapter #1
So I've got good news and I've got better news.The good news? The City That Would Eat the World, Book 1 of More Gods Than Stars, is available for preorder now in ebook and audio, and will be out on February 11th!Better news? Well, that's in the title of the post! You get to read Chapter 1 right now!---------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter 1: The Murdered GodThea was chiseling a particularly bitey mimic off the side of a bakery when the gods began to scream.She’d tried to get the little bri...
Fossils Aren't Real
This story is set on Anastis, three years before the start of Mage Errant. It was definitely fun revisiting the Tomb Guard again, I love writing their weird little arguments! This one catches me up for last month- so you'll get one more short story this month! (I intend to have the voting buffer built back up before next month. Thanks for your patience, all!) Honestly, I was expecting the US election news to knock me out of writing mode for a while- you may have guessed that I am veryfirmly on the left (I feel like I've offered one or ...
Home
Home is a piece of flash fiction set on Ishveos, the world of More Gods Than Stars. I... don't usually write flash fiction, it's not a form I'm particularly fond of, but this one just kind of popped into my head one day while I was feeling down. It's definitely not a grand story, just a little snippet of life on Ishveos. It's also only part of this month's offering- I absolutely don't consider flash fiction worth the subscription cost. Currently working on answering more Mage Errant What If questions for the rest of ...
Updates, Bonus Extra
Few quick updates!First off, the manuscript for The City That Would Eat The World is officially off to my audiobook publisher, woo! Feels pretty good, and a huge load off my back. Still a little work I need to do on the book- write the afterword, get it out to reviewers, plan my release promotions, etc- but only getting it out to reviewers is at all pressing, time-wise, which is nice.Second, while I'm still... not 100% back on my feet mentally, the above has helped a lot. As I shrink the list of tasks I need to do, the remainder feel that m...
Clock Gods
Hey, here's, uh... last month's short story? I'm definitely getting my feet under me better, I'll hopefully have the next short story to y'all soon. Again, sorry about all this.Anyhow... Clock Gods is set on Ishveos, the world of More Gods Than Stars.It's on a completely different hemisphere of the world, and shares no common characters, but it does spoil more of the magic system than Sunken Gods, fair warning.---------------------------------Tithan Low’s first act on waking each morning was cursing the gods.Well, one ...
Quick Update
Y'all might have noticed a lack of updates this September- that's on me. Combination of burnout after finishing the new book, plus some less than great stuff in my personal life lately. I'm, for the most part, back on my feet now- I fully plan to make up all of the missing stuff here soon. Sorry about that, folks!
