Laura is Ger’s last hope. His hoarding has ruined the lives of his neighbors and now threatens his own. As Laura and her team prepare to clean out his property under the glare of cameras, she is unaware that a sinister secret lies buried beneath the morass of junk, a dark truth waiting to kill her.
A six-thousand-word horror short story available from Amazon.
Here’s the blurb of my new collection of short stories.
H.G. Wells faces judgment by one of his creations. The Earth’s first tour guide for aliens encounters the planet’s worst ever tourist. The fate of Humanity lies in the hands of the most isolated man in its history. The Kefloins, having secured membership to the Galactic Congress for the Earth, now turn to the planet’s ambassador with their most terrible secret in the hope she can find a solution.
Four short stories about aliens ranging from humorous to deadly somber.
Currently available on Amazon.
My new fantasy short story, No Escape, is now free on Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and other stores.
A desperate warrior carries a baby girl across a foreign desert. Although truth and honor are tattooed on his cheeks, Tharo has abandoned both virtues in his quest to protect his charge. But it’s only a matter of time before he fails her. Another man stalks them, a hunter no prey can escape, the dreaded Souldiviner.
The winning cover was designed by Venanzio. It is awesome, but I must say it won against some stiff opposition. The facility to carry out polls is a really great feature on 99designs, because it allows you to test immediate reactions of people unfamiliar with the covers.
My intention is to make this story free out like The Fate Healer, so publication will be a little drawn out. I hope it will be free on all the usual stores by mid next week. Here’s the blurb to wet your appetite.
Dr. Herbert Marriott has a problem that only murder can solve. Luckily for him, the perfect weapon is locked away in his rundown museum, one too incredible for any court to accept. The cursed chair kills all who rest upon it. But will Herbert’s victim be so easily drawn to her fate?
I have published a new short story, The Fate Healer, on Amazon.
The genealogist Draston is charged with the impossible. His master, Hamvok the Merciful, craves a royal ancestor or two to legitimize his tyranny. But every avenue of Draston’s research comes to a dead end. Nobility has never sneezed on Hamvok’s ancestors, much less married into them. And now Draston’s time has run out.
To save himself from Hamvok’s violent displeasure, Draston promises to prove the tyrant is descended from a god. In doing so, he commits himself to a path of forgery and sacrilege. His enterprise will risk the wrath of gods. But, far worse, it will draw him to a shadowy figure more terrible than all the gods combined, the Fate Healer.
The cover was supplied by The Cover Collection. Here’s something that may interest those interested in typography. The H is a different font from the rest of the title as the original H looked too much like a small h. The change really suits the theme. 🙂
The following cover design by Paula Becattini.
You can find more of her work at http://paulabecattini.com or http://www.liqueocomunico.it. (The latter is under construction at the moment.)
I am indebted to everyone who voted in the poll. As thanks I’ve included anyone who left their names in the Acknowledgements.
The mobi version of the Parting Gift will be published on Amazon on 6th November.
First bit of news is that I have finished the current round of edits of The Unconquered Sun and it’s back again with my editor. Before The Unconquered Sun is released, I will be publishing a short story set in the same world called The Parting Gift. The draft blurb is below:
Certamen’s god is dead. His people, the Ors, are broken and enslaved. He finds consolation in the knowledge that they are safe… But not for much longer. Their masters, facing decimation by disease, are growing desperate. Desperate enough to kill.
I have a choice of covers for it so I am running a poll to decide which cover is the most popular. Please vote HERE!
I just received a round of edits of The Unconquered Sun, resulting in the usual array of vowel sounds (ooh, eh? ah, aha, etc), followed by cracking knuckles and feverish typing. The release date will be confirmed when the book is more advanced through the editing process. In the meantime, to wet your appetites, below is the cover, again by Marek Purzychi. It matches pretty well with the cover for A Bright Power Rising. I was a bit queasy about moving my name further up the cover, Frankly, if the Golden Rule was a trilogy, I wouldn’t have agreed to it. But I think it captures the Sol Invictus motif spectacularly. Hopefully, what will be behind the cover will be as good.
In other news, the short story which will hopefully be released before The Unconquered Sun has also been submitted for editing. More details on it shortly.
A Bright Power Rising has a new cover! The image remains the same but the titling has been updated to better fit with the cover of The Unconquered Sun.
The cover is already up on Amazon. The paperback will be available from Createspace by the end of the week, hopefully.
I know that having a series matching is important to many people so anybody who purchased/received the paperback/ebook with the old cover please feel free to contact me at noelcoughlan@photocosm.org.
The cover was designed by Marek Purzycki. You can find more examples of his work at http://igreeny.deviantart.com/.
The release date for the book will be announced very soon.
As for the story…
To the Ors, history and memory are indivisible.
Since the bloody birth of the cosmos, the death of their god, the Golden Light, has haunted them. The coming of a great darkness portends his return.
His would-be prophet, the Harbinger of the Dawn, was a pariah, but now few remain who would dare to challenge his authority. He is slowly reshaping a peaceful society into a genocidal war machine.
Grael Erol and the other inhabitants of the village of Pigsknuckle are unaware of this bright power rising beyond their mountains. However, an unlikely ally strives to protect them. For generations, the Gilt Spider has scourged their mountains and terrorized their dreams. Now, he may hold the only chance for their survival.
A BRIGHT POWER RISING is the first volume of THE GOLDEN RULE duology.
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