UPDATED OCTOBER 1, 2021: I just added a Kindle version of the story! Read on!

OK, it has to be said so I’ll say it: It has been a very long time indeed since I last posted on this blog. That’s done.

Anyway, my first new post in ages is an experiment. I have written a short fantasy story entitled “The Stone Child”, which I’ve decided to offer as a pay-what-you-want download. If you’re broke, you don’t have to pay anything! If you want to pay $100 for a 36-page story, well…I won’t stop you.

“The Stone Child” is a tie-in with my (unpublished novel) The Hole in the World, so it takes place in the same world and has two of the same characters. However, you don’t need to read the novel to understand what’s going on here (which is good, ’cause you can’t read The Hole in the World yet). You can read a bit about the world in these two previous blog posts: “Using science to imagine a fantasy world” and “Why set a fantasy novel on another planet?“

The plot concerns Mik-Lam, a young person with a helpful reputation, who suddenly finds emself confronted with a situation where there might not be anyone who can help: an invader from the Nightmare World who seems to hold power over minds and death itself. [Possible content warnings: a parent near death, two brief scenes involving gender-related bigotry, parasitic fungi.]

Without further ado: “The Stone Child”

• PDF format (513 kB, 36 pages)
• ebook version (39 kB)
• Kindle version (New in October 2021, 184 kB)
• PayPal (suggested donation $3)
• Ca$hApp (suggested donation $3)

If you need another format, please let me know. Thank you for reading!