The Vasini Chronicles

The Theatre of Shadows giveaway

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US people,

Nearly a year has passed since The Theatre of Shadows, the second part of the Vasini Chronicles, went out into the world.

To celebrate, I’m running a Goodreads giveaway. You have a chance to win one of 100 Kindle editions.

You can enter here.

You have until 15 July to enter.

And in other news…

The Vasini Chronicles III is still being written. It’s passed the 100,000 word mark and there’s still a few chapters to write until I have a complete draft.

I’m coming to end of working on the latest draft of Beasts of the Wildlands: Tales From Vasini II. This will hopefully mean I can move onto the copy edit, then a bit of proofreading and then it should — if all goes well — be in a position to go out into the world. Many digits crossed for that.

The Theatre of Shadows out now on Apple Books

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Hi All.

The Theatre of Shadows: The Vasini Chronicles II is out now on Apple Books. It’s available here if you’re in the UK or on your local Apple Books store if you’re not.

It’s still available to buy on Kindle and in paperback. (For those outside of the UK, please try your local Amazon store.)

The adventures of Drs. Marcus Fox & Elizabeth Reid continue…

In the two centuries since the fall of the deities, only a score of city-states have risen from the ashes of their destruction. Foremost amongst them is Vasini — a city divided by politics, class, and philosophies. A city with a threat in every shadow.

Six months have passed since the events of The Silver Mask. Over the winter months, Vasini was plagued by Gareth Miller, the Winter Fayre Killer, who murdered 17 people before he was captured by Lieutenant David Locke. The city now waits for Miller to be hanged. But when Miller escapes gaol, ready to terrorise Vasini’s streets once more, Locke must hunt the murderer again to stop him from claiming more lives.

As Miller flees into Vasini’s streets, Joseph Bastin, ambassador to Vasini for the city-state of Laège, is assassinated in a brothel. With the threat of political repercussions for the death, it is up to Dr. Marcus Fox, newly appointed Commandant of Police, to find the ambassador’s killer.

Fox’s investigation soon leads to a suspect, someone who has been investigating links between the Laège embassy and the worship of the dead deities – his ally, Dr. Elizabeth Reid.

Now, Elizabeth and her friend, Catherine, must act quickly to clear her name before she is found by someone who doesn’t believe her claims of innocence and she’s forced to dance the hangman’s jig.

But these events are only a prelude for what is to come.

The stage is set. The actors are in position. The play can begin.

The Theatre of Shadows is the second part of The Vasini Chronicles, a series of flintlock-and-alchemy fantasy novels set in the city-state of Vasini.

The Silver Mask Giveaway

For those in the US, there’s three days left of my Goodreads giveaway of The Silver Mask: The Vasini Chronicles I. You can enter here for a chance to win one of a hundred Kindle editions. The giveaway ends on 21 April.

The Silver Mask Goodreads Giveaway

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Hello, a quick blog post to let US people know that I’m running a Goodreads Giveaway of my flintlock fantasy The Silver Mask, part 1 of The Vasini Chronicles. You can enter here for a chance to win 1 of 100 Kindle editions. You have until 21 April.

The gods and goddesses are dead, killed two hundred years ago.

With their destruction the moon split apart, the sun dwindled and the land was devastated. Civilisation has re-emerged from the carnage, but twisted creatures still prowl the savage Wildlands between the city-states.

In the skies above the city of Vasini, a falling star, a fragment of the dead moon goddess Serindra, heads to earth. In the Palace district, Dame Vittoria Emerson, darling of the city, has been found dead, lying amongst her own vomit.

As Captain Marcus Fox of the Inspectorate hunts the killer, Dr. Elizabeth Reid searches for the remnants of Serindra determined to make sure the poisonous quicksilver it contains is not used. With Vittoria’s death threatening to draw the city’s political elite into a war of assassins, Fox and Reid must rush to expose the secrets that lie within Vasini before they tear the city-state apart.

The Silver Mask is the opening part of The Vasini Chronicles, a series of flintlock-and-alchemy fantasy novels set in the city-state of Vasini.

The Theatre of Shadows on Apple Books

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The Theatre of Shadows, the second part of The Vasini Chronicles, will be available on Apple Books from 18 April, you can pre-order it now. You can find it here if you’re in the UK or on your local Apple Books store.

In other news

Whilst I’m here, a very quick update on some of the things I’m working on.

I’m now 94k words into writing The Vasini Chronicles III. I’m past half way on the first draft, but it’s looking more and more like it’s going to be longer than I originally thought it would be. I should know by now that everything ends up longer than I expect it to be.

Beasts of the Wildlands – Tales From Vasini II – is being edited. It needs a little bit more work than I hoped it would, but I’m getting closer to being able to put it out into the world.

And now it’s 2022

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A little late, but Happy New Year, all. I hope 2022 hasn’t already destroyed the spark of hope that can come with the change in year.

So, 2021 happened, and I finally managed to publish The Theatre of Shadows: The Vasini Chronicles II.

On that note:

UK folks, The Theatre of Shadows will be available for £1.99 on Kindle until 12am 20 January GMT – you can find it here.

US folks, it’s currently $2.99 on Kindle until 12am 20 January PST – you can find it here.

So, what’s coming up for me this year?…Who knows. But here’s what I’m currently working on.

I’m 75k words into writing The Vasini Chronicles III, which means I’m hopefully past half way done on the first draft.

Beasts of the Wildlands – Tales From Vasini II – will soon be taken out of the draw for another edit and after that I should know how much work is left before it can go out into the world.

I’ve managed a first edit of Tales From Vasini III, but it will likely be sitting in the virtual draw until Beasts of the Wildlands is close to publication.

As a bit of a break from all the Vasini-related stuff, I’ve also been looking at my supernatural noir that has been sitting in the draw for the past few years. Still like it (very much), still (very much) want to see it published one day, still not quite sure how.

A short pause

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Back in August I posted about editing Tales From Vasini II: Beasts of the Wildlands.

I recently finished another draft and this one is now with someone to have a little look at.

While I wait to hear what they think, I’m having a look at Tales From Vasini III – the first time since I finished the first draft.

So, what can I tell you about it apart from it involving some murders around the Vasini docklands (and its working title is Murders in the Docklands)?

Well:

  • It’ll consist of three interconnected novellas
  • The current draft is 74,120 words
  • It will tie up a loose end from The Theatre of Shadows

And that’s about all I should tell you for now. After all, there’s a whole Tales From Vasini to come before it.

What’s next?

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The Theatre of Shadows: The Vasini Chronicles II has been out three weeks now, so what’s next?

Well, there’s a couple of things in various stages of development at the moment.

Tales From Vasini II — I’m deep into editing this. It’s going by the working title of Beasts of the Wildlands and will contain two novellas — tentatively entitled ‘The Hunters’ and ‘In the Ruins of the Deities’. This should be the next thing to come out, but I’m not going to commit just yet to when precisely that will be. The stories are set a little bit before and a little bit after the events of The Theatre of Shadows.

Tales From Vasini III — A first draft exists. It should consist of three interconnected novellas and will come out before The Vasini Chronicles III. The stories are set over the summer after the events of The Theatre of Shadows.

The Vasini Chronicles III — I’m about 30,000 words into writing the first draft of this. That’s hopefully about a quarter of the way through.

After The Vasini Chronicles III is written, I currently plan on writing something non-Vasini related as a little refresher before plunging back in with what will likely be Tales From Vasini IV. But all of that is some way in the future so could very well change.

Anyway, keep safe until next time. I’ll try to remember to let you know how things are going.

And if you haven’t already done so, feel free to pick up a copy of The Theatre of Shadows…

UK

US

Canada

Australia

France

Germany

Netherlands

A quick thank you

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Thank you to any and all of you who have bought The Theatre of Shadows over the past two weeks. I hope you’re enjoying it. Should you feel so inclined, please don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Even a handful of words can help.

If you’ve yet to get your copy of The Theatre of Shadows, you can find it here:

UK

US

Canada

Australia

France

Germany

Netherlands

It’s here – The Theatre of Shadows is released into the world

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It’s here. It’s here. It’s finally here. My new flintlock fantasy novel The Theatre of Shadows: The Vasini Chronicles II is out in the world.

It’s available on Kindle and in paperback here:

UK

US

Canada

Australia

France

Germany

Netherlands

If you’re on Goodreads you can find details and add it to your To Read list here.

I hope you all enjoy reading it.

The Theatre of Shadows
Book Two of
The Vasini Chronicles

The adventures of Drs. Marcus Fox &
Elizabeth Reid continue…

In the two centuries since the fall of the deities, only a score of city-states have risen from the ashes of their destruction. Foremost amongst them is Vasini — a city divided by politics, class, and philosophies. A city with a threat in every shadow.

Six months have passed since the events of The Silver Mask. Over the winter months, Vasini was plagued by Gareth Miller, the Winter Fayre Killer, who murdered 17 people before he was captured by Lieutenant David Locke. The city now waits for Miller to be hanged. But when Miller escapes gaol, ready to terrorise Vasini’s streets once more, Locke must hunt the murderer again to stop him from claiming more lives.

As Miller flees into Vasini’s streets, Joseph Bastin, ambassador to Vasini for the city-state of Laège, is assassinated in a brothel. With the threat of political repercussions for the death, it is up to Dr. Marcus Fox, newly appointed Commandant of Police, to find the ambassador’s killer.

Fox’s investigation soon leads to a suspect, someone who has been investigating links between the Laège embassy and the worship of the dead deities – his ally, Dr. Elizabeth Reid.

Now, Elizabeth and her friend, Catherine, must act quickly to clear her name before she is found by someone who doesn’t believe her claims of innocence and she’s forced to dance the hangman’s jig.

But these events are only a prelude for what is to come.

The stage is set. The actors are in position. The play can begin.

The Theatre of Shadows is the second part of The Vasini Chronicles, a series of flintlock-and-alchemy fantasy novels set in the city-state of Vasini.

Inside Vasini – The Winter Fayre Killer is captured

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There’s just two days until the release of The Theatre of Shadows: The Vasini Chronicles II on 15 July.

Soon you’ll be able to rejoin the adventures of Drs. Marcus Fox and Elizabeth Reid as they investigate the mysteries surrounding the death of Ambassador Joseph Bastin of Laège and the escape of Gareth Miller, the Winter Fayre Killer.

I’ve previously mentioned the murder of Josephine Addams, the Winter Fayre Killer’s first victim, here.

Over the next three months, Gareth Miller would kill a further 16 people across Vasini. At first, the murders were not linked by the city’s inspectorate, with no connections between the victims, with the crimes being committed across multiple districts.

However, when a series of eight murders happened over one week, three of whom were killed in one night, all around the Farrier’s Square and southern Ferrymen’s districts, it became apparent that the bodies — marked by the ferocity of the attacks and the lack of motive — were likely the victims of the same killer.

With the suspicion falling on a single killer, the investigation into the murders was assigned to Lieutenant David Locke of the Palace District Inspectorate, Dr. Marcus Fox’s former sergeant. But the lack of motive and the apparent randomness of the victims meant that there was little evidence to point to a suspect.

Miller was only caught by luck, when the knife he had used in what was to be his final murder, was found with the victim. It was marked with the name of the shambles where Miller worked.

Below is a report from the The Guardian, one of Vasini’s newssheets, that tells of the final capture of Miller. (The newssheets’ interest in the murders was high throughout the investigation and they harassed Locke for more and more information. Much to Locke’s annoyance, they frequently got something wrong in their reporting, the least of which was how to spell his surname.)

You can pre-order The Theatre of Shadows: The Vasini Chronicles II on Kindle here (or try your local Amazon store if you’re outside of the UK).