Bobby Normal is on his way!

Greetings one and all!

I hope this newsletter finds you safe and well as we continue to dip a tentative toe into 2021, hoping that we find the water pleasantly warm and not infested with starving piranhas.

So, over the last month or so, I’ve been hinting at my next project, Bobby Normal and the Eternal Talisman. I thought now would be a good time to fill you in on some details regarding this new venture for me. 

BNET is going to be the first of five novellas set in the future, after the Divergence has come about. Kanor has risen, unleashed his constructs (and a few more horrors besides) and humanity has been reduced to a pitiful remnant. Into this post-apocalyptic scenario are born our main character, Bobby, and his sister Katy. Bobby is early teens and his sister is a feisty eight-year-old. When the series start, they are eking out a meagre existence in the village of Irlingbury, a few years after their father was executed by Shadow Wraiths, a type of uber-construct. 

Not only is life hard for Bobby and Katy, constantly having to hide from the bully Teller whose father is a quisling for the tyrannical rule of Kanor, but one day they find themselves tasked with having to deliver the Eternal Talisman into the hands of the Man of Virtue who is currently residing in the neighbouring village of Orchester. It has been said that the talisman will be a tool that will help him to destroy the “black dragon”, Kanor.

BNET tells the story of Bobby and Katy as they journey out of their home village for the first time in their lives and the adventures that they have on the way to Orchester. They are chased through derelict sewers by a horde of rats, meet an elderly enigmatic traveller known only as Cutter and are constantly tormented and tested by the vile Teller, leading to a horrific and unexpected climax.

I thoroughly enjoyed writing this novella, which is currently in its formatting stage and I adore the amazing artwork that the talented Liam Shaw devised for its cover. It will be published this Easter and I hope to have a Kickstarter up and running in March to cover the publication costs. More on that next month but, in the meantime, all my Seraph level patrons are currently enjoying teaser extracts from the book in the run up to its publication and they will receive a signed copy through their letter boxes as soon as it sees the light of day. If you want more details about becoming a patron, then please visit my Patron page.

 

Anyway, that’s all for now. I hope February treats you and yours well and I look forward to chatting to you next month.

 

All the best, 

Austin.