Posts Tagged ‘short fiction’

Discover the origin of the Rook . . .

Marie Brennan

Because it is just raining news around here, in addition to yesterday’s cover reveal for Labyrinth’s Heart and call for artists for the pattern deck (please spread the word!), we have EVEN MORE excitement for you today:

cover art for When Swords Fall Silent, showing a hooded greyscale figure wielding two blades

My Rook & Rose novelette “Pearl’s Price” is out at last, in the anthology When Swords Fall Silent! Because the anthology’s theme is “assassination,” “Pearl’s Price” tells the story of the origin of the Rook and the downfall of Kaius Rex. If you’ve read The Liar’s Knot you’ve already gotten some hints of that (and more will be coming in Labyrinth’s Heart), but this is your chance to experience the tale in full . . .

The electronic and audio editions are unfortunately only available from Amazon, as near as I can tell (US ebook / US audiobook / UK ebook / UK audiobook), but there is also a Kickstarter underway right now for paperback and hardcover versions. This entire thing is a charity project, with net profits (including from the Kickstarter) going to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and the research they do into childhood diseases, so it’s very worth supporting just on those grounds! (But, of course, I hope you enjoy the story, too.)

A new Rook and Rose short story!

Marie Brennan

Happy New Year! We are officially in 2023, which means that the publication of Labyrinth’s Heart suddenly seems so much closer than before: not next year but this year. About seven months from now! We anticipate getting our copy-edited manuscript in the next week or two, so the wheels of production have begun turning . . .

In the meanwhile, we have a new short story for you: “Constant Ivan and Clever Natalya,” written (or if you prefer audio, narrated) by yours truly. Those names may look familiar to those of you who have read the novels; the characters in question are figures out of Vraszenian folklore, a trickster heroine and her good-hearted hero. Having referenced them several times in the books, it seemed only natural to put their story properly into the world! So strap yourself in for a challenge set for a year and a day, horses of the dawn and the dusk and the mountains and the sea, and some prophetic turtles — it’s folklore time!