Christian Ellingsen's Blog
September 8, 2025
Radio silence
Hmm. Maybe I should actually blog here at some point this year.
December 19, 2024
A quick thank you
A quick thank you to everyone who has bought or read The Cities Within the Box over the past few weeks. The time you’ve given to reading Alex’s return to the Remnants is very much appreciated. I hope you enjoyed it.
Should you feel inclined to, please do leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Every word can help.
If you have yet to plunge into The Cities Within the Box, you can find it here:
Writing-wise, I’ve finished a short story I’d been working on as a bit of palate cleanser. It is now with someone else to have a look at before I give it a bit of edit and then decide what I’m going to do with it.
With that out of the way for the moment, I’m now working on the second two novellas of Tales From Vasini IV. I should, fingers crossed, have a draft of the first of those novellas finished by the beginning of the New Year. Maybe.
Editing-wise, The Vasini Chronicles III is back from the person who was reading it and, come the New Year, I’ll be plunging into editing it and trying to work out when I might be able to get it out into the world.
Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year, all.
December 5, 2024
Welcome to The Cities Within the Box
Woo’hoo. It’s here. The Cities Within the Box is out in the world.
If you like your portal fantasy a little bit surreal, a tad noir-y and with the tiniest splash of Christmas, then please do try my new novella out today on Kindle.
You can find it here:
Eight years ago, Alex went for a job interview. A very strange job interview that sent her on a rescue mission through ever more surreal and dangerous places in a land called the Remnants.
The rescue mission was a success, and she even got the job. But the craziness of that interview is all behind her.
The job has not been what she’d expected. A handful of simple, almost mundane, tasks. Nothing as adventurous or as weird as the interview.
Now Alex is heading home to her mum’s for Christmas, and the Remnants are about to summon her again.
A quick trip to the local shopping arcade will see them intrude in her life once more and lead her to be hunted through stranger places, this time in search of a box, the destruction of which could end the Remnants.
The Cities Within the Box is a novella-length sequel to the stories The City Between the Books and The Cities Beyond the Signal.
November 8, 2024
And now for a The Cities Within the Box giveaway
Hi all,
Just a quick note that I’m currently running a Goodreads giveaway of my new novella, The Cities Within the Box.
There’s a chance to win 1 of 100 Kindle editions and be amongst the first to read it. (US people only unfortunately).
You can enter here. You have until the 28 November.
Those who are unable to enter, you can pre-order The Cities Within the Box on Kindle here:
The Cities Within the Box is out on Kindle on 5 December 2024.
Coming soon.
October 10, 2024
A The Cities Beyond the Signal giveaway and other things
First, a quick note to say that, with The Cities Within the Box due out on Kindle on 5 December, I’m running a Goodreads giveaway of its precursor, The Cities Beyond the Signal.
US people have the chance to win 1 of 100 Kindle editions of the novella. You have until 31 October to enter here.
The Cities Within the BoxAs a reminder The Cities Beyond the Box, the next in The Remnants series, is available for pre-order.
(Please check your local Amazon store if your country isn’t listed above.)
In other newsI’m fast coming to an end of the second part of the ‘new thing’ that I talked about here. Once I’ve finished up the other three parts, I’ll be able to make a clear decision of whether it will be published as a duology or all together as single volume.
Alongside that I’ve been chipping away at a short story as a little bit of a palate cleanser from other stuff I’ve been working on. It’s in a very different setting to anything else I’ve put out into the world, though it’s a setting I’ve been playing around with in my mind and on paper for well over a decade now.
After I’ve wrapped those two things up, I’ll be moving on to work on the two remaining novellas for Tales From Vasini IV.
Editing-wise, I’ve worked on another draft of The Vasini Chronicles III. It’s currently with someone else to look at and after that I’ll be back to work on it.
October 2, 2024
The Cities Within the Box
Hello, all.
Some exciting news.
The Cities Within the Box, my new portal fantasy novella and the sequel to The City Between the Books and The Cities Beyond the Signal, is out in the world on 5 December on Kindle.
You can pre-order it now:
(Please check your local Amazon store if your country isn’t listed above.)
If Goodreads is your thing, you can add it to your To Read list here.
What’s it about? Well…
Eight years ago, Alex went for a job interview. A very strange job interview that sent her on a rescue mission through ever more surreal and dangerous places in a land called the Remnants.
The rescue mission was a success, and she even got the job. But the craziness of that interview is all behind her.
The job has not been what she’d expected. A handful of simple, almost mundane, tasks. Nothing as adventurous or as weird as the interview.
Now Alex is heading home to her mum’s for Christmas, and the Remnants are about to summon her again.
A quick trip to the local shopping arcade will see them intrude in her life once more and lead her to be hunted through stranger places, this time in search of a box, the destruction of which could end the Remnants.
The Cities Within the Box is a novella-length sequel to the stories The City Between the Books and The Cities Beyond the Signal.
September 26, 2024
Coming soon: The Cities Within the Box
Coming soon on Kindle.
March 25, 2024
A thank you and what’s next
Thank you to all who have bought and/or read Murder in the Docklands over the past few weeks. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Should you feel so inclined, please do leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Even a handful of words can help.
If you’ve yet to get your copy of Murder in the Docklands, you can find it here:
In other newsAnd this is what I’ve been working on since Murder in the Docklands was released…
I’ve completed the ‘new thing’ I was working on. It took a week or so longer than I thought it would based on where things were back at the end of January. It ended up around the 50,000 word mark. Since finishing the first draft, I’ve been having a little think about how I’ll put it, and the subsequent stories, out into the world. I’d originally envisioned it as a series of five novellas/short novels that could be published separately. However, I’m beginning to think it might be better suited to a duology of books — splitting the fives parts between them. But we’ll see how things progress when I write the next one and edit this first one.
With the first of those stories done, I’m going to shift to working on the second of the Tales From Vasini IV novellas
Editing-wise, I’ve finished up a draft of The Vasini Chronicles III. It’s now sitting in the virtual draw while I pay some attention to the sequel to The City Between the Books and The Cities Beyond the Signal. Once that’s done and with someone else to look at for a bit, I’ll be switching back to working on The Vasini Chronicles III.
February 22, 2024
It’s here – Murder in the Docklands: Tales From Vasini III
It’s here. Murder in the Docklands: Tales From Vasini III, my new flintlock fantasy book, is out in the world in paperback and on Kindle.
You can find it here:
Murder in the Docklands:
Tales From Vasini III
The city-state of Vasini was rebuilt from the ashes left by the fall of the deities. Key to its survival are the docklands of Mid-Port and Southport, where the fish and trade that feed and fuel the city are brought in.
As summer begins, the people of quality prepare to elect a new seigneur and médiateur. The city is getting ready to celebrate the Festival of Games and the city wall run. Trade flows freely through the Mid-Port docks. The days may be longer, but there are still deep shadows and threats within them…murders are about to happen.
A conflagration at a dockside warehouse leaves a nightwatchman dead. In The Fire, Sergeant Rebecca Flint of the Mid-Port Inspectorate is called to investigate the destruction of the warehouse and the death of the nightwatchman amongst the flames. But why was this warehouse targeted and what was it holding?
A local pickpocket is found dead in an alley. In In Service to the Dead, the murder makes no sense to Flint. Why was the pickpocket carrying a satchel with samples of strange plants? Was he murdered out of revenge or for what he carried? And, if it was for what he carried, why was the satchel not taken?
The crew of a river boat are shot dead as they travel up the Sini. In Juniper, Flint receives a mysterious note that leads her to an abandoned boat at the Southport river docks. Who owns the boat? Why is it of importance? Who sent the note that led her there and why? As Flint investigates, she’ll find answers to these questions and maybe, finally, to some of the other mysteries that she and the docklands have faced over the past months.
Tales From Vasini is a companion series of short stories and novellas to The Vasini Chronicles novel series. It tells stories of the wider world of Vasini and its environs. Murder in the Docklands contains the interconnected novellas The Fire, In Service to the Dead, and Juniper.
January 30, 2024
Inside Vasini – The Mortists
In the time before the fall of the deities, it was believed that when people died they went to Mhal — the maggot-like god of death, decay and the earth — either to serve or to be eaten by him.
Since Mhal’s destruction, the question of what now happens to a person after death has arisen and it is this question that the philosophy of Mortism looks to answer.
Murder in the Docklands: Tales From Vasini III is released on 22 February 2024. It’s available for pre-order on Kindle now.
