Michelle Franklin's Blog, page 18

Story for the Day: Mr Vostibbens, the Teahouse Cat - Part 2

Bartleby enjoys animals upon the whole, but as a subject to be studied and catalogued. Mr Vostibbens, the teahouse cat, is a confusing subject, however.
Join our Patreon page, and receive the novella about Mr Vostibbens at the end of the month.


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New Novel: The Leaf Flute -- coming June 28th

Before the events of Damson's Distress, and indeed before Damson ever joined Captain Danaco and his crew, the men of the good ship Myrellenos had thier own adventures.

The Leaf Flute is a prequel standalone novel about Danaco, Bartleby, and Rannig, following their time spent in Sesterna, where gang bosses reign, pilfering is legal, and a Lucentian pirate king and his crew are the only decent men about. A mission to save an emissary's effects becomes a quest to dismantle the entire Sesternese...

Story for the Day: Mr Vostibbens, the Teahouse Cat

Every establishment has its mascot. For the Quarto Cipher, that emblem of pride is Mr Vostibbens, the cat that enjoys plaguing those who have no idea about giving him any notice. Join our Patreon page this weekend, and receive the novella about Mr Vostibbens at the end of the month.


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Story for the Day: The Quarto Cipher

Marridon is well-known for its teahouses, the most famous of them all being the Quarto Cipher, the most popular teahouse in the old quarter. A favourite of both Danaco and Bartleby, the Cipher boasts a library, card rooms, game tables, a comprehensive liquor counter, and quite unfortunately a good portion of the gentry in Marridon:


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Story for the Day: Adiethian Gold - Part 2

We're getting ready to send out our next novella to our patrons. If you would like to receive the novella featuring Danaco and Bartleby, join the campaign on Patreon here, and receive a new novella at the end of every month.


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Story for the Day: Adiethian Gold

Adieth was the predeceasing Empire that gave rise to Marridon. It was a glorious kingdom on the Easter Continent that died out after the Great War. Many Adiethians who abandoned their god quit the continent and traveled west across the sea, and when they landed, they established Marridon, or Marradryn as it is known in Old Common, the land of the godless. They began their journey into the wonders of science and left behind all notion of magic, but the treasures they brought with them from the...

The Last Morning -- In Honour of Smokey

As many of our readers are aware, Smokey, our beloved cat, passed away on Sunday. We are inconsolable, but there is some relief in knowing that wherever he may be, his Haanta counterpart Khaasta will always be at Leraa's side.


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The Death of Khaasta: Rest in Peace, Ted, our Smokey

I have really done with the horror of 2016. My mind has tried to reason away the dejection and despondence of this abominable year so many times, but in vain. I convince myself to hope and happiness, my failures of the heart flying over personal bereavement with the ambition of reaching higher ground, but in vain. I do my utmost as an upstanding human forced cramble about in this world of monstrous inanity, but in vain. For all our cares, for all our great endeavours, for all our efforts and...

Story for the Day: The Marridon Wizard

Marridon is in general not a magical society. When they came to the west from the Olde Kyngdom of Adieth, Marridonians threw off their magical inheritance and their Gods in favour of a more scientific approach to life. While they do acknowledge that magic does still exist, Marridonians now are little disposed to care for it, but there are a select few who still like to keep to the old ways:

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The Haanta Series venerates Prince #RIPPrince

A demigod who reaches his apotheosis never mourns for himself.

It is the business of his many adulators to mourn for him. He cannot feel sadness to be so great, leaving all the rest of us to champion in trembling misery.

I, surprisingly, have very few words to offer, only because this year has taken so many sensational performers from us. There comes a time when the agony of loss is too great, when we feel it too much-- there is nothing left but painful astonishment. My grievances lie more with...