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https://www.autismgiftsuk.org/product-category/books/books-novels/books-novels-fantasy/

9/13 of these are mine, but I'm sure the others are worth reading too

No opening titles? Vile. Doesn't provide a proper opening to a story, and doesn't clearly signal to the viewer that the programme is starting. It also indicates the writer is too in love with their own work to make enough cuts to make a proper programme.

You and Me Versus the World

Philad had first seen her hanging up underwear to dry. She was young and pretty, really pretty, especially so for a washerwoman. He watched her until she finished, then leapt over the fence to the banker's back yard where she had been working, to introduce himself.

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Foreigner

Every year since the war ended, on midsummer's day in the capital cities of the joint Kingdom of Turnobae-Galnorndan, there was a memorial service.

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Part 5

The letter was addressed to Ander and Lilith Terney. That was either a mistake or a hint, because they weren't married. He was the son of a city guardsman from Tasal in Inpokkar, she was the daughter, only child, and heir of one of the most prominent nobles of that city, Viscount Rothsun. Who exactly they were and how they came to be living together in a cottage in the foothills of the Addrenn Mountains was a complete mystery to everyone in the area, but not to a grand total of five people, two of whom were themselves, and the other three were a hundred miles away.

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Apologies that there was no short story last month.

It Runs in the Family

In the Dwarven capital of Akallmil, Oryan, they liked order. They liked things to be sensible, and reputable, and that tomorrow should be much like today. The Human mafia based there? Not so much.

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I have a significant birthday coming up in two months. If you feel the need to buy me a present, buy via the following link and support Alzheimers Research UK

http://amzn.eu/2LvTV7I

Trepid Explorer

"Spread your legs."

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Buy books!

The final trilogy is now available as a single paperback volume. Currently only available on Lulu, it'll be a few more days before it starts appearing on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

EDIT: It is now available on Barnes & Noble.

The final trilogy in the series will be released on 30/04/18

Playing Doctor

"And stay out!" The door slammed shut, but not after a saucepan had clanged off the cobbles of the street that Max was now standing rather sheepishly on. His wife wasn't all that fond of him anyway, and now, in these circumstances...

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Orcish Commitment

The two Orcs and the Human sat in awkward silence. Awkwardness was not a natural state of being for Orcs, making the situation ever more uncomfortable. The human, a woman named Gisele, had put the baby to sleep a few minutes earlier, right after they had arrived back at Megnil's, the male Orc's, den. It had been Megnil's suggestion, and he'd made it to try and reduce the number of reminders about his foolish past. The child, product of a union between him and Gisele, now slept peacefully on a pallet in the rear section of the den. Megnil's new marriage-bound, the other Orc, was from another tribe, and the two had met each other long after Gisele had left the area to move to Port Retter. The people in the Human capital of Yalkat were not sympathetic to a Human woman who had had a child by an Orc, and had forced her out.

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Pancake Day

"Pancakes!"

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A whole series of NaNoWriMo novels, now available as EBooks!

Book I - Please Kill the Neighbours

Most nuisance neighbours can be dealt with by a court order. When your neighbour is a country ruled by an evil wizard, we recommend a demon.
Of course, you need someone ... disposable ... to summon the damn thing.

Meet Cullan and his companions, Alys and Kenyon, and follow their adventures when they're blackmailed into escorting Morgan, a gifted young mage, into a hostile country so that she can fulfil her Destiny.

Book II - Finish the Job So We Don't Have To

Whenever you kill an evil wizard, there are three things you should remember:
1. Kill his bodyguards and sidekicks as well;
2. Steal all his treasure;
3. Have an escape route planned in advance.
So... Second time lucky?

A second chance arrives for Cullan and his companions to loot the Tower of Morss - not that they really want to go back there after what happened last time. Especially with an invading army in the way. Oh, and having to kill the three most well-protected people in a besieged city first.

Book III - All's Fair in Love and Politics

Inter-monarchial relationships can be tricky things. There are all sorts of things to consider concerning alliances, succession, trade, and so on. Not to mention security - with all the travelling between two countries that will be going on, it makes it easier for someone to, for example, kidnap someone.

When Queen Elspeth is abducted on a state visit to Galorndan, Cullan and his companions are ordered to once again travel several hundred miles to find someone - this time to rescue, not to kill. Although, someone probably will need killing while they're in the area.

Book IV - Things Never Go Smooth

Gods exist. Some of them are family. And all families have squabbles. Some might say there's profit to be made from them - others say that now's a good time to hide in the cellar.

A chance sight of a Princess on the streets of Doronatha causes big problems for Cullan - not only do two Gods have their eye on the Princess, the Princess has her eye on Cullan. And to make matters worse, the only ones willing to rescue him aren't going to get paid for it!

Book V - Cult Following

People keep getting kidnapped. It's not usually an occupational hazard when you're a mercenary, so when it happens to you, it usually means your friends have to go and do the rescuing.

An obscure cult from the mysterious continent across the Eastern Ocean has decided that Morgan is the one spoken of in an ancient prophecy. It wouldn't be the first time she's been fingered by Destiny, but at least the cultists could have asked before taking her back home for training.

Book VI - Customs & Duty

There's a vicious new bandit chief operating in the area. There's also a conspiracy to usurp King Dashell and prevent his marriage to Queen Elspeth (for economic reasons, not political). Guess who gets hired to sort it all out?

If there's one piece of advice a young soldier of fortune might get from an older one, it would probably be, "never mess with religion, politics, or trade". This does tend to cut down the available avenues of work, though. So with a coup being plotted and not much time left before it swings into action, Alys, Cullan, Kenyon and Morgan have to take their new mercenary company after the ringleaders, and hope they don't get involved with all three at once.

Book VII - The Dragon, Shrouded

An exhausted and desperate man staggers out of a mountain pass bringing dire news from the South. Ancient legends are re-awakening, and dark forces are mustering to bring them into the light.

The Burning Rose Armed Company, now a Royal bodyguard detachment, are sent to investigate the man's story. With very little solid information to go on, and people disappearing, they nevertheless follow the trail into the vast Kcodi desert of the South.

Book VIII - The Dragon, Rising

War is coming to the North, whether it wants it or not. They are ill-prepared, fragmented, and unenthusiastic about the prospect - unlike their opponents. As the powerful joint Kingdom of Turnobae-Galorndan scrambles to forge an alliance that will give them the men to oppose the Sword Bearers' Army, what they need most is time...

Rather than face a massive army of religious fanatics who have found a symbol to rally behind, the Burning Rose are sent into Ras Natara on a twofold mission. First, a diplomatic approach to the Sultan to persuade him to diffuse the situation before it gets out of hand. Then, a clandestine trip into the heart of the Nataran desert to find the prophecised dragon and kill it.

Book IX - The Dragon

War! Invasion! Massacre! Betrayal! Mercenaries!

The Burning Rose have quite spectacularly failed in their mission to avert a war with an enemy that has a dragon. As a punishment, they are not allowed to take part in the desperate defence of the North against the massive army of fanatics fielded by the Sword Bearers. Instead, they have to journey into a legendary wasteland and find a talisman that can help them defeat the dragon. Without the dragon, it might just be possible to defeat the Nataran army that outnumbers the armies of the North by at least two-to-one.

The Original Trilogy

A single volume collection of Books I, II and III, with a new introduction, and an exclusive short story.

Available as paperback only

The Budding Rose Trilogy

A single volume collection of Books IV, V and VI, with an introduction, and an exclusive short story.

Available as paperback only

Available through Lulu, iBooks, Nook, Kobo and Kindle.

Origin Story

The Elf leaned back against the wall and slid down it. When she reached the bottom, she curled over and started to cry. That was how her room-mate in the Mages Wing in the palace of Darash found her two hours later. She quickly put her homework scrolls down and came over to give her a hug. "Serpenita, what's wrong?"

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So, the new ebooks:

They're absolutely fine ... apart from some piddling little details on the cover (like the series name) that aren't in the metadata (and there isn't a field to enter it either). So, new covers are being submitted as I type, and ebooks should be available from Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo, Amazon Kindle before the end of this month. Sorry for the delay.

EBooks of all the individual novels are already available from Lulu, price £1.99

Good news! I have re-worked the ebooks (again) so that iBooks and Kindle won't throw a wobbler and refuse to accept them.

Bad news: It's the Christmas holidays, so they are still being assessed by the QA teams.

All my books, both ebook and print are available through Lulu, and as soon as the ebooks get accepted for Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo and Amazon Kindle, I will let you know. All ebooks are £1.99, print versions range from £8.75 to £11.49.

More good news! In April, the final trilogy will be published in one big volume (paperback only). It will contain the entirety of Books VII, VIII and IX, the complete map with everything named on it that came with Book IX, an introduction, and an exclusive short story that will be found nowhere else.

More bad news: It's so big it will cost £25.

Even more good news! I will be publishing one new short story a month online until September. At some point after that, I will be publishing them all in something for you to buy, including at least one story that has not been put online. The book will include notes on where each story lies in the general chronology of the Have Sword & Sorcery: Will Travel™ world.

So, Happy New Year! Lots of things to look forward to from it!

I know I've not done one of these in a while, but I had to do a whole bunch of them to make up the wordcount in NaNoWriMo. Turns out that turning a song into a story only generates about 34k words, not 50k.

A New Kind of Golem

Liuprand was young for a wizard developing golems. His tutors had decided he'd got a knack for it, and had encouraged him to study extensively in the schools of magic that most readily leant themselves to the construction and animation of lifeless matter - Earth Elementalism, Enchantment, Body Control, and Necromancy.

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