The Moon-Silver Crown

The Iron Mountain nation is small, obscure, and under threat. From the frozen north come ravening giants. To the south lies the vast Mardanic Empire, nursing dreams of further conquest. Even within their borders, a cursed mountain disgorges deathless threats every spring.

But the people of the Iron Mountains have faith in their ruling queen, for like all of her line, Eydiel Orosu is beloved of the moon, and the moon is death. Allied by marriage to the nearest Mardanic province, they enjoy trade and a peaceful border. Her loyal troops are well-versed in battling giants, and undying minions of the Old Duke can be scattered by one word, one prayer, one glimpse of her blessed silver crown.

Wise, powerful, beautiful, Queen Eydiel is the bulwark defending her country.

She is not going to be enough.

A while back, I decided to write a fantasy novel. I wanted to involve a princess who didn’t need rescuing, and who didn’t fall in love. I wanted to take a lot of traits that are usually coded as ‘evil’ and give them to our protagonists. The result is The Moon-Silver Crown. A queen who’s also a death-priestess is the character we root for, and the person for whom everyone else is fighting.

I had the idea and I could see the princess in my mind very clearly, I started writing and gave myself permission to go long. When I showed it to an editor, his comment was “Bad news, this isn’t a novel. It’s definitely two novels.”

So we edited and reworked and got something I really like. It’s a story about losing your nation and fighting to get it back. It’s about treachery and foolishness, division and machination, and finding allies in unexpected places. It’s about disaster and recovery.

I’ve decided to do it as a serial for several reasons. First off, I love serials. Some of the writers who influence me most published their works serially. Secondly, I think it’s a good fit for the content. Thirdly, I want to give you, the reader, incentive to come back to my site twice a week.

That’s the deal. I release a new chapter every Tuesday and Saturday, and every chapter is going to cost just a dollar. A dollar! They won’t be any shorter than 1,500 words, and I’ll try to keep them under 3,000. Twice weekly you can have a little dose heroism and catastrophe, wonder and terror, characters to love and to utterly despise.

Let’s begin.