Shadowmancy

It has been very quiet around here lately. Lots going on personally and professionally and I’ve been paddling hard to keep my head above water. Next year should be saner as I try to take control of my artistic commitments. BUT IN THE MEANTIME, I BRING YOU NEWS.

I have just signed a contract with shiny Australian publisher Satalyte to publish my horror/fantasy novella SHADOWMANCY.

This is how I pitched it:

When Quay’s father is cast out of the Academy, the Chancellor takes pity on the boy and bends the rules to allow him to be admitted to the magical school. But the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree–soon it becomes apparent that the damaged young boy may prove a greater threat than his father ever was.

I didn’t plan it as such, but I guess you could look at this as a story about the Anti-Potter. If JK Rowling blended Ursula Le Guin with Enid Blyton and Tolkein, this is Le Guin filtered through Roger Zelazny and Cormac McCarthy. A very different proposition, I think you’ll find.

If that sounds a little familiar, it should. Shadowmancy was originally a comicbook serial that jumped from my Kagemono horror anthology series to the late lamented Terra Magazine, written by me and illustrated by the incredible Nic Hunter.  In its various incarnations three chapters were completed and two were published.

Earlier this year I decided that I really wanted to see the story through and I started converting it into prose. I was on the second chapter when Stephen Ormsby from Satalyte approached me about doing some work for him and I jumped at the chance.

I’m still working on it, but the story has grown substantially during this reinvention. I hope that we can use some of Nic’s lavish artwork but I have tried to make up for its lack by indulging the strengths of the new medium, so in addition to a more intricate plot you can expect a much more detailed look at the arts that Quay practices, from his own sociopathic point of view.

It’s going to be dark.