Hey, so I missed the last blog post. Sorry about that. I’ve been doing one of those Bluesky writing prompt games (a couple of them, actually), and with that I haven’t been working on this as much as I should have. But I’m back!

So, now for the usual update on Tales from Karatera. I’ve made the decision to take my She-Devil story, which I mentioned in my post on the 4th of August, out of the project and into its own thing. There’s a couple of reasons for this, the primary one being that the concept is a bit too complicated to fit into a short story. It’s about a half-demon concubine by the name of Izabeth, trying to work out her identity and escape the clutches of her masters. The story’s supposed to deal with the themes of freedom and self-realisation while tackling the ethical horrors of slavery – with an emphasis on sexual violence and racial prejudice in slavery.

So, yeah, it’s not a fun story. And there’s a lot that can go wrong or be misconstrued within the limitations of a short story, where I don’t have the space to flesh out important points. So, She-Devil is gonna go on the shelf for now. I intend to come back to it at a later date and give it the space to do it justice, but you’re probably not going to see it for a while.

This does, of course, mean that I now have to come up with another story that takes its place. I’ve Providence’s perspective in Spiritbinders, and A Matter of Faith is also gonna be a story about Providence. Clanless is gonna be about the Bluebanes (the dragonkin in the Bluebanes, specifically), so I want this new story to be about the Redbloods. A Soldier’s Lot was about them, kinda, but it was quite brief, and that story was mostly just about introducing readers to the world of Karatera. I want to go a bit more in-depth with them, show exactly how the faction works (or doesn’t work). I have a rough idea of what I want, but that story is still very much in the concept stage at the moment.

Anyway, that story is gonna be number 5 in the reading order. So currently, the reading order for Tales from Karatera is gonna be this:

1. A Soldier’s Lot (complete)
2. Spiritbinders (complete)
3. Clanless (looking for editor)
4. A Matter of Faith (in 2nd draft)
5. Untitled Redblood Story (not started)
6. The Falcon and the Kite (WIP)
7. TBD
8. TBD

As ever, all of this can change at any moment, depending on my circumstances, changes of heart, and pure spiteful whims. AMatter of Faith is currently going through my writing group to tighten it up, so I’ll probably look to start working on the 3rd draft of that sometime this month. The Falcon and the Kite, I’ve decided, is gonna be about a pair of lesbian clerics going into a cursed tomb to fight demons. So that should be fun to write.

I’m also trying to get Clanless edited, because I’m trying to move out of home and I want to get that into an editor’s hands while I can still afford one. I’ve contacted one that I’ve worked with before, but nothing’s set in stone yet. Hopefully, this means that Clanless should be seeing the light of day either by the end of October or in early November – and Christ is it about time.

That’s all for this week! Next time I’m gonna talk about one of those Bluesky prompt games that I did last month, so stay tuned for that. And remember, if you want to support my writings, you can shoot a couple of bucks via the “Support Me” link up above. Or if you just want to stay up to date with what I’m doing, you can follow me on Bluesky or Tumblr, whichever is your preference (though I’m more active on Bluesky). See you guys next time!