Novella Is A Go!

 “I declare this manuscript is clean.”

That was Maer, my publisher, after we had ironed out the last of the changes for my novella BENEATH A FEARFUL MOON an Aubrey Hartmann story. Back cover blurb will be ready soon. Cover art will be ready soon. 

I'll be providing dates for the reveals as they are given to me. 

In the meantime, here’s a small teaser to whet your steampunk appetite:

 

Pulled from the mill pond, the corpse was bloated, swollen into a horrible caricature with a bluish-gray pallor. Aubrey knelt to examine the man, torn between revulsion of his current state and fascination for how he died. Only scraps of cloth remained on his body at the wrists, ankles and neck as reminders of the clothes he’d worn. Long, deep gashes crisscrossed him in a rough zig-zag pattern from the top of his head down to his toes. They looked like knife or sword wounds in tight groups of three. Doctor Glocken could tell her for certain, but Aubrey believed the man would have died from the first or second cut. Yet the mutilation had gone on for dozens of strikes.

 

One of the man’s eyes was filmed over white so that only the dark pupil could be seen. The other was missing. The empty socket peered back at her.

The story takes place a year or so after the events of THE CLOCKWORK DETECTIVE and also the next full novel (which I’m still working on). Aubrey has quite a case on her I’ve always enjoyed this story, and I’m pleased to share it with all of you.

How do you think the victim died?

Tell me in the comments below!