A Rare Interlude

With the completion of "The Ice Mummies of Haga Ephos" the first Winter's Riddle novel comes to a close.  I'd like to thank everyone reading this for following the story through it's various expressions, I hope that it's been worth your time.  An adventure is always more fun when you can share it.  The story isn't over, though, and perhaps it never will be.


Starting this Thursday I'll begin posting the next story, "The Bodies," which is part of a collection I'm calling "A Gathering Beauty."  These tales will describe various adventures the Fencer and the Trumpeter have in the southern lands, taking place after "Chambers of the Heart" and before "The Ice Mummies of Haga Ephos." 

When I originally conceived of Winter's Riddle I always imagined it being a series of vignettes, loosely organized chronologically around the quest for the Answer.  As the stories progressed I developed larger, more expansive plots.  These were great to work on, some even reach novel length on their own, but I wanted to see if I could produce shorter, more concise works.  "A Gathering Beauty" is such an attempt.

In the coming days and weeks there will be other changes to the blog as well.  Another redesign is in the works, as I do for each serial, new art as well, but there will also be versions of the first three Winter's Riddle books available for download, both separately and collected, with introductions and perhaps some new, bonus material.  Perhaps even a print version too, if I can manage it. 

So there it is; a year after the first, tentative post and it's become a full novel.  I never thought I'd get this far.  I don't like to post much personal exposition on the blog, it muddies the medium, so I'll leave things at that.  

-Joshua Sterns