I have some exciting news about both Fragments:Book One of the Seekers Series and Interregnum: Book Three of The Seekers Series

But first- recently, my wife took this photo overlooking one of our pastures. It so reminded me of a passage from my upcoming book, Interregnum, that I just had to share the photo with you . . . and that passage.

Well, to be perfectly truthful, this is two passages, both happening simultaneously but in two locations, and in both our intrepid Seekers are in grave peril, under siege, and harried by unseen, unnatural forces.

Now- these are both from the original rough, unedited draft- so no fair critiquing the small details!

So here they are, and I hope you enjoy reading them a much as I enjoyed writing them:

Robinson tread soft and silent through the dark, still forest.

The sole source of light overhead flickered in and out of sight as the skeletal fingers of bare branches clawed their way across the thinnest sliver of a moon-face, that illusory motion keeping pace with his progress through these unnaturally silent woods.

Ahead, the open forest floor spread out, striped with silver light and moonshadow. The black tree trunks marched into the distance until they merged, became one, a solid wall of darkness that neither moonlight nor vision could penetrate.

He raised one hand in signal to his team, then stopped to listen. Phillip and Thaddeus’s training had been good, and his team moved nearly as silently as those lads could. Nearly.

But not as silently as whatever were those things ahead.

It had been just a feeling, a glimmer of something out there, just beyond sight. The barest hint of a form melding from one shadow into the next. But it had been no illusion. There was something there.

Because now more movement appeared, flickering, rippling in the far distance, a line of march moving this way, as wide left and right as he could see. The advancing front was so massive it had to be dozens. Hundreds, even.

But hundreds of what?

With one raised finger, he again signaled. Presaged only by a barely felt air current, stirred by unseen movement, one of his men appeared to his right.

“Chief?” came the barely audible whisper.

He put his hand to the man’s ear. “Take a gander forward. Tell me if you see anything.”

“Don’t have to take a gander. I saw ‘em , too.”

“Yeah,” Robinson peered ahead, his eyes beginning to ache as he strained to focus on something that simply refused to reveal any definable form. “But what, exactly is it you see?”

Before his scout could answer, one of the tree shadows directly ahead, not two paces distant, began to unfold. Something massive pounced. Whatever was wrapped in that flowing shadow, it was so big and so heavy, moving so incredibly fast that it knocked him off his feet, airborne and whiplashed, then landing to skid backward a dozen feet on the leaf-strewn forest floor.

Where only a moment before he’d been standing, darkness thrashed and there came a gurgling cry.

[…] attempt to swim across would leave huge vee-shaped ripples in their wake, easily seen on such a glassy surface, so strangely still, as was the air. So still and heavy it made the hairs on the back of his neck rise, as if disturbed by the building electrical charge of some impending storm.

Far to the north, there came a kind of roaring rumble, as if that very storm was birthed in answer to that thought.

A storm wouldn’t be a bad thing, right now. Uncomfortable, certainly, and cold. But a bank of clouds to blot out the thin light of the moon, rain masking any movement in the resulting deeper darkness, would be well to their advantage. And would likely make the patrols all the less diligent.

Phillip searched for the source of that rolling thunder, echoing anew even now. But the sky above, and to the far horizon, was clear of any storm clouds, the stars sharing the deep, black expanse with only a handful of nearly motionless, scudding vapor trails, thin wisps of shadow across the face of the sharp-edged moonsliver.

Strange. From where could such thunder arise? Now with it this shuddering vibration in the air, just below the threshold of the senses?

And then began the whispers, trailing through the sky above like those vaporous clouds, swirling, searching, carving great racing circles through the heavens. And growing louder.

He shot a look at Thaddeus, whose own eyes had grown wide in alarm. “We must go now, no time.”

He waved Thaddeus to follow and began running, bent low, toward the trestle. It was the only way, the only place they had any chance of passing without being detected.

Though a thin chance that was.

No for the news. It’s midsummer and work is progressing well on Interregnum, scheduled to be available for pre-order by November of this year. It’s been such fun writing this series, and if you think the stakes ramped up in Book Two, Inheritance, then you have a real treat coming in Book Three.

But I don’t want to ignore the first book of the series, Fragments, an installment in the story near and dear to my heart, and to many of yours, judging by your emails.

So now I have two announcements about Fragments.

First, we’ve gotten a ton of market feedback, and a great deal, as well, from all of you. The current series covers, created by Jenneth Leed of Inkmarker Design, are gorgeous, and I truly love them . . . so dark and mysterious.

But that feedback has reinforced my own initial reaction to that design- that the icon evoked a sense of the occult. As you might imagine, that’s not a good thing for a Christian book. And because of it, people looking for a Christian-made story often get the wrong impression of mine.

So we’ve decided to do something about it.

I’ve put out a call for new cover concepts, and for the next few months, I’ll be giving the most likely candidates a trial run.

The first of these is currently up on my website, and also graces the ebook on Amazon. A sneak peek can be seen below.

Let me know what you think.

The other big news is also related to feedback I’ve gotten from you.

It’s probably no surprise to you when I tell you I’m no fan of big tech in general, or of big online platforms. In my stories, I do write about a freedom-killing worldwide tyranny in my stories, after all.

Many of you who read print books or listen to audiobooks (like me), prefer to support a variety of independent platforms, like Downpour.com, as do I, and print and audio will remain available wide- anywhere you buy books.

But I’ve learned that’s not true of those of you who prefer ebooks. Well over 90% of the ebooks I’ve sold are are purchased through Amazon (you really love your Kindles, don’t you!), and many of you have reached out to me, requesting that I make the books available through Kindle Unlimited.

So . . . your wish is granted!

Fragments is now available in Kindle Unlimited, and you can read it FREE with your subscription.

Be sure to let me know if you like it, and leave a review!

And keep your eyes peeled, watching this newsletter for the announcement when the other books in the series become available on KU, as they certainly will be.