The Time Draws Near

It’s been a long time coming, but I’m nearly done with the first draft of A Murder of Crowns. It follows Lily and Lark as they deal with their increasingly destructive powers, taking them from the frozen wastes of Hold Saar to the searing basin deserts of the Third Country – a land where Goddeath is said to lie in slumber, bound by her rebellious priests and kept at bay by the Ageless King.

But in a nutshell: Sibling murder mystery in a dark fantasy setting, with an epic journey for a dubious cure.

Website Update

Since there’s only so many hours of the day I can draft and edit before words dribble into mush, I’ve been working on updating this website ready for a proper launch later this year. We’re probably talking a 2nd edition of A Handful of Souls, with new covers and marketing. Leaving stealth mode, is the tech nerd term I will glibly steal here.

Up till now my goal was to get two books out before properly ‘launching’. It’s taken a while, but writing a sequel to something as bizarre as A Handful of Souls was an interesting challenge. I like escalating events towards chaos, but that is quite complicated when the surviving characters are all fairly escalated already.

Newsletters and Prequel Novella

To know when pre-orders go live, you can join my mailing list. Panic not if things are a little quiet, the first newsletter will go out in the autumn once drafting and editing is nearing completion.

There will eventually be a free prequel novella for newsletter subscribers. It will cover some of the backstory for Dren and Terrano, with events leading up to things kicking off in a Handful of Souls.

Until next time!

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About the Author

Dangerously enthusiastic author of the Split Sea novels, Stephen lives in Cambridge UK and writes software as well as books. Winner of absolutely nothing, he writes words that make you laugh, wince and cry - which is a fairly similar experience to reading his code. He has an ongoing obsession with electric string instruments. He is a slow reader. He is a terrible fidget. He is overly fond of a whisky or twelve in a loud bar before returning home and changing out of his sweaty clothes for some late night gaming.

His current writing schedule is 'write until your brain melts, then play some cello and write some more', because he is incredibly behind. No matter what year you are reading this, it will almost certainly be true. Send him more of those encouraging emails about that character you liked so he doesn't give up. Failing that send him a Nandos.

Contact

🟦 Bluesky: @writing-steve.bsky.social

🐤 Twitter/X: @writing_steve

📔 Goodreads: Stephen Rice

✍ Amazon Author: Stephen Rice

FAQ

'Where have you been since releasing A Handful of Souls?'

First draft of the next book in the series, A Murder of Crowns, is nearly finished. It's about twice the length and, to be frank, I've written it three times, trying to capture what people liked about the first book while continuing to work on my craft.

Writing a debut novel that people wanted to read felt like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Writing its sequel felt like trying to mass produce lightning in a bottle. I am slow, but I am learning.

I've signed up to your mailing list, why are there no newsletters?

First newsletter coming this autumn.

I've signed up to your mailing list, where's my free novella?

Once A Murder of Crowns is out the door I'd like to revisit some of the background lore and content cut from A Handful of Souls as a novella. This will be free to newsletter subscribers.