T w e n t y S i d e d

Gilbert felt suddenly compelled to wake up. At the same time, he felt that waking up would be wrong, perhaps even rude and offensive. He didn't particularly want to wake up. Quite aside from the proddings of his conscience, he just wanted to keep doing what was already working for him, but he was finding it increasingly difficult to resist. In the military he'd learned that when you're called, you're expected to get out of bed first and then wake up. This habit was deeply ingrained.

The room faded into view around him. Overhead were solemn stone walls, illuminated by a flickering light somewhere off to one side. The walls had alcoves with coffins in them. He was in a crypt, like the kind used by the wealthy to bury their beloved, deceased, and exceedingly well-off relations. It was clean and well-kept, and the only thing remarkable about the crypt was that he was in it.

Gilbert sat up, and he heard someone gasp. His limbs felt numb and heavy. His mind was in much the same condition.

“M-master! Welcome back. Everything has been done according to your wishes,” the voice said nervously.

Gilbert turned and saw a young man kneeling on the cold marble floor. His spectacles glinted in the darkness, reflecting the light of the lantern held in his trembling hand. There was a thin mist on the floor around him.

Gilbert waited for things to settle down inside his head. When he was younger, he'd had a few episodes where he had gone drinking with his fellows and awoken later to find he'd misplaced himself. He found that sitting for a few minutes would do wonders in these cases, and eventually the details would come to him. Usually he just needed one memory to get the process started. Maybe he'd recall what he'd had to drink, or the girls he'd met and what he'd said to them. Or perhaps memories of a fight would surface and explain fresh bruises. Once a piece of the previous evening was in hand, the rest would fall into place and he would be able to remember where he was and how he'd gotten there.

Except, this wasn't happening. His memory was obstinately blank.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “The Witch Watch: Gilbert Is Dead”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

So now some people have had a chance to read The Witch Watch (which you can buy here) and have been expressing an interesting in talking about it. The print version comes out tomorrow, but I wanted to make some space for the early readers.

So, the usual open thread rules apply: Talk about the book, and don’t worry about spoiler tags. If you have a question for me specifically, be sure to put my name in there so I can tell you’re asking me and not just opening up a discussion.

So…

“Shamus, is Darth Vader Luke’s father?”

…will get a definitive answer, and…

“Hey, do you think Darth Vader is really Luke’s father?”

…will be left alone so that readers can come to their own conclusions. And obviously I’m not promising to answer everything.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “The Witch Watch:Open Thread”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.