New Ebook Release: Brimstone and Brine

“Brimstone and Brine” was originally published in Stupefying Stories, and it’s been available in my collection Runes & Rivets for awhile now, but I finally finished putting together a standalone ebook version of it! Even better, it’s free! “Brimstone and Brine” is from my Tales from the Carving Bard set, and although each tale stands alone, it’s the one that I wrote first and the one that I would recommend reading first, so I made it free as a bit of a series starter.

Some of the delay on this has been sorting out a new upload process. Smashwords merged with Draft2Digital a few years ago, which doesn’t change how you read the ebooks, but the upload process is different (and somehow less user-friendly…). I had some issues getting the new system to not make changes to my formatting, so if you read the Smashwords version, and you notice anything odd about how it’s formatted, feel free to drop me a note through the contact page, and I’ll see what I can do to get it fixed. I try to test my ebooks out on as many devices/readers as I can, but I doubt I get them all!

I’m not sure if this was always the case or if it is another change at Smashwords, but I recently discovered that you have to have make an account to even read a free ebook on the site. As a person who is not a fan of having a bunch of unnecessary accounts, I decided to put this one on my website to give you another option for reading–you can find it here. Enjoy!

I like to have individual ebooks available in case someone only wants to read one story or a few connecting stories, but if you want all of my stories in (almost) one place, check out my collections, Sorcery & Widgets and Runes & Rivets (which includes “Brimstone and Brine”). I’m working on putting together covers and formatting for the other stories in Runes & Rivets, and I’ll be publishing them on Smashwords in the near future. I’m also planning to make some minor adjustments to my already-published ebooks (standardize the formatting, group stories that go together into series, etc), and as a part of that, I’m going to switch around which stories are available for free. Currently, it’s “A Small Kindness,” “Konstantin,” and “Nothing Altered,” but I’m going to trade those out for some of my newer stories, focusing on ones that start series, so get those for free while you can!

Smashwords Summer / Winter Sale through July 31, 2025

The Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale is happening now! You have a few days left to snag all of the great deals in the sale which ends July 31, 2025. My story collection, Sorcery & Widgets, is 50% and a handful of my stories are free–you can find all of them here, but there are a couple that might be of particular interest:

Sorcery & Widgets – 50% off

With this deal, you get 16 exciting science fiction and fantasy stories for $2.99! If you’re looking for lots of stories in one place and a variety of characters, subgenres, and worlds to explore for the rest of the summer, Sorcery & Widgets is a great pick!

Fish and Fools – Free

If you took advantage of my newest free story, “Brimstone and Brine” at the top, you’ll want to get “Fish and Fools” too. While each story has its own characters and adventure, “Brimstone and Brine” and “Fish and Fools” are both stories told by the Carving Bard, and if you pay attention, you can see a larger story building up in the frames.

H2O – Free

For a similar reason, you might want to grab a copy of “H2O“–it’s the first story in a set that continues with “Changing Keys” and “Recipe for a Mage“. “Changing Keys” is available in Sorcery & Widgets or as a standalone ebook. Currently, “Recipe for a Mage” is only available in my other collection Runes & Rivets, but soon it will also be available as its own ebook (see below). If you want to start at the beginning, you’ll want to pick up “H2O” before the end of the sale!

Upcoming: Recipe for a Mage

I’m finalizing the standalone ebook version of “Recipe for a Mage,” and then you’ll be able to continue the story that began with “H2O” and “Changing Keys”! If you can’t wait to read it, it’s currently available, along with six other stories, in Runes & Rivets. Since I’m planning to work through all of the other stories as well, I probably won’t make a post when I publish this one, but I’ll do a roundup when they’re all available.

Next Event: Sci-Fi Central on September 27, 2025

Keep an eye on the events page in case I add something between now and then, but at the moment, my next event is Sci-Fi Central at Science Central in Fort Wayne on September 27, 2025. This year’s theme is time travel, and tickets are available through Science Central‘s website. I hope to see you there!