A new arc of my fantasy cycle has started, now that the first arc, “The Extraction at 12 Kiln Lane,” has ended. I think this new arc will be quite interesting. Link for “Blackwater Contract.”

I put plenty of work into designing the characters. Here are the three we’ve met so far.

Jorren “Mudsong” Weir

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Cress Siltwell

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Eira Quenreach

Given that I’m not comfortable with human beings, I guess it was a matter of time before I started populating my stories with animals. And I like it a lot.

That brings to mind a quote I read about Patricia Highsmith, fellow autistic writer (was diagnosed post-mortem by a psychiatrist friend of hers, although it was obvious to me from her biography):

Early in 1967 Highsmith’s agent told her why her books did not sell in paperback in America. It was, said Patricia Schartle Myrer, because they were ‘too subtle’, combined with the fact that none of her characters were likeable. ‘Perhaps it is because I don’t like anyone,’ Highsmith replied. ‘My last books may be about animals’.