Countdown to the cover reveal begins

The concept art for the cover of The Avalon Artifice has arrived. Super-talented cover designer and artist Rena Violet has started the design process and as always her initial concept hits the mark, continuing the themes of The Connickle Conundrum and The Brunswick Brawler. Over the coming weeks cover aspects will be refined until the final cover reveal.

With The Avalon Artifice due to be published at the end of the month, the race to complete the cover design is on.

Somewhere deep underground, Dr Felicity Angellyne De’Ath and Professor Maximillian Eis-Kalt, race to save the world.

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Meanwhile, here is the shattering conclusion to my weird fiction short story -

Talleyrand

Continued…

Only the light from the dimly glowing lantern on the stone mantel above the fireplace lit the room. In my haste to retrieve it, I tripped over Humphrey’s booted foot, but regained my balance, snatched the lantern, and turned up the wick.

The room was how I had viewed it through Humphrey’s eyes when we first entered. But this time I was free to let my gaze roam. Once-ornate wallpaper peeled from the walls, and the chimney breast above the mantel was blackened with greasy soot.

Humphrey lay at my feet. At his side, a red-rusted blade with the letters H.F. carved into its richly grained wooden handle. I collapsed to my knees beside him and cradled his head.

My heart leapt. Although his breathing was shallow, he was alive. As I wiped the dirt from his eyes, he coughed and turned his face to mine. His eyes lit up, but I realised with the lantern at my back, he could not discern the features in my silhouette.

He tried to speak. “Ro—” I pressed two fingers ‘gainst his lips, fearful of his next sound.

“You’re safe now, my beloved. It was just a nightmare. You bumped your head and…” I watched the delirium light drain from his eyes. I had lost him.

As I helped him to his feet, he opened his fist. In his palm, a crumpled, fading scrap of torn red satin, burnt at the edges, fluttered to the floor.

We walked back to my aunt’s house in silence. The sun was rising above the rooftops when we reached her door and parted with a dispassionate kiss on the cheek.

I have neither slept nor seen Humphrey since that morning. I know not whether he remembers our love. Have I been expunged from his thoughts? Has the ghost of Rosie O’Blue displaced me from his affections?

Now, as I sit in my scarlet wedding gown with a blue ribbon in my auburn hair, it’s time to lay down my nib and dry my eyes. The clock is striking eleven, and the candle on my writing bureau sputters as it dies. I must light a lantern and walk the long road to face my fate.

Will Humphrey see my journey through my eyes as I dreamt his ordeal?

Will Stormcloud’s hooves thunder through the fields carrying him to my succour?

Will the wind-rustled leaves carry his plea for me to hold fast for his arrival?

Or will I meet my destiny alone, for better or worse… at Talleyrand?

© Drew Halfpenny 2025