The Seal of Yueh Lao

[ecosophia]

I'm delighted to report that the final novel set in the quirky, tentacle-infested fictive cosmos of The Weird of Hali is now in print in both paper and ebook formats, and ready to slither its squamous, rugose way into your imagination. The Seal of Yueh Lao is another plunge into the Cthulhu mythos seen from the other side, set two years before the last volume of The Weird of Hali. You can order a copy here.  Here's the back cover blurb: 

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A Legacy From The Eldritch Past...

 

Asenath Merrill, sixteen years old, spends her summers studying witchcraft in the village of Chorazin and her nights traveling the uncanny kingdoms of the Dreamlands. It's all perfectly ordinary if you happen to belong to one of the secretive cults that worship the Great Old Ones, your mother comes from Innsmouth and has tentacles for legs, and your grandmother is the Black Goat of the Woods herself.  When Asenath encounters a mysterious girl in the stone circle atop Elk Hill, however, her prosaic existence begins to stretch and blur into patterns she must struggle to master.

 

A century before, a family tragedy in the little Massachusetts town of Dunwich spun out of control and nearly plunged the world into chaos. Four centuries before that, armed men came to the Norse settlements on Greenland and slaughtered every person they could find, leaving a legacy that still troubles the family of Asenath's closest friend.  A secret from the ancient world connects those events with the girl named Cassie, and Asenath will need all her courage and her fledgling powers as a witch in training to unravel the mystery -- and open the way to her own unguessed destiny...

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So the Haliverse is finally all in print. What a long strange trip it's been!  The publisher will have some other special deals on books in the series to announce shortly -- and I've got a new novel under way...

Comments

Bought

[(Anonymous)]

Looks good!

Re: Bought

[ecosophia]

Thank you!

Tcho Tcho martial arts

[(Anonymous)]

Just downloaded and started reading JMG!

Don’t think I’ve ever been first in a comment thread before.

It’s good so far.

Did you base the Tcho Tcho martial art on Filipino stick and knife fighting systems? Silat and Arnis etc? It sounds a bit like that from the description.

Re: Tcho Tcho martial arts

[ecosophia]

No, I was actually thinking of some of the southern Chinese gungfu styles, but I'm glad to hear that it isn't too obviously that!

[(Anonymous)]

I downloaded it a few days ago, and the pre-ordered print book should shop soon. Hip, hip, HUZZAH!

[ecosophia]

Thank you!

[degringolade]

Read it: I will miss the whole series. This was all great fun. Good work John.

I still can't for the life of me figure out what the cover art had to do with the story.

[ecosophia]

Well, there's that. It's an attractive painting, at least, and nobody's wearing a bronze brassiere...

Damnit John

[degringolade]

Now you got me thinking about brass brasiers.

Re: Damnit John

[ecosophia]

My inner geek is pointing out just now that a Brasier is an old French car, and is not made of brass:

A brass brazier is an old-fashioned cooking implement:

While a brass brassiere is worn by women on the covers of bad fantasy stories:

Re: Damnit John

[(Anonymous)]

Showoff. 🤣

Re: Damnit John

[ecosophia]

Heh heh heh.

Cover Art

[davidtrammel]

Anyone else notice they have that barbarian woman riding side saddle?

Re: Cover Art

[ecosophia]

Yep. I looked for the silliest pulp fantasy cover I could find!

[(Anonymous)]

Will Yueh Lao get a walrus to keep the seal company? 😄

—Lady Cutekitten

[ecosophia]

No, because then he'd have to get a carpenter to keep the walrus company:

[(Anonymous)]

*chortle*

😄😄

[(Anonymous)]

Not to mention the oysters, and a bed for them.

[ecosophia]

And a band to play the Lobster-Quadrille!

[jpc_w]

Better that than a White Bear Out of Space. ;-)

another good one

[jpc2]

A fine read. Glad to see Molly. Wonder how she and the band took things?

About where on the Greenland coast was Tornarssulkalik Inlet?
If I did some digging I could find some 8mm movies of Thule. Including an air drop of 55gal barrels of fuel from a C-119. My father was stationed in St Johns and/or Gander, Newfoundland back in the late 50's

Re: another good one

[ecosophia]

I figure Molly probably took it in stride. The other members of the band may have been a bit more freaked out -- well, other than Ben, who would probably greet the sudden appearance of Great Cthulhu himself with not much more than a raised eyebrow.

Tornarssukalik Inlet is on the east coast of Greenland more or less due northwest of Iceland, somewhere on the great empty sweep of coast between Tasiilaq and Ittoqqortoormiit.

[barefootwisdom]

Thank you for all these books, John. They have been a really powerful journey, which has spoken to my life a great deal. I hope they continue to find the audience they deserve.

[ecosophia]

You're welcome and thank you.

FB no longer allowing Dreamwidth links?

[davidtrammel]

I just tried to post a link to Magic Monday and FB flagged the link as unacceptable. While I had posted them several times before. Anyone else noticing this?

Re: FB no longer allowing Dreamwidth links?

[ecosophia]

Interesting. It may not be Dreamwidth -- it may be that they're shadowbanning me, for reasons of politics.

Re: FB no longer allowing Dreamwidth links?

[(Anonymous)]

Apparently it was all of dreamwidth.

https://andrewducker.dreamwidth.org/3861716.html

Re: FB no longer allowing Dreamwidth links?

[ecosophia]

Well, drat. And here I was hoping I was either influential or annoying enough to have merited shadowbanning.

Series Link For Purchase

[davidtrammel]

Could you repost the link for the purchase of the entire series of books? I haven't read any yet and would like to get the whole series.

Re: Series Link For Purchase

[ecosophia]

I certainly can.

Re: Series Link For Purchase

[davidtrammel]

You should have them add the Noggoth Concerto books to the bundle too.

BTW I notice if you click the link for the bundle, you can not add any additional books. The bundle goes in a separate cart from the website one.

Re: Series Link For Purchase

[ecosophia]

They're preparing a separate bundle for The Shoggoth Concerto and The Nyogtha Variations. I'll announce that as soon as it's live.

[(Anonymous)]

Just ordered the book and read the preview pages. I am very much looking forward to reading the whole story! I was skeptical whether I'd like WOH at first, but when Owen left Arkham following moon path after he met the Black Goat, you got me. Despite having read all of the books so far, this is still my most favourite moment of the whole series.

Greetings,
Nachtgurke

[ecosophia]

It was about that point in writing the first draft that I knew that something really cool was taking shape.

[(Anonymous)]

I’m currently enjoying your latest offering. It’s sad that it’s the last one, the whole series has been an absolute delight. As a rule I never read a novel twice, but this series has broken that unwritten rule many times. I’m delighted to hear you are working on a new novel. I shall wait impatiently for it’s release!
Regards
Averagejoe

[ecosophia]

Thank you! That's high praise.

Ryan - long time lurker, sword and Cthulhu enthusiast

[(Anonymous)]

So, did you work off of a floor plan for the Mansion in the Kingsport book? If so would you be willing to post it? I'm interested in building up some Lovecraft themed terrain.

Re: Ryan - long time lurker, sword and Cthulhu enthusiast

[ecosophia]

No, not really -- I've got a general idea of what it looks like, but not a floor plan as such.

[(Anonymous)]

Greetings,

Any news on the new special deals from the publisher?

Thank you!

[ecosophia]

Still waiting to hear from him.