World of Skills 2: Anger’s Reflection

Leave a comment

I’m happy to announce that the second instalment of World of Skills is now available to suscribers on my Patreon page.

The first instalment, Only the Wicked, is available to download free, also on Patreon.

There’s a dedicated page on the site for the series, which I hope will run to about 10-15 episodes, assuming there are enough readers to make it worthwhile.

What is World of Skills?

World of Skills is a fun little project based around a world identical to our own except for the emergence of “Skills”. Skills are unexplained abilities that manifest randomly in the general population.

My two protagonists are an insurance investigator and his associate, and their specialty is identifying when and how a Skills has been used in a crime.

To protect their employer – the insurance company – from having to pay out on claims in such cases, they try to recover stolen property or catch thieves or identify Skill-enabled fraud.

My protagonists are not un-Skilled themselves. The investigator, Darius, has a mysterious ability that frightens even the most powerful among the Skilled. Molly hides a secret even she doesn’t understand. But new differences give rise to new prejudices, and being Skilled can be more of a curse than a gift.

Why Patreon?

A lot of what I write, I give away for free. I’ve enjoyed doing this and I get a lot of satisfaction from it, especially when people reach out to let me know they liked something I wrote.

However, nothing I’ve written in the past has made me any money (a little side effect of giving almost everything away for free). As a consequence, I’m beginning to explore models where I might make a little bit of income from all the words I put down.

I’m trying to find a way of doing this which doesn’t offend or alienate any readers. While full-length novels or novellas might be sellable on Amazon, my preferred format is slightly shorter. Therefore: Patreon. It’s my hope that enough people who read this story will think it’s worth paying the price of a coffee each month to keep the series going.

I’m also putting additional content on Patreon such as short stories unrelated to World of Skills, information about the process of writing these stories, and occasional early warning when some of my writing goes on sale (or free) on Amazon.

If you choose to support me there, then you have my unending gratitude!

Introducing “World of Skills”

Leave a comment

I’m very proud to introduce you World of Skills. This is new series of stories I’ve been working on for a while.

The idea behind this effort is to provide some exclusive content to some people who support my work, by making it available to tier 2 and 3 subscribers on my Patreon page.

The first episode is available for free, by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post.

What’s It About?

World of Skills is set in the present day, in a world where a few, random people have developed unexplainable skills that appear to defy the normal rules of nature.

Is this like X-Men? I hear you ask.

I suppose so, but while the idea of people obtaining unexplained abilities is not new, my little series has little in common with X-Men in terms of actual story.

My hero(es) are an insurance investigator and his assistant/sidekick, who are employed to get to the bottom of expensive heists that cost the company a lot of money. Occasionally, they also assist the police in investigations that have unexplained elements that suggest a Skilled person was involved.

Is this like Sherlock Holmes? I hear you ask.

I suppose so, in some ways, but it can’t by like Sherlock Holmes and like X-Men, so make your mind up!

The Format

Two-to-five thousand word short stories. Each a self-contained adventure, but with season-long plot and character development arcs.

I will be publishing an episode a month at least, until the ‘season’ has run its course.

I anticipate about 10-13 episodes but that is subject to change.

Where do I sign up?

I really wish you’d asked that question instead of my having to pretend you asked that question. I’m going to provide the answer just in case you’re curious.

If you like episode one enough to sign up for the rest, the remainder of the episodes will be available through my Patreon.

There are three tiers to my Patreon, “kitten”, “feline” and “lion”. “World of Skills” episodes will be available to the last two tiers. If you like the style of my writing but not this particular series, then exclusive short stories are also available through Patreon at the “kitten” level. Subscribing at this level will set you back a bit less than the cost of a coffee each a month.

Where’s the Free Download Already?

Right here:

Download “Only the Wicked”