Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

Here's a quote from The Many Shades of Midnight for the #bookqw prompt 'colour'

A plague is turning people into monsters, and it's spreading.

#writingcommunity #writesky 📚🪐💙

Front cover of The Many Shades of Midnight and quote for Book Quote Wednesday prompt 'colour'

“We were in Flaeres,” Cantrell said, surprising him again. “Chasing rumours. Did you know Ado has been cut off?”
Brivar shook his head. Ado was far to the northeast, hugging the farthest edges of the vast Qido Empire. It was small, poor, and of little consequence to the rulers of Ellasia since its wealth in Isyrium had dried up a century ago. What it had to do with Flaeres he didn’t know, and he was sure from Cantrell’s tone that he didn’t want to.
Cantrell stared through him. He was talking, Brivar suspected, for much the same reason as Brivar was pacing. “Qido has closed its borders with Ado. Nothing gets in or out. No one knows why, or if they do, no one will say.” He blinked, pressing his knuckles to his eyes. “They came out of nowhere. I have never seen their like. Blue from their heads to their feet, naked. The colour of midnight. There were beasts with them, and it was almost impossible to tell one from the other—which was human and which was not.” He lapsed into silence, his gaze drifting. Then he said, “They went straight for him. I don’t know why. We barely got him out of there. I still have nightmares about it.”

November 5, 2025 at 3:35 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

#WIPSnips 4 November 'steel'

In The Many Shades of Midnight, Alyas has a matching sword and dagger made from Isyr steel, an extremely valuable metal. If weapons were characters, these blades could be my MC. They cause so much trouble.

#writingcommunity #writesky #writingfantasy

Quote from The Many Shades of Midnight for #WIPSnips prompt 'steel' for 4 November

A yawn overtook him, and he turned to pace back across the cave. His gaze snagged on the paired blades hanging on the wall, the elegant hilts the unmistakable cool blue of Isyr steel. Unable to help himself, Brivar ran his fingers over the cold metal, feeling the legendary silkiness of the steel that never lost its edge. They were weapons fit for a king—rare, priceless treasures. Irreplaceable. It had been impossible to mine pure Isyrium for decades. The rough ore that was mined these days was processed by the syndicates and used to power Ellasia’s burgeoning new industries and the work of its temples, but the purity required for Isyr steel was lost to the past. Wars had been fought over it. Even now, possession of it dictated relations between nations.
Cantrell, looking up, said bitterly, “Beautiful, aren’t they? Worth as much as the whole of Lankara. They were his father’s, a gift from the Emperor of Qido. Much good they did him.”

November 4, 2025 at 1:45 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

#WIPSnips 31 October 'monster'

Happy Halloween!

A mysterious plague is turning people into monsters in The Many Shades of Midnight.

#writesky #writingcommunity #writingfantasy

Quote from The Many Shades of Midnight for #WIPSnips prompt 31 October 'monster'

Dark shapes moved among the dead. There are no monsters here, Corado had said. Well, there were. He was looking at them.
“Yholis, that’s Gregan,” the foreman sobbed. “That’s my brother.”
Esar shot him an appalled look. ‘Gregan’ was on all fours in the carnage, his skin mottling from white to blue to black like the corruption of a wound gone bad, spreading its poison through him, changing him. He had once had a name; now he wouldn’t even recognise it. All around him were other changed things, men, women, children—Yholis have mercy, there were children here—and weaving between them the smaller forms of dogs, rats, and wild creatures from the plains. And everywhere they went, whatever they touched, they left it starting to sicken and die, changing like they had changed.

October 31, 2025 at 2:39 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

#WIPSnips 24 October 'total'

From my historical fantasy - the beginning of a falling out that will have devastating consequences.

#writingcommunity #writesky #writingfantasy

$Quote from Red Dragon Rising for the #WIPSnips prompt 'total' “I have never,” said Aymer d’Carle with a touch of exasperation, “made any secret of where I stand on this matter. Perhaps if you had listened a little more attentively over the last few years, you would have realised that.” It was too honest. He knew it at once from the way Carwel’s expression shuttered, anger disappearing behind the cool composure that always preceded his most vicious moods. “Oh, I know perfectly well where you stand, dear brother. In opposition to me in all things. Isn’t that so?” Aymer considered his brother-in-law, a man he had once called a friend. A man who, even now, he could appreciate for his decisiveness and quickness of mind. It was a shame that he paired those good qualities with a total disregard for anything save his own interests and a refusal to accept any checks on his power. A refusal that had alienated many of his great lords and seen the whole country suffer under the burden of his frequent wars, not just in Llyn but also in his territories across the sea in Laeros. “Not in all things,” he said. Had he not fought beside Carwel in every one of those wars? Had he not, at his brother-in-law’s request, governed for a time some of those fractious territories and attempted to curb their rebellious nature? Had he not incurred crippling debts in doing so, debts the king had yet to settle? “Just in this.”$

October 24, 2025 at 12:19 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is 'self'

Alyas sends a would-be revolutionary packing in The Many Shades of Midnight.

#bookqw #writingcommunity #writesky

Quote from The Many Shades of Midnight for Book Quote Wednesday 'self'

She stared at him, confused and disappointed. “We don’t want violence, but they won’t listen to anything else.”
“It won’t matter what you want,” Alyas said, opening the door. “If you threaten their power—really threaten it—they will fight to defend it, and it will be violence and death whether you want it or not. And they will win.”
Tersa walked out. Brivar made to follow her but a pointed look from Alyas pinned him in place.
“I thought you would help,” she said as she passed him.
“You thought wrong. Can I trust you to see yourself out? It would be most inconvenient if I have to take you home to your parents and explain that you damaged my property because you believe owning it is a crime.”

October 22, 2025 at 1:35 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

#WIPSnips 20 October 'field'

Slightly cheating with this one but it works - this is from my historical fantasy WIP.

#writingcommunity #writesky #booksky #writingfantasy

Quote from Red Dragon Rising for #WIPSnips prompt 'field'.

“Pretty eyes?” Aymer shifted his gaze to the Cynrith delegation, where Prince Darraion was indeed watching him. Smiling slightly, smarting from his own brush with defeat, Aymer lifted his cup in ironic salute, but the Llynish prince didn’t return the gesture, eyes flicking sideways to Carwel. Eyes that appeared perfectly unremarkable to Aymer, but he was not an impressionable young girl who read too many love stories.
“You can put that out of your mind,” he said firmly. “The Prince of Cynrith is the last man alive you should pin any romantic notions on.”
Mathild gazed innocently at him over the rim of her wine cup. She was nineteen, old enough to have been married a year or more had he been of a mind to accept one of the many offers for her hand. But he was not; she was only nineteen and so innocent still. In some things. “Because he’s Llynish?”
“Yes.” Aymer did not lie to Mathild, or to any of his children, and he had no desire to be one day forced to go to war with his daughter’s husband. The matter of Llyn had reached a temporary pause but it was not settled. “Men like that don’t live long lives or die pretty deaths, and that is not nearly as romantic as you think it is.”
It was, he realised, seeing Mathild’s expression go dreamier still, not the right approach for a girl who drank in stories of heroic battlefield deaths like strong wine. Well, she’d get over it. Come tomorrow, Cynrith’s prince would disappear back into his inhospitable heartland in Gytha’s Spine and was as like to die by a brother’s hand as a Mornish sword.

October 20, 2025 at 1:36 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

#WIPSnips 10th October 'prize'

I have this one! It's not a WIP, but here's a snippet from In Midnight's Shadow. Alyas is proposing to steal a famous treasure from a temple and Esar just knows this is a Very Bad Idea.

#writesky #booksky #writingcommunity #writingfantasy

Quote from In Midnight's Shadow for WIPSnips 10th October prompt 'prize'

“That was the easy part.” Alyas unfolded a sheet of parchment. “Getting hold of this was much more difficult.”
It was another sketch. Though ‘sketch’ didn’t do it justice. In the centre of the page, surrounded by crabbed notes, was an illustration of the Empress Ivane casket, colours and details picked out by a skilled artist. Esar scanned the notes, what he could read of them, then the faded signature in the corner. Not any artist. The artist. Eirik Hagan. One of the most famous Isyr craftsmen who had ever lived and the man who had made the box.
He met Alyas’s eyes with a sinking feeling. “Where did you get this?”
“Same place I got the Isyr. The Temple of Yholis. Their library is a treasure trove.”
Esar dropped his head in his hands with a groan. “You robbed Yholis so we can rob Ithol? Have you lost your bloody mind?”
“I didn’t steal it,” Alyas protested, retrieving his prize. “I borrowed it.”
“Do they know you borrowed it?”
“If I’d asked, they might have said no.”
“Then you stole it. And I don’t want to know about the rest. We’ll have no friends left by the time this is over.”

October 10, 2025 at 1:22 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

#WIPSnips 8 October 'dungeon'

Considering that I write fantasy, I couldn't find 'dungeon' in any of my books, written or in progress. I did find this snippet from a historial fantasy that I am wrestling with that has kind of the right vibes.

#writesky #writingcommunity #writingfantasy

“It sounds,” she said, “as if you’re trying to convince yourself.”
There was a long silence. Darri’s voice, when he finally answered, held a note of despair. “Not even in my worst moments. How could I? They are my brothers.”
And Reis he even loved, probably more than the boy deserved. But if Reis was conflicted in his loyalties, that was hardly his fault. None of these three were truly to blame for where they found themselves.
“Then it is what you do with them that is keeping you from the sleep you need?”
“What are my options?” The frustration was evident in his voice. “I cannot simply forgive and forget, go back to how things were.”
“Nor should you, I think. Especially Iro. But—”
“But Iro has spent too much of his life in a cage already? Do you think I don’t know that? He is what we made him. Should I be surprised that he hates me?”
“We?” Merionn shook her head. “Darri, that was none of your doing. There are many people Iro could hate for what was done to him and to your father. Maelys, Carwel, perhaps even Edelyn. But you were a child. It was not your fault, and you could not have changed it.”
“I was a child then. Not now. Now it will be my hand on the key and no other’s. And so help me, Merionn, I mean to throw that key into the deepest lake in Llyn.”

October 8, 2025 at 1:24 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

#WIPSnips 7 October 'safe'

I have lots of 'safer', 'safety', 'safely' in this WIP but so far only this one use of 'safe'.

#writesky #writingcommunity #booksky #writingfantasy

Quote from Northern Steel for the prompt 'safe'

“Hengyr told me… that he knew you were alive. Tais, I didn’t know, I swear it. I didn’t know.”
Hengyr. Her husband. It made it worse, somehow, hearing her say his name. “What would you have done if you did?”
He couldn’t keep the bitterness from his voice and Istra looked away, unable to meet his eyes. What did he expect? He had seen where she lived, the luxuries she enjoyed that he could never give her, never give his daughter, not even if he lived a hundred lifetimes. Of course she wouldn’t have exchanged that for more of the same hardship she had tried so long to escape. It was just one more thing he couldn’t blame her for, but Yholis, it hurt. Because he might not have been able to give them much, but he would have given them everything.
“Do you love him?” he demanded roughly, turning the knife on himself, as if he wasn’t bleeding enough already. “Did you love me?”
“Why? What can it matter now?”
“It matters because we have a daughter! You might be able to forget that, but I can’t. I couldn’t, not once these last five years. I need to know, Istra.”
She stared at him, exasperated. “Did I? I don’t know. You were safe, kind. You were there. Did you love me? Or was I just a distraction from Cat?”

October 7, 2025 at 12:26 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

#WIPSnips 6 October 'miss'

When your characters have enough problems without a crown prince who should know better popping in for a visit.

#writingcommunity #writesky #booksky #writingfantasy

Quote from Northern Steel for the prompt 'miss'

Very deliberately, she set the bottle on her desk. With some force.
Krado blinked at her in surprise, oblivious to the tension. “Really, Cat. I don’t see what the fuss is about. No one knows I’m here—”
“That’s the bloody problem! What do you think your guards will do once they realise you’re missing? Gods, they’ll tear this city apart.” And anyone who got in their way.
“But they don’t know,” he said patiently. “They think I’m in seclusion, contemplating the state of my soul or something. They won’t find out for, oh, hours.” An airy wave of his hand served to underline the vagueness of this estimate.
“They won’t find out at all,” she snapped, “because you’re going back. Osk—”
“No.” Krado leant back in the chair and crossed his legs at the ankles with a casual smile that nevertheless conveyed the immovable force of the imperial will. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

October 6, 2025 at 1:00 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

#WIPSnips October 4 - 'hunt'
I don't have 'hunt' in this WIP, but I do have 'follow' in this scene, and it has the right vibes.

#writingcommunity #writesky #booksky #writingfantasy

Grey Coat stuck with Tais as he left the temple square, and the familiar prickle settled between his shoulder blades. He wasn’t imagining it. The man was following him.
He assessed his options. He wasn’t far from the edge of the Silks. The sensible course would be to let the gate guards deal with his shadow. He had been intending to take the blades to Vir anyway, and he would have bet a month’s pay that it was only because of the Isyr that he had a shadow in the first place.
On the other hand, he was tired and fed up, and beating answers out of someone suited his mood far better than prudent retreat. So, he changed course and headed not to the Silks, but towards the streets around the garrison. He would be on familiar turf there, and Yholis help any thug caught threatening a former soldier on their own ground.
Grey Coat wasn’t stupid, however. As soon as it became apparent where he was heading, his shadow stopped skulking. He also multiplied, another man appearing out of the side streets to keep pace with Tais as Grey Coat closed in from behind.
Tais stopped. They weren’t going to let him reach the garrison. Well, fine. His hand was tight around the hilt of the Isyr sword, and he was itching to use it.

October 4, 2025 at 1:02 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

#WIPSnips today is 'hibernate'. I can't find a hibernate but sleep, or lack of it, is something that comes up a lot in my Tales of Isyr series.

Alyas has a problem with sleep, but he can sleep when he’s with Cassana.

#writesky #booksky #writingcommunity #writingfantasy

“You’re poor enough company after one sleepless night. I’ve no wish to experience your claws after two. So let me stay awake for you, and I promise, if you need me to, I’ll wake you.”
It wasn’t hard to imagine what he was afraid of. Or why, when he couldn’t stay awake any longer, he had found a place to hide away. What must his dreams be like for him to fear them that much?
“Cassana.” Barely more than a breath, it was the first time he had ever called her by her name, and it ached with exhaustion. His hand found hers and twined them together in the darkness.
“Sleep, Alyas,” she murmured. She squeezed gently and felt him, finally, relax against her. She was so tired it hurt, but she could stay awake if it meant he would sleep. Which he did, almost as soon as he surrendered, and did not, as far as she could tell, suffer the nightmares he so obviously feared. And as his breathing evened out, her own eyelids slid closed.

October 3, 2025 at 12:38 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

The Stuff With Fantasy Free Fall event starts today! 200+ books are free until 5th October.

Check out the sale at stuffwithfantasy.com/event/68930d...

#freebooks #stuffwithfantasy #indiefantasy

Collage of front covers of fantasy books in the Stuff With Fantasy Free Fall book event from October 3-5th 2025
www.stuffwithfantasy.com

October 3, 2025 at 8:02 AM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

#WIPSnips I don't have 'salmon' in any of my books, but I did manage to find a fish in this WIP

#writesky #writingfantasy #writingcommunity

Nineer stretched a hand towards the leather bundle he had placed on her desk, eyebrow raised.
He nodded, wolfing down the fish soup as Nineer unwrapped the blades. Tais watched her face. The Temple of Yholis was rich in Isyr. Donations from wealthy patrons filled its vaults and the emperor even had his own shrine to the goddess here, which was rumoured to be lined with the stuff. Nineer had probably seen more Isyr than he could imagine. Even so, he saw the beauty of the Ado blades reflected in her awed expression.
“Are these…”
Tais nodded around a mouthful of bread.
She shook her head in admiration, then flipped the leather back over their distracting perfection. “What are you doing with them?”
He told her. She frowned. “You think these have something to do with Hagan’s death?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But leaving them there… it didn’t feel safe.”
She gave him a knowing look. “How does it feel now? Be careful, Captain. Isyr gets under your skin.”
Didn’t he know it? Already he could feel the lure of the blades, the desire to possess them. He needed to get rid of the wretched things before that desire eclipsed good sense.

October 2, 2025 at 1:29 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

#WIPSnips for today is 'river'.

I don't have a river in my current WIP, but I do have plenty of canals.

#writingcommunity #writesky #booksky #writingfantasy

He took the torch and held it high with his left hand, casting its flickering light over the area around the body. They would have to flood the canal again soon to keep the morning water traffic moving. If there was anything here to be found, he had to find it now. Preferably not Hagan’s purse. He wanted this to be a robbery gone wrong, because if someone had murdered Qido’s master Isyr craftsman, his life was about to get a whole lot more complicated.
But there was no sign of a purse amid the assortment of debris that choked the mud of the canal bed, nor anything else that could be connected to the body. It had all been here too long, most of it half-rotted and barely distinguishable from the slime it was becoming.
A child’s doll poked out of the filth, painted features obscured by a black film.
“What’s that?” Berger asked, and Tais realised the doll was in his hand. He didn’t remember picking it up. The faded blue eyes were staring at him where he had smeared the mud away with a gloved hand, the lifeless gaze faintly accusing.
He tossed it aside, angry with himself. “Nothing.”
Berger glanced towards where the lockkeeper was waiting in sullen silence. “You done?”
Tais cast one more look around. “I’m done. You can get him out now.”

October 1, 2025 at 12:29 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

I've just finished the first five books of the Triempery Revelations by @triempery.bsky.social and it has immediately become one of my favourite series ever. It was hard to concentrate on anything else while reading it and now I can't stop thinking about it. I need book 6 in my hands soon...

Front covers of all five books of the Triempery Revelations by L L Stephens

September 29, 2025 at 12:04 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

I don't have a 'mire' in this WIP, but I do have 'sludge' and 'mud' in this snippet from the very first scene.

#WIPSnips #writesky #writingcommunity #writingfantasy #booksky

Tais gave up trying to keep the rain off his head and shrugged back into his jacket, crouching on the edge of the bank and peering at the dim outline in the stinking sludge. He shouldn’t complain about the rain. It had been too dry this spring and even the canals were low, low enough that the body had been found before it could putrefy, as so many did, in the city’s waterways. On the other hand, it meant the body had been found while it was still recognisable, and he had been dragged out of bed on this miserable night to stand here and stare at it.
He sighed, using his good arm to push himself back to his feet. The Watch had ordered this section of the canal drained so the corpse was resting on its bed of mud, but he couldn’t see anything useful from the bank. “You going to fish him out?”
Berger signalled to one of his men holding the torches, gesturing him closer. He turned to Tais. “Vir said to touch nothing until you got here. Said you would want to see the scene as it was found.”
Tais swore under his breath. “Of course he did.” So now he was going to have to get down in the mud with the body.

September 26, 2025 at 3:02 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

#wipsnips 'leave'

Getting back into writing by trying to finish this WIP that I've been putting off for a while. It's set 100 years before The Many Shades of Midnight and is a 'how did we get in this mess' kind of story. And at this point the characters really are in a mess.

#writesky #booksky

Whatever resolve had brought Istra here crumbled under the assault of Cat’s anger. She dropped her gaze, edging towards the door. “I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry. I’ll leave.”
Cat shook her head in disgust and turned her back. “Go on then, run away again, back to your husband.”
“Cat,” Tais said gently, reaching out to take her hand. It was trembling. “Will you give us a moment? Please.”
She glared at him, rigid with anger. Anger he didn’t understand and never had.
“Please,” he said again. Istra couldn’t go yet. He needed to talk to her.
Cat’s hands closed into fists and he tensed, half expecting her to hit him, but she just threw the cloth into his lap and stalked out. The slamming of the door set off explosions in his head.
Istra watched Cat leave. “She hates me.”
Tais shook his head and regretted it. “She’s just angry, mainly with me.” What he had done in this instance, he wasn’t entirely sure, but it was so often that way with Cat.
Istra studied him with an odd expression. “You still don’t know why?”
Tais put his elbow on Cat’s desk, supporting his aching head with his good hand. “What do you want, Istra?” He was far too tired and hurt to navigate the complexities of Istra’s relationship with Cat, and he didn’t care to be lectured about his own.

September 24, 2025 at 12:24 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

The @narratess.com big #indieaugust sale has started.

My classic epic fantasy Silver Mage is among the 300+ books in the sale and it’s free! And the sequel is also on sale for 0.99.

Fill your e-readers: indiebook.sale

#booksky #booksale

Front covers of Silver Mage and Silver Dawn on Kindles against a partially obscured background of an engraved dragon. Text reading classic epic fantasy adventure. Indiebook.sale

Collage of book covers of books included in the Indie Book Sale.

August 23, 2025 at 1:55 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

It’s the last day of the Epic Sale of Beloved SFF 2025 and your last chance to pick up some amazing bargains from some brilliant indie authors. The Many Shades of Midnight is free!

talesfromthecircle.com/epicsale2025...

#booksky #indiefantasy #belovedsff #booksale

Collage of front covers of the books in the Epic Sale of Beloved SFF 2025 with the front cover of The Many Shades of midnight in the centre. Text below reading: Epic Sale of Beloved SFF 2025. Aug 7-11. Over 100 recommended books on sale for free or 0.99

August 11, 2025 at 1:06 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

It’s the Epic Sale of Beloved SFF books 2025!
Among all the amazing books, you can pick up The Many Shades of Midnight for free and In Midnight’s Shadow for 0.99.

talesfromthecircle.com/epicsale2025...

#indiefantasy #booksale

Images of front covers of The Many Shades of Midnight, In Midnight’s Shadow, and The Siege of Druine on Kindles against an illustrated background. Text: Gritty political fantasy
Epic Sales of Beloved SFF books
Talesfromthecircle.com/epicsale2025.html

August 8, 2025 at 1:46 AM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

New book release!

The Siege of Druine is a self-contained novel within my Tales of Isyr political fantasy series. And the ebook is free via my newsletter.

www.andeira.net/newsletter

Paperback and hardback on Amazon: mybook.to/SiegeofDruine

#fantasy #freebook #booksky 📚💙🪐

July 31, 2025 at 4:36 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

So caught up in this gorgeous short story by @beneath1kskies.bsky.social that I almost missed my stop.

Cover of The Last Selkie, a short story by Rowena Andrews

July 11, 2025 at 9:40 AM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

There's still time to grab The Many Shades of Midnight and In Midnight's Shadow for 0.99 each - on sale for this weekend.

MSOM: books2read.com/u/brev8w
IMS: books2read.com/u/4jMPAk

#indiefantasy #booksale #booksky

Books covers of The Many Shades of Midnight and In Midnight's Shadow by CM Debell.
Review quote text: "I was absolutely consumed by this book"
"Takes your already broken and devastated heart and squeezes it further."

June 15, 2025 at 5:30 PM

C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

The Stuff With Fantasy sale is on today - 150+ books for 0.99

The Many Shades of Midnight and In Midnight’s Shadow are both 0.99 in all markets this weekend.

stuffwithfantasy.com

#booksale #booksky #stuffwithfantasy

Book covers of The Many Shades of Midnight and In Midnight’s Shadow in promo graphic for Stuff With Fantasy bookish solstice sale event - 14 June, 0.99

Collage of books participating in the Stuff With Fantasy bookish
Solstice event 14 June 2025

June 14, 2025 at 11:11 AM

Light upyour news

Sign in to Lightnews

Sign up to start reading

Connect Bluesky

Connect with Bluesky

Light up
your news