Bibliothèque des Refusés

Morning Stars 

(exclusive to newsletter subscribers)

The commandant of an imperial outpost finds himself increasingly unmoored from the certainties that have shaped his life. A side-story to the Hibernia Altera sequence, set some centuries before the novels, that also intersects with ‘Necrologue’. 

Veni, vidi, vicit 

(exclusive to newsletter subscribers)

In this homage to the work of M.R. James, the students relating strange tales in their Mystery Club encounter terrors that are more than merely literary.

Battle Book 

(included in collection Fluctuation in Disorder)

The depths of winter. Clement and Bosco are underage volunteers in the Resistance, fighting an alien invasion. A side-story to the Hibernia Altera sequence, set some centuries before the novels.

Each Tether Has Its End 

(included in collection Fluctuation in Disorder)

In the beginning was the word, and the word was ‘enough’. 

A cataclysmic drama of divine salvation and retribution plays out on a luxury cruise ship.

Fleeting Fluctuation in Disorder

(included in collection Fluctuation in Disorder)

A professional robber of museums, engaged on their last job, encounters the rage of the extinct.

Hallowtide Boar 

(included in collection Fluctuation in Disorder)

B’s daily walk to the office becomes, on Hallowe’en, profoundly transformative. An experimental story, that draws on both music and painting for narrative drive and aesthetic. 

Hell Hath No Fury 

(included in collection Fluctuation in Disorder) 

No fire, no brimstone, no demons—Libby discovers that what you find in the infernal regions is what you bring to the party.  

Necrologue 

(included in collection Fluctuation in Disorder) 

A Necrologue, a collector of the names of the dead, is galvanized by the realization that their own name might be next. Loosely linked to the Hibernia Altera sequence.

Someone Had Been Telling Lies 

(included in collection Fluctuation in Disorder) 

Jae receives a summons to the office—does this mean a place on the inside track in an organization where position is everything? Slipstream fiction set in the 'bureaucratic gothic' universe of Hollowmen.

The Last March of the King of Laois 

(included in collection Fluctuation in Disorder)

An environmentalist must choose between completing conservation work on a bog, and revealing an archaeological discovery. The disrupted narrative style reflects these conflicting impulses.

The Meaning of Frogs 

(included in collection Fluctuation in Disorder) 

A dead frog disrupts a bureaucrat’s unconsidered dedication to her job. An experimental story, that formally draws heavily on both visual art and music.

Thicker than Blood 

(included in collection Fluctuation in Disorder) 

Cliona, an ocean-dwelling vampire, joins those wishing to protect the oceans from energy-seeking warmongers. A side-story to the Hibernia Altera sequence, set in the Outland.