Like its immortal protagonists, Circles in the Soil is many things at once, some that contradict each other. At its core, it is a story about soulmates. A story that is many stories; stories that are ongoing. It is the messy, tragic, loving history of two people, originally known as Marbhcant and Cathalkempe, as they live and die and live again, relentlessly resurrected and struggling with memory, purpose, and each other. A solitary reaper and an outcast raised by wolves; a rebel and a hermit; a magician and her lover; a gentleman and a smith; a thief and her dearest friend; a tortured prince and a ruthless knight—they are all of these and more, bound together by happenstance, mystery, and the Grey Circle.
Circles in the Soil — First Edition Collection (2025) is a novella that follows the crossing of Marbhcant and Cathalkempe's paths in four lifetimes, centered around their connections to strange objects of red metal and the boiling hostility towards magic in their world. It exists as a standalone work that overlaps with the subsequent iterations of the narrative. This version of Circles in the Soil was exhibited in zine form at OCAD U's GradEx 110. Digital copies of the full novella can be accessed here.
Circles in the Soil — The Living Archive is an ongoing digital narrative project collecting even more stories across many more lifetimes, continually updated with new adventures. Marbhcant and Cathalkempe have been entangled with one another at the heart of momentous events in a profoundly shifting world for hundreds of years, each incarnation facing new wonders and horrors—the Living Archive traces this history, piece by piece, offering windows into the most trying, tender, and cathartic moments of their various lives. The Archive can be accessed online here and is always updating and changing.
The Circles in the Soil project in all its facets also serves as a prequel endeavour for K.V. Gently's work-in-progess novel series, The Grey Circle. For further information about The Grey Circle and Gently's other work, visit their projects page and their social media.