I’m thrilled to share a blog tour celebrating the release of The Violent Fae, with 12 Ordshaw short stories being shared free over 12 fantastic blogs. It’s a honour to be hosted on such great sites – check out the full schedule and information below:

What are the Ordshaw Vignettes?

These 12 stories explore life in Ordshaw through mini, flash-fiction mysteries. We’ve go a spectrum from drug dealer clashes, alcohol abuse and armed robbery, through to artistic impotence, domestic arguments and bike races, to name just a few. There’s no end of craziness in Ordshaw waiting to be revealed – and these particular insights are united by one question: Do fairies exist?

This comes ahead of the release of The Violent Fae, Book 3 of the Ordshaw series, out November 5th. A book that finally exposes one of Ordshaw’s best-hidden indigenous populations. The Violent Fae draws a close to the opening trilogy of the series, started with Under Ordshaw and continued with Blue Angel.

These vignettes contain fully or7iginal characters and situations, but frequently intersects with the series at various stages. Read the whole collection for a taste of the city or to build a bigger picture for seasoned hands. And if you’re eager for more, I’ve got a short ‘cheat sheet’ of trivia on each story’s wider relevance included beneath the story links.

The Stories and Their Blogs

Besides reading the vignettes, be sure to check out all the sites that are kindly hosting them. They’ve all been very supportive and are wonderful people! The links below lead directly to the stories.

 Lynn’s Books – The Banker

Space and Sorcery – The Troubled Child

Bookshine & Readbows – The Concierge

Brainfluff – The Crane Driver

The BiblioSanctum – The Chemist

Paper Plane Reviews – The Neighbours

Out of this World SFF Reviews – The Artist

RockStarlit Book Asylum – The Family

Jon Auerbach – The Composer

Fantasy Book Review – The Gang

Whispers & Wonder – The Fixer

Fantasy Book Critic – The Homeless

 I hope you’ll enjoy these stories as much as I enjoyed writing them. Be sure to check out the full Ordshaw series for more!

The Ordshaw Vignettes Cheat Sheet

With so much going on in Ordshaw, it can sometimes seem hard to keep track. I’ve prepared the following notes to help fit some of these stories into the bigger picture.

• The Banker: the first Ordshaw short written, originally drafted before the release of Under Ordshaw, as part of a collection of three stories. Set in the neighbourhood of West Farling, concerning a particular kind of carjacking, both details perhaps familiar from Under Ordshaw.
• The Troubled Child: an unaffiliated tale that carries some classic hallmarks of what some Fae might refer to as ‘funnies’ – namely, messing with people. Some funnies are clearly more extreme than others.
• The Concierge: takes place in the Baudelaire Club, visited and reflected upon in The Violent Fae.
• The Crane Driver: the only story in this collection to directly reference scenes from the opening Sunken City trilogy; takes place roughly around the same time as conclusion of Blue Angel.
• The Chemist: an unaffiliated tale that references names perhaps familiar to those well-versed in the Ordshaw underworld; “Jack” most likely refers to Jack “the Tee” McGee, mentioned in Under Ordshaw; “the Ashford lot” are clearly The Ashford Originals, known to loiter around the Colworth Estate. The unseen gunner is most likely involved in the less conspicuous Fae drug-trade.
• The Neighbours: takes place on a street visited in Under Ordshaw; Riley’s Bettor Off is a point of interest for Pax and Letty. But of course voices in the walls aren’t the only problems you’ll find wandering Ordshaw.
• The Family: an unaffiliated tale that, like The Troubled Child, most likely references the ‘funnies’ that the Fae so enjoy.
• The Artist: another of the earliest vignettes, written alongside The Banker and a third, unpublished tale (in which the crimes were rather less subtle). Set in the neighbourhood of Hanton, first mentioned in Under Ordshaw. It’s perfectly possible that Arnstrum is right, of course, about the trap and mugging.
• The Composer: another unaffiliated tale of woe, signalling a rather crueler interest. References Morricone Hall, one of Ordshaw’s finest cultural landmarks; the unrealised destination of the couple from The Wrong Way.
• The Gang: a jaunt into the warehouse district, ever-present in the Sunken City trilogy. This tale emerged during edits of the others, when it became apparent that the children of Ordshaw, out on their own, deserved some consideration.
• The Fixer: further gangland interference, referencing a dispute between the Ashford Originals and the Seventh Street Regulars (a group spoken of in Blue Angel). It’s unclear if Johnny’s fate was the result of a third party’s interests in their trade, or the simple meddling of a trouble-maker. Or hey, maybe things did go down the way Lodes suggests …
• The Homeless: the only story in this collection to directly feature characters from the Sunken City trilogy. Most likely takes place roughly ten years before the events of Under Ordshaw.