'The Mad Song' in Artifacts & Relics: Extreme Sorcery

I'm very pleased to announce that my novella "The Mad Song" has been accepted into Heathen Oracle's next anthology Artifacts and Relics: Extreme Sorcery

I get to share a table of contents with ~

Fred C. Adams

Collen Anderson

James Beaman

Joe Bonadonna

Steve Goble

Jonah Lissner

David C. Smith

Bill Ward

and

John M. Whalen


This promises to be a great Heroic Fantasy collection, and I will update when I know of an imminent release.


My tale is based off a cursed musical instrument known as the Pipe of Mahmackrah and thusly the Mad Song it plays....

I based the look of the pipe upon one played by John Two-Hawks a Native American musician that I became aware of through his work recording with one of my other favorite groups - Nightwish.

In the concert DVD of Nightwish's: End of an Era
Mr. Two-Hawks plays upon a double barreled pipe, the look was so distinct and unusual that when I thought about what kind of cursed instrument to use for my story his pipe was the only thing that came to mind. Though the cursed pipe of Mahmackrah is crafted of black onyx and covered with swirling eldritch runes.

I was able to find one great pic to share so you can see what I'm thinking of. Of course my tale has nothing to do with Mr. Two-Hawks apart from that, and the song incidentally that I listened to constantly while writing the Mad Song was actually every possible interpretation of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir.

The story is set in a desert wasteland, pregnant with foreboding spirit and legend, ripe for panic and dissolution, it awaits the traveling magic caravan or reader with hungry anticipation.