The Council Of The Dead

Hi everyone,

It’s such a surreal feeling to write this post and say that my fourth book, The Council Of The Dead, is finally out and can be bought on Amazon. For the past couple of years, it felt like the book would not see the light of day. Not because I didn’t aspire to it or wanted to, but because circumstances were out of my hand. That’s the odd part of being a writer that: it’s not mechanical. I’m not an AI who can push out of text just by command of a few outlines. I’m made of flesh and bone, and I bleed. And I can’t call him my father to say that the book is out, but I can dedicate this one to him. He meant the world to me.

I write my books because I need to tell a story that bothers me. With the Council Of The Dead, it was all about power and who rules who and by what authority. The concepts of society, systems, and leadership are baffling to me. We create these nations to guard ourselves against the great big world with uncertainty and promise of death, yet often enough, they end up robbing our sanity, good life, and even our death, sending the masses to mine minerals in poor conditions and fight wars without a point. Nonetheless, here we are, you and me, living inside a nation that was birthed centuries ago, trying to function in it in the best way we can and fill our expectations of what our lives should look like, constrained by the views of others. That’s what I have tried to portray with this one. The contradictions of the one and the few, and the many. But beyond that, I wanted to give Petula Upwood a chance to grow up and become a leader. Even when I wrote her and what happened to her, I’m not sure if she is satisfied or if she will become the leader we all deserve. In that way, this book is a fairy tale. I want there to be a moral in it, but who knows if I or Petula got it right. She, in the end, took over and wrote her own story. So did Henrietta Culpepper, the leader of the witches, Dow Spurgeon, Otis Thurston, Percy Allread, and Raul Emerett Porter. All of them wanted their story and not mine.

I have already started to write the fifth book in the series. I decided to give Cruxh, our fearless ghoul inspector, the central role and see what he thinks about the laws and rules of the city. But before that, I need to finish my sci-fi book. It has started to consume me as I watch our lives be consumed by data and statistics, rendering us as depressed consumers. It won’t be a humorous one. Writing without my usual satirical tone and without breaking the fourth wall has been an interesting experience. Sometimes, I wish I could jump out of the text and point out how absurd everything is. But I know Owen and Miles need a different kind of narrative to shine through. (Also a horror book is haunting me. I have had terrific, terrible nightmares lately, and heck they look like a movie that needs to be written.)

That’s about it. I wanted to say hello and share the good news. Sorry about not having written my short stories or book reviews for a while. I need to get more sleep and rest to be able to function. But what would a life look like if you didn’t burn it for your mind and body? We writers and readers need to suffer to exist.

Please buy my book. I need to feed the cats.

The Council Of The Dead

Past the dead sea under the watchful eye of Kraken Necropolis ticks on. If you drop your guard down, it will sell you as parts in a heartbeat. It makes its living from dead and dying. No one is safe, not even their necromancer leader, Petula Upwood. She’s fighting to stay alive and relevant. The Necromantic Council lurks behind her every decision. They think they own her and can rule her life and death.

Otis, the last maker of the machine of all machines—the one that can make your any wish come through, is locked in the Council’s basement. Everyone is after him. Petula too. Who gets him and his machine will rule Necropolis and the world.

The Council of the Dead is a political satire about greed, the Industrial Revolution, and unlike friendships set in Necropolis, where gargoyles are the surveillance force, ghouls the great philosophers, and the living willingly cheat and murder to stay ahead of … what — none one really knows. Contains witches, undead, and Mrs. Maybury.

Thank you for reading ❤ Have a wonderful day!