New website is up at running!

To help celebrate the signing of the new series, The Last Quarrel, with Momentum Books, I have launched my own website.
Called, imaginatively enough, duncanlay.com, it's got news and reviews about the books, as well as writing tips and a few other goodies.
Keep an eye on it for the latest updates about The Last Quarrel and what else I am doing!

Meet the characters of The Last Quarrel

The new series, which will be released in three eBooks but each one in five parts through Momentum Books, starts coming out early next year.
I've given you a little taster of the story, now meet some of the characters ...

Fallon: He's been a village sergeant for more years than he cares to remember but has always dreamed of something more, and of being a hero. He knows that time is slipping away now and when fate finally gives him a chance, he leaps at it - without bothering to look where he's going...

Bridgit: Fallon's wife, she has been deeply scarred by all the children they have lost over the years. Beset by fears, constantly worrying about their one boy, Kerrin, she sees dangers everywhere. She only wants the quiet life but will find herself responsible for the lives of many, not just one ...

Kerrin: Their son, protected and pampered for all his life. He is about to be exposed to a real nightmare and given the responsibility of saving not just his parents but perhaps the entire lands ...

Prince Cavan: The Crown prince of Gaelland, forced to be the public face of the throne to cover for his father and brother. He knows it is not witches snatching children from the streets but getting anyone to believe even a prince of the realm seems impossible...

Prince Swane: Despised and maligned, yet strangely becoming far better looking. Cavan suspects he is behind the troubles plaguing Gaelland, or is it perhaps his mysterious hooded guest...?

King Aidan: Unpredictable, violent, prone to rage and yet also utterly charming. What role does he have to play in Gaelland's struggles?

Prince Kemal: The Crown Prince of the Kotterman Empire. This vast, sprawling confederation of lands is greatly admired by the Gaellish. But do they have something to do with the evil stalking the streets and counties?

Duchess Dina: When her husband's ship sails into Fallon's village, completely deserted and without even a sign of a fight, she wants to know what happened. But while she is willing to help Fallon, it has to be done her way. Or else.

The new series teaser

So, if you read the last post, you will know that my new series will be published by Momentum (Pan Macmillan) as an eBook, with a worldwide release, with each book split into five parts.
But, you may well ask, what is the book about?
Firstly, it is set in the same world as the first two series, but a completely different set of lands. Time-wise, it is set before the events of the Dragon Sword Histories and there is no real link to either of the previous series, so obviously you don't have to have read them
Here's a little teaser, with more to come on some of the characters, later ...

Gaelland is a land gripped by fear. In the country, fishing boats return with their crews mysteriously vanished, while farms are left empty, their owners gone into the night, meals still on the table. In the cities, children disappear from the streets or even out of their own beds. The King tells his people that it is the work of selkies - mythical creatures who can turn from seals into men and back again - and witches. But no matter how many women he burns at the stake, the children are still being taken.   

Fallon is a man who has always dreamed of being a hero. His wife Bridgit just wants to live in peace and quiet, and to escape the tragedies that have filled her life. His greatest wish and her worst nightmare are about to collide.

When an empty ship sails into their village, he begins to follow the trail towards the truth behind the evil stalking their land. But it is a journey that will take them both into a dark, dark place and nobody can tell them where it might end ...

 

And yes, you will see the return of the Fearpriests in this ...!