I'll be honest that I've not been keeping track of the latest Outlander news so it was a nice surprise to find out that not only will there be a new compilation book in the summer but it will include two amazing new stories! The book is called Seven Stones To Stand Or Fall and is now available to pre-order through Amazon for a July release date so it's just perfect for summer holiday reading! As well as the two new novellas it will also include Virgins, Space Between, Plague of Zombies, A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows, and The Custom of the Army.
The two new exciting novellas are:
A FUGITIVE GREEN
“Minnie Rennie had secrets. Some were for sale and some were strictly her own. She touched the bosom of her dress and glanced toward the lattice-work door at the rear of the shop. Still closed, the blue curtains behind it drawn firmly shut.”
[In which, a 17-year-old apprentice dealer in rare books is sent from Paris to England by her father, to obtain incunabula and medieval books of devotion—and whatever secrets of political intrigue or finance may come to hand in the process. In the course of her business, though, Minnie meets Harold Grey (Lord John’s elder brother), the newly-widowed (and alarmingly deranged) Duke of Pardloe, and things Fall Out.]
BESIEGED
“ Lord John Gray dipped a finger gingerly into the little stone pot, withdrew it, glistening, and sniffed cautiously.
“Jesus!”
“Yes, me lord. That’s what I said.” His valet, Tom Byrd, face carefully averted, put the lid back on the pot. “Was you to rub yourself with _that_ stuff, you’d be drawing flies in their hundreds, same as if you were summat that was dead. _Long_ dead,” he added, and muffled the pot in a napkin for additional protection.
“Well, in justice,” Grey said dubiously, “I suppose the whale _is_ long dead.” He looked at the far wall of his office. There were a number of flies resting along the wainscoting, as usual, fat and black as currants against the white plaster. Sure enough, a couple of them had already risen into the air, circling lazily toward the pot of whale oil. “Where did you get that stuff?”
[In which Lord John, anticipating a voyage home to England after his brief stint as military Governor of Jamaica, instead finds himself on his way to Cuba, where the British navy is preparing to lay siege to Havana---and where the Dowager Duchess of Pardloe (aka John’s mother) is a guest (and potential hostage) of Governor Juan de Prado.]
