Category: Mel Dunay

The Three Mysterious Metals of Thule: the Secret Technology of Hunter Healer King

Posted on Posted in Fantasy, Hunter Healer King, Lore Drop, Mel Dunay, Steampunk, World Building, WritingTagged , , , , , , Leave a comment

What if Atlantis fell…but left behind liquid metal that could heal any wound, steel that defies gravity, and an energy source that could power engines for millennia?

Three thousand years ago, when Thule sank beneath the waves, the Stormcrows escaped with more than just their lives. They carried the secrets of three mysterious metals, created during the first Immortal War before mortals walked the earth. These metals, known as floatsteel, quicksteel, and burnsteel, are the backbone of this world’s technology.

Airships fly because of floatsteel. Dr. Maxim os Storm heals the wounded with quicksteel. And burnsteel powers steam engines that can run for centuries without fuel.

This is the lost technology of Thule, and it’s everywhere in the Hunter Healer King trilogy…once you know where to look.

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Notebooks

Posted on Posted in ai, Art, bookbinding, Cool Books, Covers, Jane Austen, LLMs, Mel Dunay, Space Opera, Star Wars, Weird Science, WritingLeave a comment

Having gone on at great length about my AI secretaries, I guess I should show you the…more analogue side of my writing process: notebooks. (Disclaimer: I do not use fountain pens and cannot vouch for whether any of these are good for fountain pens.)

I don’t generally “journal” in the conventional sense of writing about my day or my feelings or whatever. (Although this year I’m trying to do gratitude journaling as a Lenten resolution.) I do write up todos to myself, when I am really concerned, or notes after doctor’s visit, or notes when comparison shopping for major purposes. But mostly, I take notes on stories I’m thinking about writing. I collect a lot of cool notebooks, and I also make my own, with varying degrees of success. Below the cut, a couple of examples, with excerpts from the writing process that produced Pride & Planetoids.

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Necromancers and Their Wights: The Walking Dead in Hunter Healer King

Posted on Posted in Fantasy, history, Hunter Healer King, Lore Drop, Mel Dunay, Steampunk, World Building, WritingTagged , , , , , , Leave a comment

The dead don’t rest easy in the Old World.

Necromancers summon evil spirits from the underworld and bind them into corpses, creating shambling servants called wights. And if a wight bites you? You might join their ranks.

They are a type of algomancer: feeding on pain and fear like other dark sorcerers. They bring their own particular horror to the world of the Hunter Healer King trilogy.

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Spring Book Sale

Posted on Posted in Cheap Books, Cool Books, Cool Websites, Fantasy, Hunter Healer King, Marketing, Mel Dunay, Space Opera, Steampunk, Weird Science8 Comments

It’s time for the latest Book Sale hosted by Hans G. Schantz, where indie authors from across genres join together to offer great stories at great prices. 

I’m glad to be participating once again. This event has always been a great opportunity for readers and writers to connect through their shared love of good books, without all the noise. 

My contribution this quarter is Undead Flight, the second book in my Hunter Hunter Trilogy. It’s a gaslamp fantasy where our horse-loving heroine faces vampires and zombies ON AN AIRSHIP, while sorting out her feelings for a certain sharp-dressed monster hunter.  It continues on from the first book in the trilogy in terms of the setting and the leads’ dynamic, but stands on its own as a story. 

You can find it, and many others, at the sale here. 

As always, I’m thankful for everyone who stops by, whether to browse, buy, or spread the word. Every bit of attention helps keep indie pub going. 

Happy reading! 

Video Thursday: What’s in the Box? Edition

Posted on Posted in ai, Fantasy, history, Hunter Healer King, LLMs, Mel Dunay, Midjourney, Steampunk, videos, Weird Science, World Building, WritingTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

https://youtube.com/shorts/R4meKyRdvYU

Maxim offers Chloe a box, and asks her to keep the artifact inside safe. She holds up the necklace inside and wonders “what has he gotten me into now?” Their relationship isn’t built on grand gestures. It’s built on trust forged while fighting monsters side by side. A romantic moment from Undead Flight, Book 2 of the Hunter Healer King trilogy. Which, by the way, is on sale now as part of Hans G. Schantz’s Spring Book Sale!

The Empire of Noricum In Hunter Healer King: Where Monsters Walk and Airships Fly

Posted on Posted in Fantasy, history, Hunter Healer King, Lore Drop, Mel Dunay, Steampunk, World Building, WritingTagged , , , , , , Leave a comment

Imagine 19th century Budapest, but with airships overhead, monsters in the shadows, and an elected emperor who’s mostly a figurehead.

Welcome to Noricum, the sprawling empire where the Hunter Healer King trilogy takes place. It’s a land of steam-powered innovation and ancient bloodlines, where Dr. Maxim os Storm hunts algomancers through gaslit streets and Chloe Fortebat discovers that the “Old World” is far stranger than she ever imagined.

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