Crack’d Pot Trail (2009)

It is an undeniable truth: give evil a name and everyone’s happy. Give it two names and . . . why, they’re even happier.

The intrepid necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, scourges of civilization, raisers of the dead, reapers of the souls of the living, devourers of hope, betrayers of faith, slayers of the innocent and modest personifications of evil, have a lot to answer for and answer they will. Known as the Nehemoth, they are pursued by countless self-professed defenders of decency, sanity and civilization. After all, since when does evil thrive unchallenged? Well, often: but not this time.

Hot on their heels are the Nehemothanai, avowed hunters of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. In the company of a gaggle of artists and pilgrims, stalwart Mortal Sword Tulgord Vise, pious Well Knight Arpo Relent, stern Huntsman Steck Marynd, and three of the redoubtable Chanter brothers (and their lone sister) find themselves faced with the cruelest of choices. The legendary Cracked Pot Trail, a stretch of harsh wasteland between the Gates of Nowhere and the Shrine of the Indifferent God, has become a tortured path of deprivation.

Will honour, moral probity and virtue prove champions in the face of brutal necessity? No, of course not. Don’t be silly.

PS Publishing (UK)

 


PS Publishing (UK)  •  Hornsea (2009)  •  signed/traycased  •  ISBN: 978-1-84863-058-1

PS Publishing (UK)  •  Hornsea (2009)  •  hard cover  •  ISBN: 978-1-84863-057-4

Blood Follows (2002)

All is not well in Lamentable Moll.

A sinister, diabolical killer stalks the port city’s narrow, barrow-humped streets, and panic grips the citizens like a fever.

Emancipor Reese is no exception, and indeed, with his legendary ill luck, it’s worse for him than for most. Not only was his previous employer the unknown killer’s latest victim, but Emancipor is out of work. And, with his dearest wife terminally comfortable with the manner of life to which she asserts she has become accustomed (or at least to which she aspires) — for her and their two whelps — all other terrors grow limp and pale for poor Emancipor.

But perhaps his luck has finally changed, for two strangers have come to Lamentable Moll… and they have nailed to the centre post in Fishmonger’s Round a note requesting the services of a manservant.

This is surely a remarkable opportunity for the hapless Emancipor Reese… no matter that the note reeks with death-warded magic; no matter that the barrow ghosts themselves howl with fear every night; and certainly no matter that Lamentable Moll itself is about to erupt in a frenzy of terror-inspired anarchy…. After all, it’s work… and working is better than not working.

Isn’t it?

First in a series of novellas taking place in the Malazan Empire.

PS Publishing (UK)

Night Shade Books (US)

 


PS Publishing (UK)  •  Hornsea (2002)  •  hard cover  •  ISBN: 1-902880-35-8

PS Publishing (UK)  •  Hornsea (2002)  •  trade paperback  •  ISBN: 1-902880-34-X

PS Publishing (UK)  •  Hornsea (2004)  •  trade paperback  •  ISBN: 1-902880-34-X

Night Shade Books (US)  •  San Francisco (2007)  •  hard cover  •  ISBN: 1-59780-004-X

Night Shade Books (US)  •  San Francisco (2007)  •  hard cover  •  ISBN: 1-59780-005-8

Night Shade Books (US)  •  San Francisco (2007)  •  hard cover  •  ISBN: 978-1-59780-004-4

The Healthy Dead (2004)

Things are going all too well in the city of Quaint. So well, in fact, that something has to be done. The zeal for goodness can be catastrophic, and no-one knows this better than Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, two stalwart champions of all things bad.

For the innumerable citizens of Quaint, driven to neurotic distraction and overwhelmed with good living, desperation breeds nefarious bed-mates, and before long the two homicidal necromancers — and their beleagured and substance-addled manservant, Emancipor Reese — find themselves ensnared in a scheme to bring goodness into disrepute, if not utter ruination.

To Reese’s bemusement, laudable motivations are, in a bizarre twist, uncharacteristically relevant to Master Bauchelain, although, of course, the payment of a chest filled with gold helps.

Even so, sometimes, it turns out, one must bring down civilisation… in the name of civilisation.

Second in a series of novellas taking place in the Malazan Empire.

PS Publishing (UK)

Night Shade Books (US)

 


PS Publishing (UK)  •  Hornsea (2004)  •  hard cover  •  ISBN: 1-904619-09-6

PS Publishing (UK)  •  Hornsea (2004)  •  trade paperback  •  ISBN: 1-904619-08-8

Night Shade Books (US)  •  San Francisco (2007)  •  hard cover  •  ISBN: 1-59780-006-6

The Lees of Laughter’s End (2007)

In the wake of their blissful sojourn in the city of Lamentable Moll, the intrepid sorcerors Bauchelain and Korbal Broach — along with their newly hired manservant, Emancipor Reese — have set out on the wide open seas aboard the sturdy Suncurl.

Alas, there’s more baggage in the hold than meets the beady eyes of Suncurl’s hapless crew, and once on the cursed sea-lane known as Laughter’s End — the Red Road in which flows the blood of an Elder God — unseemly terrors are prodded awake, to the understated dismay of all.

It is said that it is not the destination that counts, but the journey itself. Such a noble, worthy sentiment. Aye, it is the journey that counts, especially when what counts is horror, murder, mischance and mayhem. For Bauchelain, Korbal Broach and Emancipor Reese, it is of course just one more night on the high seas, on a journey without end — and that counts for a lot.

Third in a series of novellas taking place in the Malazan Empire.

PS Publishing (UK)

Night Shade Books (US)

 


PS Publishing (UK)  •  Hornsea (2007)  •  hard cover  •  ISBN: 978-1-905834-47-1

PS Publishing (UK)  •  Hornsea (2007)  •  hard cover  •  ISBN: 978-1-905836-4

Night Shade Books (US)  •  San Francisco (2008)  •  limited hard cover  •  ISBN: 978-1-59780-145-4

Night Shade Books (US)  •  San Francisco (2008)  •  hard cover  •  ISBN: 978-1-59780-145-4

Bauchelain and Korbal Broach: The Collected Stories, Volume One (2007)

PS Publishing (UK)

This single-volume, three-novella collection is comprised of the three separately-published PS Publishing titles

• Blood Follows (2002)
• The Healthy Dead (2004)
• The Lees of Laughter’s End (2007)

Originally released in June 2007 in a signed, slipcased edition (it sold out prior to publication), PS Publishing also produced a single volume, unsigned, hardcover edition.
 


PS Publishing (UK)  •  Hornsea (2007)  •  signed, slipcased hard cover  •  ISBN: 978-1-905834-91-4

PS Publishing (UK)  •  Hornsea (2007)  •  hard cover  •  ISBN: 978-1-905834-92-1