Jonathan Moeller Novel Excerpt Tuesday: GHOST IN THE FORGE
It’s time for Jonathan Moeller Novel Excerpt Tuesday! Since the audiobook version came out, like, yesterday, these seems like a good time to have an excerpt from GHOST IN THE FORGE.
GHOST IN THE FORGE was one of the books where I learned an important writing lesson – if you write a really, really long series, you can usually get five books in before the readers start demanding a love interest for the main character. 🙂
GHOST IN THE FORGE is available at
Available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Google Play, and Smashwords, and in audiobook at Audible, Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon AU, and iTunes.
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The blue-eyed Ghost waited as he approached. Her emotional aura, that peculiar mixture of icy cunning and burning rage, washed over him. “Lord Kylon.”
“Anna Callenius,” said Kylon, “though I assume that is not your real name.”
“It is not,” said the Ghost.
On impulse he offered his arm, and she took it. Physical contact would give him a better handle on her emotions. But she would know that.
Which meant she wanted him to know that she was telling the truth.
They walked into the empty space of the Hall, alongside the river of molten steel.
“Tell me,” said the Ghost, once they were out of earshot of the others, “what did you think of Zalandris’s demonstration?”
“It reminded me of Andromache,” said Kylon.
The Ghost turned her cold eyes towards the hulking suit of crimson armor. “Andromache was shorter.”
“But she said many of the same things,” said Kylon. “She claimed the power in the Tomb of Scorikhon would bring victory and security to House Kardamnos and New Kyre. Now my men say the same thing about the glypharmor. Yet the power in Scorikhon’s tomb was a trap.”
“And you think,” said the Ghost, “the same thing of the glypharmor?”
“Perhaps,” said Kylon. “Any nation using the glypharmor would become dependent upon it, just as we of New Kyre are dependent upon our fleets for both our security and our prosperity.”
“Yet the Kyracians,” said the Ghost, “can build their own ships. You cannot build your own glypharmor.”
“As you say,” said Kylon. “So you see my fear. If New Kyre buys the glypharmor, we would become the slaves of the Catekhari.” He shook his head. “But I cannot permit the Empire to take the armor. For I know your Emperor would use the glypharmor to smash the walls of New Kyre and subdue the Kyracian people.”
“Or the Magisterium, for that matter,” said the Ghost. “If Decius Aberon claims the armor, he will first use it to claim the Empire, and then to conquer the Empire’s enemies.” She paused, looking up at him. “Would it not have been better if the Tomb of Scorikhon had never been opened? Perhaps it would be best if the glypharmor never saw the light of day.”
“You mean it should be destroyed,” said Kylon, glancing at Mihaela, “and all knowledge of its creation eradicated.”
“My lord stormdancer has a gift for stating matters clearly,” said the Ghost.
Kylon sighed. “Spare me the flowery speech. I have no use for it.”
“But you have gotten better at it,” said the Ghost.
“I am now the High Seat of House Kardamnos and a thalarchon of New Kyre,” said Kylon. “I’ve had no choice. Very well, Ghost. Go back to your masters and tell them that if we have the opportunity to destroy the armor and the knowledge of its creation, you shall have my full aid.” He slipped his arm from hers and looked her in the eye. “But understand this. If the choice is between letting the Empire or New Kyre claim the armor…then I will do my utmost to claim it, regardless of the consequences.”
She regarded him without expression. When they had fought in Marsis, he had thought she would look quite attractive, cleansed of blood and sweat and clad in proper women’s attire, and he had not been wrong. But he knew hers was a perilous beauty. The coldness in her emotional sense never wavered, and if she thought it necessary, she would kill him without hesitation.
Just as she had almost slain him in Marsis.
“Very well,” said the Ghost. “I know you will do what you think is right, whatever the cost to yourself.”
“I will defend my city,” said Kylon.
She almost smiled. “Sometimes what you think is right and the best way to defend your people are two different things.”
-JM