Coming Soon: Bartering Nola

Oh boy, I've been holding onto this one for a long time. Almost 20 years. I'd always hoped to turn it into a full-length novel someday, but I ran into two problems. First, it's a tight novella. Making it longer wouldn't have changed the core story; it just would have added backstory and fluff. Second, it doesn't fit into the Vinestead Anthology. No matter how I tried, I just can't connect these two universes in any way that makes sense.

The only option is to give it away to you wonderful people, in the hopes that it inspires you to give me all of your money forever. And if not, that's okay too. Things could be worse... I could be like Nola, the last little blonde girl in a world full of brown hairs and blue eyes, living half a life under the eye of her captor, and dreaming of a home she can no longer remember.

Welcome my friends, to Pickaxe, Montana... home of Daleon and his wife Laurel and their little trade shop at the end of the world.

Bartering Nola (2024)

He rode in out of the west with a girl on the back of his horse. Unlike every other known human, this one had blonde hair and blue eyes. She was an Original. And with her genetic signature, a portal could be opened to Balise, a dimension of pure darkness.

Daniel VerastiquiDaniel Verastiqui