The Singular Pair

So I wrote a book.

Actually, that’s a lie. I’ve by now already written more than the one book featuring these characters; Daramont Draiq and Na-Tahly, the Singular Pair, but it all begins with this first novel.

I’ve had people who’ve read the work, say it’s like Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser meets Sherlock Holmes meets Nick and Nora Charles. That’s a lot of different references thrown together, but I like the idea of them all.

Basically, the book is set in a fantastic time of yore with vast lands and immense cities peopled with a mixture of humans and mythical races and creatures. Askunnhar, the city we feature in this first novel is somewhat akin to Lankhmar in the aforementioned “Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser” stories by Fritz Leiber, or if that’s too obscure for you, perhaps like King’s Landing, the main city featured in George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series of books, adapted as “Game of Thrones” by HBO.

Then into this city and world I introduce a guild of Truthsmen; whose profession it is being hired by the public to get to the truth about this or that problem (usually of a criminal nature), instead of someone going to the local authorities. Basically an ancient version of what would be private detectives in our world and time. Draiq and Na-Tahly are one such team, solving mysteries and exposing evil, while arguing and bantering humorously the whole while.

So, to clarify my earlier reference, in that regard they’re like Sherlock Holmes with the fun, bantering, loving quips and comments of Nick and Nora Charles from the Thin Man series of B&W crimes films based on and adapted from the book “The Thin Man” by the legendary Dashiell Hammett.

That’s my basic concept, anyway. Around that I’ve added a locked-room mystery, a city-wide civil war, and a lot of other supporting characters whose lives and actions intertwine with the Singular Pair as they go about their crime-solving adventures.

And as a way of immediately introducing the characters and getting across who they are and what they do, I wrote Chapter Four of the book as a short-story chapter in itself, detailing the last case they undertake before embarking on the main mystery adventure that’s comprises the rest of the novel. (Chapters One to Three are the buildup to the main plot, before the Singular pair get involved, introducing other characters, as well as the murder being committed which gets that main plot going.) 

This short story (actually at 8300 words it’s a novellette), introducing Draiq and Na-Tahly, was always intended as a sampler for the series, the characters and my prose writing, and always something I wanted to be available free on my website.

I’m gearing up to publish the book in 2026, when I hope that your support will help turn these characters into beloved figures of fantasy literature. Or something.

Anyway, since finishing the first novel I’ve been so inspired by the Singular Pair that I wrote four more stories featuring them. They comprise two novelettes, a novella and a short novel, and are all prequels to the first novel.

Together, that collection will be the second book that I publish a bit later in 2025.

(I also introduced a supporting character in the short novel, that I liked so much I’ve already written several stories about him too. But we’ll get to that in good time.)

 For now, please enjoy Chapter Four of my first novel, The Singular Pair. And please, please buy the novel when it’s available. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to let you all know it’s out at that time.

Download the-singular-pair-chapter-4.pdf

Oh, and here’s the initial rough black and white art for the book’s cover, by my partner in Rogues’ Kingdom, Jeff Johnson. It’s already been finished and colored, but I’ll save that to show you all closer to publication. The title and name on the cover are just for placement, and I’ll be selecting a better font, I promise. Something more akin to the old Tor and Ace fantasy paperbacks of yore.