A Muffler's Application

To celebrate the last day of 2020, hoping that 2021 will eventually bring something brighter, I've added a new short story A Muffler's Application to edition 2 of my free collection, Mutterings of Consequence. You can download the latest copy using the download link provided when you signed up to my mailing list. It's also in each newsletter that I send.

It's not quite as generous as it sounds, as you shouldn't read the story yet! It's my second short story set in the world of The Mufflers, set a couple of years before the events of The Muffler's Ministry. Although it doesn't contain any spoilers for the novel, it won't entirely make sense on its own without the context that the novel provides, so I'd wait until you've at least read part 1 of the book.

Unfortunately, I've not quite published the novel yet – I'm expecting to release it around 15th January 2021, so you'll have to wait until then. When it is published, it's likely to be exclusive to Amazon for a period of three months, before I then make it available via other platforms. This isn't something I'll always do, but I have specific reasons for wishing to do that this time, partly to help judge how well my new author platform is working.

What's this short story about? Well, early in the novel, there's a brief throwaway conversation between Rowan Webb and Colin Head about how Colin was recruited into the Ministry. This is Colin's story, in full, glorious technicolour.

Why is there a picture of a steam tractor above? Well, therein lies the story...