A few years ago I wrote a short story (short for me, in any case, around 8K words) for Matthew Wayne Selznick’s The Sovereign Era: Year One anthology. It was called “Every Breath You Take.”It’s the story of high school senior Christian Murphy, who has it bad for a foreign exchange student named Stacey… ‘but in a world where thousands of people are learning they possess unique, incredible powers, what exactly stands in the way of Christian getting what he wants?’

Last Fall, Matt did a Kickstarter for his second novel set in this universe, and I offered to write a ‘sequel’ to my first story as a pledge reward for his fans. Matt allowed me to play in his universe once again, and this story became more of a ‘novelette,’ with a word count of nearly 14K. Now that Matt has fulfilled his Kickstarter obligations, we’re getting this puppy out as an e-book on Amazon and B&N for $3.99. The name of this novelette? “Canary in a Coal Mine.”

“Canary in a Coal Mine” on Amazon.com

“Canary in a Coal Mine” on B&N.com

So, more about ‘Canary,’ which can be read as a standalone story (although there are characters from the first story that appear in this one as well, so go get ‘Breath’ for 1.99 at Amazon or B&N… it’s good)

“Sovereign Conduct Enforcement Team (S.C.E.T.) investigators Adoette Smith and Joshua Wolff team with a local police officer to investigate what happened at the end of ‘Breath,’ and the disappearance of the potential Sovereign, Stacey Miller

When circumstances bring Adoette’s violent, troubled past to the surface, will she be able to utilize her own Sovereign abilities in time to find Stacey?

I had fun with this story, and doing it got me back in the writing mood, in a big way. I hope you enjoy it. And if you enjoy the setting and haven’t read Matt Selznick’s Sovereign novels, please do!!

It’s classified as a short story, but it weighs in at around 8K. Long enough to be called a “novella?” Maybe not. But definitely a good lengthy read for those that missed it when the anthology came out.

“Every Breath You Take” by P. G. Holyfield

P. G. Holyfield is the author of the award-winning fantasy mystery “Murder at Avedon Hill,” a podcaster, and speaks at many conventions in the science fiction and new media fandom community. His “Every Breath You Take” has the distinction of being the single longest piece of Sovereign Era fiction to date (not counting “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era.”)

“Every Breath You Take” is a tale of teen aggression and obsession. Chris has it bad for Stacey… but in a world where thousands of people possess unique, incredible powers, what exactly stands in the way of Chris getting what he wants..?

Get “Every Breath You Take” for the Nook or Kindle, or buy the epub / Mobi bundle right here… and be sure to visit P. G. Holyfield’s own site for more from him!

I edited it down to 5-6K, I believe. It was definitely the longest story in the web-a-thon (Matt read seven stories I believe during his live show). I was very happy with the response I received from people about the story.

Flash forward to Friday, April 10th. The text that follows if from Matt’s website:

I’m very pleased to announce the release of “The Sovereign Era: Year One,” an anthology of seven tales written by authors who are pretty well known in certain circles — folks like J. C. Hutchins, Mur Lafferty, P. G. Holyfield, Nathan Lowell, Matt Wallace, J. R. Blackwell and Jared Axelrod!

This collection has its origin in the all-day web-a-thon I produced on the occasion of the Swarm Press release of “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era.” On that day, I read each of these stories live on streaming video… but they’ve never been seen in print until now.

As of right now, the collection is available on this site in a bundle of eight DRM-free e-book formats and from Amazon.com for the Kindle. Soon enough, it will also be available in paperback in every online bookstore you’d care to patronize. To be honest, if you like e-books, I encourage you to purchase it in that format, since the authors involved stand to earn more of a percentage from each e-book sale.

In “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights,” we’re seeing a little of what happened in the months before the Sovereign Era began. The Sovereign Era’s beginnings are depicted in “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era.” I hope you’ll purchase “The Sovereign Era: Year One” and take in seven different glimpses into how things went in the months that followed. On behalf of the authors and cover artist Jeffrey Himmelman, I thank you very much!

For those of you that haven’t read Brave Men Run, it feels like a teen movie mixed with a superhero novel… The Breakfast Club and X-Men all rolled into one. Please go check out the anthology, and listen to or read Brave Men Run.

As for The Sovereign Era: Year One – electronic versions are already available for the book, and the print version should be out in a few days!