Our First Story
A romantasy in fifteen chapters, and it is free from beginning to end.
The Memory Tithe
In the border town of Ashgrove, every household owes the Bramble Court one memory a year. Bookbinder Wren Halloway has paid hers without complaint for a decade. Then a stolen Court ledger lands on her workbench for repair, and she finds her own name in next year’s tithe column, marked with a single word: everything.
A forfeit takes all of them, every memory she has. Wren has never cheated the Court and never made a bargain with it, which means someone else has been paying her debt in secret for fourteen years. Finding out who, and why, will cost her more than she knows, and the exiled prince who appears at her door at closing time is not there to save her. He is there to warn her.
What Lands in Your Inbox
Every week, an email that looks like this. This is the real opening of chapter one.
Subject: The Memory Tithe, Chapter One: The Ledger
Chapter One: The Ledger
The book arrived wrapped in oilcloth, and that is how I knew it was trouble.
Nobody wraps a book in oilcloth unless they want it kept safe from the rain and hidden from people, and in my experience, the people matter a great deal more than the rain. I keep a bindery on Tallow Street, two doors down from Mrs. Petrakis’s bakery, which means that by seven every morning the whole block smells of warm butter and yeast and my shop smells of glue and old paper and leather shavings. I have always preferred my smell. Glue has never pretended to be anything other than what it is, and there is a kind of honesty in that I have come to rely on.
“Just fix the spine,” the man said, and he did not take off his hat, even indoors, even with the rain still beaded on the brim of it. “Don’t open it.”
I should have charged him double for the strangeness alone. Instead I heard myself say, “I can’t fix a spine blind, Mr. Aldous,” because the rent was due on Friday and because curiosity is the oldest unpaid bill in my family.
The Shelf Ahead
The Memory Tithe is our gift to the first readers. The stories that follow will be sold one title at a time, each at a fair single price, announced to this list first.
The Next Binding
A second romantasy, now being written. Wren’s Ashgrove is not the only town on the border, and the Bramble Court is not the only court collecting.
In writing · announced to subscribers first
A Classic, Retold Weekly
One beloved public-domain novel, split with care and delivered a chapter a week, for readers who always meant to finally read it.
In preparation · title announced soon
A Western Serial
Frontier country, a long ride home, and a debt that is not owed in coin. Our first step beyond romantasy, written for the same slow weekly rhythm.
In outline · announced to subscribers first
“Every book is the reading kind of book.”
Questions
Is The Memory Tithe really free?
Yes, all fifteen chapters, start to finish. It is our launch story, and it stays free. Later stories on the shelf will be sold one title at a time, each for a single price, and readers on this list always hear first.
What if I join late?
You lose nothing. Every reader begins at chapter one and receives one chapter a week from there. The story waits for you, not the other way around.
How long is a chapter?
About ten minutes of reading. Long enough to matter, short enough to finish with morning coffee.
Is the romance clean?
Yes. Our stories are written for readers who love romance without the steam. Tension, longing, and a slow burn, nothing more explicit than a held gaze and a held hand until it counts.
Can I read on my phone?
That is the idea. Each chapter is a plain, beautifully set email. It reads well anywhere your inbox does.
What happens when the story ends?
You will get the final chapter, a note from us, and first word of the next title on the shelf. Finished stories also become complete ebooks for readers who want the whole book on a shelf of their own.