A very big thank you to all the good folks at House of Arcanum for including my flash fiction, CHERRY, in their very first issue.
Here’s to wishing them all the success in the world with their latest endeavour.
Read for free here: CHERRY
Thank you for reading
Richard
Richard M. Ankers
Latest Post
A big thank you to editor Barbara Leonhard for publishing my latest micro-fiction: Glasslike, We Break.
Please do take a look around the site at the other wonderful works on offer.
Available here: Glasslike, We Break
Thank you for reading
Richard
29th July 2024 – 7th August 2024
For a limited time, the three book complete ebook collection of The Eternals Saga.
Available now at all major electronic outlets including: Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Google Books and Barnes & Noble.
As seen here: Next Chapter Promotions
Also: Books To Read
All three books in ‘The Eternals’, a series of gothic fantasy novels by Richard M. Ankers, now in one volume!
The Eternals: Born to immortality, Jean is the last Eternal lord and one of the last inhabitants of a dying Earth. In the face of the perishing sun, some have accepted their fate; others are ready to fight for their future. When Jean’s bite takes the life of Princess Chantelle, of The New Europa Alliance, his life changes. Now, he’s a man on the run, falling in love and rediscovering his humanity. With the sun’s clock ticking, Jean tries to reconcile his sordid past… but instead stumbles into age-old conspiracies and beyond.
Hunter Hunted: As soon as Jean stands in the sun’s ruby light, he and Princess Linka are drawn into a world of darkness. Journeying deep beneath the Arctic ice, the two find sanctuary. But all is not right, and soon Jean must solve the mystery of who is manipulating him, and the deepening saga of his parents’ deaths. Once again aided by the increasingly manic Merryweather and the mysterious beauty that is Princess Aurora, it seems like all directions point to the legendary city of Hvit, surrounded by the cloying, lavender stench of death, and the never-ending quest for blood.
Into Eternity: Leaving the Arctic ice behind, Jean and the others must reconcile with both current and past deaths, as they close in on the Baltic home of the hated Duke Gorgon. Here, their enemies gather and confrontation is inevitable. Under Merryweather’s frustrating tutelage, Jean marches from one infuriating revelation to another, but as the lies unravel and the truth unfurls, he discovers the Britannian is not the fool he’s taken him for. And at the end of all things, as the sun dies and Shangri-La falls, Jean will know what it means to step into eternity.
Thank you for reading
Richard
Richard M. Ankers
Please find the link to my latest post, ‘She Wept’ for the fantastic Gobblers & Masticadores website.
As always, a big thank you to editor Manuela Timofte for publishing my work.
Here: She Wept
Do have a look at the rest of the site, as it is filled with wonderful poetry and prose.
Thank you for reading
Richard
Forgive me if I write this note in blood, for I have no ink with which to stain these pages. Thus, I pour myself upon them for you. Everything is for you.
My arteries have an endless supply of the stuff, even if it is not always my own, rich and unctuous. I would prefer the midnight depths of black, but what choice do I have? This place is ill-lit and blood shines brighter.
People take notice when words stand out from the crumpled, milk-white pages of another ruined book. They eye them not with the same suspicion as leaking red, but as though written by a doctor, important and necessary etchings. I am not a doctor, though. Nor am I necessary. I have been told this my entire life.
It has taken so long to slice the required vein, to drain myself, that I have now lost the will to write. I could record my voice, shout even, but the written word is so much more preferable. Dickens’ and Shakespeare’s works would not carry the same kudos if unavailable to the masses. Damn this endless malaise!
Hours have slipped past. I have no words left to impart. Unless I have, and you read them already, here and now. But words must carry details, information, promises and rewards. These words carry only doom. I apologise for this. Doom is in my nature.
I close the book. Stitch up my wound. Mire in melancholy just a little longer. But time is something I have, and it avails an afterthought.
I reach up from the depths and twist a star; they never like this. The brilliant beam of molten silver this act avails makes it all worthwhile. I step out into this mercury spotlight and steal said luminance. Or displace it, I’m unsure which?
Only light reveals me, for I am the darkness it would otherwise banish. Light is always the key, not words, nor books, nor me. And I realise as I hum a tune to the other so high above that I don’t need to leave a note. I am not required to forewarn you. Eventually, we shall meet regardless, and you and I can share as many words as we want for as long as we want. Or not.
I bow to Eternity. I wave to Infinity. Neither wave back. I then depart stage down.
‘Death has left the building!’ I wish to scream.
Instead, I snigger at those pathetic fools I wished to please, to reassure, to inform. Death never leaves the building, you see. He, by which I mean me, just waits outside the door.
Now, I am home. I am bleeding freely, if inwards, not out. Perhaps I shall write about it. After all, I bleed only for you.
Thanks for reading
Richard
Richard M. Ankers
The butterfly moon is not a moon per se, rather, a moment in time. A release of magic upon the sky. Those few minutes where a bejewelled night begs for more and those who watch her weep.
It begins with the moon.
She rises high, like a breaching whale who forgot to turn back at the waves. The gentle, titanium giantess flies, flies, sweeps into the sky to float as effortlessly as a child’s forgotten balloon. There she hangs. There she gathers the energies of the universe, brightens, lightens, burns milk-white. This is seen. She is always seen.
They appear as coloured raindrops falling up, not down. A few at first, the shoal gather pace. Vermillion and emerald, sapphire and citrine, wings flap and feelers feel. The moon gleams all the whiter.
They swim rather than fly. The moths and butterflies, for the two are inseparable on nights such as these, flitter and flap their way towards an obsidian sky the stars have vacated. They have bowed down to their celestial mistress, as have the spinning galaxies themselves. This night is aflame in the vivid colours of nature. Oh, what a joy for the milk-white queen.
The little ones circle her as a tide of fairy lights. They bob up and down as if blown by some unfelt solar wind around their cosmic Christmas tree. So pretty. So exquisite. The moon is, of course, the crowning jewel upon its topmost heights. This is what it has waited for, our moon. One moment in forever to truly enjoy the view.
She weeps silver tears at their passing. She fills the oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, and the liquid souls of those who watch in awe through open curtains. Alas, it does not last, but the best things never do.
They do not fly down, but take one last farewell lap and head off into eternity. The moon waves each one goodbye.
As do we.
Never forget the little ones, they’re just as important as you or I.
Thank you for reading
Richard
Gobblers & Masticadores – latest post
A big thank you to Editor Manuela Timofte for publishing my latest post to Gobblers and Masticadores. It’s always a pleasure to contribute to this wonderful magazine.
Please find the short piece: Here
Please do take some time to look at the other fantastic contributions.
PS The above short is from the tentatively titled An Anthology of Death.
Thank you for reading
Richard
Richard M. Ankers
A big thank you to Gobblers and Masticadores and its editor, Manuela Timofte, for publishing my latest post, The Inlet.
The Inlet is a micro-fiction about the environment and the secret places nature has to offer, both subjects close to my heart.
Please do take the time to have a look at the other wonderful works that Gobblers and Masticadores has to offer.
HERE: The Inlet
Thank you for reading
Richard
Richard M. Ankers
Dear all!
I hope you have time to check out a free sample of Britannia Unleashed – The Audiobook, as seen on my publisher, Next Chapter’s, YouTube channel. A Steampunk extravaganza, Britannia Unleashed tells the story of how a group of unusual personalities battle a twisted Victorian history and a very many evil doers.
Author’s Note: I think it’s very exciting to see/hear your work transformed into a new medium, and the narrator has done a great job. I hope you enjoy.
Thank you for reading
Richard
Richard M. Ankers
Author: The Eternals Series, Britannia Unleashed, and co-author of The Poetry of Pronouns: She. He. They. with the wonderful Gina Maria Manchego.
Richard M. Ankers - Storybook 
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