Beryll and Osiris Brackhaus have a new MM fantasy book out: The Demon of Hagermarsh.
“The Emperor cares for each and every one of his subjects.”
Many consider the catchphrase of the imperial Lotus Knights to be nothing more but well-polished propaganda, but for Yaden, it is a way of life.
A young Lotus Knight himself, his first mission in service of the Emperor sends him to the remote village of Hagermarsh, a suspiciously friendly place on a planet known for its inhospitable people. But how to uncover a demonist coven when nothing bad ever happens?
Getting to know the villagers only complicates things – the motherly fishmonger surely isn’t a demonist. Nor the gruff leader of the local militia. And definitely not the cute baker from across the street.
Or are they?
Come discover a dazzling, hopeful universe of knights and monsters, of psions, aliens and ancient deities! The Demon of Hagermarsh is the first book of ‘Sir Yaden’, an epic SF saga of grand adventure, romance, bromance and family, set in the multi-faceted Virasana Empire. It is a romantic adventure and can be read as a standalone.
by Beryll Brackhaus
I was a pretty wild kid. Before I learned to read, I spent most of my days running around outside playing with the equally unruly neighbours’ kids. The thing I most vividly recall from that time is that it was always me who made up the stories. Whether we were building a hut in the woods, sneaking around the graveyard or digging through a huge pile of sand at a construction site, I was the one who provided the context from bandits to vampire hunters to archaeologist looking for a lost tomb. Storytelling for me, back then, was always a social experience, sharing a world I had created with others so they could play in it with me.
That changed when I discovered books. For a while, I went from creating to consuming. In my first few years of being able to read, I didn’t do much else anymore. I must have read a couple hundred books between six and ten.
But at some point, the urge to tell stories of my own again got too strong, and I started writing. I tried to find others to write with, with mixed success. There were some spectacular failures and some moderate successes, but the one thing I never found was a person who was not just willing to fully immerse themselves in a story with me, but eager to do so. Who would, like me, delight in exploring every nook and cranny of a setting or character.
Then came that fateful afternoon when, out of a random impulse, I asked the gamemaster of our Shadowrun tabletop RPG group if he’d like to join the ‘Vampire – The Masquerade’ group I was about to start. He agreed, tentatively, and even had a character concept, but he didn’t think I’d let him play that. Which got me intrigued. Asked about his idea, he told me about this low self-esteem Polish rent boy who had become a Toreador vampire in early 1920s Paris.
Can you tell how delighted I was?
Behind this idea, there was an entire world waiting to be discovered, and for once I wasn’t the only one doing the exploring. We spent the entire afternoon and much of the night fleshing out the backstory and character details. The ensuing, glorious TTRPG round lasted nearly five years, but none of the other characters were as alive as his character, our dear Philippe. We kept going back to his backstory, filling in more and more details until eventually, gradually, we ran out of things to create for him.
Other stories took their place, other stories we invented together. Weird, fanciful stuff from cute and silly to dirty and deranged, many of which we will never again say a word about. Finally, I had found someone who would dive with me into all the strange worlds swirling around in my head and who would, in turn, invite me into his.
(Needless to say, I married that guy.)
Over the years, we made up universe after universe, playing in them together. Much of it written down, much more of it just told to each other while driving in the car, while doing the dishes, while lying in bed, daydreaming. We picked inspiration from everywhere, everyone, everything. Every new shiny could be explored, every idea tested, iterated, mirrored and discarded at a moment’s notice. Some ideas we visited only once, others we came back to again and again.
Slowly, one of these universes became our favourite. Often revisited, it went through several iterations, each time becoming more refined, more expansive, detailed and consistent. In a way, it became more and more of a second home to us.
So when we made the decision of publishing our novels in earnest, it was clear from the very beginning that we would also write books in this universe. But where to start? Even after the first look, there was no doubt we would need a few years to start a new iteration of this universe, to sort out the story lines we’d want to visit, to decide on starting points. And we had to cut out all the stuff that a reader who didn’t share twenty years of history in this universe didn’t need.
In a way, it was like landscaping. First you take a bulldozer and take out everything you don’t need, then you start by putting back in the most important features, largest plants, turning smaller and smaller until what’s left is pruning and watering. A lot of pruning. And it was fun, and fascinating, and so rewarding when finally the pieces all fell into place and you discovered the neat plot arc that you had been looking for, or the simplest way to show, not tell, another of this universe’s peculiarities. We loved it.
As you may have guessed by now, this latest iteration of our favourite universe is called the ‘Virasana Empire’, and we’ll be kicking off a series of at least twelve books with ‘The Demon of Hagermarsh’. It’s a vast, colourful space opera with lots of adventure, romance, bromance and family. As with all our books, it will revolve around family and making a home for oneself, whatever that may be in the case at hand. While our Virasana Empire has plenty of dark corners, ultimately it is a hopeful setting, one where our characters strive to make things better and – using their bonds of love and friendship – succeed.
As with all books that are so much a labour of love, I have no idea if anyone but us will love it as much. I have no idea if we picked the right main characters, or the right point in time to begin the tale, or if we are sufficiently good writers to do the setting any justice at all.
But I do know that there are people out there who loved earlier iterations of these stories, and I hope others will come and join them in exploring this wild, colourful place together with us.
The ‘Virasana Empire’ has brought us so much joy over the years, all I know is that we want to share as much of that as possible with our readers. So, feel whole-heartedly invited to start the voyage into our minds and hearts with ‘The Demon of Hagermarsh’, maybe it’ll become your new favourite fictional universe as well!
Instantly, Yaden was on his feet and in the sales room, only to realise that he had absolutely no reason to do so except for his curiosity, but now it was too late for a credible retreat.
“Good day, Sir,” he greeted Colin, hoping he’d come across as a diligent shop servant and not some weirdo.
Colin looked a little startled at his sudden appearance, but he gave him that sunny smile of his. “Good day, Yaden. I thought I’d break with tradition and come in first, so the rest of them can follow. Me being the other most recent newcomer to the village and all.”
“Oh?” So that was why Colin seemed so out of place in Hagermarsh. “You’re not from here either?”
“Actually I sort of am. My family has owned that bakery for generations. But my mother and her sister ran away to Schimmelbach. They hated this place, so, I wasn’t born here.”
“Really? But what’s to hate here? Hagermarsh seems pretty nice so far.”
“I don’t actually know,” Colin replied with another smile, this time bittersweet. “Mother died when I was little, so Aunt Mildred raised me. And she rarely talked about their time in Hagermarsh.”
“So there’s a terrible, dark secret to this village?” Yaden tried to keep his tone down and not too hopeful.
Colin laughed out loud. “In Hagermarsh? If there is one, I haven’t been initiated yet. I only moved here a few years ago, when my Grandpa died and I took over the bakery. And so far, it’s been the nicest place I’ve ever lived in.”
Not a useful lead. Yaden feverishly tried to figure out a way to ask more questions without making their conversation sound too much like an interrogation, until he noticed that Colin was looking at him with that beaming smile of his. It made him terribly nervous.
“So … What are you looking to buy?” Inelegant, but at least it was a way out.
“A few odds and ends. We do need the General Store to open again. Which reminds me, can I have my basket back, yet?”
“Actually, I dropped it off with your apprentice yesterday. Didn’t he tell you?” Yaden had specifically told the youth to let his master know, but had only received the usual grunt in return.
Colin groaned dramatically. “Rory! That lazy foghead is going to be the death of me one day! Eithne insisted that regular work would be good for him and he would improve, but I swear he is getting worse. That’s what you get for listening to a kind old lady trying to barter off one of her grandsons.”
“I’m … sorry?”
“No, no, not your fault at all.” Colin’s smile was back again in a blink. How could a man smile that much? “I’ll deal with him. After all, he is my apprentice and I’m responsible for him. I’ll get him into shape eventually.” He pulled a small note from his pocket, scanned it and for the first time properly looked around the sales room, his eyes going wide. “Wow! This is so orderly. And so much. It looks like you have at least one of everything.”
Before moving from Erys to Lagoona, Yaden would have agreed. He vividly remembered the first time he and Darios had visited one of the big shopping malls in Ridge, the highrise quarter of Agami, and gaped at the sheer amount of stuff on sale they hadn’t even known existed. They sure had felt like clueless country bumpkins. But after a year in the Empire’s capital, he had gotten used to it to a point where the General Store’s range of goods felt rudimentary to him.
“Mostly I need a new pen and a whole bunch of different spices.” Colin smiled at Yaden hopefully. “Could you show me where everything is?”
“Sure, though we may not have exotic spices in stock. But we can order them for you.”
“That would be great. Okay, let me see. Most urgently, I need some garnak, ideally whole pods, and some dried lurka leaves. Do you have any terran caraway, by chance?”
There wasn’t much assistance Yaden could offer, apart from showing him where they kept the spices. Deciphering the labels on the tins would have taken him much longer than Colin. But he recognized them at a glance, and Yaden stayed with him to portion out the amounts he needed and bring them over to the counter.
When Colin followed him to the counter, he noticed Darios properly for the first time and did a double take at his size.
“Master Darios, who actually owns the store,” Yaden introduced.
Darios greeted Colin with an amicable grunt and put his book down to ring up Colin’s purchases.
“I promised Master Colin a discount in exchange for his welcoming bread,” Yaden reminded him.
“Oh, no, that is absolutely not necessary.”
Colin looked embarrassed, but Darios glanced at Yaden with a decidedly amused twinkle in his eye. Instead of figuring in a discount, he pulled two extra pencils from the box he kept under the counter and pushed them over to Colin.
“Thank you.” He smiled first at Darios and then at Yaden again. For a Leichnami he smiled suspiciously much, but his smile was warm and pretty and Yaden couldn’t bring himself to mind. “Well, I should be on my way before the rest of Hagermarsh starts wondering whether you have eaten me.”
Walking him to the door was ridiculous, of course, but Yaden trailed behind him.
“Will I see you at the scribba training tonight?” Colin asked when he stepped out onto the porch.
“I thought that is only for the fighting citizens?”
Colin shook his head. “No, it’s a bit of a social gathering, too. Lots of people standing around, drinking beer and giving useless advice to us poor fork-wielding folk.” He smiled yet again. “I could introduce you to some of the younger villagers.”
Yaden gave an exaggerated shudder. “I’m not sure I want to meet them if they are anything like Bridget from next door,” he grabbed the opportunity to gather more information.
“Oh, so you met Bridget?” Colin’s smile gained a decidedly snarky edge. “Did she give you the ‘in this village we don’t tolerate any bullying and you better not step out of line’ speech?”
“Actually, she asked me lots of questions. And she gave me the ‘if anyone bullies you, I’ll protect you’ speech.”
“She did?” Colin looked amused and indignant at the same time. “Now, why do you look worthy of protection to her and I get treated like a ticking time bomb?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I look harmless?” Which was more than a little ridiculous considering what Yaden was capable of.
“Mmh,” Colin huffed and shrugged. “Granted, Bridget is a bit odd. But there are some nice folks in Hagermarsh. They only act gruff when there is a chance of strangers observing them. Hagermarsh is a real community where people look out for each other. I think you’ll like it here.”
Colin gave him that movie-star smile again, but Yaden had to struggle keeping up his own.
Those last sentences had triggered all alarms in Yaden’s head. All of that sounded way too much like propaganda, crafted to keep the population calm, happy and ignorant of any ugly things happening behind the scenes. It sounded very much like the slogans the Lotus Pavilion PR team had drummed into his head. Colin had even the right kind of wholesome handsomeness that made believing such stories so easy. If Yaden managed to pinpoint where this propaganda was coming from, he’d be on the right track.
“See you at the training, tonight?” Colin asked.
Yaden only managed an affirmative grunt.
“Looking forward to it. Oh, and you may wanna bring some beer. That’ll go a long way in making you less of a stranger.”
Yaden grunted again. Maybe not beer, but he had unpacked a whole crate of different kinds of schnapps and brandy earlier. Those would surely work just as well. He managed a parting smile before Colin turned around and left across the road.
We are Beryll and Osiris Brackhaus, a couple currently living our happily ever after in the very heart of Germany, under the stern but loving surveillance of our cat.
Both of us are voracious but picky readers, we love telling stories and drinking tea, good food and the occasional violent movie. Together, we write novels of adventure and romance, hoping to share a little of our happiness with our readers.
Beryll: An artist by heart, Beryll was writing stories even before she knew what letters were. As easily inspired as she is frustrated, her own work is never good enough (in her eyes). A perfectionist in the best and worst sense of the word at the same time and the driving creative force of our duo.
Osiris: An entertainer and craftsman in his approach to writing, Osiris is the down-to-earth, practical part of our duo. Broadly interested in almost every subject and skill, with a sunny mood and caring personality, he strives to bring the human nature into focus of each of his stories.
Author Website: http://www.brackhaus.com/
Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011014541510
Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/Brackhaus
Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brackhaus/
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6427435.Osiris_Brackhaus
Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Osiris-Brackhaus/e/B00IVTRO2E
This sounds awesome – I love a good fantasy series:) Can’t wait