I've posted the first chapter of A Wizard's Henchman for a free read.

For quite a few years now, I've been imagining a far-future civilization called the Ten Thousand Worlds, which occupies an arm of the galaxy known as The Spray. The time I've been writing about is just before the universe suddenly and arbitrarily shifts from a basis of rational cause-and-effect to a new regime based on magic. When that happens, technological civilization will collapse and the age of The Dying Earth will dawn, with its grim thaumaturges, haunted ruins, and louche decadence.

Whether they live on grand old, long-settled worlds or strange little planets in odd corners, virtually none of The Spray's multitude of inhabitants knows that disaster impends. A handful do, and they are preparing for the great change.

Until now, I've written only about the handful and I've always taken the overarching story just to the point where the cataclysm is about to break upon the Ten Thousand Worlds. In A Wizard's Henchman, for the first time, I go all the way.

So the story starts out as hardboiled space opera and transmutes into dark fantasy, from a universe of intelligent space ships to a realm of dragons and demons.

I'll be interested to see how it's received.