So what is GHOST IN THE HUNT about?

Now that GHOST IN THE MAZE has been out for a month, a few people have asked what GHOST IN THE HUNT will be about. A brief teaser follows, but note that it HAS SPOILERS for all THE GHOSTS books so far!

Caina is the Ghost circlemaster of Istarinmul, but by the time GHOST IN THE HUNT starts, she’s been on her own for nearly a year with no contact from the Empire or the other Ghosts, which means she’s been able to do essentially whatever she wants. That changes in GHOST IN THE HUNT when the Empire’s new Lord Ambassador arrives in Istarinmul.

And the reason the Emperor finally sent a new Lord Ambassador to Istarinmul is because of the civil war within the Empire.

All the rumors Caina heard about a civil war within the Empire are true. In the aftermath of the Moroaica’s great work, a rebel group of magi calling themselves the Umbarian Order split away from the Magisterium and seized the eastern third of the Empire, and want to wipe out both the Magisterium and the Imperial nobility and rule the Empire themselves. The Umbarians practice every form of forbidden sorcery – necromancy, pyromancy, oneiromancy, and others – and have also reinstitued slavery in the provinces they control. The Umbarians have the most powerful sorcerers, but the Emperor and the Magisterium have more magi, and far more regular soldiers as well. So the civil war is a stalemate right now.

However, the Umbarians have sent an ambassador to Istarinmul, hoping to convince the Padishah to side with the Umbarian Order against the Empire. So the new Lord Ambassador’s mission is to keep Istarinmul from siding with the Umbarian Order, no matter how drastic the measures – and he needs Caina’s help to do it.

But Caina, for her part, knows that Grand Master Callatas is the true power in Istarinmul, and Grand Master Callatas doesn’t want a war so he can focus on preparing his mysterious Apotheosis (whatever that is). However, Caina has inadvertently handed the Umbarians a huge negotiating advantage.  Callatas needs slaves to create wraithblood, but Caina has so terrorized the Slavers’ Brotherhood that the price of slaves in Istarinmul has skyrocketed. And if Istarinmul goes to war against the Empire, the Umbarians will give Callatas all the slaves he could possibly need.

So Caina needs to keep Istarinmul from joining the war against the Empire, because otherwise the Umbarians will destroy the Empire, and Callatas will be able to finish the Apotheosis.

And then things get really complicated…

If all goes well, I should be able to start on GHOST IN THE HUNT in July.

-JM