Barking Goat Press

A series in five books

The Fateful Five

The whole story was played through to its end. The books are catching up. Start with Book One; you need nothing else.

The cover of A Worse Thing to Carry, The Fateful Five, Book One: a walled city with three towers on a rock at sea, a low red sun behind it, and a path of light across the dark water.

Book One

A Worse Thing to Carry

Finished. Not out yet.

Haldyr Rovan reached the lumber town ready to work. But the town was desperate, and a suspicious town wants somebody to blame.

How it begins

“He made this shot a hundred times.”

Chapter One.

Where it stands

  1. Drafted
  2. Copyedited
  3. Cover
  4. Finished
  5. Proofs
  6. Out

Finished 1 October 2026. Proofs next.

It will be online for anyone to read. Paperback and ebook to follow, with an audiobook planned.

Book TwoTitle sealedNext.
Book ThreeTitle sealedPlayed to the end. Not yet written.
Book FourTitle sealedPlayed to the end. Not yet written.
Book FiveTitle sealedPlayed to the end. Not yet written.

Each one opens when the last is done.

Read the first chapters of A Worse Thing to Carry.

Join the list, register your email, and the first chapters arrive. After that, a letter when there is news, and now and then a place from the road that did not fit in the book.

An occasional letter. No spam. Privacy