The Half-made World by Felix Gilman

Hello May.

I haven’t written in a while and maybe it seems I only write when there’s bad news. Well, this is not the exception that proves the rule, if you know what I mean.

I lost almost all my business cards. If you got my last letter, you’ll remember I sent you one of them, so that you can see what your prodigal kid brother’s up to these days and maybe be proud, maybe just a little. If you didn’t get my letter—and who knows these days?—then they had my name, “Professor” Harry Ransom, “Professor” like that, in what they call “quotes,” because I always say I’m nothing if not honest, as best I can be, and at least I never claim to be anything I’m not. There were lightning bolts printed on either side of my name. Those cost extra. Under my name it said Lightbringer, then Licensed and then By Appointment, which weren’t exactly true but didn’t mean anything either way, as I saw it, and then below that Inventor of the Ransom Process for &c &c, which is true. A dollar for fifty at Tally’s Printers on Tenth Avenue in Melville City, and I bought two hundred-fifty, and in consequence went hungry for a week, and so did good old never-complaining Carver, my assistant, who I’m sure I’ve mentioned before.

Was chatting with a couple of folk on twitter about Gilman’s soon-to-be-released novel, The Half-Made World and, in my travels around the web to learn more about it and its sequel, came across a just-published short story set in the same universe. Lightbringers and Rainmakers is available as a free download on Tor.com.

If, like me, you’re curious about Gilman and his work, this looks like the perfect opportunity to acquaint yourself. If you like what you read, you can also find the first chapter of The Half-Made World.

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