Did you know that when Charles Dickens was serializing The Old Curiosity Shop, people in Boston would actually stand on the docks waiting for the ship to arrive bearing the next installment of the novel. Some would actually call out to the ship as it coasted into the harbor, “Did Little Nell die???”

We love serials, don’t we? I love them so much, I decided to write one myself and share it with you even as I write it.

Starting today, Friday, April 12, the next installment in my humorous Kingdom of Patria series for middle grade readers (ages approximately 8-12)  will begin to be serialized on the Kingdom of Patria. Just go to the Read and Listen Online section of the site to find the Prologue and Chapter One.

(Note that the posts are ordered with the most recent post first, so scroll down a bit to find the Prologue. After the Prologue all chapter numbers will be listed in the post title.)

This new book is a Patria prequel. It attempts to answer the question that I know has been gnawing at the innards of readers of the series like undercooked hamburger:

How DID those Trojan refugees find their way to present-day Indiana 3,000 years ago?

It’s a question I’ve often thought about since I first imagined the world of Patria, and now I’m finally trying to answer it. Both for you, and for myself.

The new book is entitled:

An As Yet Untitled Patria Prequel

But Which At Any Rate is the Wild and Wondrous Adventure of the Accidental Forces of the Trojan Rear-Guard Remnant in Its Voyage to the New World

More than that I cannot divulge.

Except that it’s something of an ancient urban mytho-fantasy epic odyssey involving all manner of fantastic creatures such as prehistoric capybaras, a two-eyed cyclops, and one Clodinius Clodnus, Supreme Commander of the Accidental Forces of the Trojan Rear-Guard Remnant.

Oh. I can also guarantee you that in it Little Nell will not die.

No need to stand on the dock in the cold. Just come to the Kingdom of Patria each week to read the latest installment in the comfort of your own easy chair.

There will be a new installment every Friday at noon EST. Until the book is finished, or I get a better offer.

Please feel free to comment on the story, too. I’d like to know what you like and what you don’t like, especially as I am writing the story as I serialize it.

You can comment either in the com boxes of the chapter posts, or on the Trojan Tub Entertainment Facebook Page, or in an email to me at [email protected].

Thanks so much for coming aboard this exciting new Patria adventure!

Oh, and one more thing: interested in reading the first two books in the Kingdom of Patria series? You can find them both on Amazon as print books and as ebooks, and you can also find the ebooks on barnesandnoble.com, Kobo, and iTunes.

P.S. The image above is of the Sack of Troy, an event which plays a very big part in this prequel, and in the world of Patria.