One of the things I love and hate about the world of The Deep Estate is the sheer amount of stuff that can effortlessly fit inside it. I’m constantly coming up with new places to take John Doe and company, then immediately wincing when I realize the idea doesn’t necessarily fit into the shape of a traditional third novel.
But that doesn’t mean I want to throw those stories away.
At some point, I started thinking of them as Deep Estate “Monster of the Week” episodes: Smaller cases that could explore different anomalies, characters, time periods, and corners of the world without needing to justify their existence as a full 400-page novel.
Eventually I decided: Fuck it. Don’t write the next novel. Write an anthology.
The best parts of The Witcher series are easily the short stories where Geralt is actually doing his damn job as a Witcher, and The Deep Estate is uniquely suited to the same kind of format.
So I started writing what I’m now calling The Deep Estate Case Files: a series of interconnected standalone stories that I’ll be publishing on a semi-regular basis before eventually collecting them into a full anthology.
And the first one is finished.
VIBE HOUND
A 120-page novella, available September 29th on Kindle and in paperback. Pre-order it HERE.
Kindle: September 29
Paperback: September 29
Audiobook: TBD
Plot Synopsis
Some cases are so strange, reality denies they ever happened.
When an unknown outbreak tears through a university library, the Bureau of the Bizarre finds itself facing an entirely new nightmare: an Anomalous Meme.
Seven letters. Two words. A single thought, and it’s all over.
Simply hearing the meme is enough to infect someone, turning them into a self-mutilating monster compelled to repeat the same dangerous phrase over and over again.
The infection is spreading, and containment won’t last forever. If the Meme goes viral, it could spell the end of the entire world.
It’s up to Agent John Doe, the Collectors’ resident Vibe Hound, to identify the source of the outbreak before it’s too late.
Vibe Hound is the first novella in The Deep Estate Case Files and the third entry in the darkly comic cosmic sci-fi horror turducken that is The Deep Estate.
And Vibe Hound is just the first case.
Coming Soon…ish:
B.O.B. Noire
(What I’m currently writing)
A slow week in the office sends John and Carrie down a rabbit hole after they discover one hell of a story buried in the Collectors’ Archives.
It’s 1933. Agent Joe Dempsey is investigating a string of shootings in speakeasies across the Windy City when he finds himself caught in the middle of a war between the Chicago Mafia and a femme fatale who refuses to die.
Too Many Crooks
Why is a tennis ball that waits half a second before deciding physics applies to it one of the most vital anomalous objects the Deep Estate could possibly obtain?
How does acquiring it result in a three-way firefight between John Doe, the Yakuza, and the Amish?
Let’s find out.
Boogeyman
There is a monster under your bed.
And it’s crawling out at night, dragging children into the Backrooms.
It’s up to Agent Jacob Schmidt, John Doe’s father, to go in after them and bring them back.