You’re reading my weekly serial The Mechanical Crown. Find out more here.

Previously: Tarn works the machines, and has only known as life in the caverns and tunnels. He works his shifts, sleeps, works again. He and all the workers do whatever they can to avoid being sent to the pit…

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Previously: Tarn is a worker in the machine rooms, and it is all he has ever known. Condemned to endless shifts of manual labour, each day is a series of cruelties with seemingly no end in sight…

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonkjones.substack.com/subscribe

Previously: An explorer from the south, Tranton Seldon, has been attempting to navigate the Barrier Mountains and reach the legendary hidden valley. His efforts have little immediate relevance to where we are going in today’s chapter…

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonkjones.substack.com/subscribe

Previously: Exiled from his homeland, Tranton Seldon is attempting to traverse the Barrier Mountain. Encountering the ruins of an old military convoy, he has stumbled upon a mechanical sword as well as a pack of hungry wolves…

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonkjones.substack.com/subscribe

You’re listening to my weekly serial The Mechanical Crown. Find out more here.

Previously: Tranton Seldon has exiled himself to the impassable Barrier Mountains, committed to finding a route to whatever lies on the far side. The endless storms and strange creatures that dwell on the peaks have other ideas…

Subscribe to receive a new chapter every Friday.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonkjones.substack.com/subscribe

A lost explorer. A child slave. A princess.

An ancient shame to be kept secret.

A society on the edge of collapse.

You're listening to the first chapter of The Mechanical Crown.

New chapters every Friday. Find out more at simonkjones.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonkjones.substack.com/subscribe