Fantasy · and later, science fiction

I write fantasy about ordinary work.

Leopold inherits a shop he has never seen, in a valley where debts are said out loud on the eighth day, and finds a back room with an arch in it. The arch is not the interesting part. The interesting part is that somebody has to work out what the goods on the other side are worth, and get it right by Friday.

In these books magic is expensive rather than wondrous. There is wire and oil and chalk in them, a ledger kept badly and then kept well, and a man who fails at things and does not always learn a clean lesson from it. Four novels, one of them finished. Start with the free novelette — still being written, but you can read what's done.

M. Munda: a bearded man in a flat cap and dark jacket, photographed against a grey background.
M. Munda

Free novelette · being written

The Year He Stopped Selling Salt

Anton's last year in the shop, told from the other side of the counter. Read the opening first.

It isn't finished yet — join now and it's the first thing you'll get, by email, as EPUB, MOBI and PDF. One letter a month or so besides that. Unsubscribe in one click.

Books, in reading order

The Shop Between Worlds

Fantasy · Four novels

A shopkeeper, a ledger, and an arch in the back room. The novelette is a prequel and can be read at any point.

Cover of The Year He Stopped Selling Salt

Book 0 · Novelette · In progress

The Year He Stopped Selling Salt

Anton's last year in the shop, told from the other side of the counter. Free to everyone who joins the list — it isn't finished yet, but it will be the first thing you get.

Tell me when it's ready
Cover of The Inheritance of Obscure's Shop

Book 1 · Novel · Finished · publishing 2026

The Inheritance of Obscure's Shop

He inherits the shop, the debts and the customers. Nobody left him a price list.

Tell me when it is out

Books 2 to 4 are written or outlined. The whole series, in order.