"Where do I start?"

Continues typing intently for a few seconds, before looking up with a start.

Oh hello. Didn’t see you there. I’m Paul, aka peon, aka peon47, and all of this (makes one of those ‘all of this’ gestures) is Twelve Months to Midnight, my writing project.

I’m not really publishing this for others to read -- though it’s always nice and feedback is welcome -- as much as I’m putting it out there to keep myself honest and to keep the pressure on myself to actually write. 

Twelve Months to Midnight is the story of one year in the life of Detective Victor Grey. Vic is a troll working for the Office of Special Investigations: The department of the Irish government that investigates paranormal activity and polices magical crimes. I don’t know if such a department exists, but no strange men or women in black suits have knocked on my door yet to ask who’s been leaking me state secrets. This can only mean that Ireland’s Magical Police Force is nothing like the one I have described here. So, work of fiction, no resemblance to anyone living or dead or undead, et cetera, et cetera, ergo, and so on and so forth. Legalese!

I honestly can’t say how long the world and people in these stories have been percolating in the back of my head, but here’s a screenshot from my Google Drive of the very first draft, to give you some idea.

It’s been sitting there for almost a decade while I worked on (and ultimately discarded) a lot of other things. But I’ve always found myself returning to the world of Detective Grey.

Over lockdown I dusted off the latest draft and last year I rewrote it and turned it into the first chapter of Twelve Months to Midnight, which you can read on this very blog! For free!

Ultimately, the plan is to tell twelve stories, one set each month during the toughest year in the life of poor young Vic.

But please don’t expect monthly releases. It turns out that writing in real time is harder than it looks. I have no idea how the people who come up with The News do it. (No spoilers, please, I’m waiting for The News to finish and then I’ll binge it)

I hope to get stories out with a cadence of 3-4 each year, turning Twelve Months to Midnight into a 3-4 year project. Stay tuned (or subscribe!) to keep up to date with announcements.

And in case things get a bit confusing later, here’s the actual canonical reading order.

Chapter One: January

The Blood Ritual

Part I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII

Chapter Two: February

Thicker than Water

Part I, II, III, IV, V, VI

Chapter Three: March

Red Letter Days

Part I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII

Chapter Four: April

The Blood Bath

Part I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII