The Moon Panther:
And 3 Other Stories of the Mongolian Book of the Sky
2019
In a dystopian, post-technological Australia, Mongol horsemen and warlords form the upper crust of a conquest society. Harujin, the great conqueror styling himself a new Genghis Khan, has wrapped his talons around the entire globe. The conquest is finished, and now it’s a new beast entirely – bureaucracy.
From the desert wastelands of Western Australia to a lavish royal gala in Auckland, to the almost garish casinos and palaces of the imperial capital, The Moon Panther builds upon the incredibly rich world first established in The Hounds of Harujin. Presenting four novellas set in Jason Shannon’s The Mongolian Book of the Sky – a femme fatale assassin goes unarmed into a royal function under the watchful eyes of a hundred bodyguards; a conniving concubine digs her claws into the imperial government, cajoling and manipulating to make herself empress in all but name; desert bandits operate their own warlord state of drug running, human trafficking, and murder deep in the badlands....
This collection features four novellas:
The Conquest of Qongqor Caine - femme fatale assassin Josephine targets a corrupt official in New Zealand; 18,5000 words
One Night in Ikh Khulan - low-level bureaucrat is tapped for a prestigious position, has to impress the Machiavellian empress-concubine before he gets the job. A whirlwind of intrigue, decadence, assassination schemes and political maneuvering ensues; 40,000 words.
The Pirate's Lass - Local businesswoman takes the camel train through the desert, is beset upon by bandits of the worst sort hunting down a sex trafficking victim who's escaped; 31,000 words.
The Moon Panther - Vigilante assassin George ventures into the deep desert of western Australia to pursue the most vicious bandit king of them all, the man known as the Moon Panther; 70,000 words
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The Conquest of Qongqor Caine
1 hour, 40 mins
Insurrectionist. That’s what they would call her – and the punishment for it was the most obscene she could even think of. It terrified her to her core, but that’s what she was: an insurrectionist. She waged war against the state in secret, she assassinated state officials.
With a prince in the other room, she’ll go after her most ambitious target yet: Dzuku, divisional tax overseer for Waikato, New Zealand. This will be the first time she’s left the mainland, the first time she’s done the deed surrounded by imperial security. And she’ll do it without her sword or her bow, dressed to the nines in stilettos and a backless dress.
Dzuku deserves to die; of that, she is certain. As to whether she’s the one that should be endowed with such a power – the grand arbiter – this is the question, above all others, that will eat at her....
Read by Andrew C. Bunton
Music by Michael Hebbes
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The Pirate's Lass
2 hours, 43 mins
Her greatest literary hero is a kickass, take-no-prisoners, seaborne scallywag who binds her breasts and slays devious figures while her bird parrots back lusty things the assassin has said during carnal pursuits. But for Penelope Humberton, while the idea of gunning down monstrous figures gets her heart pumping, her own ambitions are much safer: getting her bookshop and printing press off the ground, expanding her market, introducing more readers to the titillating world of Moxie Breastbind comic books.
Safer, that is, only in theory. To move past small-time book sellers in Leinster, she needs to premiere her artist’s newest MB series at the convention in Geraldton, which means a three and a half week trek from her comfortable home in Leinster, travelling by camel train, through harsh desert, with company that’s ten-to-one men, and who’ve never heard of polite company.
And bandits. Pedro Kimbers, the bandit king of the western Outback, the ‘Duke of the Desert’, as he’s known in Moxie’s world, is by now largely believed to be dead – the only reason she’s agreed to leave the town’s boundary. But when a ravaged and traumatized young woman comes wandering out of the desert halfway between Leinster and Geraldton, with gruesome tales of her bandit overlords, Penelope must decide how – and if – to help this woman, and face the reality of what these overlords might do to get her back....
Sex slaves, military agents, security contractors and bandit emperors collide in this standalone novella of The Mongolian Book of the Sky.
Read by Andrew C. Bunton
Music by Michael Hebbes
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Listen to an excerpt from the novella
One Night in Ikh Khulan
8 minutes
The opium fields of northern New South Wales are the most prosperous on the continent, so even though he’s governor of a town of less than 3,000, he has a powerful background, and is the natural frontrunner in the race to become the new prefectural oversight chair. His name is Dzöndzüükii, bastard son of the late prince and prefect for whom the territory is named: Bolad, one of the most notorious womanizers in the khanate’s history. He barely knew his father, and the fact that his uncle is the khan of Australia will mean nothing when it comes to climbing the ranks.
He’s had to earn everything for himself. He has a handful of loyal riders, his darling wife, and only a single concubine. His record is impeccable; he doesn’t deal in corruption or bribery with the opium families, and has cracked down on banditry. But before the prefect can hand him the job, he has to be vetted by the powers that be in the imperial capital. They’re tigers in Ikh Khulan, each minister, prince and Council member vying for their own slightly larger piece of the pie – and he’ll be caught in the middle of it, a pawn in the games of the imperial stable master and the most venerated, beautiful, delicious empress-concubine.
Assassins, warrior women, bandits and imperial courtesans collide in this standalone novella of The Mongolian Book of the Sky.
In this excerpt, Dzöndzüükii is attacked by 3 assassins in a market square.
Read by Andrew C. Bunton
Music by Michael Hebbes
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4.5 hours