Born in Sludge: The Volkdrow Chronicles, #0.1

By Lou Yardley

Tiny, cursed and full of vengeance, Yelkrie is a small goblin forced into a huge, life-altering adventure. Everything changes for her when she experiences loss and is forced to move from the only home she's ever known: Lurker's Swamp.

 

Danger lurks all around her, making her do whatever it takes to survive. Unlikely alliances are made. Blood is spilled. Sides are chosen. Nothing can be taken for granted when you're born in sludge.

 

"Born in Sludge" is a prequel to "The Volkdrow Chronicles" – coming in 2023 and is set on the monstrous world of Venari.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Goblin Storybook
• Release date: Sep 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215933503

Book preview

Dedication

To Max and Robyn x

What's all this, then?

BORN IN SLUDGE sets the scene for my upcoming The Volkdrow Chronicles series. Another prequel and the first book in the series are due in late 2022 / early 2023.

The Volkdrow Chronicles follow on from the exciting events of the original Venari books. If you've read Creep, Banished or Everfrost, you may see some familiar faces in this new series.

Fun fact: This series was originally going to be called The Rise of the Fool, but my characters ended up doing their own thing (as usual!) so that title no longer made sense. Whoops!

I hope you enjoy this little tale. Yelkrie can't wait to meet you!

About the book

Tiny, cursed and full of vengeance, Yelkrie is a small goblin forced into a huge, life-altering adventure. Everything changes for her when she experiences loss and is forced to move from the only home she's ever known: Lurker's Swamp.

Danger lurks all around her, making her do whatever it takes to survive. Unlikely alliances are made. Blood is spilled. Sides are chosen. Nothing can be taken for granted when you're born in sludge.

Born in Sludge is a prequel to The Volkdrow Chronicles – coming late 2022 / early 2023 and is set on the monstrous world of Venari.

Timeline

Want to know where this little tale fits in the grand scheme of things in Venari? Check out this handy guide...

The First Age: The Time of the Gods Year 0-100

Not much is known about this time. Over the centuries, people have forgotten what was real and what was myth. Everyone's pretty sure it was awesome though. Gods always behave themselves, right? It's a shame no-one really knows where those gods are now. Some are convinced that they've slipped down the back of some sofa cushions somewhere. Wherever they are, we'll find them in the last place we look. It's always the way...

The Second Age: Dragon Rule Year 101-350

As you can probably guess, there were dragons here. It was all rather exciting. Don't worry, I'll fill you in on it soon. I can tell you this was when there was one single ruler for the whole of Venari... and, funnily enough, that ruler was a dragon.

The Third Age: The Fracture Year 350 onwards

The Fracture starts when the rule of Dragons is over. Various kings, queens, and other leaders spring up across Venari with varying degrees of success. You'll get to know one of them, Queen Elsbeth, quite well in future books. She's an absolute delight.

All of the Venari books so far have taken place in the third age. Chronologically, they can be listed like this (but this isn't the order I wrote them in... because I'm bloody awkward):

Creep (Year 450)

Banished (Year 542)

Born in Sludge – that's this book! (Year 545)

In the Woods of Waiting (Year 555)

Everfrost (Year 556)

The Blade of Absolution (Year 556 – this one is coming soon too! It's all very exciting!)

At the moment, you can read most of these books in any order, but for the best experience, In the Woods of Waiting should be read before the main The Volkdrow Chronicles series (starting with The Blade of Absolution), otherwise things will get confusing. More news on this soon!

All of this First, Second and Third age stuff will make more sense as soon as I write the other books on my epic To Be Written list. At the moment, those stories are living in my head.

These books are high fantasy with gore, swearing and a few attempts of humour that made me smile while I was writing, so I hope they bring a smile to your face too. 

Lurker's Swamp

UNLIKE MOST GOBLINS, Yelkrie was an only child. Usually, goblin nymphs were spawned in large groups, sometimes even big enough to topple entire kingdoms (and it had happened, many goblins liked to share that particular story), but her parents had only managed to create her and her alone. One of the elders said it was because she was cursed, a theory that seemed all the more reasonable when Yelkrie's parents went missing several years ago. Once the word 'cursed' gets thrown around, it tends to stick. It didn't matter how often Yelkrie bathed in the local swamp, the stench of curse still clung to her green scaled skin.

Lurker's Swamp was what most people thought of when they imagined a goblin settlement. Unidentifiable dirt, grime, and sludge covered almost every surface, and the sounds of violence and high-pitched laughter filled the air. Every type of goblin one could imagine was there. There were hunters and gatherers, elders, weaponsmiths, fighters, bards (well, one bard in this case), cooks, healers, teachers, and a small contingent of assassins. Every goblin horde worth its salt has several assassins. Murder of the other peoples (such as gnomes, humans and the like) was actively encouraged and the best performing assassins got the best jewels, the tastiest meals, and the longest soaks in the swamp. Sometimes the swamp monster even lovingly nibbled on their toenails. Murder of goblins was also accepted to a degree. Most just saw it as one of those things and ignored it so long as it wasn't happening to them. Murder was very hard to ignore when it was happening to you, after all. However, the only