Free Chapters Archives - Charles Mandrake Books | A Skelderheim Portal Book Series

Chapters Between Chapters #015- Fire Meat Recipe by Anna

Early Access for Members Only: Release Schedule We want to make sure everyone has a chance to catch up with the trio in the Chapters between Chapters. Here is how you can read this entry: CBC #015 shifts gears into something practical and personal: Anna writes down her family’s “Fire Meat” not as a clean card, but as a lived signal that meant “someone is home,” “sit,” and “eat before you get too tired to be kind.” The entry is built like a real Anna page would be: stubbornly honest, mildly annoyed at recipe-blog nonsense, and focused on the parts that actually Continue reading

Anna

Naanah

Chapters Between Chapters #014- Coin Runners

FREE CHAPTER NOW DOWNLOADABLE DOWNLOAD NOW We want to make sure everyone has a chance to catch up with the trio in the Chapters between Chapters. Here is how you can read this entry: CBC #014: Coin Runners CBC #014 takes us deep into the Market Ward of Skelderheim, seen through the eyes of twelve-winter-old Naanah. In a city that never fully sleeps, being a coin runner means more than just moving messages; it means maintaining standing in a network where your word is your worth. Naanah’s “ordinary day” shifts when she accepts a sealed slip destined for the Underways. Continue reading

Naanah

Anna

Chapters Between Chapters #013- Return to Klebbers

FREE CHAPTER: DOWNLOAD NOW CBC #013 takes us back into the winding, damp streets of Skelderheim. Coffee is running low, and in a house like Brell and Emera’s, that changes the air in ways you can feel before you see. Anna, Todd, and Charles head out on a routine supply run to Klebber’s Mercantiles and Imports, but the trip becomes about more than just beans and salt pork. For the first time, Anna steps out fully “blended”—wearing her Haan coat not as a costume, but as a skin. Through the eyes of a discerning merchant, we learn that a coat Continue reading

Anna

Chapters Between Chapters #009: Homework at Mel’s Diner

There is a specific kind of quiet that only exists in a diner on a school night. It’s not a true silence; it’s a hum made of clinking silverware, the sizzle of a flat-top grill, and the rhythmic scratching of pencils against paper. In East Bay, that sound has a name: Mel’s. I am excited to announce that the latest installment of our journey, Chapter 009: “Homework at Mel’s,” is ready for release. For those who have been traveling with us Across the Portal in the jagged, unpredictable landscape of Skelderheim, this chapter might feel like a sharp turn. But Continue reading

Charles

Anna

Chapters Between Chapters #008 – Faith and Belief

Release Date NOW FREE Skelderheim Journal #008 - Faith and Belief The tavern was already quiet when the day finally caught up with me. Emera was wiping down the last table, moving the way someone does when the work is finished but the thinking is not. I sat for a moment longer than I meant to, listening to the room settle and letting the warmth stay where it had landed. Some days leave you with answers.Some days leave you with better questions. This was the second kind. What Emera shared with me that day was not instruction or prophecy. It Continue reading

Anna

Chapters Between Chapters #010 – You Only Can Do What You Do

Entry #010 - You Only Can Do What You Do If you have ever walked into a room and felt it in your shoulders before anyone said a word, you already understand what this entry is about. Some places make people decide fast. Some people decide faster. They look at you, they take one detail, and they fill in the rest on their own. Sometimes it is flattering. Sometimes it is unfair. Sometimes it is dangerous. Most of the time, it is not about you at all. It is about what they need you to be in their head so Continue reading

Anna

Chapters Between Chapters #012 — Ode to Coffee

Release Date RELEASED Learn More Early Access for Members Only: Release Schedule We want to make sure everyone has a chance to catch up with the trio in the Chapters between Chapters. Here is how you can read this entry: Member Preview (Patreon): Starting January 25th, all Patreon members will have early access to the full text of Chapter 012. If you can't wait to read it, head over to the Patreon page. Public Release: On Febuary 8, the chapter will move to the main site as a permanent addition to our Free Chapters section. Chapters between Chapters #012 - Continue reading

Anna

Guest Writers

Chapters Between Chapters #011 — Labs and Agar Plates

Release Date RELEASED Early Access for Members Only: Release Schedule We want to make sure everyone has a chance to catch up with the trio in the Chapters between Chapters. Here is how you can read this entry: Member Preview (Patreon): Starting January 18th, all Patreon members will have early access to the full text of Chapter 011. If you can't wait to read it, head over to the Patreon page. Public Release: On Febuary 1, the chapter will move to the main site as a permanent addition to our Free Chapters section. In Labs and Agar Plates, we step Continue reading

Greg Thomas

Charles

Chapters Between Chapters #007 – The Merchant’s Corridor

Entry #007 - The Merchant's Corridor I started weekly lessons at the Skelderheim library. It feels like sitting down in a good class for the first time. You show up with a vague idea of what you want to learn, and then someone who actually knows the subject hands you the right starting point. You leave with your head full, and you realize how much you did not know five minutes earlier. The Librarian agreed to teach me. He does not waste time. He shows up when he says he will, brings the right books, and speaks in plain terms. Continue reading

Charles

Ira Finch

Chapters Between Chapters #006 – The Things I carry

After hours at Dockside, the yard lights are off and the tide is dropping, but Finch keeps a burner going on the dock. He feeds Charles, Anna, and Todd mackerel fresh off the pier with vegetables Anna grabbed from Pier Street Market, and he talks the way he rarely does when the shop is open. Finch starts in Vietnam, with a woman named Thuy and a memory that still catches on the way out. Then the story turns hard: a busted op, over half his unit gone, the rest scattered, and Finch alone with a satchel and the kind of Continue reading

Ira Finch

Category: Free Chapters