About
Genre: Sci-Fi, Espionage
Themes: Honor, Loyalty, Truth
Pages: 291
Words: 76,946
The Halferne Perfidy was my first failed NoNoWriMo attempt. At the time, I had only ever written 45K words of The Maylyon Gambit (unfinished) and a 20K word short story version of The Halferne Incubus. This was to be a novel set in the same universe, focusing on the backstory of a character I hadn’t even introduced yet. I consider the genre to be, half-jokingly, all my favorite things into one book: “secret agents vs ninjas in space while a media-hacking AI messes with them in the background for fun” or “Jack Higgins, Chang Cheh, and Yuval Noah Harari walk into a bar…”
I always said the subgenre of “contemporary pulp sci-fi/espionage/wuxia” was wide open and begging to be invented. Of course, I now see why.
Back Cover Blurb
The planet Notosia is a failed experiment and a collapsed society; a remote world with no allies located far off the Upeastern arm of the interstellar travel lanes. No one in their right mind would go there unless they were desperate.
Industrialist Sylvester Locke is one of the richest, most powerful men in the galaxy. For the past several months, he has been rumored to be traveling from system to system, attempting to sell a significant piece of new technology.
A trail of bodies left behind in Locke’s wake leads to Notosia and has caught the attention of Division 5, the Sol Directorate’s intelligence agency. Their operative is tasked with uncovering the secrets of this revolutionary new technology and keeping it out of the hands of the terrorists, gangsters, and corrupt government warlords that make up most of Notosia’s population.
This mission would be difficult under the best of circumstances, even before the addition of a mysterious ninja assassin and his handler, a 20-year-old girl whose exact role, loyalties, and state of mind are a complete mystery, even on a world that thrives in chaos.
Read the Latest Draft
As stated elsewhere, I consider this a “working manuscript.” It’s not a raw draft, but it’s not in final form either. From time to time (maybe once a year at most), I may revise something — a chapter, a scene, or an idea that’s matured or just been misunderstood by readers. Occasionally, a larger section gets rewritten, or something is added. Nothing here is volatile, but nothing is frozen. You’ll find the latest changes and planned (one day) next steps noted below.
I offer it here for readers who are curious now, not for early access hype or formal critique. If you enjoy it, that’s enough. If you notice something worth mentioning, I’m always interested — but feedback is optional, not expected. I’m not trying to con you into being a beta-reader.
Chapter 1 … Chapter 2 … Chapter 3 … Chapter 4 … Chapter 5 … Chapter 6 … Chapter 7 … Chapter 8 … Chapter 9 … Chapter 10 … Chapter 11 … Chapter 12 … Chapter 13 … Chapter 14 … Chapter 15 … Chapter 16 … Chapter 17 … Chapter 18 … Chapter 19 … Chapter 20 … Chapter 21 … Chapter 22 … Chapter 23 … Chapter 24 … Chapter 25 … Chapter 26 … Chapter 27
Playlist I Listened to While Writing It
Revision History
| NaNo Draft | First 23K words (NaNoWriMo 2017) | November 2017 |
| Draft 0 | First Speed Draft | September 2024 |
| Draft 1 | Grammarly Draft | October 2024 |
| Draft 2 | Alpha Reader Draft – Tweak ending, minor clarifications, minor plot holes corrected | February 2025 |
| Draft 2.1 | Rewrite Klein, add Prudence, spread out Clay’s backstory, extra clarity on the reveals | August 2025 |
Next Steps (Someday)
- Proper-Noun Dump in Chapter 1 is too much.
- More theme differentiation in antagonists
- More stakes and emotional interior for Clay
- Trim more exposition in Chapter 1
- Fix repeated filler words
