New Novel: The End

The book follows the adventures of two endermen living in (you guessed it!) 19th century Birmingham. I mean, the End. It’s a non-canon adventure set in Minecraft’s most mysterious biome. Here’s a more professional synopsis!  

When humans enter the End, a pair of endermen must decide which side they’re really on.

For as long as they can remember, the twin endermen Fin and Mo have lived in the mysterious land of the End. On the outskirts of the great enderman city of Telos, they explore ancient ruins under the watchful gaze of the mighty ender dragon. They have everything they need in the end ship they call home, and know everything there is to know about their world—or so they think until the strangers from another dimension arrive.

The invaders are called humans, and they’ve come to steal artifacts and slay the ender dragon. Fin and Mo are ready to protect their home from the trespassers, but when they come face-to-face with the humans, they discover that they aren’t as prepared for battle as they’d thought. Caught off guard, the twins are trapped in the middle of a war between the endermen and the humans, with the future of their home at stake.

Here’s a few things I really enjoyed that you’ll find in the book:

• A grumpy Shulker called ‘Grumpo’.
• Grumpo.
• BRB, gonna go rename my son 'Grumpo'
  

For once, I’m going to shut up, and let a real writer take over this article. Because here’s an exclusive sample of The End. Enjoy!

Chapter One

You and Me and Us and Them

It is always night in the End. There is no sunrise. There is no sunset. There are no clocks ticking away.

But that does not mean there is no such thing as time. Or light. Ring after ring of pale yellow islands glow in the darkness, floating in the endless night. Violet trees and violet towers twist up out of the earth and into the blank sky. Trees full of fruit, towers full of rooms. White crystal rods stand like candles at the corners of the tower roofs and balconies, shining through the shadows. Sprawling, ancient, quiet cities full of these towers glitter all along the archipelago, purple and yellow like everything else in this place. Beside them float great ships with tall masts. Below them yawns a black and bottomless void.

It is a beautiful place. And it is not empty.

The islands are full of endermen, their long, slender black limbs moving over little yellow hills and little yellow valleys. Their narrow purple--and--pink eyes flash. Their thin black arms swing to the rhythm of a soft, whispering music, plotting their plots and scheming their schemes in the tall, twisted buildings older than even the idea of a clock. They watch everything. They say nothing.

Shulkers hide in boxes nestled in ships and towers. Little yellow--green slugs hiding from outsiders. Sometimes they peek out. But they snap their boxes safely shut again, like clams in their shells. The gentle thudding sound of their cubes opening and closing is the heartbeat of the End.

And on the central and largest island, enormous obsidian towers surround a small pillar of grey stone ringed with torches. A brilliant lantern gleams from the top of each tower. A flame in a silver cage, shooting beams of light down from the towers into the grass, across a little grey courtyard, and out into the black sky.

Above it all, something slowly circles. Something huge. Something with wings. Something that never tires. Round and round it goes, and its purple eyes glow like furious fire.

You can pre-order The End here. We’ll have more about it on the website next week, including my interview with Catherynne M Valente! Here’s a preview:

TOM: Can you hear me OK?

CATHERYNNE M VALENTE: Yes.

The End is out December 3rd. Oh, look, here’s that pre-order link again!