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Brinkvale Psychiatric Hospital art therapist Zach Taylor is endlessly curious, perhaps to a fault. When his cheerful elderly patient Gertrude “Spindle” Spindler completes her latest quilt and informs Zach that a 30-year-old "grand design of nine" has just concluded, Zach’s curiosity is piqued ... and he soon embarks on a quest to unwind the meaning of the woman's cryptic phrase.

He isn't expecting a descent into a world filled with mystery and ruthless subcultures -- and he isn't expecting to be haunted by Spindle's coy clues. What is The Great Blade of Blood? What are The Charred? What is the grand design of nine? And who is the dark-skinned stranger stalking Zach at every turn, threatening his life?

The answers may lie in Spindle's granddaughter, a willowy self-proclaimed psychic named Hen. But Zach soon discovers that Hen may be crazier than the patients he treats ... and the treasure he's pursuing may be more dangerous -- and deadly -- than he ever imagined.

Personal Effects: Sword of Blood is a podcast-exclusive novella written by J.C. Hutchins, author of the 7th Son trilogy. It is a prequel to Hutchins' print novel debut, Personal Effects: Dark Art.

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives 3.0 United States License.

Audio Quality: Out of 20 ratings

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Overall Rating: Out of 20 ratings

By: Martin
I never got into the 7th son... maybe cause I was dropped on my head too much since everyone else likes it so much.... but I am completely immersed in the Sword of Blood Story... I am on the 6th download...and just came across Phillippa Balentines cameo.... NICE!!! Talk about LMAO! Good job on the story so far... you have earned a new fan J.C.

By: Susan Fairhurst
I am a big fan of the 7 Son trilogy and I'm eagerly awaiting the release of Personal Effects:Dark Arts. I would urge people to participate in the "extracurricular" activities as they are fun to do and can lead to very pleasant surprises. I was having a very boring night at work until I heard my inmate, John Doe 101, name checked in episode 2. Thank you very much J.C. it's made my week to find out where he'd ended up. I can't wait to hear the rest.

By: Morten Juhl-Johansen Zölde-Fejér
Listened to it, promising. Good style. I got the impression that it resembled Phil Rossi's storytelling atmosphere more than 7th Son. It's good - looking forward to listen to episodes to come.

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