Somewhere in the far future—or slightly misfiled in time—a girl from Earth awakens in the red deserts of an alien planet with no memory of how she arrived… accompanied only by her loyal Doberdane.
In the city of Trisaka, colonisation judge Anna Hourna arrives expecting power—and instead finds herself pulled into a quiet catastrophe.
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Storms whisper. Shadows plot. Time fractures through stone, and ruthenium veins whisper with forgotten power.
A sci fi mystery novel set on a desert planet — shifting between dreamlike dunes and a metropolis of power struggles, secrets, and forbidden projects.
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Into this strolls Anna Hourna, expecting to be named Colonisation Judge and weigh the planet’s future. Instead, the Emperor hands her a “small extra assignment.” (And really, who says no to the Emperor? Not even Judges.).
In Grand Madane she finds a sprawling metropolis, stitched together from scars and sheer stubbornness —slave camps turned districts, rivers dammed into weapons, and every street corner hiding either a deal, a knife, or both. And somewhere beneath it all, a forbidden project bubbles toward catastrophe.
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Far beyond the Empire’s reach, Mina — red-haired, Earth-born, inconveniently stranded girl — wanders the desert with her Doberdane, blissfully unaware the universe may already have pencilled her in as Anna’s secret assignment. Armed with nothing more glamorous than a Brass-Ass Heater and a Magnetic Resonance Harness, she trudges through red sands scarred by storms and beneath magnetic skies shimmering with ruthenium dust. And just as she thinks she can’t possibly be further from home… well, let’s just say fate, trickster, or some other unseen hand has other plans.
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Through converging perspectives, the novel reveals Madane’s layered history, its competing systems of control and belief, and the tensions between order and chaos that shape both the planet and those who inhabit it. While some mysteries are uncovered, others remain unresolved, reflecting a world in which not all forces can be fully understood or contained.
Mysteries of Madane: The Dry Season is a science fiction novel that combines investigation, survival, and speculative mystery, exploring the limits of authority, memory, and reality itself.
Before there was Madane, before there was an empire, before there was even red hair — there was simply a girl standing in a desert. Alone, small against the horizon, in a world that seemed more question than answer. That girl became Mina.
She was the spark that set the story into motion. From that seed, the deserts filled with storms, Dexter padded onto the page, and eventually an entire cosmic empire unfurled. Even now, if you peel back all the layers of lore and shadow, Mina remains at the heart: one girl trying to make sense of a world that refuses to stay still.
Meet Fabricator 7
The stories of Mysteries of Madane are framed — and sometimes interrupted — by Fabricator 7, a storyteller wandering the far future on her own long and somewhat circuit-broken journey.
Her chronicles are part of the wider Fabricator 7 Stories project, threading through the Madane lore and linking the novel with the Wyrdkeeper game.
Her earliest appearance comes in the short stories of Madane that accompany the game Wyrdkeeper. As narrator, she ushers us in and out of those tales while wrestling with her own not-so-small problem — a blown circuit in her knee (you can read the prologue here).
And of course, while we leave her in great distress at the end of those short stories — to be expected, really, given entropy’s sense of humour — she will return, not alone this time, but with companions at the opening of The Dry Season.
You may also have met her elsewhere: on our YouTube channel, where her emblem flickers in the corner of subtitles, like a quiet reminder that she is always present — watching, recording, and perhaps judging your tea-biscuit choices.
“Left, right. Left, right. Surrounded by entropy and nature, I was marching right in the middle of a great change. There was little here that reminded me of a living human settlement. The only things from the once glorious past were a few crumbled walls still standing.
The wind seemed to be playing with me. Winding its’ way through the window frames of a solitary wall, forcing the faded drapes – don’t ask me who had put these up or how they had survived – into a fast, fluttering dance; it then whistled up and down a lonesome stairwell blowing off dust and cobwebs, sidestepped the piles of the crumbled concrete and twirled a handful of leaves into small hurricane before knocking off my hat.
“It’s a god damn Wild West movie scene,” I mumbled to myself. “All I need now is some goons with long coats and long guns posturing in front of me…”— Fabricator 7, Spring Chronicle
What Awaits
✔️ Deserts scarred by storms and silence — the heart of a true desert planet story.
✔️ A city rotting beneath its own secrets.
✔️ A judge trapped between her oath and the Emperor’s whisper.
✔️ A girl from Earth, one Doberdane, and a voice in her head.
✔️ Shadows that don’t stay where they belong.
A Note from Pille
When I first set pen to paper for Mysteries of Madane, I had just arrived in Australia — a sunbaked land of endless light, so unlike my cool, northern homeland of Estonia. And here, in the most isolated city on the planet, Perth, the story began.
Ten years of writing and imagining later, that newborn universe has grown into a world of storms, secrets, and the occasional dog hair. I’d love for you to join me on the journey through the Mysteries of Madane.
As a Pille Perspective book, it blends world-building, lore, and a dash of cosmic satire into something uniquely my own.
The Perspective
Mysteries of Madane balance light and shadow: playful wit and dry humour set against deserts that brood, skies that whisper, and choices that crack reality open. The art draws on photography — intimate, cinematic, dramatic as a portrait caught mid-breath.
Together, these threads create a tapestry of Madane lore, where every ruin, storm, and shadow adds weight to the journey.
The Science of Madane
Madane isn’t just red sand and storms — it’s a planet shaped by ruthenium-rich geology, magnetic skies that flicker with stormlight, and physics that occasionally misbehave. The science was pieced together with a lot of research… and a lot of help from ChatGPT, who patiently entertained my demands for “more sci in the fi.”
For Press & Publishers
Genre: Speculative fiction — science fiction, mystery, and myth, blending satirical wit with cosmic-horror atmosphere.
Length: Approximately 120,290 words.
Status: Debut novel. Not previously published.
Series: The Dry Season is the first in a planned series set on Madane. While connected through recurring characters and a shared world, each instalment is designed to stand alone, exploring different facets of the planet’s mysteries. The in-world concept of WyrdKeeper is also being developed as a complementary card and dice game, reflecting the novel’s core themes.
For review copies, sample chapters, or further information, please get in touch via the contact details below.