The Penumbra Podcast

Juno Steel has had a lot of clients in his time: high-profile and low. But when he's called in to investigate the murder of Croesus Kanagawa, head of the Kanagawa crime-family-slash-enertainment-network, it’s not the client that interests him. It’s what Croesus was wearing when he died – and an ancient curse that hangs over that very strange mask.

Detective Juno Steel is looking for a killer, and he’s in the right place. Locked in the basement of a Triad restaurant, Juno and Special Agent Rex Glass have dozens of killers to choose from – thugs and waiters and middle-managers, all taking turns pummeling them. It should be pretty easy to pick out their culprit… if they can make it out alive.

Louise Serling is a talented young painter with a bright future and promising artistic career in front of her. But Louise’s family history holds a dreadful secret; can she conceal it from the world, or will the truth shake her life to its very foundations?

After an explosive murder case gone wrong, Detective Juno Steel is in the market for some slower work. His next client promises something quiet: a routine find-the-cheating-husband job. Well… it should be routine.

They warned her about the bandits, but Mary Anne didn’t listen. She was engaged, she said; her fiancée was moving to Crossroads, and even if Crossroads was crawling with bandits, she didn’t have much of a choice. Sheriff Beau Richmond asked her to marry him; Mary Anne said yes; and that, as far as Mary Anne knew, was the end of it. It might have been the end to Mary Anne’s entire story, too – decades married to a man whom she liked well enough, she guessed, stop asking, please – if the bandit hadn’t stopped the train. Chance Sequoyah is a very special bandit. Sure, she’ll take the usual things: money, necklaces, watches. But she plans on taking something else, too: Mary Anne Watkins.

They thought they’d gotten away with it. They were just kids when it happened. Juno Steel, Sasha Wire, and Mick Mercury – they were just kids when they did it. It was supposed to be a game, the kind kids play when there are no adults around to talk to… when there’s nobody around to tell them just how deadly their little game could be.

Sir Marc and Sir Talfryn of Second Citadel aren’t technically knights. They do all the knightly things, sure – killing monsters, saving the innocent, bickering about breakfast meats – the only problem is that the other knights don’t agree that they’re… y’know, knights. So what are a pair of free lancers to do? Get some respect, of course! Take down a monster so big that the Knights of the Crown have to let them join! The Janus Beast is gruesome, but Marc and Talfryn have dealt with monsters before. It’s the threats they aren’t prepared for that might tear these brothers apart for good.

Valles Vicky’s Vixen Valley is your one-stop shop if you’re interested in fine dining, good conversation, beautiful people, and contraband from across the galaxy. Juno Steel needs the last on that list: he’s after a killer with an eye for Ancient Martian artifacts, and only Valles Vicky herself can help Juno catch that killer. But a favor from Valles Vicky always comes at a price… and if Juno’s not careful, the bill might end up more than he can afford.

Lily doesn’t want to move. This house is the only home she’s ever known, and she loves it – but in a few days her family is leaving, and her older brother Jake says she’ll never see it again. Dad says not to worry about it, that it’s okay to be sad when you’re leaving home, but sadness isn’t what Lily’s worried about. Lily’s scared. Because for the last few weeks Lily’s been having nightmares, strange dreams about a thing in the dark with cold breath and sharp teeth. Normally Mom and Dad help her with her nightmares, but… tonight, Mom and Dad are out of town. And normally Lily would just turn on a light and try not to think about the monster in the dark… but tonight, the power’s gone out.

He arrived in the night: Peter Nureyev, the burglar who got away, the thief Juno Steel couldn’t catch. Until he returned, things had been so simple: solving crimes, chasing a killer with her eye on Ancient Martian artifacts, and not letting personal business get in the way. With Nureyev, though, things always seem to get personal very quickly. But Juno has no choice. Nureyev’s the only one with a lead on the killer Juno’s after. He knows exactly what she plans to take next, and according to him it’s something very big, and very dangerous. According to Nureyev, anyway. But the question remains: can Juno trust Peter Nureyev?

Who is Peter Nureyev? The question has dogged Juno Steel, Private Eye for six months now, ever since he first met that master of disguises. It doesn’t help that he changes identities like most people change clothes: Rex Glass, Duke Rose, Miasma’s anonymous “the Thief…” How is Juno supposed to know who he is? How is Juno supposed to trust him? He needs to know he can, because the clock is ticking. Miasma’s experiments on Juno won’t last forever, and once his usefulness has passed she’ll kill the both of them. And once they’re gone, who will stop her from using the Egg of Purus, the Martian super-weapon she now has under her control? Juno needs to trust Nureyev, but he hardly knows him. And so, that same old question remains: who is Peter Nureyev?

Who is Peter Nureyev? The question has dogged Juno Steel, Private Eye for six months now, ever since he first met that master of disguises. It doesn’t help that he changes identities like most people change clothes: Rex Glass, Duke Rose, Miasma’s anonymous “the Thief…” And so, that same old question remains: who is Peter Nureyev?

In all likelihood, this is the end. The only question is: the end of how much? The end of Juno Steel… that’s pretty likely. Alone in a Martian tomb, Peter Nureyev gone, and Miasma’s experiments drawing to a close. Juno will outlive his usefulness any minute now, and if Miasma has her way he won’t outlive for long. And if it’s the end of Juno Steel it may well be the end of Mars, too: with Miasma’s hands on the Egg of Purus, a super-weapon strong enough to destroy the entire Ancient Martian civilization, this human civilization doesn’t stand much of a chance. What does Miasma have planned for that Martian wasteland? Where is Peter Nureyev? And just how much will Juno Steel lose? Because surely, this is the end, the final resting place… but how much will end here, today?