When Jerl Holten inherited the merchant ship Cavalier Queen from his father, he anticipated a quiet life independent of the big airship guilds, flying from earthmote to earthmote and seeing what he could trade across the four spheres of the Nested Worlds.

After Jerl's helmsman buys a mysterious puzzle box at market and is murdered for it, Jerl and his crew quickly find themselves plunged into a desperate fight for survival. Hunted from the warm plains of Sayf to the freezing darkness of Talvi, Jerl is faced with some important questions: just what is inside the box? Why is the most powerful man in the worlds so hell-bent on finding it?

And what will he do when he finds his answers?

Philip R. Johnson is the author of HFY web serial phenomenon The Deathworlders. Having now finished that series after a nine-year run, The Nested Worlds is his new project and setting, and will be updated on the same monthly schedule he has maintained since 2014.