Middle Grade · Folkloric Fantasy · Coming of Age
Young Johnny King enters the surreal realm of the City of Pipes, guided by two miniature soldiers and a shapeshifting dog named Brownie. When his world begins to unravel, a mystical figure appears — beckoning him on a heroic journey through witches, bees, and the weight of his own lineage.
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Madam Moon
Brownie the shapeshifter
Two miniature soldiers
A magical mink
The City of Pipes
About the Book
Madam Moon began as a short story in a creative writing class. It was the first thing John Martin ever wrote that felt entirely his own — strange, folkloric, and unafraid of the dark corners where children actually live.
The book follows young Johnny King into the City of Pipes, a surreal underworld where nothing stays the shape it was. He's guided by two miniature soldiers and Brownie, a dog who won't stay a dog for long. When Madam Moon herself appears, she sets Johnny on a journey with his irreverent grandmother at his side and a magical mink at his heel — through witches and bees and the burden of who his family made him.
It blends the deep-time strangeness of folklore with the bone-level questions boys don't always get to ask out loud: Who am I supposed to be? What was I born into? What do I get to choose?
Traditional publishers told Martin to smooth the rough edges. He declined. Madam Moon is the book he meant to write — strange where it needs to be strange, and true where it needs to be true.
Available now on Amazon in paperback and digital editions.
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