About the Author
Brent Johner is an award winning scholar and a published non-fiction author — books, magazines, newspapers, and scholarly publications. The Last Coffle (Web Serial) is his first foray into fiction since his undergraduate days at the University of Alberta in the 1980s. Noah will be ready to query in late 2026.
Work in Progress
The Last Coffle (Web Serial) is about rural families fighting to free their community from the powerful Company in an Appalachian fantasy world.
New episodes are released regularly. Read them in 15 minutes or less. Free to all. No paywalls. No registration. No downloads. No spam. Read them right on your phone.
Upcoming WIP
Noah is the story of an autistic man who lives alone on high ground overlooking a small town that has always considered him a villain—when the world begins to flood.
Noah is a stand-alone literary fiction novel of 75,000 words. It is being outlined now and will be ready to query in 2026.
Episodes
New episodes are posted monthly.
| Episodes | Time to read |
| 1 – THE LAST COFFLE | 14 mins |
| 2 – RIVER CAMP | 15 mins |
| 3 – EMANCIPATION | 9 mins |
| 4 – CONTACT | 12 mins |
| 5 – SOS | 14 mins |
| 6 – AWAKE | 12 mins |
| 7 – THE GROVE | 10 mins |
| 8 – SCOUT | 10 mins |
The Genre
The Last Coffle (Web Serial) blends literary fiction with low fantasy.
Proposed Query Pitches
Critique partners, please have a look at these one-sentence pitches and let me know which you prefer.
- (3RD POV) Bounty hunters, slave traders, and a rural village battle over the fate of freed child slaves hiding in an untamed forest.
- (HIGH CONCEPT) Seven old heroes come to the aid of a rural village whose children are being enslaved by a powerful colonial governor.
- (1ST POV) A mother leads a rebellion to end the Company’s tithe and stop them from taking every tenth newborn as a slave.
Proposed Cover Blurb
Critique partners, please have a look at this proposed cover blurb. If you think it can be improved upon, please provide suggestions.
An unlucky bounty hunter frees a coffle of child slaves and accidentally reignites a long dead civil war. As he rushes to find help for the people he has thrust into the path of danger, the colony’s notoriously ruthless governor mobilizes his army to retaliate.
Caught up in events beyond their control, the community must decide how to react. Will they betray their friends and beg for mercy? Will they flee into the hills and let the two sides fight it out? Or will they stand with community leaders and fight against impossible odds to defeat the ruthless Company who enslaves and sells their children?
A mother, a business owner, and a leader on the town council, Amanda—buoyed by early support from her community—chooses to stand up and lead the fight. But as reality sets in and the weight of a bloody battle comes to bear on ordinary people, resolve weakens and infighting begins. Even the loyalty of Amanda’s husband is in question as neighbors urge him to flee with her children.
The Last Coffle follows three storylines. The first is a children’s fantasy of magic and adventure as the emancipated child slaves experience freedom under the tutelage of druids. The second storyline follows the efforts of the governor’s representatives as they attempt to maintain control over the enslaved citizens of his colony. Meanwhile the main storyline follows the drama in Amanda’s hometown as individuals choose to fight, flee, or betray their neighbors.
The world of the Last Coffle is not a noble world of kings and castles. It is a dark and gritty frontier world of governors and chateaus, deputies and trading posts. Oligarchs own everything and everyone in the Haff-land. Freedom is an illusion and the Company’s overseas shareholders are prepared to eradicate anyone who thinks otherwise.
Proposed Query Blurbs
Critique partners: please tell me which of these you prefer.
Blurb 1
Amanda is a mother of three who lives in a colony ruled by the Company, which profits from slavery. She wants an end this practice and is willing to sacrifice her own life and the lives of her neighbors to achieve that. Standing in her way is a ruthless governor who has a history of crucifying rebels. Expecting her community to unite behind her righteous cause, Amanda watches in dismay as many leave town and others take the side of their oppressors. Even her husband’s loyalty is in question when friends and neighbors pressure him to flee with their children as the day of reckoning draws near.
Blurb 2
Autumn is a young elven druid who dislikes noisy humans and has never interacted with a human child. She is forced by circumstances to look after a group of emancipated child slaves. In the process of caring for them, hiding them from slavers, and protecting them from creatures of the forest, Autumn develops deep relationships with two of the children. Should her mission fail, the children she loves will be captured or killed. She is prepared to give her life to prevent that from happening.
Blurb 3
Hunter is an ancient elf with a soft spot for humankind, a controversial new species that is colonizing his continent. Unlike other elves who believe that humankind should be exterminated, Hunter believes that defeating the Company will address humanity’s bad behavior and redeem the species. In order to accomplish this, he supports Amanda’s rebellion and recruits some non-human friends to help. If the rebellion fails, factions within the elven council may decide that genocide is the only remaining option. If necessary, Hunter is prepared to fight both the Company and the Beloved Council to save the humans he loves.
The Twists
Kurosawa formula stories typically focus on the assembling-the-team trope and an epic battle at the story’s end. For example, Cameron Johnston’s The Maleficent Seven (2021) is evenly divided between assembling the team and the start of the battle. Similarly, Sebastien de Castell’s The Malevolent Seven (2023) spends two-thirds of the story gathering his team of seven spellcasters.
While this retelling of Seven Samurai (1954) includes those two essential elements, The Last Coffle is about the interpersonal dramas intrinsic to acts of rebellion. Rather than focusing on the seven heroes, this version focuses on the residents of the rebel town and the governor’s chateau as both sides make choices about the world in which they live.
The Last Coffle also explores the proposition that the villain is the protagonist of his own story. As a result, the antagonist is given his own full arc as the story unfolds.
Theme
The Last Coffle is an exploration of slavery in all of its many forms. It is especially interested in the willingness of people to enslave themselves to billionaires while they are oblivious to the consequences of the contracts they are making.
First Line
“From his current position, Hunter had a clear view of the town square.” The Last Coffle (Web Serial) on brentjohner.com
Follow the Authorship
Watch chapters develop before your eyes.
- starting as notes
- becoming outlines
- transforming into narrative
- blooming into flowers
If you are a new writer or just someone interested in how other authors work, you will find this interesting.
Contribute to the story
Communicate directly with the author. Make comments and/or ask questions on his social media accounts. You may be even participate in the crafting of the series through chapter swaps or by offering feedback.