Whatever Holiday Shopping Guide 2014, Day Two: Non-Traditionally Published Books

Posted on December 2, 2014    Posted by      245 Comments


Today is Day Two of the Whatever Shopping Guide 2014, and today the focus is on Non-Traditionally Published Books: Self-published works, electronically-exclusive books, books from micro presses, books released outside the usual environs of the publishing world, and so on. Hey, I put my first novel up on this very Web site fifteen years ago and told people to send me a dollar if they liked it. Look where it got me. I hope you find some good stuff today.

Please note that the comment thread today is only for non-traditional authors and editors to post about their books; please do not leave other comments, as they will be snipped out to keep the thread from getting cluttered. Thanks!

Authors/editors: Here’s how to post in this thread. Please follow these directions!

1. Authors and editors of non-traditionally published books only. This includes comics and graphic novels, as well as non-fiction books and audiobooks. If your book has been traditionally published — available in bookstores on a returnable basis — post about your book in the thread that went up yesterday (if you are in doubt, assume you are non-traditionally published and post here). If you are a creator in another form or medium, your thread is coming tomorrow. Don’t post if you are not the author or editor, please.

2. Completed works only. Do not post about works in progress, even if you’re posting them publicly. Remember that this is supposed to be a gift guide, and that these are things meant to be given to other people. Likewise, don’t just promote yourself unless you have something to sell or provide, that others may give as a gift.

3. One post per author. In that post, you can list whatever books of yours you like, but allow me to suggest you focus on your most recent book. Note also that the majority of Whatever’s readership is in the US/Canada, so I suggest focusing on books available in North America.

4. Keep your description of your book brief (there will be a lot of posts, I’m guessing) and entertaining. Imagine the person is in front of you as you tell them about your book and is interested but easily distracted.

5. You may include a link to a bookseller if you like by using standard HTML link scripting. Be warned that if you include too many links (typically three or more) your post may get sent to the moderating queue. If this happens, don’t panic: I’ll be going in through the day to release moderated posts. Note that posts will occasionally go into the moderation queue semi-randomly; Don’t panic about that either.

6. As noted above, comment posts that are not from authors/editors promoting their books as specified above will be deleted, in order to keep the comment thread useful for people looking to find interesting books.

Now: Tell us about your book!

Category: Uncategorized    

245 Comments on “Whatever Holiday Shopping Guide 2014, Day Two: Non-Traditionally Published Books”

  1. Happy Non-Denominational Gift Giving Holiday Shopping Season!

    The New Guys Always Work Overtime: An award winning time-portal short first published in Asimov’s last year. Taylor works for Just-in-Time Fabrication and Fulfillment. Instead of outsourcing production, his company is 100% MADE IN AMERICA—and keeps prices down by bringing in cheap labor through a time portal. Training these quaint temp workers seems like a good job—until Taylor meets the latest batch of New Guys. (Also available DRM-free, which might suit you better for gift giving.)

    The Giant Squid presents A Tahitian Tale: Chronicles of the Giant Squid – Volume 1: The first in a series of autobiographical two-fisted tales narrated by Poor Mojo’s Giant Squid–a sorta sinister, sorta steampunk squid just trying to get along in a world not of his making (and also recover Tycho Brahe’s cursed golden nose for his Nazi masters).

    Tucker Teaches the Clockies to Copulate (Clockie American Steampunk Book 1): In this celebrated steampunk novella, a lonely veterinarian recounts a crippled, alcoholic, Confederate infantryman’s attempts to teach decommissioned clockwork soldiers to make nice (*wink, wink*) with their Mormon neighbors. (Also available in a pick-what-you-pay DRM-free bundle.)

    Thanks John! You’re a peach!

  2. Cyberpunk thriller debuted on November 24!

    Moscow, 2138. With the world only beginning to recover from the complete societal collapse of the late 21st Century, Zoya scrapes by prepping corpses for funerals and dreams of saving enough money to have a child. When her brother forces her to bring him a mysterious package, she witnesses his murder and finds herself on the run from ruthless mobsters. Frantically trying to stay alive and save her loved ones, Zoya opens the package and discovers two unusual data cards, one that allows her to fight back against the mafia and another which may hold the key to everlasting life.

  3. STARDANCER is Book One in my space opera series, The Song of Forgotten Stars.

    Stranded on a strange planet on the wrong side of the Galaxy, two young Princesses, sixteen and ten years old, are searching for a way home when they discover that the world they’re on may be a lost remnant of a forgotten Galactic Empire that fell ten thousand years ago. As two factions — one which sees the Princesses from the stars as saviors, the other as the gravest of threats — muster for war, both girls learn many things about themselves, their abilities, their destinies, and their hearts; especially the older girl, who finds herself harboring strange new feelings toward the young hunter who first found them after their crash-landing. STARDANCER is a story of adventure, love, loss, forgotten knowledge, unknown abilities, discovered powers, coming of age, finding one’s way, and the dangers that rise when wishes come true.

    Ordering information is available here, along with cover art and the entire back-cover blurb. Formats: Paperback and Kindle. Reading level is roughly on par with the latter Harry Potter novels. Feedback currently stands at 3 five-star Amazon reviews. Buy one today for the adventure-seeking reader in YOUR life!!!

    (And thank you, Mr. Scalzi, for this opportunity!)

  4. Hi, everyone!

    I made a painting every day in 2013. Most days I didn’t wear pants while making said painting. I put all 365 of these pieces into a book called THINGS I MADE IN MY UNDERWEAR.

    It’s got unicorns, robots, spacemen, walruses, boobs, and a platypus in boots. So far people really seem to like it. You can buy it on my site at http://taylorwinder.com/shop/underwear-hardcover or on amazon at:

    Thanks for taking a look and thank you John for this opportunity!

  5. Hi! I’m Luther Siler. I write science fiction and fantasy, and I blog about pretty much anything that crosses my mind at infinitefreetime.com.

    I have two books currently available. The first is a short story novella, entitled The Benevolence Archives, Vol. 1. BA is a science fiction/fantasy hybrid in the vein of Star Wars, which is an obvious inspiration. There are spaceships and laser guns and ogres and gnomes and longbows that can shoot around corners. There is occasional adult language but in general the tone is more action-comedy than anything else; fans of our esteemed host ought to enjoy it quite a lot. Available at Amazon for $2.99:

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K95SBGG

    My novel Skylights is the story of the second human expedition to Mars. It’s near-future and considerably “harder” than Benevolence Archives could ever hope to be, in the sense that I spent time doing research to make it realistic enough to pass muster but am absolutely certain that actual astronomers will find errors. The work of Robert Zubrin was a heavy inspiration for this one, the main character is actually nicknamed “Zub” in his honor. If you liked The Martian but thought there was too much math, you’ll probably love Skylights. Here’s the blurb:

    August 15, 2022: the Tycho, the most advanced interplanetary craft ever designed by the human race, launches from Earth on an expedition to Mars. The Tycho carries four passengers, soon to be the most famous people in human history.

    February 19, 2023: The Tycho loses all communication with Earth while orbiting Mars. After weeks of determined attempts to reestablish contact, the Tycho is declared lost.

    2027: Journalist Gabriel Southern receives a message from a mysterious caller: “Mars.” Ezekiel ben Zahav isn’t talking, but he wants Southern to accompany him for something– and he’s dangling enough money under his nose to make any amount of hardship worth it.

    SKYLIGHTS is the story of the second human expedition to Mars. Their mission: to find the first.

    Available at Amazon for $4.99: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O14EO9E

  7. Hi, everyone!

    I made a painting every day in 2013. Most days I didn’t wear pants while making said painting. I put all 365 of these pieces into a book called THINGS I MADE IN MY UNDERWEAR.

    It’s got unicorns, robots, spacemen, walruses, boobs, and a platypus in boots. So far people really seem to like it. You can buy it on my site at http://taylorwinder.com/shop/underwear-hardcover or on amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0990464008/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0990464008&linkCode=as2&tag=taylwindartw-20&linkId=XMU52LXHVS4G5M7E

    Thanks for taking a look and thank you John for this opportunity!

  8. “The Big Red Buckle is a quick and decidedly satisfying read, and I look forward to seeing what Thyer comes up with next. And you know what? Even if it’s sports related, this couch potato is going to read it.” Andrea Johnson of Little Red Reviewer

    “Mr. Thyer’s spare prose, to me, is reminiscent of Ray Bradbury’s work, in which I was never so clear about the scenery as I was about the characters and actions taking place in the story. After all, the characters must exist inside of suits, helmets, small vehicles, and domes that insulate the characters from a planet which is not yet hospitable to its new residents.” Zane Kinney of Rodeo City Graphics

    THE BIG RED BUCKLE

    Humanity has begun to move out into the stars. Sport still plays a vital role in our day-to-day affairs. The Big Red Buckle recounts an episode of a single-stage endurance race held between two shield volcanoes on a Mars that is slowly being terraformed. Participants must run and soar over 1,500 kilometers while the solar system watches.

    Available from Amazon & Smashwords.

  10. Petunia, the Girl Who Was NOT a Princess, my second children’s picture book, came out this year. It would make a great gift for a little girl in the “princess phase” years (roughly ages 3-7) whether she is a princess who also loves building and playing soccer or a girl who wants nothing to do with princess things.

    Petunia is most definitely NOT a princess… but her new best friend is. It turns out princesses can play ball and climb trees, too.

    This story came from my frustration at how we stereotype little girls in all sorts of ways, but it is also a story about friendship, being yourself, and not judging someone by how she looks. And the kids I’ve read it to tell me it is fun.

    Here’s the link on Amazon:
    http://www.amazon.com/Petunia-Girl-Who-Was-Princess/dp/1623955904/

    And here is my blog post on release day, which has links to other places you can buy it, some reviews from advance readers, and more information about the book- including sample pages, which show off the wonderful illustrations from Holly Liminton:
    http://www.wandering-scientist.com/2014/10/its-release-day-for-petunia.html

    The book is put out by Xist Publishing, an indie publisher that doesn’t meet the criteria for Monday’s post but that I love because the ebooks are as beautiful as the print versions. This is not always the case for children’s books! It makes this book a great option to load onto a tablet that you’re giving as a gift, too. My kids like to read on my Kindle Fire when we’re traveling or just stuck waiting somewhere.

    Thanks for this opportunity, John! I added a bunch of books to my “to read” shelf on GoodReads based on yesterday’s comments, and expect I’ll add more today.

  11. Reblogged this on FeetForBrains and commented:
    “The Big Red Buckle is a quick and decidedly satisfying read, and I look forward to seeing what Thyer comes up with next. And you know what? Even if it’s sports related, this couch potato is going to read it.” Andrea Johnson of Little Red Reviewer

    “Mr. Thyer’s spare prose, to me, is reminiscent of Ray Bradbury’s work, in which I was never so clear about the scenery as I was about the characters and actions taking place in the story. After all, the characters must exist inside of suits, helmets, small vehicles, and domes that insulate the characters from a planet which is not yet hospitable to its new residents.” Zane Kinney of Rodeo City Graphics

    THE BIG RED BUCKLE

    Humanity has begun to move out into the stars. Sport still plays a vital role in our day-to-day affairs. The Big Red Buckle recounts an episode of a single-stage endurance race held between two shield volcanoes on a Mars that is slowly being terraformed. Participants must run and soar over 1,500 kilometers while the solar system watches.

    Available from Amazon & Smashwords.

  12. From Futures Past Editions – Get Your Pulp On with these classics from the world’s first, and pulpiest, science fiction magazine:

    Amazing Stories the Giant 35th Anniversary Edition of Amazing Stories, now available in both trade paperback and ebook and

    The Best of Amazing Stories The 1926 Anthology, the first in a series of annual anthologies, also available in trade pb and ebook editions.

    They’re pulpy, and they’re GOOD!

    http://amazingstoriesmag.com/shop/futures-past-editions/

  13. ‘Lo all!

    My two books, TAKE AWAY MY INTERNET and THE DOG WHO SHOT A LASER OUT OF HIS FACE (AND OTHER TALES), collect eight months of my daily comics, as well as a selection of previously unpublished bonus comics.

    Covering everything from musings on life, to carnivorous broccoli, to —you guessed it— a dog shooting a laser out of his face, there’s enough in both books to keep you occupied (and possibly confused) for a while!

    Both books contain over 100 pages of content and are available for the ridiculously low price of PAY WHAT YOU WANT!

    You can grab your copies here: https://gumroad.com/nhoj

    If you want a taste of what to expect, you can check out my comics here: http://nellucnhoj.com/tagged/daily-comic

  14. What do you give the person who has everything?

    An island in the Pacific, of course.

    For everyone else, books about zombies are what you want. Available now: Thirteen: 13 Stories and Paintings. Stories of lost souls, marital disharmony, acts of betrayal and zombies. Lots of zombies. Stories and paintings from the team that brings you Two-Sentence Horror Stories and the 1000 Zombies art project.

    http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_7?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=n+m+scuri&sprefix=n+m+scu%2Caps%2C291

  15. My debut novel is the first book in an action adventure novel for kids…

    Tommy Black and the Staff of Light
    by Jake Kerr

    For fourteen-year-old Tommy Black, nothing is worse than being raised by an overprotective grandfather in the city that never sleeps. That is until his grandfather is captured by magical creatures and Tommy has to save him with his family’s magical staff.

    That wouldn’t be so bad, but the only magic he can do with the staff is weak–making light. What the heck can you do with light?

    Tommy finds out as he fights golems, shadow creatures, and djinn in a journey that features a magical river, an enchanted train, and an illusionary fortress. But the worst part of all? Tommy has to save his grandfather with the help of Naomi, a girl whose talent with magic is only rivaled by her ability to hurl insults.

    In this novel full of action and adventure, Tommy Black continues the tradition of young heroes finding their place in a formerly unknown magical world. Like Harry Potter, Tommy has a magical legacy thrust upon him from out of nowhere. He must not only understand this responsibility but the forces that are suddenly arrayed against him. Like Percy Jackson, mythology is plays a central role. And like both heroes, one of Tommy’s best friends is a strong independent girl, who is a valuable ally while being headstrong and often difficult.

    From Nebula, Sturgeon, and Million Writers Award nominee Jake Kerr comes the Tommy Black trilogy, an action adventure series for boys, girls, and readers of all ages.

    Available in Trade Paperback and Kindle Edition
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OT4CZB0

  17. I’ll play – My first novel, The Chosen, was self-pubbed in 2010.

    Remember Adam & Eve? They never died. And after 60,000 years, they kinda hate each other. Adam’s a drunk, Eve’s a stripper, the Archangel Michael is a bit of a douche who gets punched in the face a lot, and the lot of them have to figure out how to work together, along with Lucypher and a host of others, to determine the fate of the world. This whiskey-soaked contemporary fantasy has been likened to the works of Christopher Moore, Kevin Smith and Terry Pratchett.

    It is available on Amazon at – http://www.amazon.com/The-Chosen-ebook/dp/B0041HXLXQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1283441111&sr=8-5.

    I also have the Bubba the Monster Hunter series of short stories available. Think Larry the Cable Guy meets Harry Dresden and you’re pretty close. Add more explosions, more strippers and more beer, and you’ve got a collection of comic horror short stories that have become an e-book phenomenon. Bubba’s big, he’s bad, and he’s here to save the day. Bar fights, Sasquatch dong, Vampires, Werewolves, Rakshasas and Chupacabra all have a part to play in Scattered, Smothered and Covered, available here – http://www.amazon.com/Scattered-Smothered-Chunked-Monster-Hunter-ebook/dp/B00A6DT0P2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_13?ie=UTF8&refRID=1DYMVGX2F24REWF1KKBX

  18. In 2012 I quit my day job working with children and animals to do something else you’re not supposed to: write full-time with no certainty of income.

    This year my first enovel was small-pressed into existence – inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, The Glass Sealing is a steampunky version of the industrial revolution, set in a city where the rich are separated from the poor by a layer of toxic smog.

    It’s a shared world project, so if you like mine there’s more out now and more to come. And in case you’re wondering, that job I quit was teaching adults. The students all behaved like children and the animals were my colleagues, of course…

  19. Thanks for this, John!

    My book, CONVERGENCE, is a sci-fi cyberpunk thriller. It was a quarter-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013 contest, and Publisher’s Weekly called it ““smart splice of espionage and science fiction. … frighteningly realistic. Well-drawn characters, excellent pacing, and constant surprises make this a great cautionary tale about technology and its abuses.”

    Quick pitch: Jonah Everitt is a killer, an addict, and a memory thief.

    You can find out more about it and buy the eBook for $3.99 at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1cCsFSZ

    It’s also available via Nook, Kobo, Google Play, iBooks. Or you could buy the paperback at Amazon (or have an indie store or B&N order it for you!) and get the digital copy for free via BitLit.

    Thanks for checking it out, and I hope you enjoy. And thanks once again, John, for opening this thread up to us. I’m looking forward to finding more great reads here.

  21. Thanks very much for the opportunity!

    Folks, this is the time of year to introduce college people on your list to the exciting world of modern university magic. In Want’s Master and Other Stories from Osytha fundraiser enchants donors, a mild-mannered botanist befriends a dryad and copes with the theology of conference door-prizes, only a professor’s cats can tell what kind of curse his graduate student cast on him, and there’s always a dragon in the basement.

    If you like to try before you buy, you’ll find a free-to-read story from the series at Lorelei Signal. Enjoy!

  22. The Reader: War for the Oaks is a collection of photographs I took of people reading Emma Bull’s seminal urban fantasy novel in the locations from the book. All the photos are on the website but there’s also a handsome hardcover version where you can see them (much better) in print. It also contains several exclusive essays in appreciation of WFTO.

    Thanks for doing this John, excellent idea.

  23. WREATHED is a hilarious contemporary romance novel about a young attorney who gets involved with a man she met at a funeral, but has to break up with him when they get on the wrong side of a will contest. It’s 99 cents this month at Amazon, and has an awesome chalk cover by Dangerdust. Check it out, fellow lovers of pie: http://www.amazon.com/Wreathed-Curtis-Edmonds-ebook/dp/B00MUADP6Y/ref=la_B00BJON7YW_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413811440&sr=1-1

  24. My YA fantasy novel, Spider Circus, follows the story of fourteen-year-old Lizzie McCoy. After an argument with her mother, Lizzie runs away and joins a circus – but instead of travelling to different towns, she soon finds that this particular circus moves between worlds. In her new role as wiredancer, Lizzie sees magic, dragons and predatory horses, and finds that the Ringmaster Jack is running more than just a show.

    Diana Wynne Jones by way of Doctor Who, Spider Circus is a steampunkish fantasy with an awesome WOC engineer heroine, and – arachnophobes take note – no actual spiders.

    Available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spider-Circus-Shadows-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00G6D5UG4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417529581&sr=8-1&keywords=spider+circus

  25. THE TRANSMIGRATION OF CORA RILEY is the first book of the FORGOTTEN RELICS urban fantasy series. Cora knows she’s special; she just doesn’t know how yet. After 30 years in rural America, she’s ready to find out, but first she must take a dangerous journey through the underworld. Strangers, secrets, and magic are everywhere, and the Mistress is always watching. How will Cora survive the land of the dead and escape?

    Paperback :: Digital (includes Kindle + EPUB)

  27. Check out “In the Black”!

    When Sam Keller left the military, she ran to the far end of the galaxy. Now she captains the Bonnie Belle, a spaceship full of courtesans who bring a little pleasure to hard-up men on mining colonies. When one of her girls turns up dead, it’s Sam’s job to find out who killed her, fast.

    Marshal Daniel LeClair is as tough as steel and quick on the draw. But when his vacation gets replaced by an assignment to help find the killer, he can’t help angling for a little action with the saucy, hard-charging Sam. She’s got brains, attitude and a body he wouldn’t mind investigating.

    Sam, six months lonely, might just indulge him. But the Guild that owns the Belle wants the case closed yesterday. With pressure coming from all quadrants, Sam and her marshal clash over false leads and who’s on top. But when the killer threatens the Belle again, romance will have to wait. It’s a captain’s job to save her crew, no matter the cost.

    http://ebooks.carinapress.com/37D7DDB3-E3D9-429C-82B2-2F041491E375/10/134/en/ContentDetails.htm?ID=9EE49658-233F-4566-B562-1591A6EC8EA3

    Also available at B&N, Amazon and all ebook retailers!

  28. TIN CAT
    A year after the accident that put her in a wheelchair, Amber Gerald has more or less gotten used to living with her impairment. It doesn’t make a difference to running a comic book store anyway, and the customers have been the best support group she could have wished for.

    When she rescues an abandoned cat, Amber has no idea that she’s interfering in the mad scheme of a time travelling bank robber. Or that the man that walks into her store dressed like Blade is about to become her bodyguard.

    Between being an unwitting owner of an android cat and falling for a cybernetic bounty hunter, Amber finds her life a whole new level of weird as science fiction becomes a very real factual threat.

    ARCHANGEL
    Small time crook Gabriel Kemp is only trying to make a living when a hit-and-run leaves him for dead. Waking up in hospital to an angel at his bedside gives him a second chance, but one that comes with a condition.

    Fleeing San Francisco doesn’t mean he can evade the deal either – he still manages to meet Abigail Harris, the woman he’s promised to protect. He might not believe in the psychic visions she claims to have, but he knows even the chance of her identifying the serial killer terrorizing downtown L.A. puts her in danger.

    The only way to keep Abby safe is to find and stop the killer. If that means taking on the devil determined to turn the City of Angels into the City of Hell on Earth, then so be it

  29. Celia Yost and I have a book up on Blurb. The title is “Bunny and Demon Go on a Picnic” and it’s exactly that. It’s about a bunny and her demon friend, and they go on a picnic. It’s sort of an art book disguised as a children’s picture book. It’s probably a good gift for your weird artsy friend who’s impossible to buy for. Or, hey, you could probably give it to a kid too.

    The 10″x8″ version is here: Bunny and Demon – 10×8

    If you want to go extra fancy, you can get the 13″x11″ version: Bunny and Demon – 13×11

    All pages a viewable in the preview, so you know exactly what you’re getting.

  30. When America’s greatest hero is murdered in his home, it’s up to CB–reformed villain, former sidekick, and best friend–to uncover why. CURVEBALL is an ongoing serial about superheroes, villains, world-spanning conspiracies, and magic. The first twelve issues are available in trade paperback and e-book. Issues 13-18 are currently available in e-book format only.

    E-books available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, and Google Play.

    The trade paperback of Year One is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and a bunch of really weird websites who “discount” it by adding roughly $8 to the cover price.

  31. New Adult paranormal trilogy Demons of Saltmarch, in which Christian college kids get stalked, kidnapped, and otherwise terrorized by demons. Holly Idaho thought she was safe at this school, but a sexy demon is determined to show her otherwise. Book 1 is Colors of Deception.

    Epic fantasy series Legends of the Light-Walkers, starting with Rethana’s Surrender. Our Heroine Rethana screws up right at the beginning of the story and catapults her whole family back into the clutches of the evil ruling clerics. There’s magic, intrigue, romance, “elves,” self-sacrifice, and the insidious lure of power. If you want dragons, well, those are in Book 2. ;)

    Thanks for the opportunity, John. Happy reading, y’all!

  32. New technology, new choices . . . but who gets to choose?

    Near-future science fiction, my novel Division will introduce you to conjoined twins Gordon and Johnny. These brothers have never let their condition keep them from living full and fulfilling lives. Gordon looks forward to many years of closeness and cooperation. Johnny, however, faces their future with increasing restlessness, even dread.

    When the boys are in their teens, the new technologies of accelerated human cloning and brain transplants are combined into a single medical procedure. Someone whose body has suffered such extensive damage as to make normal life impossible may — with court approval — be cloned and then given a brain transplant into the clone body. With Gordon’s unwitting assistance, Johnny realizes that this procedure provides the chance he had never dared to hope for — the chance to live in a “normal,” separate body.

    But Gordon considers their conjoined life a blessing, rather than a curse. He has no intention of accepting separation — not without a fight . . . .

    Division is available in paperback (currently marked down from $12.99 to $11.57 US) and ebook ($2.99). You can find the paperback on Amazon and on B&N’s online store, and the ebook on multiple vendors’ sites. Here’s the Amazon link for both. Happy reading and giving!

    http://www.amazon.com/Division-Karen-Wyle/dp/1493775987/

  33. I’ve got a small press e-book collection of kids’ short stories out. It’s called Dragon Brother and Other Stories, and it’s got ten fantasy stories for kids in it, previously appearing in various kids’ magazines. I know where the Amazon link is, and I’m traveling, so that’s what I’ll put here: http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Brother-Stories-Marissa-Lingen-ebook/dp/B00HQKZ9Z8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417530127&sr=8-2&keywords=Marissa+Lingen Thanks so much for doing this, John!

  34. This is a great idea. My pulpy sci-fi action thriller TRIPLER: BOOK #1 OF THE TRIPLER TRILOGY is published today (coincidentally) by UK digital-exclusive small press December House:

    Three versions of the same person all want to kill you…

    In the near future an impossible virus is giving people the ability to summon two
    identical physical copies of themselves into existence at any time and in any situation.
    They call the infected ‘Triplers’, and sooner or later they all become homicidally insane.

    Harry Allwear, an ex-soldier with an impressive kill record, is a key part of an initiative
    to eradicate the Tripler threat, tracking and eliminating Triplers all across Europe in a
    series of bloody and chaotic encounters.

    But there’s one problem: someone’s just infected Harry with the contagion. And as a
    Tripler army rises around him and the entire planet stands on the brink of a destructive
    new dawn, the most dangerous enemy of all could turn out to be one of Harry’s own
    selves…

    You can get it in the UK and US, 99p or 99c respectively:
    Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Tripler-Book-1-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00PZCLZD4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1417529961&sr=8-3&keywords=tripler
    Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tripler-Beginning-Neil-Vogler-ebook/dp/B00PEXI5KK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417433513&sr=8-2&keywords=tripler

    And download a free 34-page prequel here if you want to try before you buy:
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tripler-Beginning-Neil-Vogler-ebook/dp/B00PEXI5KK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417433513&sr=8-2&keywords=tripler

    Thanks John – Happy holidays one and all!

  35. For classic movie fans, check out 24 Frames into the Future, by some guy named John Scalzi. It’s available from NESFA Press, http://www.nesfapress.com. NESFA is a small, all-volunteer-run SF/F press that’s won awards for keeping classics in print. All NESFA press editions are high-quality. In addition to the classics, there’s books by Lois McMaster Bujold, Charles Stross, Tim Powers, Alastair Reynolds, David Brin, Seanan McGuire, and many more.

  36. Thanks for this opportunity, especially for being able to post nonfiction.

    IMAGE VS ARTIFACT IN CONTEMPORARY ART is nonfiction: Art/general, (paperback, 250 pages, released Nov. 2014), http://www.amazon.com/dp/1502904276/

    Ever wondered why some works of contemporary art (that look like any toddler could have produced them) can command millions of dollars? This book explains why such phenomena occur in Art (but not in Music). Throughout I contrast Art with Music. I argue that Art lovers often confuse the aesthetic quality of an image with the monetary value of the artifact on which that image appears. 

    As a computer science prof. at UCLA (specializing in Artificial Intelligence) I provide a different perspective on Art. For example, I contrast the standard, subjective descriptions written about artworks by art critics with objective descriptions — those capable of accurately reconstructing the images they describe. I discuss meta-art — art capable of creating its own art and how simulated evolution techniques can produce Art without the need for an artist.

    When exploring theories of art appreciation, I refer more often to sociologists, economists, engineers, physicists and neuroscientists than to art critics. I consider all possible images as pre-existing in an abstract image space. I describe the size and structure of this space and discusses how the complexity of any image can be determined.

    I think this book should make an interesting gift for both Art connoisseurs and casual viewers of Contemporary Art.

  37. For three teens, the end of the world is only the beginning.
    After an apocalyptic event from above, Jane is forced to run for her life in the company of the two people who hate her most in the world.
    It’s The Fifth Wave meets missing flight MH370 with a train, the Montana wilderness, and a frightening new sky.

    A Different Sky is a young adult dystopian novel available on kindle or paperback at http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/149475262X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1417529861&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

  38. Ever thought about backpacking in Idaho, but didn’t want to actually travel to Idaho, strap on a pack and hike the miles?

    Experience an overnight solo hike in the Boise National Forest in this non-fiction account, complete with full color pictures.

    Available in ebook and print editions: http://www.amazon.com/Hike-Me-Stump-Lake-Book/dp/1494868326/

    And stay tuned – the three night, four day solo journey through the Sawtooth Wilderness’s book will be up for sale before Christmas!

  39. LOST DOGS is the story of Buddy–a German Shepherd–and Sally–a Beagle mix–who survive the end of the human world, only to find that their struggles are just beginning. Dog lovers, teens, and sci-fi fans have raved about LOST DOGS (4.9 stars out of 5 on Amazon)–and the Kindle version is on sale for $0.99 until the end of the month. It’s the apocalypse as seen, heard, and scented by a dog–come Belong!

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MW8B372

  40. Might I tempt you with the drily romantic urban phantastick of City of Roses? Jo Maguire, underemployed, highly strung telemarketer, meets Ysabel, a princess of unspecified pedigree; adventures ensue—which have been lauded in the pages of the Guardian and Bookslut, among others. —22 novelette-sized episodes gathered in two volumes combine to tell an urbanely epic story with a beginning, middle, and end. Purchase a copy direct from, well, me (paperbacks and ebooks of various flavors available) [ http://thecityofroses.com/book ] or read a bit before you buy [ http://thecityofroses.com/contents ].

  42. Android Hunters (Book 1 of The Corli Saga)

    Eighty one years ago androids broke free of the bonds humans had over them, massacred a planet, and became the most hated beings in all of creation. For the eighty years following, the elite four person teams of Android Intelligence and Removal Specialists (AIRS) have hunted down the androids, showing no mercy.

    Now on the end of a hunt, AIRS Team 4 find they, themselves, hunted on a planet by an android who is not android…

    Androids. Android Hunters. Crime Syndicates. Cybernetic viruses. And an android designed as a unique weapon that doesn’t know she’s a weapon. What more could you want?

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q3B5NCU

  44. Hello,
    Darkness’s Fury (Book 2 of the Birthright Secrets)
    An unseen enemy threatens all that Segennya is rebuilding, but those who know it won’t -or can’t- give the information needed to reveal them. The allies of Liz’s revolution are scattered as she faces the inevitable. Segennya is marching to war, to hopefully drive their enemy into the open.
    Available at Amazon and most retailers

    Vengeance of Segennya (Book 1 of the Birthright Secrets)
    Segennya is no stranger to wars of power and bloodshed, but peace isn’t meant to last in Segennya. Liz remembers this all too well as once more her world crashes down around her and she is sent fleeing from a burning city. Reeling, she soon is swept into something much larger as she and her surviving family are caught in the threads being cast around them. Change looms on the horizon, but first a question is posed and Liz must offer the correct answer to ensure their success.
    Available at Amazon and most retailers

  45. A classic SF adventure in the spirit of John Carter.

    A time travel experiment has trapped Charles Clee one million years in the future. Desperately searching for a way home in a world ruled by alien overlords, he crosses the world, pitting his strength against genetic nightmares of tomorrow and resurrected monsters from the primordial past. Branded a criminal by his very existence, can he ignore the desperation of the world that needs him now for the chance to return to the era of his birth?

    “The Invisible City” is the first book in The Stolen Future series. Available for Amazon, Kobo, and more at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/330818.

  46. Deadly. Mercenary. Superhuman. Not your ordinary math geek. My contemporary scifi thriller ZERO SUM GAME is now out in paperback!

    Praise for Zero Sum Game:

    “[T]his. Book. Is. Awesome. Maths and guns. Mysterious superpowers. Deadly conspiracies and explosions. Questions of morality. PoC characters. Telepathy, badassery AND an unreliable narrator who knows she might be unreliable. […] Can I say ‘awesome’ one more time or are you already tired of hearing it?” — The Book Smugglers

    “Simply put, I think Zero Sum Game is one of the most entertaining books I have read in a long while. It’s like a rush of adrenaline in word form.” — The World in the Satin Bag

    “It’s an absolutely cracking read. […] The sequel can’t come a day too soon.” — Heroines of Fantasy

    Many thanks to our host for offering this!

  47. What happens when you mix “Buck Rogers”, “Star Trek”, and a generous dollop of humour?

    You get Greenstar Season One.

    Normally, freezing to death in deep space is pretty permanent. But Engineer Josie Stein just woke up a thousand years in the future, aboard the U.F.S. Greenstar, a recycled spaceship on a mission to stop the self-destructive aliens of the galaxy from wiping themselves out.

    If that wasn’t enough, she’s immediately elected captain. The last captain’s success rate was one hundred and sixty-seven alien species extinct to zero saved, so she can’t really do any worse. But how can she deal with aliens when she can no longer understand her own species?

    Available in eBook and paperback. Find your favourite format here.

  49. Alexei, a gay teenager struggling with his confidence, summons a ghost to help him, but he gets the wrong ghost: a bitter soldier from his Russian homeland who is not at all down with teh ghey. No problem, Alexei figures; he’ll just banish it. But when his sister’s life is threatened an ocean away, the ghost is Alexei’s only chance to help her, so he’s going to have to understand the soldier’s life and make a deal with him.

    Oh, and all the characters are animal people.

    “Red Devil” is available in print from Sofawolf Press (https://www.sofawolf.com/products/red-devil) and also in e-book at all major retailers AND in a lovely audio format from Audible. Just search on “Red Devil Kyell Gold” and you’ll find it.

    I also wrote an animal-person version of a cozy British mystery with a lesbian heroine, “The Mysterious Affair of Giles,” available in e-form everywhere (working on the audiobook) and in print from FurPlanet Books at http://furplanet.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=704.

  51. Creating an Heirloom: Writing Your Family’s Cookbook guides you through the process of collecting your family’s recipes and creating something your family will cherish for generations. What seemed simple enough for me several years ago turned out not to be — learn from my mistakes! Whether you want to make a single cookbook or a hundred, I can help. Extensively researched, updated to include current publishing opportunities, Creating an Heirloom is available in paperback and Kindle editions: http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Heirloom-Writing-Familys-Cookbook/dp/1494292521/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1417530272&sr=1-2

  52. Sparkplug Books (a comics small press) just published my first graphic novel, Vortex. It’s a psychedelic sf adventure drawn in black-and-white with thick, drippy lines and pixelated textures.

    “Goopy alien wizards melt, battle and stab their way from each others’ stomachs in cosmic landscapes forged from bold halftones and thick wacom lines. The contrast between low-res digital textures and organic shapes is a real eyeball melter.” Jack Hayden, Comics Workbook

    You can purchase it here.

  53. Like your contemporary fantasy a little twisted? Think magic is better with a solid helping of absurdity? Check me out.

    Shotgun tells the story of a mild-mannered family man who discovers the world’s most powerful magic hiding out in his silverware drawer. That discovery plunges the poor guy into a hidden magical subculture full of mystery, intrigue, and raving lunatics who play a little too fast and loose with sorcery.

    All Your Fault is the first part of A Date with Death, a trilogy of novellas that also takes place in the Shotgun universe. When Kevin Felton inadvertently steals Death’s girlfriend, his only hope at keeping his own life is to befriend the reaper and hook him up with someone new. Small town shenanigans fueled by irresponsible drinking ensue.

    Thanks to Mr. Scalzi for the marketing opportunity.

  54. Available for Kindle and Nook: the second volume of my mystery series about zookeeper Hannah Lilly, The Lemur’s Cry.

    It’s got cool animals, MURDER, and the best behind-the-scenes zoo tours you’ll ever get (in writing, anyway). And Kirkus called the first volume of the series, The Sloth’s Eye, “far more amusing than you’d expect.”

    If you like animals, mystery, and being amused, how can you lose?

  55. “Mixing recent apocalyptic and zombie stories with classic vampire legends, Rider has come up with a daring and eminently readable new take on both.”—Publishers Weekly

    SUCKERS: A Horror Novel
    WHEN WORN-OUT MUSICIANS Dan Ferry and Ray Ford decide to take a shortcut back to the hotel, they pick the wrong dark alley to go down. Attacked by something neither can identify, they think they’re lucky to get out with their lives. But their lives aren’t all they get out with… As an infection takes hold of Dan, the cramped tour bus becomes a dangerous place to be trapped. And when the infection spreads across the country, nowhere—and no one—is safe from the Suckers.

    It’s not supposed to be out until February, but since IngramSpark’s instructions are clear as mud, the paperback of Suckers is accidentally available three months early (and it includes a download of ebook free via BitLit!)

    Paperback on Amazon

    Paperback on Barnes & Noble

    Book site with trailer, excerpt, pre-order links for the ebook, and a way to order the paperback directly from me (ships out next day): http://suckersahorrornovel.com/

  56. The first four volumes of my Steerswoman Series were originally published by Del Rey Books — but when they went out of print, I got the rights back, and I’ve released them as e-books.

    What is a steerswoman?

    If you ask, she must answer. No steerswoman may refuse a question, and she must answer with the truth, always.

    And if she asks, you must reply. If you refuse or lie, no steerswoman will ever again answer even your most casual question.

    And so, the Steerswomen — seekers, learners, students of the world — have gathered more and more knowledge about the world they traveled, and they share that knowledge freely.

    But when the steerswoman Rowan begins investigating one small, lovely, inexplicable object, her discoveries grow stranger and deeper — until suddenly she finds she must flee or fight for her life. Or worse: lie.

    Because one kind of knowledge has always been denied the Steerswomen: Magic.

    Here’s what Hugo and Nebula award-winning author Jo Walton (Among Others, My Real Children) says about the series: “If you haven’t read Kirstein’s Steerswoman books I envy you the chance to read them now for the first time… If you like science, and if you like watching someone work out mysteries, and if you like detailed weird alien worlds and human cultures, if really good prose appeals… you’re really in luck.”

    Here’s what actual physicist Chad Orzel (Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist, How to Teach Physics to Your Dog) says: “One of the very best treatments of the scientific method in fiction that I’ve read… It’s a joy to watch the scientific reasoning process Rowan follows, and the plots have plenty of excitement as well.”

    And Damien Broderick & Paul Di Filippo say (in Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010): “[Kirstein] walks the tightrope between fantasy and science fiction with precision and grace… [her] compassion for even minor characters is evident on every page, and her prose is measured and alluring without being overworked.”

    There are more very nice quotes — but I’m taking too much space already.

    The ebooks are available pretty much everywhere — just check your favorite ebook seller’s site. (Please don’t buy from the pirates.) The first two volumes are sale-priced!

    Here’s the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+steerswoman

  57. Emerald City Dreamer:

    Seattle. Jina is a rock star and a faerie hunter, who uses music as her weapon. But she is a dreamer, so her music attracts and feeds the fae. As she finds herself falling in love with an elf, conflicts with her friend and fellow-hunter escalate. Enemies begin to gather, and Jina must make a choice between loyalty and what she believes.

    American fairy tales end happily ever after. Real fairytales end in blood or tears.

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1475138482/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1475138482&linkCode=as2&tag=lunalind-20

  58. Damn me for being too busy writing to notice this was up!

    My book, Second Chance, a near-future psychological thriller. If the TV series The Killing and the book Big Brother had a baby and the baby was into clones, this would be the result.

    One crime, four people and a secret that could shake the world to its foundations

    Four lives become linked by a student’s disappearance: a politician looking to put integrity back into politics, an investigator hoping to atone for past mistakes, a data cleanser searching for a better life while haunted by his past and a re-life technician creating new lives for old souls.

    But it soon becomes clear this is no ordinary case, and in the pursuit of the truth, long-held secrets risk being revealed.

    Set in the near future where everybody is connected and death isn’t final, this is the story of how far those in power will go to retain control, and the true price to pay for a Second Chance.

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I0945TA

  60. If you’ve ever wanted to write song lyrics, but didn’t know where to begin, my book, NEW TRACKS: DEMYSTIFYING THE ART OF WRITING GOOD LYRICS , will get you started. It’s an encouraging read that’ll have you writing your own lyrics in no time.

    http://amzn.to/1yeDe9h

  61. Thanks, John, for providing this thread.

    Alembical 3, the latest in an anthology series dedicated to the novella form, is available here:

    http://www.amazon.com/Alembical-3-Distillation-Three-Novellas-ebook/dp/B00P39GYJE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417531006&sr=1-1&keywords=alembical+3

    And here:

    http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alembical-3-lawrence-m-schoen/1119463268?ean=9780988758759

    It features my novella “From Earth I Have Arisen,” Kam Oi Lee’s “Star-Reacher,” and John P. Murphy’s “Claudius Rex.”

    If you like post-apocalyptic stories about masked men in hot air balloons (and who doesn’t?), this might be the anthology for you.

  62. “The Critchfield Locket”, is a clean read novella inspired by a locket my Grandmother gave to me many years ago. It has a little romance, mystery, and perhaps even time travel. It is currently only available for the Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I526MGQ

    Kate Dornacher is a woman surrounded in mystery. In her distress, she is found hurting and confused, sitting in front of Critchfield Manor. Will her nightmares give her the clues she needs to piece together what has happened to her?

    Nicholas Bennett doesn’t know what to think about his unexpected house guest.There is something about her that touches him, but will he let go of his fears, or send her on her way?

  64. For fans of action adventure, set in a sci-fi world, I humbly recommend my debut novel, The Keystone Islands: Portals of the Grave.

    What if someone buried a secret inside you? Scott, Miranda, and Dixon have no idea where they came from. At the age of seven, they fell through a portal onto the planet Cova. Their bodies were marked with mysterious surgical scars. Doctors and scientists watched them grow, always looking for answers. Were they aliens? Bio-engineered? Children from the future? On the eve of their adulthood, answers finally arrive. A scattered and tattered people from the other side of the world seem to know the truth about the portal. However, these new people hold subtle, unexplained powers. Can they be trusted? Whatever their intentions, they are a threat to Cova. Scott, Miranda, and Dixon are now in a race to find out who they really are. As they battle to save Cova from the threat of this new civilization, they must answer the most important question: are they the very weapons that could destroy humanity?

    Filled with oddly enhanced people, and coupled with weapons and gadgets that defy physics, this book delivers on action and drama.

    It is available at Amazon in paper back or kindle here:

    http://www.amazon.com/Keystone-Islands-Portals-Grave/dp/1499688423/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417531871&sr=1-1&keywords=lander+allen

  65. What a great way to help out indie authors! Props to you, John.

    Here’s a little about my debut published a few months back.

    RUIN (The Ruin Saga #1)
    Ruin is the first instalment in a post-apocalyptic fantasy trilogy, jump-starting a journey that will span not only the world, but all worlds.

    Before the End there had been great cities, knowledge, power, bustling billions. All silenced when the vast majority of the world’s population, quite suddenly, vanished.

    After forty years, an ominous force is laying waste to the survivors, and famine has struck. Norman Creek is struggling to feed the many mouths of New Canterbury, which clings to life while thousands starve or burn out in the wastes. Yet still they collect books, computers, art, saving all they can. They have a mission: to begin again.

    And Norman has a destiny: to lead them, prophesized at birth to bring about the return of civilization. But all he ever wanted was to disappear into the crowd, and turn his back on the legend.

    When a barbaric horde sets out to conquer the British Isles, and past misdeeds spell the city’s doom, Norman must overcome self-doubt and mount their final stand, as the last war of mankind begins.

    —-

    To grab a copy, just follow the purchase links below (also available on Kobo, Nook, Apple, Google and Smashwords):

    Amazon US
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MN5X0LG

    —-

  66. If you’re into contemporary YA novels, I have two of those new out this year:

    Everything’s Fine: When Kira’s best friend Haylee commits suicide, Kira is desperate to find Haylee’s journal, to find out what happened to Haylee– and to hide the things Haylee wrote down about her.
    http://www.amazon.com/Everythings-Fine-Janci-Patterson/dp/0692232265/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1417484777&sr=8-2

    Giftchild: When sixteen-year-old Penny’s mother loses yet another baby, Penny decides to get pregnant so her mother can have a child. But will healing her mother’s heart cost her the boy that she loves?
    http://www.amazon.com/Giftchild-Janci-Patterson/dp/0692339264/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1417484722&sr=8-1

  68. There are a great many mysteries creeping about in the woods of Harper County. Many of them are about to be chewed on.

    Dinosaur Sheriff is the story of a small-town sheriff seeking to solve the troubling disappearance of his predecessor while battling the unrelenting weirdness of civic responsibility, inter-agency politics, and the frequent interference of ghosts. The sheriff is also a horse-sized sauropod. It’s not a metaphor. That’s kind of important.

    If you’re looking to enjoy mix of Andy Griffith, Jurassic Park, Twin Peaks, and the X-files, you’ll love Dinosaur Sheriff. Issues 1 and 2 available singly or as a set via Etsy
    or directly from Harpercounty@gmail.com

    https://33.media.tumblr.com/39595281ffe5e4a686c416a256bcd0fc/tumblr_n5wr1495V71shjq18o1_1280.jpg

  69. BROTHERS OF THE FANG by Sharon Joss
    http://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Fang-Sharon-Joss/dp/0989782808/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417532859&sr=1-1&keywords=Brothers+of+the+Fang+Sharon+Joss
    Ex-cop Mike Bane is a shape-shifter with two beasts: a 300-lb black jaguar with a taste for turtle meat, and a psychotic Olmec shaman named Tehuantl with a taste for blood. When Mike accepts a security job at Mythica, America’s only supernatural amusement park, he discovers an unexpected kinship with the park’s werewolves. But when his curiosity gets the best of him, he’s ensnared in a centuries-old feud between Mythica’s vampires and the Fae of the neighboring High Tor clan. Only Tehuantl’s magic can save Mike’s brothers of the fang; in return, Tehuantl wants permanent possession of Mike’s body, mind, and soul.

  71. Joyous Gift Giving/Receiving Time That Is Allocated!

    Scalebane: Willem’s Tale is a tongue and cheek, absurdist take on the heroic fantasy. Born from an egg and gifted with a magical sword that wants him dead; Willem must deal with faceless armies, fickle Fae, drunk dragons and a princess driven to destruction by the color pink. No one said becoming a legend would be simple.

    It’s available on Amazon in eBook and traditional formats at: Amazon Link

  73. “An assassin liberates an enslaved half-elven healer whose power saves his life, and a knight of a holy order sworn to wipe out elven magic must pursue them both. But as the knight discovers his own elf blood, he is cast out of his order and must turn to the very fugitives he’s hunted to stay alive, regain the honor of his station, and learn the ancient truth behind his faith. With the aid of elven rebels seeking to free their scattered people from human domination, the trio unites to overcome the demons out of each of their pasts–and ultimately, the corruption at the heart of the Church that seeks to destroy them all.”

    Calling all fantasy readers! Since Book 3 of my high fantasy trilogy Rebels of Adalonia will come out in April, I invite you to help a loved one get caught up on books 1 and 2, Valor of the Healer and Victory of the Hawk, now available from Carina Press wherever ebooks are sold.

    Details on how to get the books are here, and I have tips on how to give these books as gifts here.

  74. The Foundation of Drak-Anor is a light, fun fantasy duology told from the point-of-view of the monsters all the heroes try to kill. What if they were just trying to live their lives?

    Zack Jackson and the Hives of Valtra is book 3 in the on-going Zack Jackson sci-fi series for all ages. When Zack and the Junior Rangers go to the Valtraxian homeworld, he discovers a long-buried secret and pulls the thread that starts unraveling a galactic conspiracy.

    All of my novels are available on Amazon.com for Kindle and in print: http://www.amazon.com/Hans-Cummings/e/B005VEBILK

  75. Did you enjoy stories like Carpenter’s The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or Campbell’s Who Goes There? Check out Immortal Clay.

    Duplicate. Infiltrate. Exterminate.

    Liberate?

    The alien ate its way out of Antarctica, devouring and duplicating every living thing it found. Humanity turned continents to glass and oceans to poison in a desperate effort to stop it—and failed.

    Nobody expected that once the alien copied everyone, once it owned the world, it would set the copies free.

    Police detective Kevin Holtzmann fled with his family into the desert, and almost survived. Now a new Kevin must figure out the terrifying new world’s rules before the world eats him alive—again. His life teeters between the yesterday’s nightmares and tomorrow’s unknown horrors.

    But humanity’s best and worst features survived. Life means hope, and terror, and joy, and fear. New life means new dangers. New threats. New crimes…

    Good thing he’s a new Kevin.

  76. Some people sing at night to drive back the darkness. Others sing to summon it. . . .

    Bron Jones was abandoned as a newborn. Thrown into foster care, he is rejected by one family after another, until he meets Olivia, a gifted and devoted high-school teacher who recognizes him for what he really is–what her people call a “nightingale.”

    But Bron isn’t ready to learn the truth. There are secrets that have been hidden from mankind for hundreds of thousands of years, secrets that should remain hidden. Some things are too dangerous to know. Bron’s secret may be the most dangerous of all.

    In his remarkable young adult fantasy debut, David Farland shows why critics have called his work “compelling,” “engrossing,” “powerful,” “profound,” and “ultimately life-changing.”

    Nightingale by David Farland

  77. I’ve been writing sci-fi and fantasy fiction as an amateur since 2002, and after 12 years and over a million words of posting my own free stories online, this is my first jump into publication. This novella is a holiday m/m romance with a sci-fi twist – perfect for the slash fan who likes a good sci-fi setting.

    Description:
    “In the 26th Century, mankind has breached the light speed barrier and begun to colonize other planets. They’ve also learned to Design human beings, known as Morphs, for specialized colony missions. Adrian is an Aerial Morph, on his way to colonize the low-gravity planet Eridani VI with his scientist Partner, Michael. In violation of the rules of the Morph Projects, they’ve been lovers for months. Michael cares more about his work than anything, while Adrian doesn’t take anything seriously except Michael. Before they arrive at their new home, they need to curtail their relationship before it destroys their professional Partnership.

    The colony ship is scheduled to arrive at their destination on Christmas Eve. Some old holiday traditions persist, but when Adrian and Michael have differing ideas about what’s best for their relationship and their careers, holiday gifts and ideas for new beginnings lead to crossed signals. ”

    http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5858

  79. http://www.fjpublishing.com/our-staff/authors/tonya-adolfson/book-thine-enemys-eyes/

    Myrgen the Grey has a real problem on his hands. The Queen’s best friend has been kidnapped, along with the son of the head of the King’s Guard. There is an assassin running around the palace with a contract on the King’s life, and the Prince, Alexander, knows her. If Myrgen doesn’t work fast, someone rather dangerous is going to realize he’s behind it all.

    Set in a fantasy world where ancient magic hides spiritual plots, Thine Enemy’s Eyes is book one in the Souls of the Saintlands series. The heroine, Catriona, a mixed race woman, must discover her true history and why she is so crucial to the Land. Her shoulders must support every faith not associated with the Realm of Heaven, because it is under her banner that they will fight a war to destroy the world.

    And there’s a map.

  80. Danny Dirks just wants to play baseball in his father’s orchard this summer. Trick is, the closer he gets to his 15th birthday, the more strange things start happening to him. Voices in his head, waking dreams of his dead mother, and a sneaking suspicion that the girl next door isn’t all that she seems. Take a chance on Danny Dirks and the Heir of Pendragon, a YA fantasy story that is sure to please. Available exclusively through Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MR5ENG8

  81. ALIEN SAVVY, a Western SF Novella, is now available in trade paperback from CreateSpace for $9.99, and in ebook for $3.99 for Kindle, Nook, and from Smashwords, Kobo and Google Play.

    “When Hank Martin runs into a strange disk complete with little gray men while herding cattle in remote Ogden County, Oregon during the Cuban Missile Crisis, he has to wonder if he’s going crazy or if the Russians are invading. Together with his talented cowhorse, Missy, and the support of his wife and local ranchers, Hank is determined to get those cattle rounded up, no matter if aliens, Russians, or weird Air Force bureaucrats want to stop him. Will he get those cattle rounded up, or will he lose too many to fund his dreams of raising a line of competitive cowhorses?”

    Direct links:
    Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q39I4LO
    Smashwords: Alien Savvy: https://smashwords.com/books/view/495940
    Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/alien-savvy
    Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alien-savvy-joyce-reynolds-ward/1120817792?ean=2940150188877&itm=1&usri=2940150188877
    CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/5136046
    Google Play/Google Books: GGKEY:G47L4HU4W02 E

  82. Here’s RUNAWAYS my sci-fi bondage romance story, free on smashwords:

    People are disappearing around the planet. No one is sure why the Runaways are abandoning their families and friends. But for those left behind, life still goes on — and for Lee, that means a new dom to explore. Doc isn’t perfect, but he has a chest full of toys, membership at a fetish club, and a way of making Lee squirm. If only the world wasn’t falling apart…

    https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/469441

  83. VALHALLA, urban fantasy/YA set in Portland, follows Thor battling against rogue gods, errant photocopy machines, and furniture that’s no match for his girth. Throw in the usual suspects—Freya, Heimdall, Odin, Loki—plus a teenage witch who can’t seem to get her spells to work right, and Berserkers popping up around every corner demanding Voodoo Doughnuts and pizza, and you have a fine recipe for magickal mayhem and adventure.

    (SPOILER: hilarity ensues.)

    This first volume in the VALHALLA series can be found on Amazon and other platforms.

  84. “I’ve stood on balls of dust so small I could see the back of my own head over the horizon”

    It started with the game Elite, which was packaged with a novella – The Dark Wheel – by the young author Robert Holdstock.

    30 years later there is a new Elite and a new set of books to explore that universe.

    My part in all this is one of the stories collected in the anthology Tales From The Frontier, by 15 authors from around the world. Each story has been beautifully illustrated by Arto Heikkinen.

    You do not need to have played the game to enjoy these stories.

    The E-Book is available from Amazon and the publisher.

    An audiobook version is available in DRM-free MP3 format from our publisher Fantastic Books Publishing. This includes the illustrations and original music by Allen Stroud.

    Full details of the project, including audio extracts and interviews, go to http://www.elite-anthology.co.uk

    Thanks for the opportunity, John. Happy Holidays to you and yours.

  85. Hola again, Whatever readers! Again, gratitude to Sir John of Scalzi for this boon.

    I’ve had stories in a bunch of small-press anthologies this year:

    “Time Keeps on Slippin'” in Stargate SG-1/Atlantis: Far Horizons, which has ten stories in the Stargate franchise, five from SG-1 (including mine) and five from Atlantis. It celebrates Fandemonium’s tenth anniversary of publishing Stargate fiction, and it’s my first tale in that particular universe. (Though not my last. I’m working on an SG-1 novel Kali’s Wrath for 2015, with another project in the works.) I tell the story of what happened to Carter, Teal’c, and O’Neill when they were stranded on a world for a week between the third and fourth seasons, and explain why Carter’s hair is so much longer and why Teal’c grew a blond soul patch. Other contributors include Jo Graham, Melissa Scott, Peter J. Evans, Amy Griswold, Suzanne Wood, Diana Dru Botsford, Geonn Cannon, Sabine C. Bauer, and Sally Malcolm (who also edited).

    “Fish Out of Water” is the latest story of Cassie Zukav, weirdness magnet — a young woman living in Key West, Florida, Cassie’s stories involve folklore, scuba diving, rock and roll music, Norse gods, and beer drinking, not necessarily in that order. Most of those are on display in this story inspired by the “Mermaid” ballad, where Cassie encounters a mermaid who needs to find her way home, and she needs help from Loki to accomplish it. The story is in Out of Tune, an anthology edited by Jonathan Maberry which is entirely made up of stories based on old ballads. Other contributors include Christopher Golden, David Liss, Del Howison, Gary Braunbeck, Gregory Frost, Jack Ketchum, Jeff Strand, Kelley Armstrong, Lisa Morton, Marsheila Rockwell & Jeff Mariotte, Nancy Holder, Seanan McGuire, and Simon R. Green, plus folklore commentary following each story on the song that inspired it by Nancy Keim Comley.

    There’s another Cassie story, “Undine the Boardwalk,” in Bad-Ass Faeries: It’s Elemental, which features stories of fae who kick butt and take names. One of Cassie’s friends starts dating someone whom everyone loves except Cassie, and it turns out to be for supernatural reasons that could be deadly to her friend — and to one of the regulars at Mayor Fred’s Saloon. Other contributors include Kimberley Long-Ewing, L. Jagi Lamplighter, Judi Fleming, James Chambers, Danny Birt, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, DL Thurston, James Daniel Ross, James R. Stratton, Patrick Thomas, NR Brown, Bethany Herron, Jody Lynn Nye, and Lee C. Hillman.

    I’ve also got essays in two nifty collections — New Life and New Civilizations: Exploring Star Trek Comics, which is a complete history of Trek in comics form from Gold Key to IDW with everything in between (I covered the WildStorm era from 1999-2001), and Kobold Guide to Combat, which talks about combat in gaming, and in which I wrote a piece about translating the gaming experience to fiction.

    Also you can get my fantasy police procedural series, which is up to five books, from Dark Quest Books: Dragon Precinct is the first novel featuring Torin ban Wyvald, Danthres Tresyllione, and the rest of the Cliff’s End Castle Guard as they try to maintain law and order in a world where humans, elves, dwarves, and gnomes live alongside wizards and warriors. Other books include Unicorn Precinct, Goblin Precinct, Gryphon Precinct, and the short-story collection Tales from Dragon Precinct.

    Ordering links for all of the above can be found on this blog post of mine. Happy holidays!

  86. This is amazingly generous! Thank you! Our novel is Failure to Navigate. It will absolutely not inspire holiday cheer. We like it anyway.

    With the late1960s and early 1970s as a backdrop, the mostly true story of Catherine and Thomas’s romance begins in a whirlwind of underground parties, fast cars, and drug-fueled nights. Things turn dark as Thomas sinks deeper and deeper into his mental illness and Catherine tries to navigate the emotion and violence that comes with it.

    The pendulous back-and-forth nature of their relationship is as extreme as the thoughts in Thomas’s mind, swinging between the sweetest, tenderest moments of young love to the erratic brutality of abuse. Though he yearns to be “a good, good man,” Thomas’s attempts at redemption are no match for the depth of his sins.

    Thomas’s first-hand account and Catherine’s perspective from both then and now together reveal the details of their equally sordid and sweet history, bringing into question the black-and-white nature of good versus evil and just how blurry the line between the two can be.

    http://www.amazon.com/Failure-Navigate-Kris-Leavitt-ebook/dp/B00NSTCPDU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1417533656&sr=1-1&keywords=failure+to+navigate

  87. I’m part of an ebook box set, Sensational Six, which includes 6 awesome SF/F/PR stories by seven great authors:

    Still Sexy by Sasha White
    Phantom Warriors 2: Sabertooth by Jordan Summers
    A Soul in the Hand by Marsheila Rockwell (me) & Jeffrey J. Mariotte
    Glimmer by Vivi Anna
    The Darkening by Caris Roane
    The Night Beat: Necropolis Enforcement Files #1 by Gini Koch

    Only $0.99 for a limited time!

    http://www.amazon.com/Sensational-Six-Adventure-Fantasy-Paranormal-ebook/dp/B00PKFVTQY/

    Thanks again, John!

    Regards,
    Marsheila (Marcy) Rockwell
    http://www.marsheilarockwell.com/

  88. Insanity Tales: 5 authors- 9 stories
    Enter a world of insanity as you encounter nine tales of murder, mayhem, and madness from authors David Daniel, Stacey Longo, Dale T. Phillips, Vlad V., and Ursula Wong. Twisted psyches, peculiar people, and demons of the mind and spirit.
    If you like your stories dark and scary, come take a stroll through this asylum, hearing ominous whispers or the shrieks of the unhinged echoing in your ears. You’ll find yourself glancing nervously over your shoulder, or wondering about that odd-looking person at the bus stop . . . or even in the mirror. Come in, enjoy the trip, but step carefully, and watch the shadows, for you may never be the same again.
    In print, ebook, and audio- out on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords:
    http://www.amazon.com/Insanity-Tales-Stacey-Longo-ebook/dp/B00O3PC9TS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1417534835&sr=1-1&keywords=insanity+tales

  89. The Button: Book I of II (X-Files meets Orwell’s 1984)

    When Pete and Gary Godfrey stumble upon a skeleton in an ancient burial chamber, their lives are forever altered. They activate a bizarre crystal cube clasped in the skeleton’s hand, and once its terrifying power has been awakened, things quickly spiral out of their control. The brothers have put themselves and the entire city of New York in danger, and soon they fall into the crosshairs of an NSA agent driven by a shadowy agenda. The deadly implications of their find could change the course of human history, and they have no choice but to solve the mystery of the cube before it annihilates them all. The first in a two-part work, The Button is a Science Fiction/Thriller that asks if humanity is far older than we’ve been led to believe. Was our species more advanced in some distant past? Is there a conspiracy to hide a secret history from the public? Perhaps the answers lie in the Godfrey brother’s accidental discovery, but they’d better work fast, because the countdown has begun …

    http://www.amazon.com/Button-Book-I-II/dp/1495321622/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417534924&sr=1-2

  90. Happy Holidays! My book, which has been called “a slippery, artful, and mythic piece of prose” and has been likened to Neil Gaiman, is 99 cents on Amazon through December.

    “Northern Ireland, the present day. Derek Tighan seeks help with disturbing visions and finds a man who claims to be Finn McCool, the legendary giant. Finn sulks in Belfast, beleaguered by the nebulous legacy of a simple foreigner named Patrick, but agrees to help Derek as a favor to an old friend. Together, Derek and Finn set off to find answers. They have powerful allies—along the way, Derek’s friend Iola Prentiss uncovers her connection to a great healing force, for instance—but will they be powerful enough to survive a world stalked by enemies so terrifying that they make even gods doubt the future?”

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FCZCB2I

    And thanks, John, for the platform.

  92. Nica of Los Angeles is the first novel in a new sci-fi/speculative fantasy detective quartet, available as ebook and paperback at Amazon and an ebook at all the usual outlets. Get the links from my blog. The reader reviews have been amazing so far!

    When rookie private eye Nica takes on a mysterious case, she enters a world of multiple dimensions called Frames, where buildings and lawn chairs can be sentient, a stray cat has great powers, books can be killers, and clouds can be spies. At home, Nica tackles missing person cases, while in the larger reality of the Frames she is swept into an escalating battle with stakes that could not be higher.

    E-Nica is on sale ultra-cheap (99 cents) through the holidays.

    You can download half the book for free at Noisetrade Books.

  93. Hello readers! I’m an award winning film director (Ray Bradbury’s “Kaleidoscope”), and a former NASA/JPL documentary producer for Mars planetary exploration. I wrote and self-published an Alien Invasion thriller, The Scout, which is available for Kindle, in print, and audiobook!

    Available here: http://amzn.com/B00FVBKI6Y

    THE SCOUT – Change is inevitable. It’s heading for Earth at twelve thousand miles per hour…and it will land virtually undetected. For Jack McAllister, a young writer who has finally launched a career for himself, it begins tragically: his estranged father, a former NASA engineer, dies suddenly at his home in Merriweather, Indiana, leaving Jack’s Alzheimer’s-stricken mother a widow. But in the wake of personal heartbreak, he’s confronted by an even more astonishing event–the covert landing of an alien machine in the forest just a few miles outside of town.

    Now Jack must unmask the true purpose of the otherworldly device that has begun a detailed environmental survey of the woods. Aided by the town’s young and resilient female deputy sheriff, he soon discovers that the alien scout is only one small part of a much larger operation, and the countdown to a terrifying global catastrophe is about to take place. Drawing deeply from his father’s scientific influence, all while attempting to avoid the snares of a sexy, seductive and scheming local TV reporter, Jack uncovers—and ultimately finds himself an unwilling component of—an alien plan set to terminate life on Earth as we know it.

    This year I was published in the best-selling time travel anthology, Synchronic. Currently I’m penning a novel for a publisher in a brand new Apocalyptic SciFi metaverse. Exciting things happening since I took the plunge into self publishing! Sincere thanks to John Scalzi for opening this thread to all of us who dream and write!

  94. Yay! It’s show and tell day! Here’s a plug for my military scifi Spectras Arise Trilogy.

    Contract of Defiance, Contract of Betrayal, and Contract of War follow heroine Aly Erikson and her crew of anti-Admin smugglers through an ever-escalating glut of life-and-death adventures and the trials of a living on the side of liberty and freedom—whether they agree with the law or not—in the far future of the Algol star system. As former Corps members, most are no strangers to fighting and dissent, but more than anything, they want to spend their lives flying under the radar without control or interference from the system’s central government, The Political and Capital Administration of the Advanced Worlds. But the Admin’s greed-drenched dualism of power and corruption has other plans, and throughout the series, Aly and her crew are reminded of one lesson time and again: when all other options run out, never let go of your gun.

  95. It’s one thing to read about science fiction and fantasy, it’s another to create it in your own kitchen! From futuristic foams, gels, and spherified soups to the everyday convenience of perfectly cooked sous vide dinners, I’ve got you and your cravings covered!

    The Modernist Cooking Made Easy series covers:
    Sous Vide – the authoritative guide to low temperature precision cooking that will help make sous vide a part of your everyday cooking arsenal…or let you cook a whole pig in your hot tub.

    Party Foods – provides all the information you need to get started amazing your party guests mind blowing taste sensations.

    The Whipping Siphon – foam, carbonate, and infuse your way into the hearts (and stomachs!) of your friends and family! Plus…whippets!

    All these book and several others available as a paperback or electronically from Amazon, iTunes and the Nook. Embrace your inner science fiction and let it out in the kitchen!

  96. If your loved ones like adventure stories – faraway planets, the outer reaches of space, parallel worlds that may be only in the mind – check me out on Smashwords:

    https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/elwyne74

    ‘The Edge’: Heading home from the assignment she thought would never end, explorer Marta Anders shares a ride with a handsome young pilot, and a mystery that will change everything she thought she knew.

    ‘His Brother’s Keeper’: Dell Roja, one more underemployed brown man living in the wilds of Los Angeles, wakes up one morning to find his world ripped away. The one around him, alike in many ways, is yet starkly different from his own, and there’s something distinctly strange about the pallid young man who comes to his rescue.

    ‘Dreamscapes’: Jon Winters is an ordinary guy, with a pretty good life. One day he wakes up and it’s all gone. Maybe this is the afterlife; maybe it’s a dream; or maybe he’s just gone crazy. All Jon knows is that he wants to go home. But getting there will demand more from him than anything he’s ever done: courage, teamwork, and even love.

    Also available in print at http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?contributorId=1046186

    Thank you!

  97. Hope everyone is enjoying the Festivus season!

    I Fought the Law is the story of a bioengineered teenager who discovers punk rock. It was my Small Press Expo 2014 debut comic, written and drawn by me. Digital copies are available on Gumroad for $2.

    In addition, you can also find my other SPX debut, Out of the Ice, written by me and drawn by Jason Tseng. It’s an SF spin on Sleeping Beauty, featuring aliens, cryogenic suspension, and flirting.

    I also have a printable set of Cosplay Paper Dolls for sale on Gumroad, and a whole bunch of free fanzines. Thanks, John!

  98. Hello, all! Thanks for the opportunity to post here. I’d like to share a quick introduction to my book STRONGER THAN BLOOD:

    For B, life as a werewolf has never been easy. Her painful transformations make staying healthy—and staying human—a daily struggle. But she’s about to face her biggest challenge yet: high school. When a mysterious new classmate sniffs her out, B discovers he’s part of a whole pack of werewolves she never knew existed. They’re all strong. Powerful. And they’re hiding dangerous secrets. They claim they can help her, but she has to find out the price—because trouble’s followed the pack into town, and it’s on B’s tail most of all. Now, with a feral wolf on the hunt, schemes unraveling the pack from within, and B’s family and new friends in danger, she’s going to need all the strength she can get…

    Available (and on sale this week!) at Amazon.com.

    (US link provided; also available in other territories.)

  100. How about my Western Horror/Fantasy Dust and Sand?

    ‘The Wild West has been tainted by the gods of the Triangle, and few humans can fight the twisted creatures they spawn.

    It’s a good thing Dust isn’t human any more because a Senator’s daughter has been captured by a Triangle cult. But even with support from her best friend and a lifelong warrior, Dust will struggle to fight hordes of creatures, mercenaries, and a conspiracy to summon a god…’

    Kindle
    Smashwords

  101. I had grand plans last year. I would release so many novellas this year. Except, then I got a job so it stayed at one short story prequel to Daughter of the Dark, a novel that is hopefully coming 2015.

    Exile is the first story set in the Portal Universe. It is 0.99 at most places ( Sadly it isn’t available at BN and Amazon, since Overdrive isn’t distributing to them if you live outside the US. Grr. And I have been too busy to get around to do the paperwork.)

    As long as Gwyneth can remember she and her mother has been trapped in a silent tug of war about her future. Her Mother wants her become a full-fledged Priestess of Gwynfar. Gwyneth isn’t certain want she wants to do in the future but she knows she doesn’t want to devote the rest of her life to Gwynfar. Now her 150th birthday is approaching, which means she will be an adult. She can almost taste the freedom when she eavesdrop on a conversation between her Mother and another priestess. It is then she realises that her Mother will never let her go. Unless she steps through the portal to another realm.

    You can find links to the various stores and read an excerpt at http://www.mikaelalind.com/the-portal-universe/exile/

  102. Greatlander
    by Michael Bruce-Lockhart

    I’m not very good at marketing my own stuff so I thought I’d just print a review by regular reviewer Jean Graham from our local (very small) newspaper. I don’t know Ms. Graham at all. Indeed, I didn’t even bring Greatlander to her attention. A friend did.

    I get a little twitchy when I’m sent a self-published book to review.

    The vanity press, as it’s sometimes called, exists largely for books that traditional publishing companies have declined to put out.

    Occasionally this is because the book in question is controversial enough to draw the wrath of potentially violent zealots — or worse, government funders.

    Or the book might have a very specialized and narrow market and not be something the publisher can turn a profit on.

    Usually, though, a book is self-published because it simply isn’t very good. That essential problem is often compounded by bad editing, horrible design and other errors.

    Our brave new electronic world is changing all that. Yes, of course there are still embarrassingly bad self-published books out there. There are also, more and more, gems like “Greatlander.”

    My twitches subsided well before I was done the first chapter. Michael Bruce-Lockhart’s first novel turned into one of those fine reading experiences that story-lovers savour.

    I stayed up a little later at night to read an extra chapter or two, took a few minutes in the morning to absorb a bit more of the story and generally resented the intrusions of real life taking me away from this cunningly crafted world.

    “Greatlander” is set in The Land, home to a strict feudal society featuring the usual hapless serfs, heedless (and sometimes cruel) lords, castles, illiteracy, hand tools and horses. Oh, and two moons. With a god who is understood through the spirit, which is actually something like a sixth sense. “An organ, like the ear, that contains the sense,” Nikki tries to explain, pitying his new friend who has but five senses. “Aiee! To span the stars and yet be so savage!”

    Nicodemus is horrifically orphaned as a boy, told secrets about his past and sent off for his betters to decide what should become of him. He is freeborn and from fairly elevated stock, albeit through his maternal line.

    He becomes a Harper — a travelling musician held in enormous esteem in this not-quite-familiar land. Along with musical and entertaining skills, Nicodemus has mystical experiences and trains at a monastery, acquiring friends and enemies along the way.
    The most intriguing of those friends is the man who becomes Damonryan. He has fallen to The Land in a great silver ship, from a society that is as technologically advanced as Nicodemus’s is backwards.

    In Damon’s world, everyone (including women) is equal, lifespans are greatly increased and flying through space is, if not an everyday event, not at all unlikely.

    He is fascinated by the resemblance of Nikki’s world to his own society’s far-distant history. (And of course, even if the only thing you know about speculative fiction is “Planet of the Apes,” you’ve already deduced that the two men do not actually come from separate races.) And he is not going to pass as a serf for long.

    The Land as created by Bruce-Lockhart is a gritty and not entirely pleasant place. Women have no rights. Thievery is a way of life for many. Poverty is rampant and brutality is everywhere.

    That said, it’s often more pleasant than Damon expects it to be. The residents bathe regularly even though their homes have no running water. Basic sanitation knowledge and rules appear to be in effect.

    Why would a society come from such a great distance only to recreate an ancient society? The joy is that there are more books in the series and we will eventually find out.

    The plot of this book is absorbing. There aren’t surprise twists so much as there is a steady unfolding of story. Damon interweaves with Nicodemus and The World. He forms his own allegiances and enemies, and brings the dreams and insight of a star traveller to this rustic world. He was a star trader who was bored with his life, and hoped to find “a little spice.” He finds that, friends, danger, intrigue and treachery.

    If you can picture Han Solo meeting Sir Breuse de Pitie in a showdown tournament, you will appreciate this marvelous yarn.

    Electronic edition, available from Amazon and Smashwords

  103. My Singularity series, which starts with Avogadro Corp, is a near-future exploration of artificial intelligence and what it will mean for the human race. My books are well-regarded by those in the tech industry, so they’re a perfect gift for programmers, futurists, or other geeks who love to think about the future of technology. The series continues with A.I. Apocalypse and The Last Firewall. (Available in ebook, paperback, and audiobook.)

    I also have a new book, my first one for kids: The Case of the Wilted Broccoli, for ages 8 through 12, about a trio of kids who have to solve the mystery of why kids at their school are getting sick. I call it smart fiction for smart kids: there are drones, food supply chains, and science fair projects.

  104. Stillness Dancing
    http://amzn.to/12mF9wz

    A gritty crime thriller of desert kidnappings and police procedural blended with a whisper of magical realism. The terrorism novel, Stillness Dancing, offers something genuinely new in contemporary women’s fiction.

    Lilliane has always been drawn by the adventure of the desert — its emptiness, its eerie beauty and its people. When she takes the trip of a lifetime to a Bedu camp, however, she finds herself ensnared in a complex web of crime, blood feuds, terrorism and ancient spirits.

    Karim is trying to find his path in the material world and to marry the girl of his dreams. His soul cries out for the spiritual path of his fathers but he finds himself inexorably drawn into the organised crime sweeping the Sinai.

    Lilliane’s and Karim’s stories collide as their individual journeys to a new future are swept aside by kidnapping at the hands of a psychotic terrorist. While the politically constrained Captain Al Aswani struggles to rescue them, Lillianne and Karim, brutalised, captive and bereft, must find their own ways to survive.

    This desert thriller, Stillness Dancing, is a taut, contemporary women’s fiction which explores the fractures between east and west, male and female, spiritual and materialistic, and the regional conflicts of a land caught between the ancient and the modern.

    Blending a touch of the magical with a tense desert kidnapping, this novel shows how the hardest paths lead to the deepest wells.

    Author Stephen Godden calls this “a stunning suspense … filled with the mystery of the desert and the journeys of the spirit, plus blood, mayhem, and a truly nasty villain. Buy it, read it, tell people about it.”

    “Jae Erwin does a wonderful job of presenting the clash of cultures that tear people apart and the spirit that glues them back together. The scenes of torture are emotional and difficult to read — Stillness Dancing evokes a harsh land and a people hardened by conflict. Yet Erwin’s story manages to go beyond this and find the deep beauty that lies both in the culture and the landscape. Stillness Dancing is more than a thriller, it is spiritual read that will stay with readers for a long time after they’ve finished the book.” Author and blogger Ute Carbone.

  105. Have a Merry [insert preferred holiday here]. I hope your days are filled with [your favorite activity] and [something else you waste your time doing].

    My historical fantasy Lightning in the Dark, set in Colorado Territory in 1858 came out today!

    It is available in many formats here: Lightning in the Dark (Turning Creek 1).

    Descended from the mythical harpies, Petra Celaeno is content living a solitary life in the Colorado Territory until she meets dairy farmer, James Lloyd. As her relationship with James grows, Petra fights against her harpy instincts and questions the traditions of her ancestors. James Lloyd came to Colorado looking for a fresh start, but he can not shake his obsession with a favorite myth from childhood. Something sinister is lurking beneath the earth of the Rockies and it is calling to James. Life in the small town of Turning Creek is about to change. A terrible prophecy will be fulfilled and Petra will have to choose between protecting her home and saving the man she has come to love.

  106. I’m the editor/publisher of Like They Always Been Free a short story collection by Georgina Li.

    Georgina Li writes with humane poetry, capturing both the profane staccato of soldiers and the blown-grass whispers of country boys. In these eight short stories, Li explores the literal and metaphorical wars of men: on the battlefield, in poverty, and of the heart. Her men are complex, covered in grit but filled with love.

    Li’s work slides comfortably from genre to genre, proving that good storytelling is good storytelling regardless of literary conventions.

    Li’s stories have appeared in anthologies like John Joseph Adams’s Federations, Best Gay Erotica and Best Gay Romance.

    Like They Always Been Free is available directly from the publisher in print or ebook (the ebook comes free with the print edition, as well!) or on Amazon:

    http://www.amazon.com/Like-They-Always-Been-Free-ebook/dp/B00LMUBHOA/

  107. My SENYAZA SERIES of books is modern urban fantasy focused on non-romantic stories with well-painted girls and women as the protagonists. The books have been praised for their complex, layered characters and entertaining plots, including by Publishers Weekly. They’re set in California and deal with the gradual reveal of a secret war of angels, demons, nephilim and faeries to the rest of the world. The magic in the books is crunchy rather than numinous, and they just lean toward science fiction/cyberpunk, with magic providing both the extra boost to technology and that element of loss of humanity that cyberpunk is traditionally associated with. (This is just a lean right now but has always been the intended direction of the series and it comes out more in the 4th book which is in revisions now.)

    There are 3 books currently out:MATCHBOX GIRLS, which is about Marley, anxiety attacks, the choice to care for children, and how angels deal with their mistakes. The sequel, INFINITY KEY, is about Branwyn, Marley’s best friend, and how she tries to find a place in the supernatural world as a powerless mortal. She doesn’t stay powerless for long… The third book, which just came out this October, is WOLF INTERVAL, which is a side story about a teenager introduced in the previous books. She’s the daughter of a monster and goes on a quest to save the ghosts of the world from the devouring Wild Hunt (and incidentally escape a horrible home situation). It pretty much stands alone and was reviewed favorably in the Magazine of F&SF in November.

    http://www.candlemarkandgleam.com/shop/matchbox-girls/

  108. HUMAN CARGO features Inez Leon, a Latina PI with a tortilla chip on her shoulder. Contemporary, set in Pasadena and LA, she’s looking for truth, justice and the Mexican American way. A Latinidad mystery pick of the year. Find it here:
    http://www.desireezamorano.com/human-cargo.html
    “P.I. Inez Leon can break your heart or your kneecap with equal skill. She is smart, funny and dangerous, especially for bad guys trying to escape justice—a heroine you can care about.”
    —Patricia Smiley, best-selling author of False Profits

  109. A Girl Named Sandy.
    When Paul Eric Carmichael, an older British astrophysicist, meets Sandy, a young girl from the United States, his life goes overboard in more than one way. As he tries to make sense of it all, he learns things about aliens and their mysterious devices. In his work he faces challenges as well, because what are those strange flying objects that seem to be heading towards our solar system?

    You can find this book at the Amazons (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JBMN3Y8) and Barnes&Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-girl-named-sandy-paul-kater/1118866896?ean=2940045734219)

    Thank you, Mr Scalzi!

  110. So my readers told me to plug my books here. THANK YOU, FABULOUS JOHN. Here we go.

    I write weird stuff, dark funny and dark not funny, and all my ebooks are free. Download them and eat them with vodka. (Yes, I’m from Russia.). Anyway. Books.

    1. Dark funny. ROSEHEAD. A book about a rose garden that eats people. Whoa! Creepy… Here is the full descriptions and links and stuff: http://www.kseniaanske.com/books/rosehead

    2. Dark not funny. IRKADURA. A book about a mute pregnant teen fleeing into alternate reality 1990s Moscow where people turn into beasts. Jackals. Horseflies. Boars. Lovely, right? Here are the links: http://www.kseniaanske.com/books/irkadura

    There.

    What, you want more? I don’t know. Let’s eat borscht together first, and then we shall see. Happy Holidays, hamster. I love you. XOXO

  111. Allow me to be brief. Two novels, the start of a 5 book series, are currently available from my website if you prefer paperback, and Amazon for digital.

    Vidu is the story of a man, spun out on life, who finds himself quite hungover and alone in a city. The skies are full of dust and terrible things are happening all around him. Think Schopenhauer meets Silent Hill.

    Rend is the follow up and examies the life of a young woman as she struggles against the literal shackles of ritual abuse and torture. A chance for freedom presents itself, but will she discover the strength to take it? And will this freedom be worth the toll she must pay?

    Fans of philosophy, horror, literary fiction, and good tales in general should rather enjoy both!

  112. Now & Forever series books 1 & 2 by Jaye Em Edgecliff

    Teen, Lesbian, slice-of-life, Christian, romantic-comedy (yes, I know how strange that sounds, thank you)

    Love or Lust (print & ebook, ebook free where possible through December)

    Book 1 of the series, Love or Lust introduces Lauren & Sally, who meet just before they start their freshman year of high school. They fall instantly for one another. The only question for little Lauren, the consumate Good Girl, is if she has fallen in love or in lust.

    Ready or Not (print & ebook. Ebook half-off in most retailers through December)

    Book 2 of the series. The saga of Lauren & Sally’s relationship continues. It’s their sophomore year. And the simple fact they are growing up presents new challenges, as does their growing sexualiry, and (as if being gay teens in a Catholic school in America wasn’t enough) a deep tragedy strikes their lives. Are they ready for driving, sex, losing someone they love, foreign cultures?

    The ebooks are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo (Book 1 only), iBookstore, DriveThru Fiction, Smashwords, and All Romance eBooks

    Print edition available through virtually any bookseller. Links can be found on my site (click title of series above) for Amazon, B & N, BAM, Powell. Alibris, and more. us$17.99MSRP but often reduced at various stores.

  113. For those looking for a literary fantasy novel (think Patricia McKillip, as one reviewer did, or the more Stardust end of Neil Gaiman) set in our world, TILL HUMAN VOICES WAKE US is available as an ebook from the regular places and as a trade paperback from Amazon:

    http://www.amazon.com/Till-Human-Voices-Wake-Us-ebook/dp/B00LT5VHT8

    I also have a bunch of short stories, ranging from historical fantasy to secondary worlds of one flavour or another, and a blog at http://www.roseandphoenix.wordpress.com.

    Thanks so much!

  114. Genre: Inspirational running book.

    Hot off the press: “parkrun: much more than just a run in the park” by Debra Bourne, foreword by nine-times Comrades Marathon winner Bruce Fordyce. Published just YESTERDAY by Chequered Flag Publishing. ISBN 9780956946072 – so you can buy it as a present for a runner and be pretty sure they’ve not got it yet.

    Best bought from Wiggle (http://www.wiggle.com/parkrun-much-more-than-just-a-run-in-the-park/) because parkrun (not for profit) gets more of the proceeds that way! Also available in Kindle edition from Amazon (.com and .co.uk), and as a dead-tree book from Amazon.co.uk and e.g. Waterstones online in the UK.

    The blurb says: “Join Debra Bourne, Event Director at Lloyd parkrun, as she charts the rise of parkrun and finds out how and why this simple idea became the biggest and friendliest running community the world has ever seen. But don’t forget your barcode!” – More info at http://www.chequeredflagpublishing.co.uk/parkrun.htm

    Inspiring stories of ordinary parkrunners of all ages from four to 94, Olympian parkrunners, volunteers (paid in smiles), behind the scenes, tales of the unexpected – even training plans.

  115. WINTERWAKERS is my sci-fi/thriller series.

    Earth orbits a binary star, shrouding the planet in three months of global winter, putting civilization on hold while hibernation sets in. The wealthy slumber through the winter months in modern hibernation centers and specialized pods, while the poor sleep shoulder-to-shoulder in overcrowded public facilities.

    But not all can rest through the winter – one in a thousand are physically incapable of hibernating. While humanity sleeps under a blanket of snow, these few who stay awake must struggle to keep civilization intact. They call themselves Winterwakers, and this winter will bring them their greatest challenge yet.

    Part 1 in the series is now available: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OYSI9DY

    Sample of Part 1 on my blog: http://matt-perkins.com/2014/10/enjoy-a-free-sample-of-winterwakers-part-1-cold-hands/

    Part 2 will be out in late January.

    My site: http://matt-perkins.com/

    Thanks for the platform, John. I’m checking out everyone else’s work as well.

  116. Do you feel anxiety and fear around food, especially during the holiday season? Break the hold that food and eating has over you with the methods found in “Food Addicts” by Felicity Garver. You CAN eliminate using food for anything other than solving hunger, including boredom, stress and loneliness. Find freedom from compulsive overeating and gain power and self-esteem in the process. If you struggle with overeating, you don’t need another diet, you need emotional rescue. http://amzn.to/xqeRtY

  117. For those looking for a literary fantasy novel (think Patricia McKillip, as one reviewer did), TILL HUMAN VOICES WAKE US is available as an ebook from the usual retailers (Kobo, iTunes, Amazon, etc.) and as a trade paperback from Amazon.

    http://www.amazon.com/Till-Human-Voices-Wake-Us-ebook/dp/B00LT5VHT8

    I also have a bunch of short stories, ranging from historical fantasy about Scheherezade or Shakespeare to secondary world tales, and blog at The Rose and Phoenix Inn (www.roseandphoenix.wordpress.com).

    Thanks so much! (And sorry if I accidentally double posted, it appeared to have deleted my first effort when I logged in.)

  118. December, 31st, 1930.

    As they have for over a decade, four friends will meet in the West Smoking Room at the famous – and very exclusive – 14˚N Club in downtown Boston. Stalwart adventurers in their own right, they are ostensibly gathering to share drinks and rousing adventures. But the dark truth is, the horrific events which they witnessed at Salem Normal School’s Claremont Hall in 1916, compel them to meet. Little do they know, this year will be unlike any previous gathering. Even now, outside forces conspire to bring them together for an adventure which could herald the end of the world as they know it!

    14˚N of Prophecy is the first book in my series of Cliffhanger type novels set in the early 1930’s involving a world-wide conspiracy that spans centuries

    You can find it in ebook, mobi, pdf, and dead tree version on Amazon or at my website, http://www.daddywritesgood.com

  119. Jake’s Last Mission: Jake Kavaliro’s final act as commander of the Sweytzian Defense Force Fleet was supposed to be a routine patrol, then he encountered an alien ship captained by someone determined to restart a war that ended decades before. Luckily, the alien emperor is willing to talk things over before going to war. Unluckily, as Jake has never been the most diplomatic of people, he wants to talk to him.

    This is more character driven than most space opera, which has disappointed some readers so I thought I should mention it.

    The Crown of Eldrete, Kavaliro Cousins Book One: Lyndsey and Taliza’s branches of the family haven’t been in contact in nearly a century, but now the distant cousins have met by chance, united by a common goal: defeating the Neo-Imperialist forces that have taken over the world Taliza calls home. The two women end up on a quest to recover the titular crown, a quest that lands them on a world with pirates, giant insects, volcanos, and the Neo-Imperialists and their allies.

    Once A Hero, Always A Hero: Robin Thase and Viktor Blue, retired soldiers and former heroes turned bar owners and family men, land right in the middle of a situation that leaves them fighting for their lives and the lives of thousands of innocent souls once more.

  120. After the Dragon Raid is a steamy romantic fantasy about a female soldier who rescues a wanderer during a dangerous raid. As he repays his debt to her nation, they fall in love while working in her garden, only for their relationship and very lives to be jeopardized when she discovers he isn’t what he seems.

    Dragon Whisperer is a fantasy novel about a young woman born immune to fire and forced to work with dragons to keep the peace in her kingdom. Her work brews tension in her new marriage and matters are complicated further when she suddenly disappears, leaving her husband to befriend the creatures he fears in order to find her.

    For more information about the author and her upcoming works, visit http://www.thodestool.com

    Thanks, John!

  121. Looking for a young adult fantasy—or, perhaps something you didn’t know you wanted to try, a Renaissance dystopia? My novel Untalented is available in:

    Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Untalented-Katrina-Archer/dp/0988051230/
    Ebook: http://www.amazon.com/Untalented-Katrina-Archer-ebook/dp/B00MAFNNTS/

    Saroya: Untalented, a stain on her family’s honor. Orphaned and barred from the Guilds, she has nowhere to go when her Talent fails to emerge.

    Loric: Brother-in-law to the king. Thwarted in his ambitions, he’d do anything to usurp the throne. And he finds just the scandal he needs when he unearths Saroya’s hidden pedigree.

    The Kingdom of Veyle: Where all power flows to the Talented, and where the Guilds and the Order of Adepts control the destinies of Talented and Untalented alike.

    When calamity strikes the capital city, with Untalents blamed and on trial, Saroya knows that proving her Talent and parentage means saving more than just her own life. A tangle of lies hides secrets that force Saroya to choose between her future and Veyle’s.

    Finalist — The Creation of Stories Awards, Young Adult Audience

    Thank you, John, and happy holidays!

  122. Time isn’t everything it appears to be.

    State trooper Daniel Reilly never thought he’d wind up in his
    stepmother’s favorite movie. Chasing a suspected drunk driver through Washington’s desolate Okanogan Highlands is part of his job, but crashing his cruiser and waking up in a ghost town
    definitely isn’t. And when that ghost town starts to come to life?

    His version of Brigadoon is *not* a carefree musical.

    http://www.amazon.com/Sojourn-Tales-Unearthly-Northwest-Book-ebook/dp/B00PIAD446

  123. The Futility of Loving a Soldier: An Anthology

    A girlfriend explains why she knew her boyfriend wouldn’t come back from the front.

    A stranger reminds a veteran what matters in life.

    A wife struggles to trust her husband with their baby after he returns from deployment.

    Old friends search for a way to reclaim the dreams and plans of their childhood.

    A woman haunted by her experiences finds an unlikely ally.

    One man’s enlistment creates ripple effects for generations as four sons seek to make sense of what they and their fathers are fighting for.

    11 stories. 5 wars. Why we love our troops, why we hate them, and why we can’t live without them.

  124. THE NEVER HERO

    Every hero’s journey follows a path. To save mankind, he’ll have to abandon it.

    Reader Reviews:
    “The Never Hero is what a science fiction novel should be: thought provoking, action packed, psychological and smart. The cast is extremely well developed too, both starring and supporting; each character is rounded, dynamic and well developed. As Tibbs tries to grasp what is happening to him, Hodges skillfully ropes the reader into the mystery along with him.”
    “I think there is nothing else that better defines a good writer than creativity and the way it can be translated into a structured and well written novel – I am saying this because I believe that usually creativity does not go hand in hand with structure and rigor. “The Never Hero” unexpectedly caught my attention from the book description – it is not a common thing to mix sci-fi adventures with psychological analysis. What I found most interesting in the book is actually the inner battle that Jonathan has to fight to accept his faith, and the very witty manner in which this battle of accepting his new heroic condition is transposed into writing. A different kind of sci-fi novel, where I have appreciated more the way the characters are built than how the action flows, although that cannot be ignored either.”

  125. The hilarious mash-up of The Maltese Falcon and Todd Browning’s Freaks: CLOWN NOIR!

    Life comes 3 balls for a nickel in Top Town, the ghetto of washed-up circus veterans. Audiences come every night for cheap thrills, both wholesome and not. Fire eaters perform for gin money. Gypsies reveal the future (and for a sawbuck can make it happen). Daredevils cheat Death time after time, but once. When sparks fly between townies and show folk, there’s only one clown to call, a tough joey with a deadly past and a nose for picking all the wrong fights: Rex Koko, Private Clown.

    In Double Indignity, Rex is begged to bring in an escaped lion and loses his shoe in the process. Trying to get the expensive footwear replaced, he runs afoul of drug-pushing quacks, alligator hypnotists, Amazonian witch doctors, infantile gunmen and blue-nosed moral crusaders. Menace fills the Top Town air like the smells of popcorn, whiskey, gunpowder and fear. The South American jungle was never so dangerous as the tawdry streets of “the next best thing to a good time.”

    The Wet Nose of Danger yanks our hero out of his element when he is hired by a high society dame to get to the bottom of a dognapping epidemic among the show dogs at the kennel club. At the same time, he is asked to hunt down two missing sideshow freaks. Where do his loyalties lie — with the blue-bloods who will never accept him, or with the kinkers who will never forgive him for a past tragedy? Add to the mix transvestite mobsters, rogue elephant seals, midget policemen, randy joey-jumpers, fugitive Nazis, and a dangerous face-off on the docks of Marseilles, and you have a gripping, hilarious thriller that won’t stop humping your leg.

    “Brilliant!”—Matt Walsh, “Veep”, Upright Citizens Brigade
    “Hilarious! Perfection!” –Jim O’Heir, “Parks and Recreation”

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L4HAGO8#reader_B00L4HAGO8

  126. Like Andrew Leon Hudson above, I have a title in the steampunk shared world of Southwatch, The Electro-Addictive Moth-Flame. It’s a story of addiction and high voltage beneath the poisonous cloud of the city.

    At the moment, though, my main focus is on my steampunk serial fiction project, Spire City, which is also published by Musa: Spire City is home to mighty machines of steam power and clockwork, and giant beetles pull picturesque carriages over cobbled streets, but there is a darker secret behind these wonders. A deadly infection, created by a mad scientist, is spreading through the city, targeting the poor and powerless, turning them slowly into animals. A group of those infected by the serum join together to survive, to trick the wealthy out of their money, and to fight back.

    Season One ran from November of last year through August, with a new, short-story-length episode published every three weeks. Those episodes are collected in two bundles, Contagion and Epidemic. Season Two just began last Friday with “Lady Janshi’s Acolyte.” To keep under the three-link problem, I’ll simply link to my author page in Musa Publishing’s catalog, which has all of these titles. But it can also be purchased from Amazon and most other online bookstores.

    Thanks for the opportunity to share this, John!

  127. Laura’s Wolf and Prisoner, by Lia Silver (aka Rachel Manija Brown) are urban fantasies. They are related but can be read in either order.

    Liz Bourke at Tor.com wrote about both books, “The closely-observed and immensely sympathetic portrayal of post-traumatic stress is their strongest aspect—that, and Silver’s grasp of how to tell a fast-paced, compelling story with interesting characters. There’s more than a bit of action-adventure in among the romance: I recommend them as more than worth one’s time.”

    Laura’s Wolf is about Roy Farrell, a werewolf Marine with PTSD, and Laura Kaplan, a reformed con artist. Both are traumatized and on the run, but when they meet in a snowed-in cabin in Yosemite, they find love, adventure, and healing. (Realistic healing, not “love fixes everything.” I’m a PTSD therapist.)

    Prisoner is about DJ Torres, a hyperactive werewolf Marine who got his nickname because he actually is also a DJ, and Echo, a genetically engineered assassin forced to work for a secret government agency with a base in Death Valley. Love, adventure, and a whole lot of banter ensues.

  128. Horror fans may know Blood Bound Books as the publishers of novels by cutting-edge names like Wrath James White, or of short-story anthologies like the Night Terrors series. But they also publish an occasional literary journal called Primeval: A Journal of the Uncanny, and issue #2 is out right now, featuring numerous essays, an interview with Jeff Jacobson, new fiction by Livia Llewellyn, and the re-emergence of my out-of-print story “The Elephant in the Marble.” Available at Amazon right now.

  129. Thanks, John!

    My YA fantasy book, The Machine of the World is a great holiday gift for anyone who likes stories about immortal kings, conniving princes, heroic serving girls and doom by fungus.

    Available on Amazon for $14.99 print, $2.99 Kindle. If you want an autographed copy, there’s still time to do that, just contact me on Twitter by the end of the week. @KEdwardK

  130. What says Christmas more than punks in love? And with that in mind, I’d like to recommend my YA punk romance novel, MOLOTOV HEARTS.

    Jenn McNabb spends her days shuttling back and forth between her crappy home life and crappy school life, dreaming of the punk scene, dreaming of escape (and maybe that punk boy she saw). But even if she manages to work her way into the scene and get the boy, will that be enough to fix her problems and change her from the girl the world thinks she is to the girl she wants to be? And will she figure out how to throw a punch if she needs to? Molotov Hearts features punk houses, punk parties, basement shows, make-out sessions, fist fights and dumpster diving. It’s funny, sad, romantic and a novel for anyone who wants to read a story in the tradition of “girl-meets-boy, girl-joins-punk-band, girl-kicks-ass.”

    As one reviewer said: ” It reminded me of the best aspects of John Green’s Looking for Alaska, but with feistier lyrics and better clothes.”

    MOLOTOV HEARTS is available in print or ebook at Amazon! Thanks!

  131. I am a young author (under 20) and publisher with 5 published books that I have written and 1 written by another author.

    There’s a fantasy trilogy (The Seven Princesses: Quest to Arcadia; Ancient Evils; and The Seventh Prophet) about seven girls who are ripped from the world they grew up in and back into the one their parents were born in. Once there they have to battle monsters, adjust to new customs, and deal with the fact that in this new world they are royalty.

    There’s a stand-alone fantasy book (Long Live Freedom) about a band of thieves who takes over a kingdom ruled by a totalitarian dictator (features dragons).

    A short novella (Red, White and Black) about a young girl grieving for what could have been and the choices she makes to move on.

    And a children’s picture book about the adventures of the greek hero Theseus. (The Good King Theseus)

    to learn more about any of the books or my small company or to buy any of the books

    go to: http://www.believersdreampublishing.com

  132. My Domains of the Chosen series is aimed at readers of fantasy who love action, magic, monsters, politics, and celebrity.

    Bloodlust: A Gladiator’s Tale, the first book of the series, follows the career of Gavin, a Gladiator who is ill at ease with the Great Games, but sees them as the only way to win the freedom that he desires. The book is very action oriented, with a touch of romance and politics. Gavin’s tale reaches its climax in Bloodlust: Will to Power, second book in the series.

    My latest work is Bloodlust: The Shield Maiden, third book in the Domains of the Chosen Series. It follows an ex-Gladiatrix who joins a legion on an expedition to a lost continent, hoping to fulfill the legacy of a family that she barely knew.

  134. Thank you, John, for this gift.

    Writing is so hard. I did it in my house, with heat and air conditioning, plus a cup of tea when I needed it. These authors slept where they could, found food where they could, then trekked to writing group.

    Writing Our Way Home: A Group Journey Out of Homelessness is a compilation from seven years of a weekly writing group whose members each have a personal experience of homelessness. Fifteen men and women share their growing up lives; take you into their world of homelessness; and show you who they are now. “Sincere, raw, intelligent, and sometimes downright laugh-out-loud hilarious” the founding editor of The Memphis Flyer called it. I facilitate the weekly writing group and edited the book, preserving the diverse voices of the authors as they tell their stories.

    Please consider buying a copy for yourself or for any organization in your town working to end homelessness. The authors hope one readership will be others going through difficult times who will find hope in their stories. Help us spread the word, too, if you’d like.

    http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Our-Way-Home-Homelessness/dp/1936946300/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417543461&sr=8-1&keywords=writing+our+way+home+a+group+journey+out+of+homelessness

    Thanks for letting me share (oh, and I have free audio stories that won the CIPA EVVY Audio Book Award this year; you can listen, laugh, and donate to charity if you want: http://ellenmorrisprewitt.com/stories/ )

    Ok. Now I’m done.

  135. I just released a novel called “The Seventh Bride” which is a fairy-tale retelling based on Bluebeard. I started with the question “What would happen if his other wives weren’t actually dead?” and went from there.

    The heroine has an opinionated (though non-talking) hedgehog. The book is dark and I am told disturbing, although I like to think the hedgehog makes up for some of that. (I have also received what may be the greatest review of my career: “This made me blindingly, incandescently angry–but in a GOOD way!” I love this review. Kirkus may like my kid’s books, but they never say anything that cool!)

    Anyway, “The Seventh Bride” and my other two self-published books, with links to all the various methods of purchase, can be found at http://www.tkingfisher.com along with various free short stories and small doodles of odd things.

  136. RADIO HOPE

    In a world shattered by war, pollution and disease. . .
    A gunslinging mother longs to find a safe refuge for her son.
    A frustrated revolutionary delivers water to villagers living on a toxic waste dump.
    The assistant mayor of humanity’s last city hopes he will never have to take command.
    One thing gives them the promise of a better future–Radio Hope, a mysterious station that broadcasts vital information about surviving in a blighted world. But when a mad prophet and his army of fanatics march out of the wildlands on a crusade to purify the land with blood and fire, all three will find their lives intertwining, and changing forever.

    Available in print for $12.99 and ebook for $3.99.

  137. One of the authors in this anthology just sold his first sci-fi novel to Penguin Random House. He also has a novel forthcoming based in the same world as the short story in this book, “Page of Skulls.”

    Come feast on a buffet of fiction. In these pages you’ll find superheroes, fantasy, steampunk, corporate whistle-blowing, and a grandma passing down her ‘secret family recipe.’ Learn how to survive a famine. Haggle your way to better meat prices. ‘People Eating People’ will satisfy any reader’s most ravenous fiction hunger.

    While “People Eating People” definitely features Cannibalism, it also covers a variety of genres and tones. The stories here don’t try to gross you out at every turn. That, in a way, was the big idea of the anthology. Take a tired trope and breathe in fresh life.

    Available in Paperback for 6.99. https://www.createspace.com/4947600

    Ebook for 99 cents. http://www.amazon.com/People-Eating-Cannibal-Anthology-ebook/dp/B00MEY7KMQ/

  138. Janir Semler of the planet Oldavar fights to save his world — and his family — after a devastating attack from space.

    Six hundred years later, human explorer Ethan Sun works to solve the mystery of how Oldavarian civilization died.

    His closest advisor: his mother. Never mind that she died 24 years earlier.

    THE SILENT SENTINELS is my first significant experiment in self-publishing. It and my earlier books from small presses are all available at my Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/1Acoh6E

  139. Storage World: An Anthology of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

    Most storage units hold furniture, books, clothes, and all manner of junk, old and new. The Braxton family’s Storage World provides all that plus storage for … a different kind of goods. Behind the doors of Storage World one can find things magical, mythical, fantastic, and terrifying.

    In this collection of stories by Albuquerque’s Cyberscribes writers group, the dark emanations from the weird things stored behind Storage World’s carefully guarded doors reach out into the ordinary world, tempting and ensnaring mortals, and even bringing on the end of the world.

    Some doors shouldn’t be opened. Will you look inside the mysterious vaults of Storage World?

    Paperback now available on CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/5122553

  140. When you finish reading a novel do you want the characters to stay with you, forcing you to think about the dark side of good people?

    Do you appreciate that sex often drives the interactions between individuals and that sex means something different to everyone?

    Do you value fiction that doesn’t fall neatly into narrow categories?

    Dark, edgy fiction by Korin Dushayl

    Coming soon, BDSM Space Opera. (Sign up for my mailing list to be the first to learn when it will be available.)

    Print books on sale through end of day.

    http://transgressivewriter.com/

  142. Pets! When we’re not looking, do they live secret lives, adventurous lives? Of course they do! When disaster strikes Sky City, and the town’s leaders can’t cope, their own house pets boldly rocket into action–as the Jet Pack Pets!

    Jet Pack Pets Vol. 1

    With more than 50 pages of all-ages fun, the Jet Pack Pets roar into action in a series of short adventures, facing off against gangster mice, the croctopus, an ill-tempered file clerk, and the notorious villain known only as…the crook!

    Kids have loved the Jet Pack Pets since they burst onto the scene in 2000 in the pages of Disney Adventures magazine. In 2005 they received their first trade paperback and now, for the first time ever, the entire series will be released on Comixology with volume 1!

  143. Hi! I write the Gailsone series. This is the serialized adventures of former supervillain Alice Gailsone, and her extremely dysfunctional family/super-team. Once the Most Dangerous Woman in the World, Alice retired several years back and started up a legitimate life, running a gem procurement business in Brooklyn. For the sake of her mother, she is called back into the lime light by the heroes of the world to do the jobs they can’t or won’t.

    You can find two full length Gailsone novels, Big in Japan and Red Rook, as well as (currently) ten novellas, over at my website, as well as on Amazon. The novels are priced to be extremely affordable, and I have some free samples available at my personal site.

    “Glanders obviously has a great grasp of world-building in a comic-book style setting, peoples the story with some of the smartest, most badass female characters imaginable, and uses sharp, funny dialogue to establish character and setting while still taking the story just seriously enough.”

    -Excerpt of a Goodreads review from the wonderful Stephen T. Brophy, author of The Villain’s Sidekick

  144. A Stitch in Space is a novel about a priest in space written by a fan of G.K. Chesterton (me). Another way of looking at it is that it’s about a small group of people on a 6 month journey to a colony on a newly settled planet who get attacked by space pirates along the way.

    Ordinary Superheroes is a humor/adventure novel I wrote about some, well, ordinary superheroes. Though they’re not entirely ordinary by the end of it. :)

  145. Hi, everyone:

    Revenge of the Lushites is the second book in the War of the Lushites series. The third book will appear ion 2105. These books are outrageous, wild rides satire about the dangers of addiction set in the far future where fast food, smoking, and video games control the galaxy.

    In the year 4444 and a 1/4 the Lushites have returned. Piper Cleaner, First Assistant to the Assistant Surveillance Officer discovers a Lushite intergalactic vessel heading their way. Alarm bells ring throughout the galaxy! Have the Lushites returned to seek revenge?

    “The first time I read Attack of the Lushites, I was shaking my head by page two and laughing out loud by page five. One of the wildest, craziest, and most entertaining novels I have had the pleasure to read.” — Dean Wesley Smith, USA Today bestselling author

    You’ll find links to purchase the book in ebook or trade paperback at http://www.53rdstreetpublishing.com/books/revenge-of-the-lushites/ or you can order it at your favourite bookstore.

    It is also avalible from Barnes and Noble at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/revenge-of-the-lushites-russ-crossley/1116762461?ean=2940150502994

  146. Kelly’s music magic always seemed useless, what with her being tone deaf and all.

    But now she finds her “broken” magic allows her to hear the voices of the people trapped in the wild magic that covers the American South, voices no one else can understand. Voices that lead her to think she might be able to save them–to save everyone, including most of her family.

    Except the secret of the magic is guarded by monsters, and even if she gets through them, one wrong move will leave her–and those with her–twisted by magic into monsters themselves.

    Trying to save everyone may just cost her everything she has left.

    Into the Tides is a contemporary fantasy, great for readers of urban fantasy, with touches of video game geekiness and romance. Perfect for the geek girl or guy in your life!

  147. Thanks very much! Two books, if I may:

    Act As If: Stumbling Through Hollywood with Headshot in Hand (nonfiction):
    Being a non-famous working actor in Hollywood isn’t easy, but it can be a good life if you bring your attitude. Based on Burchard’s popular column at Nowcasting.com, the essays in “Act As If: Stumbling Through Hollywood with Headshot in Hand” take a (mostly) humorous look at the life and lessons of a journeyman actor in Hollywood——”journeyman,” as in “not a star.”

    Camelot & Vine (fiction):
    Lying is second nature to Casey Clemens, whether she’s talking to strangers on national TV or to her mother on the phone. When Casey feels unhappy she fantasizes: about winning an Oscar, about finding real love or about her childhood hero, King Arthur. It feels like an acting career, sort of, until the day before her 40th birthday when she loses everything she never cared about, falls through a gap in time and lands in the 6th century war camp of the real King Arthur. Mistaking her for a wizard, he takes her in. But as her feelings warm to him she finds new enemies. War is fast approaching, and the Dark Ages are a perilous time for an actress with an honesty problem. That is, if she wants to make it back to the 21st century alive. Not that she could if she wanted to. Not that she wants to.

    This link will take you to both books:
    http://www.amazon.com/Petrea-Burchard/e/B00BA6U2NI/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

  148. You are invited to Tales of the Fantastic, a five story collection of the finest fantasy of international selling author, Rita Schulz. In the collection you will find stories of a tormented werewolf, sibling ghosts, fairies who need to help, and partying aliens. So join us on a journey to wonder and amazement you won’t want to miss.

    “A unique voice you won’t be able to put down.” Russ Crossley, Author of The Last Serial Killer

    The link will provide you with buy buttons to purchase the book in ebook and trade paperback formats. It can also be ordered form your favourite book store.http://www.53rdstreetpublishing.com/books/tales-of-the-fantastic/

    It is also available from Barnes and Noble at:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tales-of-the-fantastic-rita-schulz/1118970925?ean=9781927621295

  149. My erotic short stories appear in Hustler Fantasies, Forum, Foreplay, and Desire Presents, as well as electronic, audio, and print anthologies.A FemDom, I own the man I adore. Although dominant in the rest of his life, he demonstrates his love by serving as my submissive.

    I write about finding love in BDSM relationships from the experience of one enjoying that for more than a decade.

    In honor of Scalzi’s Holiday Shopping Guide, I have extended my year-end book sale one day to midnight PST tonight. (December 2, 2014). You can get up to 45 percent off on my short story collections, novels, and poetry book. I’ll sign them and ship them to you for Solstice/Yule/Christmas/Kwanza/Festivus/mid-Chanukah giving.

    Choose from 13 short story collections, five novels, and one book of poetry with varying levels of heat, romance, and kink at up to 45 percent off. Plus, for the collector, I’m offering reduced prices on First Editions (quantities limited).

    Each short story collection has two editions. The special collector’s editions include the color covers for each individual short story. (If you need help figuring out which short story collections might be most appreciated, you can search for stories by category at http://www.eroticawriter.net/shortstories.php?searchbycategory=true Just make sure the “Include Collections” box is checked.) You can even get a copy of Leather Home before its release in January.

    Check out all the Book Bargains at http://www.eroticawriter.net/shoppingcart.php while they last.

    I.G. Frederick
    Erotic Fiction and Poetry

    http://www.eroticawriter.net

  150. You Can’t Kill the Multiverse (But You Can Mess With Its Head), the follow-up to my first novel, Welcome to the Multiverse (Sorry for the Inconvenience), expands on the ideas and cast of characters in the first novel. Different sets of Transdimensional Authority investigators go to different universes to investigate what appear to be separate incidences of unauthorized use of transdimensional technologies. But…could they all be connected somehow? (Yes. Yes, they could. We wouldn’t want to leave you in suspense…) This novel also features a special guest appearance by a well known Michael Moorcock character!

    You Can’t Kill the Multiverse (But You Can Mess With Its Head) is available at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/You-Cant-Kill-Multiverse-Transdimensional-ebook/dp/B00HSCHII0/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417546611&sr=1-3.

    Since I have your attention, I should mention that my publisher, Elsewhen Press, is putting out a lot of really interesting speculative fiction. They are a small British publishing house, but they have big ambitions; their offerings already include a wide variety of science fiction and fantasy titles. If you have a little time, you should look through Elsewhen Press’ catalogue, online a: http://elsewhen.co.uk/.

  151. My recently published novel, Uncle Sol’s Women, received an excellent review from Kirkus. They described it as “a sprawling novel about family, faith and fortune that offers a fresh look at the lives of American Jews in the middle of the last century.” The review goes on to compare Uncle Sol’s Women to the novels of Galsworthy, Roth and Potok.

    The novel opens and closes in Vilnius, but most of the action — a story of the love of the hero for either of two role models and of his love for an inappropriate but beautiful young woman — takes place in Cambridge, Chicago and the coast of Maine. Back to Kirkus: “There’s an intimacy and tenderness in his treatment of his characters…”. I think you’ll enjoy it.

    It’s available through amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Sols-Women-Simeon-Maslin/dp/1495325369/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417547417&sr=8-1&keywords=uncle+sol%27s+women

  152. Hi there, I’m Andrew Stewart and I’d like to suggest you check out my book,Christopher Prometheus: Book Hunter, my homage to pulp action adventure stories and books in general, here’s the THRILLING blurb I wrote about it:

    The world is Broken. Humanity is endangered, beset on all sides by mutants, marauders and monsters. Their only safe place left in the ruins of the old world is Central–an enormous metropolis at the center of a vast desert ruled over by the Council, an organization of the best and brightest men and women of Central. They keep the people of Central safe. Safe from fear, safe from danger…safe from knowledge.

    Enter Christopher Prometheus, a man who refuses the Council’s blissful ignorance. Setting out into the Broken world with his bizarre weapon and a cat named Cat, Christopher Prometheus will challenge man and monster alike–brave dangerous ruins and terrifying depths all to obtain the most rare and precious thing in the Broken world: books. Abandoned by the people of Before, burned and destroyed by the Council’s agents, only Christopher Prometheus can save the fading spark of knowledge and beauty that these precious relics hold.

    Pursued by tenacious bounty hunters, lunatic surgeons, and murderous Council agents, Christopher and Cat build their forbidden library one adventure at a time. Perhaps with bravery, persistence, and more than a little luck they can snatch their paper prizes from the jaws of doom and make it back home in time for a relaxing read…and a fresh can of Tuna.

    You can check out Christopher Prometheus: Book Hunter here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JI7SSFA and if you have Amazon Prime it’s totally free!

  153. Once Upon a Rhyme (Vol. 1 of the Charming Tales) and Happily Never After (Vol. 2 of the Charming Tales):

    Once Upon a Rhyme
    Publication Date: August 26, 2014
    The dragon is dead. The princess has been saved. There is but one problem: Prince Charming had nothing to do with it.

    In order to save his royal reputation, Prince Charming must begrudgingly enlist the help of accidental hero William Pickett. The two set out on an adventure that has them fighting trolls, outwitting a scoundrel, and drinking the foulest ale ever, collecting bruises to both body and pride along the way. Meanwhile, the rescued princess, Gwendolyn, turns out to be one dangerously distressed damsel, and an evil presence takes over Castle White in Charming’s absence …

    Enter this rollicking world and discover just what happens when a fairytale leaves the well-trodden path of “once upon a time.”

    Happily Never After
    Publication Date: November 25, 2014
    Once upon, once again …

    The dragon has been slain, but the problems have just begun for Prince Charming.

    Disowned by his father, the King, and abandoned by his only friend, William Pickett, Charming must find a new path in life—but he’s going to need a lot of help. His love, Liz, barely survived an assassination attempt; his former fling, Rapunzel, is in danger; and William is under an evil spell cast by Princess Gwendolyn.

    The fate of Castle White hangs in the balance as Charming tries to find himself, while finding new allies along the way—including an odd number of dwarfs (or is it dwarves?) and a reformed beast. But he’s running out of time to stop royally ruinous wedding bells from ringing …

  154. I’ve discounted both of my books to $.99 for this. As a first time writer, I’m just trying to get as many comments as possible to be able to improve.

    The Big Bond Theory: A Semi-Definite Look at 007’s Origin as a Time Lord

    How can James Bond have lasted over 50 years of movies, with changing faces that never seem to age? There have been three theories throughout the ages:

    1. That James Bond is a code name given to MI6’s best agent
    2. That James Bond is a Time Lord, like the Doctor from Doctor Who
    3. That they are just movies and the author of this book should get a life.

    (Understandably, the book spends the least amount of time on that last one.)

    This is a must for any Bond fan or Whovian looking to see if there might not be one more Time Lord who survive who protects Britain and humanity.

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IBO7H26/

    Game Theory in Popular Culture:

    There are entire books written on solitary game theory problems, but these can be daunting for those who don’t want to confront heavy math. That’s a pity, because game theory is a useful tool for understanding why people do things and how to get what you want. Whether in negotiating your salary, buying a house or car, winning your fantasy football league, or understanding the news, game theory can help understand the motivations of people in your lives and how you can get to the best solutions for yourself and the people you care about.

    This book takes a different approach. There will be no equations and no math. Instead, we’ll look at classic game theory conundrums through the lens of popular culture. You might be surprised at how much game theory you already know from watching Batman, James Bond, WarGames, and even the occasional romantic comedy.

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IWQH13S

  155. Philosophy and Fairy Tales (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/philosophy-and-fairy-tales-fraser-sherman/1116227305?ean=2940044662780) collects four of my published short stories, all from now defunct magazines. Jack tries to avoid climbing the beanstalk so he can open a small business. Red Riding Hood learns this is not the wolf she was looking for. A Templar tries to host a conference of all the world’s conspiracies. And a science teacher tries to get her class curious about why maggots spontaneously generate from rotting meat.

  156. First off, my thanks to our gracious host for allowing us this opportunity.

    And now, if I might have your virtual ear, I beg indulgence to promote my debut novel, Perilous Land. Available for Kindle and Nook, it’s set in a world built on the literal magic of the written word and tells the tale of one Lida Azhad, a woman whose life has long been anyone’s but her own. Desperate to free a brother long imprisoned, she once sought a queen’s ransom in plunder as an infamous privateer, but no amount of ill-gotten treasure proved enough. So Lida bowed her head to serve the empire whose soldiers led beloved Inguran off in chains, lending her skill to the ambitions of their fledgling navy. Now but one captain among many, Azhad will need every wit that made her a pirate legend as she and her crew confront bedeviling rivals and terrors from out her own people’s distant past.

    In search of suitable shorthand, one might call this story a “flintlock fantasy” – though in truth, those particular weapons cannot be found within. Still, Perilous Land is inspired by the swashbuckling adventure of Dumas and Sabatini, with perhaps a nod to Leiji Matsumoto, as well. There are duels and derring-do, ill-starred romances and impossible ships, all bound up together in what the Midwest Book Review called, “a rollicking, world-changing read.”

    If that sounds like your cup of tea, I invite you to check out the links above. Take a look at the previews available, and see if you’d like to dive into this, the first of what will be three novels following the adventures of Lida and those who cross her path. If not? I thank you for your time all the same.

  157. Thanks for the opportunity, John. I had three books released in 2014, all three in e-format only.
    ALMOST ADEPT is a traditional fantasy. Young sorceress Eriale embarks on a quest to prove her Adept potential. Of course, she encounters an evil mage she must fight. And a noble courier she must help. And a misguided parrot she must teach the correct vocabulary.
    EAGLE EN GARDE is a traditional fantasy. For Darin, a mercenary officer with the Eagles, a contract with a client is paramount. When he discovers a fanatical religious sect threatening innocent people, he has to choose between a contract and his conscience.
    SQUIRREL OF MAGIC is humorous urban fantasy, a collection of short stories united by the same protagonists: young witch Darya and her familiar, squirrel Beatrice. Together, they help friends in trouble and make mincemeat of bad guys.

  158. Young Adult Space Opera!

    “A bright, original voice in young adult fiction.” – Walter Jon Williams, Nebula winning author of Hardwired and This is Not a Game.

    On the frontier moon of Travbon, sixteen-year old Eleanor Weber stumbles into a decades-old government conspiracy and is forced to run to survive. Guardsman Adam Cole is sent to retrieve her, but the strangeness of his orders impels him to investigate further. Adam and Eleanor must join forces and race to expose a secret hidden for two generations and prevent impending genocide.

    http://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Stone-Corie-J-Weaver/dp/1940924022/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

  159. I have Crucible, an ebook-only fantasy novel, which is… perhaps not a light read.

    When Dareus Kymus traveled to the Empire to seek a bride for his brother, he didn’t plan on getting captured by pirates. Now his luggage is reduced to the clothes on his back and a few hidden alchemies, his traveling companions are an Imperial Wind-priest and a foreign “Bride of the Gods,” and the itinerary includes a cross-country trek through ancient, poisoned battlegrounds — all while staying ahead of the slavers who want to recapture them.

    Dar thought he’d been in scrapes as a lad, but the blightlands of the Empire are a crucible beyond his imagining. It will take all his luck, skill, and the talents of his companions to have a prayer of returning home . . .

    It is technically book 2 in a series, but it is my fond hope that it could be read alone. (There is a glossary at the back for unfamiliar terms — which includes some easter eggs of world-building.) Of course, book 1 is still available.

    Crucible was published in October. It contains Mature Scenes (not just that, gutter-minded people; there’s only really one and a half scenes of that) and Situations. It is available at all the Amazons, Smashwords.com, and everywhere Smashwords distributes to.

    (I also still have Queen of Roses, which is Science Fiction, basically general audience friendly, and entirely a standalone. It also got a positive review in Analog this September –“one of the most quietly hilarious books I’ve read in a long while”! Available at Amazon (including the non-US ones), Smashwords.com, and everyone Smashwords distributes to.)

    Thank you for the opportunity to hawk my stuff! Now, to go read everyone else’s… ;)

  161. My most recent book is Best Online Christian Schools. It is a look at K-12 online schools that include a Christian component. In addition to school entries, it includes information on how to be a good online student, frequently asked questions, and more.

    You can find it here: Best Online Christian Schools via the publisher or here from Amazon: Best Online Christian Schools.

    I also have a second book, “Free Online High Schools,” that will be out next week in both print and eBook format (just in time for the holidays).

  162. Given that I’m about 1,100 comments in, I’m guessing that you have to REALLY want something good to read at this point. Poor soul.

    Check out the Omnibus edition of my scifi series, “Citadel.”

    CITADEL: OMNIBUS
    http://amzn.to/SaobZZ

    The Collected Citadel Trilogy, bound together for the first time ever!

    On the eve of Earth’s first successful jaunt to the stars a powerful organization called Earth First commits a horrible act of terrorism, setting the program back by decades. A single figure—the Destroyer of Worlds—now stands among the most villainous men in history.

    A century later, humanity is recovering from a 50-year war with the Esool—a plant-like race that has its own version of the lightrail. Territorial battles raged after miscommunications and fear took their toll, leaving both sides compromised and weakened, with no choice but to come to peace.

    Onboard the Citadel colony vessel, humanity and Esool are embarking on their first journey of peaceful joint colonization, when history tragically repeats itself. An Earth First saboteur has put the vessel on a crash course with the wrong world, and the results of this errant journey could cost humanity all it has gained.

    A group of castaways on a world far from home are all that stand between humanity, the Esool, and the end of faster-than-light travel. And, as the Destroyer of Worlds reawakens in the Universe, all hope may be lost.

    —

    Contemporary Fantasy more your speed? Try my Sawyer Jackson series:

    Sawyer Jackson and the Long Land
    http://amzn.to/1zeWyl3

    Some kids are just born in a tangle.

    At sixteen years old, Sawyer Jackson hasn’t seen much beyond his grandparents’ remote home, until one day he‘s transported to the Long Land — a strange world where everything he knows is turned upside down, and everyone he loves is suddenly in a lot of trouble.

    Sawyer discovers that he’s a Teth — an ancient bloodline that can see and manipulate the knotwork that weaves all of reality together.

    Now he’s on the run from an enraged god, fighting vicious monsters and overcoming impossible challenges, and struggling every minute just to survive.

    Sawyer could be the hero that saves everyone and everything in existence.

    But who’s going to save him?

  164. Thank you, John, for the opportunity to post here!

    Hi, I’m Alycia Christine and I write speculative fiction. My first book MUSINGS just debuted this year. Here is the description:

    “My train of thought derailed somewhere in the wilderness of my daydreams and MUSINGS is the result. With short stories gathered from every corner of my imagination, I hope this fantasy and science fiction collection proves uniquely entertaining and thought-provoking.” –Alycia Christine

    The anthology includes my popular short stories “Sumari’s Solitude” and “Raven’s Fall” as well as several other previously-unpublished tales.

    It is available as:
    -An eBook for $3.99
    -A print book for $13.99

    Read more about it and my other writing (including several free short stories) at alyciachristine.com. Thanks for your interest!

  165. John, thank you for giving us this chance to share our work! Very cool of you!

    I launched a new contemporary fantasy adventure series earlier this year, Monkey Queen. The premise: Beth McGill, English student and geek girl, discovers that some things around her aren’t what they seem when a street punk who tries to kidnap her turns out to be a magically-disguised ogre. She is then rescued by Michiko, the Monkey Queen, teen hero and cheerful jokester, and they end up working together to save a mutual friend from a sinister plot. Filled with lots of humor, intriguing characters and guinea pigs, the Monkey Queen books are fun reading for the holidays!

    You can sample and buy the first book, Of Introductions And Abductions, at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NAKJUG2 And we have lots more, including two exclusive short stories and a look at the second book, The Brigadoon Boondoggle, at the Monkey Queen Books blog! http://monkeyqueenbooks.blogspot.com

  166. Sometimes Colin Pierce’s dreams come true–unfortunately they aren’t always happy dreams.

    Several years after a horrible nightmare claimed his wife and youngest daughter, he finds himself pulled into the mysterious world of dreams again. This time the Wall of Sleep–the line separating the Dreamside from the waking world–is under attack by a malevolent entity known only as the Torment. If this monster breaks down the Wall, what will keep all our nightmares from invading our lives?

    It’s up to Colin, accompanied by his surviving daughter and their strange and mysterious neighbor, to rescue the Wall of Sleep and save both worlds.

    And maybe, just maybe, along the way he can save himself…

    Waking Dreams: The Torment of Colin Pierce by JD Kaplan

  167. Amos O’Neal and his family joined the wagon train with dreams of a new life in Oregon. But those plans changed when the Krukians’ flying saucer descended from the sky. The aliens offered to trade incredible machines for the settlers’ mundane possessions, and although Amos didn’t trust the Krukians, the other members of the wagon train voted to stay.

    An Indian tribe camped nearby and the alien gadget maker Wizguzit quickly charmed settler and Indian alike with his enthusiastic smile and amazing machines.

    However, a year later the town has a mysterious lack of visitors, Wizguzit’s machines have begun malfunctioning with disastrous results, and outlaws enter town, intent on using Krukian technology to achieve their own, sinister ends.

    Miscalculation is a tale of unlikely friends and contrasting cultures. Featuring uniquely endearing characters and insightful humor, Miscalculation is a story you will never forget.

    Available on Kindle:
    http://www.amazon.com/Miscalculation-Tale-Area-Ian-Stone-ebook/dp/B00N86L24G/
    as well as Paperback, iBooks, and Smashwords.

  168. THE BRIDE WORE DEAD, A Josie Tucker Mystery

    What good is a food critic who can’t eat? Follow Josie Tucker on her first un-cozy, un-culinary adventure as she tries to find out who killed a beautiful bride on her honeymoon.

    Full of snarky good fun, thrills, and Arizona flavor.

    Grab this first mystery in the series because the next is coming out in January.

  169. Hello all, if you’re looking for fantasy or baseball gifts, you’re in luck with me!

    The Legend of League Park is the story of two young women who love baseball, but run up against the old boys club of the sporting world. Gioia Rinaldi is the star pitcher of Tusky Valley’s Girl’s Softball Team, but she wants more. She wants to play professional baseball, but everyone around her says it’s impossible for a girl. When her brother is recruited to the majors, she wonders why he can have her dream and she cannot.

    Audrey Dawson has been thrown for a loop as she learns that now her beloved father is sick with ALS. The only constant thing in her world is baseball. In order to keep sports in her life, she decides to become a journalist covering baseball for her college newspaper, but it’s not as easy as she would like.

    Soon, the girls find themselves fighting for their dreams and a little help from old stadium ghosts certainly won’t hurt matters any.

    Season of the Witch is a series of short fantasy novelettes (and they’re all free! – though if you like them I strongly encourage checking out patreon) about two warring factions of magical beings based around mythology and folklore with a twist.

  170. Oh, I can do all of those prior comments one better! For http://storybundle.com/holiday, I curated a bundle of NINE Holiday Fantasy books, original novels and anthologies by Kevin J. Anderson. Jody Lynn Nye, Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Carole Nelson Douglas, Mark Teppo, David Sakmyster, and more. All indie published—a Santa’s bag stuffed full of cool fiction, and you name your own price, as little as $5 for the basic bundle or $12 for the whole pack. It only runs for another couple of weeks.

  171. What to get for that person in your live who loves books, but doesn’t have time to read them all?

    How about a book on staying awake so you have more time to read??

    …Nope, this isn’t the part where I say “Haha, just kidding!” My name is Puredoxyk (or Marie, if you’re nasty), and I’ve been a polyphasic sleeper for about seven years, and a few of them ago, I wrote a book on it. (I’ve been sleeping 4 or less hours per day, in carefully-regulated small chunks, for most of that time, and I use a nontrivial amount of that time to read books recommended here — Thanks, John!)

    My book, Ubersleep: Nap-Based Sleep Schedules and the Polyphasic Lifestyle, is currently in its second edition (both editions are self-published), and sporting an amazing inside-and-out redesign by local artists I love, plus almost 100 pages of new content. It’s available in softcover, Kindle and .epub formats, all of which you can find at http://www.ubersleepbook.com.

    Enjoy every second of your holidays, everyone! :D

  172. Who doesn’t love a good, meaty, thinky bit of a short story? Halliburton mercenaries, that’s who. So if you’re not a merc, you can ebook yourself to glee for a buck ninety nine, or totally stick it to a tree and go paperback for a few bucks more.

    HISTORICAL INACCURACIES is the collection. One of the stories features British Devil Babies, which makes me think of Damien, which makes me think of Dick Cheney, which totally brings me back to Halliburton. Funny that.

    http://t.co/MBMfsRoj2C

  173. In the mood for a diverse and dark book? I think I’ve got your solution right here!

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q7BNXF0

    Memories of another life and lover guide her, but are they even hers? She is a Bearer—keeper of past lifetimes and gifted with strange talents. Ember must find her answers away from safe Longquan Village, snared instead in the sensuality and dangers of The City. Hidden among spider farmers and slaves, prostitutes and weavers, a nest of people like her are waiting.

    A powerful man outside The City raises his forces, determined to hunt down the ‘demons’ who could taint his followers. Threatened from without and within, can the Bearers even trust each other?

    Powers will rise and alliances will be forged in a dark new world. The Memory Bearers are coming.

    This book includes violent and mature content. Reader discretion is advised.

  174. THE PRISONER AND THE ASSASSIN

    In the future, America is divided. It’s been two decades since Washington D.C. was destroyed and the West Coast devastated by EMPs and The Federal Council rules the country. Only the Free Territories, carved out in the bloody aftermath of two revolts against the Council defy them.

    When a shocking assassination threatens the uneasy peace, the Prime Minister of the Free Territories, Chelsea Andrews is faced with a choice: fight to save the peace or take a chance to make America free once more. As both sides race to prevent a war that no one wants, a shadowy enemy from her past waits for his chance at revenge and the secret he holds could be the most powerful one of all:

    Who is Prisoner 112?

    The answer to that question may decide the fate of America, once and for all…

    Available here: http://www.amazon.com/Prisoner-Assassin-Tom-Nixon-ebook/dp/B00GXDKCP6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417556510&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Prisoner+and+The+Assassin

    Happy Holidays everyone!

  175. “This test completes your compulsory education. Congratulations! You have graduated high school. Your financial obligation is 67,879 credits. Please visit our loan officer as you exit.”

    Poor Man’s Fight and its sequel, Rich Man’s War are rocking, emotional military sci-fi tales of power grabs, student debt and space pirates — lots of space pirates! Tanner Malone’s bright future gets derailed by a profit-hungry educational complex, and his home planet’s navy offers the only escape from a lifetime of debt. Yet the navy isn’t all that hospitable to cerebral young recruits, and Tanner is just one more small cog in a growing war machine lurching toward catastrophe.

    Poor Man’s Fight and Rich Man’s War have both hit #1 on Amazon’s military sci-fi list, with hundreds of enthusiastic five-star reviews! Available as e-book and (gorgeous) paperbacks!

    You’re familiar with cocky pilots and tough-as-nails captains. Spend some time with the guy at the very bottom of the ladder. It’s one hell of a ride!

    http://www.amazon.com/Poor-Mans-Fight-Elliott-Kay-ebook/dp/B00B3WZ4VY
    http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Mans-War-Elliott-Kay-ebook/dp/B00M0W6ZCS

  176. https://p.gr-assets.com/540×540/fit/hostedimages/1397817287/9331977.jpg

    Dawn of Steam: First Light.

    In this alternate-history/ emergent Steampunk epistolary novel, the airship Dame Fortuna and its crew of gentlemen, ladies, and less respectable folk, led by a literal knight in steam-powered armor, has been commissioned to prove the impossible. On their post-Napoleonic-War expedition for vast uncharted wonders, they weren’t expecting natural disasters, outright sabotage, or another war.

    Also available on smashwords and — smashwords insists — going to appear in the Nook store, Google Play, and Kobo any minute now.

    Dawn of Steam: Gods of the Sun.

    In 1816, Gregory Conan Watts’s chronicle of the adventures begun in Dawn of Steam: First Light continues – as does the Year Without a Summer. The crew of the airship Dame Fortuna travel to four continents and are embroiled in combat on three of them: conflict with New Spain in Britain’s American colonies, an ambush in Machu Picchu, and entanglement in the Maori Potato Wars in New Zealand. As they progress through darkened skies, Gregory gradually discovers that nothing at all was as he thought it was. All his assumptions are cast into doubt: what their orders are, which tales of foreign lands are true, and what parts of the social order as he knows it really are natural. Also in doubt is whether they will all survive the experience.
    Dawn of Steam: Gods of the Sun is an alternate-history, early-era Steampunk epistolary novel.

  177. Thanks for letting us do this, John!

    Flirty, dirty escapism. Contemporary erotica with some BDSM. 18+ recommended.

    Book 1: Rekindled —

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    Four years ago, Alyssa Greenbriar had a fling with Aidan Winters on the eve of his departure for southeast Asia. When a chance meeting brings them back into each other’s lives and beds, Alyssa will remember exactly why their night has stuck with her for so long — and why she wants this man tied up for her — and only for her.

    Book 2: Rebound —

    Some content was stripped by our security filters, but it should be possible for one of your Editors to embed the content for you.

    Samantha Matthews and Vic Matheson have more in common than just similar surnames. Sam’s had her eye on Vic for a year, and even though Vic’s been off the market, he’s had his eye on her too. When Vic’s girlfriend dumps him and leaves him single again, Sam’s more than happy to be his rebound girl…

    …but she doesn’t expect that doing so might also bind her in other ways.

  178. I have two short stories available in ebook form: A Sword Called Rhonda, and The Duchess’s Dress. Both are available through all the usual places (Amazon, iBooks, Nook, Kobo). Use coupon code HOLIDAY2014 on my site for 50% off through Boxing Day (12/26) for direct purchases.

    http://deirdre.net

  179. THE UNBOUND MAN is a fantasy novel set in a land of merchant companies, printing presses, gunpowder and sorcery.

    It’s about a former linguist turned poor-quarter scribe who learns that his wife’s murderer, long thought dead, may in fact be alive. It’s about a trade factor who’s engaged in a private vendetta, and who returns home from an assignment to find herself promoted to the unlikely position of adjunct to the merchant house spymaster. It’s about a sorcerer who, haunted by the unwelcome attention of a being he believes to be a god, commences a secret undertaking in defiance of his colleagues and at risk of his own life. And it’s about a lost chamber that’s been sealed for millennia, where an ancient empire’s legacy lies dormant, awaiting the words that will rouse it from slumber — and change the world.

    “Satisfying yet surprising, THE UNBOUND MAN is quality comfort food for fantasy fans.” — Hugo and Nebula finalist Saladin Ahmed

    Available in hardcover, paperback, and as an ebook: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NBJCTI8/

  181. STORM JUSTICE

    Reviews: “If you like books like “Kiss the Girls” by James Patterson, getting into the minds and motive of out-of-the-box serial killers, you will most definitely enjoy “Storm Justice” by Pamela Cowan.” ~Roslyn McFarland, See No Sea

    “Cowan delivers one of the most complex lead characters I’ve read in years.” ~Andy Bunch,
    Suffering Rancor

    Description: In this suspense thriller Probation Officer Storm McKenzie seeks justice for those who justice has failed. Vigilante or serial killer? You decide.

    Find Storm Justice and more at: http://www.pambainbridgecowan.com/

  182. Thank you John for this great guide!

    Ready for a fantasy series with no vampires and more beer? The Rucksack Universe combines travel, wit, intrigue, alternate history, globetrotting vagabonds, and the world’s greatest fermented beverage.

    3 titles are currently available in trade paperback and e-book formats from all major online and physical retailers.

    FOREVER THE ROAD
    (just released in September!)

    http://www.anthonystclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/thumb-cover-ForeverTheRoad-AnthonyStClair-250.jpg

    When an evil as old as the world awakens, only three wanderers in India can prevent the annihilation of all life. Details & bookstores »

    HOME SWEET ROAD

    http://www.anthonystclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/12222651663_ffc2b79f18_n_d.jpg

    The world’s fate hangs on one untested woman. Details & bookstores »

    THE MARTINI OF DESTINY

    http://i0.wp.com/www.anthonystclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/thumb-cover-The-Martini-of-Destiny-Anthony-StClair-250.jpg

    Influencing a man’s fate should have been another day behind the bar. Details & bookstores »

    A special signed paperback bundle of all 3 books is also available, only direct from the author. Go to Anthony’s online store »

    Happy Holidays! May every book you read be amazing.

  183. Ten tales of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and espionage can be had for the price of three (e-book) or the price of nine (print) if you purchase Matthew W. Quinn’s short-story collection FLASHING STEEL, FLASHING FIRE.

    http://www.amazon.com/Flashing-Steel-Fire-Tales-Imagination/dp/1499788312/ref=asap_B00A8ZZZZW_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417561140&sr=1-4

    FSFF contains “Coil Gun,” the lead story and inspiration for the cover art of the collection PRESSURE SUITE: DIGITAL SCIENCE FICTION #3, as well as the Viking horror tale “Nicor” that first appeared in HEROIC FANTASY QUARTERLY. Three stories–“Lord Giovanni’s Daughter,” “Lord of the Dolorous Tower,” and “Westernmost Throne”–are exclusive to the collection. Paul Leone, author of the VATICAN VAMPIRE HUNTERS series, has praised “LGD” as “a fun blend of Robert E. Howard’s sword-and-sorcery and Renaissance fantasy in the vein of John Whitbourn’s novel POPES AND PHANTOMS.”

    So if you want a buffet of mayhem, imagination, and plot twists, check out FSFF today!

  184. I wrote a horror novel inspired by my own battle with depression. If you’d like to read about a person doing his best to not be involved in the supernatural apocalypse going on around him, can we start a support group?

    Anyway. My book is called Dave Woke Up: Dave is a regular guy working in a job he doesn’t hate, but maybe hates him. His life is the typical crap sandwich of depression and other people that makes up the normal waking world. Until the day he sees something that no one else can see. Thinking he is a regular form of crazy Dave seeks the help of our nation’s medical system while his condition deepens from hallucinations to apparitions. Then someone dies. Then a lot of someones die. Can Dave get out of bed long enough to do anything about the hate death of the universe?

    Buy it on Amazon in Kindle and paperback or just buy direct from me in just about any version you can think of at thegigpodcast.com and I’ll even sign it for you.

  185. Made in DNA is a sexploitation science fiction short story and novella author. Set on gritty, far-flung extrasolar planets, where racy, hardcore sex with aliens, cyborgs, robots and similar agents is as central to its nature as the technology, DNA’S work is described as “sexpunk” and “sex-fi”. It is an unadulterated, unapologetic and self-indulgent fare reminiscent of work by Masamune Shirow, or featured in Heavy Metal magazine, Epic Illustrated, and 2000AD.

    Kindle: http://amzn.to/madeindna
    Smashwords: http://bit.ly/madeindna2

    #scifi #cyberpunk #sexpunk #sexfi #sexploitation

  186. My literary suspense novel, WHAT CAME BEFORE was first serialized online at Every Day Novels, in seventy 1000-WORD chapters, but is now available at Amazon.com.

    About What Came Before:

    Fed up with being tied down by twenty-five years of domestic bliss and everyone’s expectations, Abbie Palmer, struggling to find her creative self and asserting some independence from her husband, moves into the Tiki Palms. When he tells her, “You’ll be lonely. No man is an island,” she flings back, “That’s exactly what I want to be, an island. I’m sick of being a whole continent.” But breaking away isn’t so easy, what with cops, Molotov cocktails and Hollywood starlets, lost memories – and maybe an unknown half-sister…

    Praise for the Novel:

    This novel is an unraveling narrative of red herrings and second guesses, with twists and turns of plotline that keep you turning the pages.– Literary Fiction Book Review

    Part murder mystery, part family saga,What Came Before is an exciting debut not to be missed! – Robert Swartwood, USA TODAY bestselling author of The Serial Killer’s Wife

    What Came Before is a remarkable achievement – a smart, fast-paced mystery that asks important questions about identity, family, and race. – Clifford Garstang, 2013 Library of Virginia Award for Fiction

  187. Thanks John!

    DEAD WEIGHT is series of linked near-future-non-linear-noir-dark-urban-fantasy-war-thriller novellas as a about the United States going to war against the Faerie of Irish Mythology. It’s been called Quentin Tarantino meets Apocalypse Now…on peyote.

    Check out a sample of the first installment and find purchase links on my website:

    http://www.mtoddgallowglas.com/book/dead-weight-tombs/

  188. Kelton Maverick should have died twenty-two seconds ago.

    His watch, oh so kindly supplied by the Science Facility, was meant to countdown the minutes until his untimely demise. And count down it did.

    Alone, in the woods, presumed dead, Kelton can only wonder: why isn’t he? His watch has hit zero, as has his self-esteem, and yet going back is no longer an option. If he goes back, he’ll be killed on sight, or worse, locked up in the ever-secretive Science Facility. If he goes back, his family will be held accountable for the monstrosity of his existence. If he goes back, he’ll never forgive himself.

    Five more “dead” kids, a ragtag band of rebels, and one underground war later, Kelton faces a chance to live and a chance to die- knowing why, knowing everything, and knowing the difference.

    http://www.amazon.com/Clock-Cycle-Terminal-Series-Volume/dp/1502905957/ref=tmm_pap_title_0/184-1786357-2824928

  189. A bit late in the day (and way down the list here!) but if you’re interested in YA fantasy with diverse characters, please consider my stories!

    Harper

    The rebirth of the harpies begins with one young man.

    Harper Reed’s post-high-school plans are up in the air. His promising football career has been cut short by an injury, the girlfriend he thought he might marry has dumped him after he confided to her that he also likes guys, and now, on his 18th birthday, he’s started growing feathers.

    According to the mouthy poltergeist who appears in his room, Harper’s becoming a “mythic,” one of thousands of creatures thought imaginary by most humans. Oh, and he’s also the subject of an ancient legend and might well bring on the doom of humanity. Finding a new career path has suddenly become a much lower priority.

    With the help of his ghostly guide and some new friends, including a charming mythology student, a con-artist faun, and a dragon princess, the young harpy must adapt to the changes in his body and identity while trying to discover the truth behind the dangerous curse that has given him wings.

    Thunderstone

    Young Mirya Thunderstone, like all Dwarf women, has lived her entire life inside her people’s mountain home. Frustrated by her confinement, she longs to take up her family’s legendary axe, and follow in the footsteps of her late, war-hero brother. But when an accident strands her outside the mountain, she finds there’s more to being a hero than wielding a weapon.

    Joined by a playful otterkin couple, a deadly Elf warrior, a laid-back Native hunter and an outcast orc, Mirya must use both her axe and her wits to navigate the war that claimed her brother’s life.

  190. For you WRITERS (or readers with writers in your lives)…

    FICTION MAGIC: Card Tricks & Tips for Writers.

    http://deblund.com/debs-services/fiction-magic/

    Fiction Magic card “tricks” help writers raise the stakes in their writing with phrases like “Alienate an Ally” and “Remove the Moral Compass.” The guidebook provides possible interpretations for each of the 54 cards, followed by creativity coaching “tips” to help writers apply the cards’ messages to their writing lives. It’s like having two decks in one!

    The 54 beautiful and sturdy 3.5″ x 5″ cards come in an equally beautiful and sturdy box that holds the 54-card deck and guidebook.

    Deb Lund is an author, teacher, and creativity coach with a master’s project on teaching writing. She has taught writers of all ages (and writing teachers) and frequently presents at conferences, schools, and libraries.

    “These cards are a creative way for Deb Lund to extend her gentle genius for helping fellow writers develop our own magic with fiction. I can hardly wait to get my hands on them, as both a writing teacher and a writer myself.” Christina Baldwin, author of Storycatcher

    “When I read a book on writing, it takes about 200 pages before I learn anything I can apply to my writing. I can use these cards instantly.” Carole Dagg, YA author

    “These cards are thought-provoking and inspiring. As an author and literary agent, I plan to use them myself and with my students and clients.” Andrea Hurst, Literary Agent

    “Because of Deb Lund’s wonderful workshop, I found an ‘Unspoken Truth’….Now the story is flowing!!!” Judith Gardiner, SCBWI Regional Advisor

    “Writers-I *highly* recommend you get to know author and teacher Deb Lund. She offers excellent advice on writing… I want all my authors to have [her] cards.” Jen Rofe’, Literary Agent

    “Deb Lund brought together her 20+ years of teaching experience in a magical way-with 54 surprising writing prompts, tips and tricks to apply to your work-in-progress whenever you’re feeling stuck. It’s like having a writing coach right there with you!…These “magical” cards act as triggers to pull something out of your head that you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to coax out.” Tara Lazar, author and creator of PiBoIdMo

    http://deblund.com/debs-services/fiction-magic/

  191. THE STITCHES TRILOGY
    by Courtney Pierce

    Just in time for the holidays!
    Follow the scintillating trail Jean and Spence Collins leave in their wake as they sleuth their way toward retirement . . . with a little immortal help.

    STITCHES – Book One

    When two baby boomers, Jean and Spence Collins, find a magical artifact at an estate sale, their lives will never be the same. Hidden in an old trunk is a length of ancient fabric that holds the key to immortality. When living forever is a choice, it’s time to appreciate the here and now.

    BRUSHES – Book Two

    The power of art sets the future course for Jean and Spence when they inherit an enchanted painting – and an immortal dog, When Jean says the painting called The Dancing Boy speaks to her, it really does! And this little painting is about to help the FBI bring down a Ponzi scheme.

    RIFFS – Book Three

    Jean and Spence learn that leaving a legacy isn’t easy when two elderly jazz musicians show up for the festival for the opening of Spence’s vintage record store. But it is Muddy Waters’s magical harmonica that steals the show – and gets stolen.

    Available on Amazon or at Windtree Press

    http://www.amazon.com/Courtney-Pierce/e/B00BGX6WYS

    http://windtreepress.com/pages/authors/courtney-pierce/

  192. Thanks for the opportunity to post!

    Ghosts of the Past is the first in a series about Detective Seliene Vallerand, MD, and the crew of the CNS Audacious, a Corporation Expedition Ship that investigates high-profile cases across a post-Earth Solar System.

    In 2021, Earth was destroyed by the Machine, a bio-mechanical weapon in the form of the world’s most dangerous insects. Seven billion die in less than a year. If not for the Aging Stasis, which allows humanity to temporarily suspend aging, humanity would not have survived destroying itself. Earth is now a Dead World.

    Just over 400 years later, humanity has rebuilt itself into a society where government doesn’t exist, and Companies are the new superpowers. When contact with Jupiter Station is lost suddenly, Detective Dr. Seliene Vallerand of the Corporation is sent to investigate on her husband’s ship. But when what starts as an incident turns into an act of sabotage, the stakes get higher than any case in her career. The more she uncovers, the more she begins to suspect an organized driving force behind the incident, and the sabers start to rattle in the board room.”

    http://www.fjpublishing.com/our-staff/authors/julien-mcbain/book-ghosts-of-the-past/

  193. Check out A Separate War, an alternate history dark fantasy thriller.

    When Leland was eight, he was tormented by recurring nightmare of an astronaut, face wreathed in flames. After Leland’s own efforts to learn the identity of this man failed, his father took him to the university library and identified him — and in the process discovered that Leland was having a vision from another world, where events went differently than history documented.

    After that discovery, the nightmare went away — until now. In the intervening decades Leland has himself joined the astronaut corps, and in just a few days he is to capcom the on-orbit repair of a military satellite critical to the war effort. The last thing he needs right now is a psychic assault that could affect his concentration and judgment.

    Meanwhile, Nora is a Houston police officer with a family secret — an ancient organization of holy warriors who fight monstrous eldritch entities that can cross space and time. One of which her family has been hunting for generations, and which was last seen shortly before the beginning of the first Energy Crisis. Thought to be destroyed in the deliberate deorbit of a secret military space station into the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula, this notoriously vindictive creature is active again, and it appears to be showing an interest in the US space program.

  194. Dear Mr. Scalzi: Thank you for the opportunity.

    TALES OF THE GEEK NATION.

    This collection of comedy sketches written by Richard Jensen are guaranteed to bring a smile to geeks and non geeks alike. In these sketches you’ll meet…
    -A Demon from Hell who can’t buy a soul to save his own
    -A Restaurant patron who uses modern technology to destroy a way too happy couple who are running his meal.
    -Friends who debate the effects of favorite movies on President Politics.
    -A woman who is way too found of Jar-Jar Binks.
    And many others.
    Besides being fun reading, these pieces are being made available to Internet Film makers through a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Which means you can shoot them yourself. (Under certain terms of conditions.)
    “Tales of the Geek Nation”. Fun for geeks and non-geeks alike.

    http://www.talesofthegeeknation.com/about-the-book/

  197. My Oz novel Bad Wizard is a reversal of my previous publishing career. It used to be, I’d sell print rights and keep the ebook rights. With Bad Wizard, I sold the ebook rights but put out my own print edition.

    About the book:

    In 1892, Oscar Zoroaster Diggs turned up in Topeka with a suitcase full of high quality emeralds. Instantly the richest man in Kansas, his winning smile and keen mind launched him into a meteoric political career. As Secretary of War under Teddy Roosevelt, Diggs oversees the construction of the ultimate tool for spreading democracy, a fleet of rigid airships. Dorothy Gale, a reporter for the Kansas Ear, is the one person who knows the truth about Diggs. She met him ten years prior in the Emerald City, where he ruled as the Wizard. But how can she explain to her editor that Diggs intends to use his aerial navy to invade an island in the clouds ruled by witches? Stopping Diggs is going to take more than the power of the press. She’ll need the help of old friends, and maybe a Winged Monkey, as she pursues the Wizard across the wondrous and deadly Land of Oz.

    Get your copy here! http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Wizard-James-Maxey-ebook/dp/B00NU9GIRW

    Also, it might not qualify as a “gift” since it’s free, but you can still download the indy published ebook version of my debut fantasy novel Bitterwood on Amazon, Nook, Kobo, etc.
    “Dragons rule the world, united under the powerful dragon king Albekizan. Humans have been subdued for centuries, existing only as slaves, pets, and prey. Yet one man, the mysterious Bitterwood, strikes at dragons from the shadows, fighting a long, lonely war of resistance. When Bitterwood is blamed for the death of Albekizan’s beloved son, Bodiel, the king launches a full scale campaign to rid the world of the legendary dragon-slayer—even if he must kill all of mankind to do so.”

    Since I’ve already given an Amazon link for my last book, here’s the B&N link for Bitterwood: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bitterwood-james-maxey/1101936974

  198. Thank you for the opportunity!

    A Crucible of Souls

    When Caldan’s parents are brutally slain, he is raised by monks and taught the arcane mysteries of sorcery. Vowing to discover for himself who his parents really were, and what led to their violent end, he is thrust into the unfamiliar chaos of city life. With nothing to his name but a pair of mysterious heirlooms and a handful of coins, he must prove his talent to earn an apprenticeship with a guild of sorcerers.
    But he soon learns the world outside the monastery is a darker place than he ever imagined, and his treasured sorcery has disturbing depths.
    As a shadowed evil manipulates the unwary and forbidden powers are unleashed, Caldan is plunged into an age-old conflict that brings the world to the edge of destruction.

    Winner of Best Fantasy Novel, 2013 Aurealis Awards.

    “For a debut novel this is more than a little impressive. Characters are vividly drawn, multi-layered, and in one or two cases, compelling. Hogan joins with the new wave of fantasy authors in his use of morally ambivalent characters, distinct and tight points of view, believable world building, an intelligible magic system, and some edgy, gritty content.” (D.P. Prior, author of The Nameless Dwarf)

    A Crucible of Souls: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E4KZKS4

    and as an Audible audiobook: http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/A-Crucible-of-Souls-Audiobook/B00P2W8QJI/ref=a_search_c4_1_4_srImg?qid=1417566515&sr=1-4

  199. Perfect gift for the young woman in your life: LOVING SEX: STRAIGHT TALK FOR STRAIGHT GIRLS FROM WISE WOMEN, by Caitlin Claire Diehl. A funny and frank look at the real world of male-female sexual relationships. Paperback or Kindle versions available on amazon. Search in books under Caitlin Claire Diehl. Happy holidays!

  200. DRAGON’S CALL (fantasy) by A.D. Trosper

    Embers at Galdrilene (Book1)
    “A ray of light, a stain of shadow, shall endure to breathe life and death into the future”

    The war between the Guardians and the Shadow Riders ended in total devastation. The final battle killed all the dragons and left nothing but fields of ash. A small clutch of dragon eggs was all that remained to provide hope for the future.

    Five hundred years later, the ability to use magic is a death sentence and dragons are remembered as a curse. But the unhatched dragons sing for their riders…and six lives will be changed forever.

    The elements of magic are drawn together as the dragons’ call leads them on a journey where they learn everything they’ve been taught to believe about magic and dragons is wrong.

    With the last of the dragons and the world at stake, they will risk everything to heed the call.

    But an evil from the past rises again. Shadow Dragons ride the dawn once more…

    Available in e-book, paperback, and audio

    http://www.amazon.com/Embers-Galdrilene-Dragons-Call-ebook/dp/B0080R4LPK

    BOUND BY TIME (paranormal romance) by A.D. Trosper

    It’s her destiny to break the seal and his to keep her alive…

    Isobel Moore is looking forward to spending her summer break alone while her parents are overseas. Until she returns from college to find her home isn’t quite the welcoming place it used to be. The stained glass window her parents installed is more than just a beautiful piece of history; something sinister is sealed within the colored glass.

    When Isobel meets her new neighbor, Damien DeLuca, she discovers the gorgeous and mysterious stranger has plenty of his own secrets. Including the knowledge of what’s happening in her home.

    As her world spins out of control, she unravels a past that not only tests her limits, but also everything she thought she knew. The darkness within the window yearns to be free and it will do anything to escape—including killing Isobel.

    http://www.amazon.com/Bound-Time-The-Novels-ebook/dp/B00IZ1CQGM

  202. Dangerous Stars is the story of a starship crew forced to drift through space by a broken engine. They discover more about each other and must figure out how to handle the obstacles that come across their path.

    The book is available in digital and print versions on Amazon in the US and other countries around the world.

    Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanza, and Happy Holidays.

  203. Thanks for the opportunity and happy Whatever Holiday You Want.

    I write books on geek careers over at http://www.informotron.com/

    My latest book is the second edition of my flagship work “Fan To Pro ”
    (http://www.informotron.com/book-ftp.php) – a guide to using your hobbies in your career, from skill development to networking to relocation.

    I’ve also got books on Cosplay, Fanart, as well as general career books, including my look at treating resumes as a creative writing exercise, “Epic Resume Go!” (http://www.informotron.com/book-erg.php)

  204. You’re a mensch, John. For those who haven’t heard, my latest book is the interactive puzzle novel The Maze of Games (http://www.lonesharkgames.com/maze/), which I wrote with artist Pete Venters and my development team of Tanis O’Connor, Gaby Weidling, and Elisa Teague. It’s a Victorian fantasy novel where the pages are in the wrong order, and you have to solve the puzzles to figure your way out.

    We did a Kickstarter campaign (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/loneshark/the-maze-of-games-an-interactive-puzzle-novel) which went so well that we did another one (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/loneshark/the-maze-of-games-audiobook-narrated-by-wil-wheato) for the audiobook narrated by our mutual gentlefriend, Mr. Wil Wheaton. Both are now available for sale on Penny Arcade (http://store.penny-arcade.com/products/the-maze-of-games-by-mike-selinker). There’s also an interactive electronic version on Puzzazz app for iDevices (http://www.puzzazz.com/book/maze-of-games).

    It’s gone so well that there’s even a fan wiki (http://mazeofgames.wikia.com/wiki/The_Maze_of_Games_Wiki). As far as we can tell, nobody’s solved the whole book yet. Someone will, though.

    Anyway, that’s my non-traditional book. Hope folks like!

  205. Hello all,

    In the spirit of the season, my works are in a nonprofit literary trust, the proceeds going to support self published and small press authorship. Here are my releases this year:

    ‘Diplomacy’s End: The d’enchia Incident’
    Part three of the ‘Diplomacy’ trilogy written as a lurid tell-all memoir by a team of diplomats trying to build good relations with these strange alien ‘humans’. You know you’re having a bad day when you suffer two political coups, the entire fleet is hospitalized with an imaginary illness, and you fight an interstellar war lasting all of five minutes! As the humans say, some days it doesn’t pay to get out of bed.
    http://www.the-written-wyrd.org/Diplomacy3.html

    ‘Deus Ex Machina’
    A humorous anthology of classic fantasy tropes as we’d love to see them told – just once. From redneck elves to Hollywood zombies, from moronic barbarians to a vegan vampire, here is the answer to the indignities heaped upon this much-abused genre by D & D.
    http://www.the-written-wyrd.org/machina.html

    ‘Playing God’
    Brenda came home to retire after a career as a nurse, only to find a mysterious stranger from her past waiting for her. The old man she met back in 1975 really is a time traveler! Now she must save him from himself and the top secret time project he is involved in if the human race is to be saved from destruction!
    http://www.the-written-wyrd.org/PlayingGod.html

    These and more are available in both trade paperback, PDF, ePub and Kindle. Please check out my web site for further details.

    Thank you!

  206. Just to let folks know, I’m heading to bed soon so comments that are stuck in moderation will remain so until morning. Remember not to panic, I’ll release them as soon as I’m awake. Promise!

  209. Agatha Christie plays Dungeons & Dragons. Our Heroes investigate a series of murders. Poorly.

    The Riddle Box, second book in a series of undisclosed number. For fantasy nerds, mystery buffs, and buffalo mystafants.

    spell-sword.com/buy-the-book

    Catch the sensation of purchasing a novel of questionable merit!

  210. Flames of Rebellion

    Aiden has always done his best to live under the radar. When he rescued a beautiful girl from certain death, he didn’t realize it would be the beginning of an epic quest to rid the continent of evil overlord James Etherinscot and his vile Separator government. Part fantasy, part science fiction, Flames of Rebellion follows Aiden and his newfound friend Flame as they become part of a classic story of adventure, survival, and romance.

    Check out Flames of Rebellion on Kindle, only $2.99! Stop by between December 22 and 24 and get the book FREE!
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00FRSWMWY/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1417585442&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

  211. Masks by E.M. Prazeman

    When Mark Seaton’s father disappears and his mother is murdered, he becomes a pawn in a deadly world of nobles, masked courtiers, and mysterious beings that whisper in his mind. The only way a pawn can survive is to gain position and power. The only way a pawn can be free is to become a player.
    Book one of the Lord Jester’s Legacy. The entire trilogy is available on Amazon, Smashwords, and other retailers that carry indie books.

    http://www.amazon.com/Masks-Lord-Jesters-Legacy-Book-ebook/dp/B007ABBYWK

  212. Evil at the Heart

    The Abbey of the Blessed Heart has been lost to memory, lost to the evil that came there one dark winter, sixty years ago. Now, Septimus Rovero – a Mercenary captain, has been instructed to guide and protect a young monk, Matteo, on what seems a futile and dangerous journey to discover what happened to a young woman entrusted to the Abbey so very long ago. What should be a simple task rapidly begins to unravel, and Rovero and Matteo find themselves pitted against much more than bad weather and brigands. Can Rovero’s skill at arms and notoriously bad-temper, partnered with Matteo’s optimism and determination, save them from the terrible truth of the evil that waits at the Heart?

    Some things that other readers thought about Evil at the Heart:
    “A mix of historical-feeling fantasy and horror – fast paced, deft, and entertaining.”
    “A great first novel that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat … secrets are revealed, decisions are made that will have far reaching consequences.”
    ” The story (is) fresh and interesting. The characters were well developed, with a nice blend of humor mixed with the dark theme of the story.”

  214. You will see the description of the book when you click the link below. So instead, be like Santa Claus!
    1. Make a list of everyone you know.
    2. Move children to a separate list. There are enough children’s books and I did not write one. I can make suggestions on reading material for them but you know those kids better than me.
    3. Take the remainder of your list and make two more lists, naughty and nice.
    4. Buy this book as a gift for everyone on your naughty list for two reasons. One, this is a dark novel to be shared with the bad kids, you can get some nice romance or comedy for the others. Two, your naughty list is definitely going to be longer and I want the sales.
    5. Feel the joy of the season fill you at both giving gifts and supporting an independent author.

    http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00NCV8UVK

  215. “It’s those silly dreams that keep us alive.” Freya won’t let death stand in her way. When she dies Freya knows she needs to move on, but is caught within her mother’s grief and the discovery of terminally ill Old Thomas. Beneath her Rainbow…will Freya reach her mother, wait for Old Thomas and be ready to move on?

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beneath-Rainbow-Lisa-Shambrook/dp/149270105X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417604390&sr=8-1&keywords=beneath+the+rainbow

    “Turn those dreams of escape into hope…” Meg thinks her mother is broken. Is she broken too? Meg’s life spirals out of control, and when she mirrors her Mum’s erratic behaviour, she’s terrified she’ll inherit her mother’s sins. Seeking refuge and escape, she finds solace beneath a huge, old oak. A storm descends, can Meg survive devastating losses?

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beneath-Old-Oak-Lisa-Shambrook-ebook/dp/B00ON4KDTC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417604410&sr=8-1&keywords=beneath+the+old+oak

  216. Following on from the critical success of “Ill at Ease” comes Volume 2, featuring seven original horror short stories, all of them guaranteed to give you the chills.

    A number of the stories in the collection received honourable mentions from noted horror anthologist, Ellen Datlow.

    Joining the original trio of Stephen Bacon, Mark West and Neil Williams this time are Shaun Hamilton, Robert Mammone, Val Walmsley and Sheri White.

    You will descend into an underground train station to uncover a dreadful secret and watch in horror as a paradise holiday turns sour.

    You will see a bullied boy who’s helped by local history and share the anguish of a father, losing his child in a shopping centre.

    You will take a trip with a cancer sufferer and share the pain of a couple, desperate for a child.

    You will discover that history needs to be kept somewhere.

    Seven stories, seven writers and you.

    Prepare to feel “ill at ease” all over again.

    http://www.amazon.com/ill-at-ease-Stephen-Bacon-ebook/dp/B00GQW8LE8

  217. Hello, fellow fans of Scalzi! My new novel We Could Be Villains is a chick-lit adventure with superheroes; a geek girl beach read.

    Sarah Valentine is so over seeing drama about her city’s superheroes on every newspaper and TV broadcast. Besides, she has her own problems to worry about: her career isn’t going anywhere, she doesn’t have a boyfriend (or any prospects), and most of her weekends are spent escaping into video games that are way more thrilling than anything that will ever happen to her. And worst of all, her thirtieth birthday is right around the corner.

    But everything changes the day she runs into Nate—a chance encounter with a handsome stranger that turns her quiet life upside down and throws her into the middle of a world of heroes, villains, and adventure.

    In We Could Be Villains, Sarah learns that there’s a very hazy line between the good guys and the bad guys. With the help of an unexpected journey, a motley team of professionals, and some eye-opening backstory about the heroes she’s grown up watching, Sarah just might find the job, romance, and excitement she’s been waiting for.

  218. Thanks for giving us this opportunity again this year!

    For readers who love fantasy: my two novels are great reading for older teens or adults! Set in a land where Collared Lords have unquestioned power, Color Mage follows Callo and Kirian as they travel to an enemy land, searching for the roots of Callo’s dangerous magic. In the sequel, Sword of Jashan, Callo defends the young heir to the throne from an assassin, meanwhile struggling to keep his magic from spiraling out of control and endangering all around him. Goodreads reviewers have said: “A fascinating world” and “entranced from beginning to end”.

    Available in paperback or ebook on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Color-Mage-Anne-Marie-Lutz/dp/0985081783
    or Barnesandnoble.com at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/color-mage-anne-marie-lutz/1112801205?ean=9780985081782.

  219. Have a young reader on your list – or like to read as a family? “Mystery Rock” is the first of the Scouting Out Adventure tourism fiction books. This family friendly adventure begins at the Gulf Coast of Alabama and follows the coast to Fort Morgan and across the Mobile Bay to Fort Gaines and Dauphin Island.

    Not only can you read about these amazing locations, but you can make the adventure one for your family as well. We have planted letterboxes in the locations that are featured in the book and the clues are included in “Mystery Rock.”

    http://www.Kathrynlang.com/books-mystery-rock

  220. The Martians are coming!

    On the eve of World War I, the Martians have returned to finish what they started fifteen years ago, but this time humanity is ready. Armed with steam-powered battle machines created from reverse-engineered alien technology, the global defense force A.R.E.S. prepares for the coming conflict as tensions rise in Europe. Captain Eric Wells, an orphan of the first War of the Worlds, commands Earth’s newest, most formidable weapon… the colossal battle tripod GOLIATH.

    WAR OF THE WORLDS: GOLIATH Official Film Novelization by Adam J. Whitlatch
    Based on the award-winning animated film by Tripod Entertainment starring Adrian Paul, Mark Sheppard, Adam Baldwin, and Peter Wingfield.

    Available for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple iBooks.
    http://khpbooks.com/war-of-the-worlds-goliath/

  221. Hello everyone! I’ve got a middle-grade Kindle novelette called “Undrastormur: A Viking Tale of Troublesome Trolls.”

    A brief description: “Eirik has a problem. A lot of problems, actually. While he was out gathering mushrooms, his small Norse village was overrun by nasty trolls with a taste for human flesh. Now Eirik, the last surviving descendant of Drengur Darkbeard, a powerful Viking galdrakarl or wizard, must undertake a perilous journey to find the missing half of Drengur’s iron staff. Only then can he save his neighbors by calling down the undrastormur, a violent and powerful gift from Thor, the god of thunder.”

    p.s. Grownups tell me they like it, too! ;)

    Thanks John!

  222. Jack of the Lantern by Julie M. Jones is a special edition released by Chameleon Publishing to benefit the Wheels for Julie campaign. Julie M. Jones is a wonderful writer from Orange County, CA, who I got to know and became friends with while we were both students in the MFA program at Chapman University. Julie was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which limits her movement and motor control. She was told she would not live past age 20, but last year, I was glad to be able to celebrate her 40th birthday along with other friends.

    Four months ago or so, Julie’s van “Ole Smoky,” which she and her mother had used since Chapman days (pre-1999), broke down. Julie’s friends got together and organized the Wheels for Julie campaign on Indiegogo, which has successfully reached and exceeded its $30,000 goal. We are supporting the campaign and Julie but this isn’t a “favor” as far as the book is concerned: it’s great!

    If any have read my story “To Kiss the Star,” you may remember it tells the story of Mel Armstrong, a severely disabled young woman who wins the chance to go to the stars. The story was inspired by Julie and is dedicated to her.

    Julie is herself, a wonderful writer – Jack of the Lantern is an historical horror/dark fantasy novella about Jack Price, a man who knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing — and who thinks he has driven a great bargain with the Devil …

    http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JsarIK0%2BL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

    In 18th Century Ireland, Jack Price is a man who knows the price of everything — and the value of nothing. He thinks himself to be the smartest, thriftiest, craftiest of men, able to outwit anyone, even old “Scratch” himself. Did you ever wonder where the tradition of the Jack ‘O Lantern came from? Perhaps, from “Stingy Jack” and his long-lasting battle of wits and souls with the Devil himself … Light a candle on a stormy night and place it in a turnip head … and perhaps you’ll see Jack of the Lantern.

    Available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo – $2.99 novella/short novel

    Jack of the Lantern – Amazon
    Jack of the Lantern – Kobo
    Jack of the Lantern – Nook

    This book is actually “conventionally published” but I’m listing it here because it’s a charitable benefit … all proceeds will go to Julie’s transportation fund Wheels for Julie so she and her mom do not have to worry they won’t be able to access medical care and other needs …

    And it is also Julie’s first professional book publication. Especially good for readers who like traditional/historical fantasy and supernatural tales, and suitable for all ages.

  223. http://www.amazon.com/Fools-Illusion-Steven-Rose-Jr-ebook/dp/B00F785ZJQ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=
    Here is a collection of dark fantastic events and terrifying scientific phenomena. It contains stories of deadly creatures, including vampires and other undead things, and adventures into the unknown and terrible–tales that brew to the bursting point. This book will not fail to fool the reader with its terrifying visions of events that could be and ones that are impossible to be yet make the reader contemplate, “What if they weren’t?” The Fool’s Illusion makes the perfect holiday gift for the lover of dark and speculative fiction.

    Rated as high as five stars at Amazon. Available in both print and digital.

    (Again, thanks John for allowing us to post and Happy Holidays!)

  224. I will bite. Here is my latest novel, UP THE TOWER. Thanks for the opportunity for free advertisement!

    In the dystopian slum of Junktown, death is commonplace, trust is a liability, and friendship is a curse.
    But disaster brings everybody together.
    A cloned corporate assassin; a boy genius and his new robot; a tech-modified gangster with nothing to lose; a beautiful, damaged woman and her unbalanced stalker—these individuals couldn’t be more different, but somehow they must work together to save their own skin.
    Stranded in the epicenter of a monumental earthquake, there is only one way to survive. These unlikely teammates must go…UP THE TOWER.

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MU46DL4

  225. Love to travel? I’ve got a great book for you.

    The Places We’ve Been: Field Reports from Travelers Under 35, is an international anthology of 48 contributing writers. The book overall has been described as “real-life travel stories from diverse corners of the globe – and an even more diverse and eclectic collection of writers.”

    We are especially proud of the full roster of contributing storytellers, whose affiliations and honors include: MARVEL, The Amazing Race, the Peace Corps, StoryCorps, World Air Guitar Championships, the BBC, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Vogue India, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, National Endowment for the Arts, Crab Orchard Review, Out & Around, and more.

    In September 2014, the book received special acknowledgement from the Illinois Humanities Council.

    Check us out! Cool book by an international outfit and an independent press, based in Chicago, Illinois.

    Full section on “where to buy” is available under the About tab on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ThePlaces35 and website http://www.theplaces35.com

    On Amazon (eBook and Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F3NBXAA/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb

    Here’s a photo from a panel event held on the book, from September 2014 in Chicago:

    null

  226. My sweet fantasy novel THE BEAUTY’S BEAST is available now for only $3.99.

    *Amazon Bestseller in Fantasy Romance and Historical Fantasy*

    Lady Kathryn’s father sends her to court to find a husband, but being penniless and disinterested doesn’t bode well for her success. Bored by the petty intrigues of court, her frustration and loneliness are eased when the king charges her with the care of his newest acquisition: a wolf he and his hunters have recently captured. What the king doesn’t realize is his remarkable pet was once Gabriel, his favorite knight, cursed into wolf form by an unfaithful wife.

    The beast’s too-knowing eyes and the way he understands and responds to her every utterance convince Kathryn he is more than what he seems. Resolving to restore him, she doesn’t count on the greatest obstacle being Gabriel himself. The longer he stays in wolf form as a captive of the court, the harder it becomes for him to remember his humanity and to fight his wolfish urges to maim and kill.

    Only Kathryn’s affection and determination stand between Gabriel the wolf and Gabriel the man. But when the one who betrayed him returns to court, will Kathryn’s love be enough to keep Gabriel from exacting a brutish revenge that will condemn the wolf to death?

    Available on Amazon, Nook, Kobo, ARe, Scribd, and in print.

    Amazon link here for ease of use:
    http://www.amazon.com/Beautys-Beast-E-D-Walker-ebook/dp/B00J1CRJAW/

  227. Get the upcoming 3rd Kagent novel free when you post a review of either the 1st or 2nd Kagent novel!

    Elevator pitch: 24th century Kagents project the future to fight pacifist terrorists who want to impose a low-stress lifestyle, even if it means ending civilization.

    Cool stuff:
    24th century offworld societies
    Terrorists toppling cities with weaponized social epidemics
    Big Data models that project the future
    Bounty hunters packing combat drones
    A Kagent torn between family and saving the world

    Imagine Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash in a standoff with Isaac Asimov’s Foundation and Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point inside an NSA data center.

    The 1st novel in the series, Crashpoint, is a $0.99 e-book and a $14.99 paperback:
    http://www.amazon.com/Crashpoint-Kagent-1-Mark-Sarney-ebook/dp/B00HZ605XE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417661121&sr=8-1&keywords=crashpoint

    The 2nd novel, Twistpoint, is a $1.99 e-book and a $11.99 paperback:

    http://www.amazon.com/Twistpoint-Kagent-2-Mark-Sarney-ebook/dp/B00ODHBW1C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417660104&sr=8-1&keywords=twistpoint

    And a big thanks to John for supporting both indie and traditional authors.

  228. Ebooks! I haz some!

    All the following links go to pages on my site, where you can peruse at your convenience the variety of electronickal booksellers from which to purchase these fine . . . collections of bytes, I guess.

    ***

    Lies and Prophecy — There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and prophecy.

    Kim never had to wonder what to major in at college. Her talent for divination made her future clear in more ways than one. But there are limits to what even a gifted seer can predict, and no card reading or prophetic dream can prepare Kim for what’s to come during her junior year at Welton.

    Something has taken an interest in her friend Julian — an unseen force neither of them can identify. What starts as a dark omen quickly turns dangerous, as Julian finds himself under attack. To defend him, Kim will need more than her strengths; she will have to call on a form of magic she has never been able to master. If she can’t learn fast enough, she may lose her friend forever.

    Kim knows she isn’t ready for this. But if she wants to save Julian — and herself — she’ll have to prove her own prophecies wrong.

    ***

    Monstrous Beauty — Seven tales of supernatural horror . . .

    A maiden in a tower. A grandmother in a cottage. A stranger at a ball. None of them are what they seem, in this collection of very brief stories from fantasy author Marie Brennan. The dark forest of fairy tales hides things more perilous than wolves and wicked stepmothers. Are you prepared for what you’ll find?

    ***

    Writing Fight Scenes — Have you ever:

    * Held a sword?
    * Taken a karate class?
    * Punched another person in the face?

    Even if your answer is “no,” you can still write a good fight scene. In this guide, fantasy novelist Marie Brennan will show you how. Drawing on her experience with fencing, stage combat choreography, Okinawan martial arts, and above all writing, she lays out the components that turn the strikes into a compelling story.

    From purpose to tactics to prose, Writing Fight Scenes walks you through the anatomy and execution of combat on the page.

  229. Kinds of Blue: An anthology of short comics about depression

    “The black dog must die.”

    “What does it feel like to feel anything?”

    “No, I do not desire death. I desire non-existence.”

    What does depression look like? What does depression feel like? When you’re stuck in the middle of it, is there anything that actually helps?

    In this collection of short, original comics, 14 young Australians chronicle their close encounters and experiences with depression, capturing snapshots of what depression is like in order to illuminate what is often unexpressed and help fellow sufferers know they are not alone.

    To find out more and to read some of the comics in the collection, visit our site. Kinds of Blue is available as a DRM-free PDF as well as through digital comics retailer ComiXology.

  230. Update on Julie M. Jones’ book Jack of the Lantern … Julie’s team discovered that while they had reached their goal of $30,000 to purchase a new van able to transport her and her wheelchair, the price quote with needed equipment has gone up to $40,000. She is at about $33,000 right now, so …

    Anybody who buys Jack of the Lantern will really be helping!

    The book also has its first reader review – 5 stars!

    Jack of the Lantern

  231. Like mermaids? But sick of the romance and YA angst? Try Merm-8!

    Gene is a rogue-for-hire, using his one-man ship to make a decent living on the flooded Earth. Most of the population has been driven out to Seaplexes–artificial islands glutted with poverty, commercialism, and organized crime. His AI companion, Stitch, does most of the work of their salvage and smuggling jobs. Life is good.

    Until a mermaid crawls into his ship’s exhaust port.

    Now it’s not enough for Gene to avoid the mafia he’s in debt to. Everyone wants to know what this fantasy creature is doing on a dying planet. Corporations want to exploit her. Old friends want to capitalize on her fame. Gene has to choose between protecting her and keeping himself safe. And all she wants is to return home.

    But the race back involves more than just mermaids. It includes a deviant geneticist, the mafia Gene owes a debt to, the silver ship containing a rogue AI, and a “gray goo” device that could destroy all life on Earth.

    Available on Amazon, Smashwords, and the publisher’s site

    http://www.amazon.com/Merm-8-Eric-J-Juneau-ebook/dp/B00NXHBFDS

  232. Like mermaids? But sick of the romance and YA angst? Try Merm-8!

    Gene is a rogue-for-hire, using his one-man ship to make a decent living on the flooded Earth. Most of the population has been driven out to Seaplexes–artificial islands glutted with poverty, commercialism, and organized crime. His AI companion, Stitch, does most of the work of their salvage and smuggling jobs. Life is good.

    Until a mermaid crawls into his ship’s exhaust port.

    Now it’s not enough for Gene to avoid the mafia he’s in debt to. Everyone’s wondering what this fantasy creature is doing on a dying planet. Corporations want to exploit her. Old friends want to capitalize on her fame. Gene has to choose between protecting her and keeping himself safe. And all she wants is to return home.

    But the race back involves more than just mermaids. It includes a deviant scientist, a silver ship containing a rogue AI, and a “gray goo” device that could destroy all life on Earth.

    It doesn’t matter if you believe in mermaids. She believes in you.

    Available from Amazon, Smashwords, and the publisher’s site.

    http://www.amazon.com/Merm-8-Eric-J-Juneau-ebook/dp/B00NXHBFDS

  235. I always tend to hit this thread on the late side, but if you’ve read down this far, are in the mood for a kick-ass hard science military sci-fi space opera written by an active-duty naval officer, with over 340 reviews and 4.4 stars on Amazon, all about the birth of Earth’s first space navy, then I welcome you to try out “A Sword Into Darkness” by me, Thomas A. Mays. Available in trade paperback, on Kindle, and as an audiobook from Audible. I’ll have it up as an epub again in January. Check out the link and enjoy! http://improbableauthor.com/a-sword-into-darkness/

  237. Super late to this party, but retail tends to melt your brain when you work there. Either way:

    ADVENAE by Nick Trevano – perfect if you like action, adventure, and tons of science fiction deliciousness.

    Stepping onto a planet four worlds away from Earth is routine for Colonel Scott Columines. Outerterrestrials who call themselves the Kajla have graciously built an outpost for the arriving humans—yet when the Earth expedition arrives, their hosts are nowhere to be found. With no clues to follow, the Earth group continues on with their original intent; exploration. Unfortunately, the universe is not a place that can quietly be explored. The Taregot invade and destroy any planet within their reach, seeking to eliminate all organisms they deem inferior—and Columines’s team makes the mistake of bumping into them.

    Humanity just went to the top of their list.

    Available as an ebook for $4.99 on all e-reader platforms, as well as in paperback.

  238. For something completely different: non-fiction for Canadians. (Sorry most of John’s American and worldwide audience, but this won’t really help you).

    The Value of Simple explains and will walk you through how to get set up as a do-it-yourself investor with a simple yet effective plan. It covers all the great reasons to use a passive (“indexed” or “couch potato”) strategy — including keeping more of your money for yourself in the face of Canada’s very high mutual fund fees — and then digs into all those how-to steps missed by other books on investing.

    If you’re not quite sure how to use your TFSA and RRSP for something other than a savings account; just paid off your debt and want to know what comes next; don’t know how the nice lady at the bank who helps you out at RRSP season gets paid (or how much); or read a few books on investing and agreed that it was a good idea but didn’t know how to take the next step to actually implement that advice, then The Value of Simple is for you.

    Available in DRM-free ePub, PDF, kindle, and dead-tree formats through my direct store, Amazon, Kobo, or Indigo online.

  239. A thousand years ago the strange and exotic Cataclysm raced through our area of space,
    devastating the Solar System and nearly extinguishing all life on Earth.

    In a desperate attempt to survive extinction, an enormous colony-spawning ship hulled in ice was sent to the stars,
    while the rest of humanity either dug deep below the surface of the Earth or died in the Cataclysm.

    Two hundred years after the disaster, humanity crawled out from underground and started rebuilding.

    A thousand years after the Cataclysm, a long-term mission is launched to find
    the trail of the legendary Ice-Ship and discover the fate of the human colonies
    it was tasked with founding.

    Where did it go? What colonies did it found? What will they find On Distant Worlds?

    Join Dr. Tasaya Belocq and the rest of the crew of the Jumpship Emissary
    as they voyage to the stars to uncover the ancient mysteries of the vanished
    Interstellar Ship One.

    Book One: On Distant Worlds: Prologues and Colibri
    http://www.amazon.com/Distant-Worlds-Prologues-Colibri-ebook/dp/B00GEVEJO2
    Book Two: The Tides of Altamar
    http://www.amazon.com/Tides-Altamar-Brian-Gonzalez-ebook/dp/B00PDZWH0I/

    Visit the links above for Amazon, or visit https://sites.google.com/site/odwbooks/ to order from other online vendors.


  242. “Wizards and Kings: Sacrifice Hits like a Thunderbolt to the Heart” – Undiscovered Tomes
    A lone warrior seeks revenge for the death of his king and finds himself battling for the survival of his kingdom. A wizard, far from home, eases the guilt from past transgressions by helping those in need. A displaced king risks everything to find love. Their paths intersect as they face a threat unlike any they have ever known before.
    Genre: Fantasy
    Pages: 80
    Available for purchase in print and Kindle formats.

  243. Welcome to New Washington, the most prolific center of technological and thaumatological research in the 23rd century.

    For nearly two hundred years, the largest city in the former United States has been struggling to rebuild the culture that was dealt a hefty blow by the return of magic centuries ago. Some might say that this goal has been reached or surpassed, but the average metropolitan citizen’s way of life has been irrevocably altered on a day to day basis. Weapons are worn openly on the streets. Magical certification is a basic requirement of even the most mundane office job.

    There is one institution, though, that has survived the changed culture of the modern world: The supermarket.

    On the corner of 15th Street and Neimuth Avenue, the employees of the neighborhood Securemarket™ face a host of challenges that only New Washington can offer: Corporate Knights, gun-toting customers, monsters disguised as cereal boxes, and, most frightening of all … employee romance.

    Join Steve, Zap, Alan, Matt, and the rest of the afternoon shift as they struggle to survive a far more difficult adventure than a hardened mercenary will ever face: retail.

    Read Tales From the Securemarket at http://www.talesfromthesecuremarket.com/ or purchase it from Amazon:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1449971709?ie=UTF8&tag=urbundsmapre-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1449971709

  245. Thanks for this opportunity for those of us who are in the indie author world to share our work!

    I’m a new fantasy/sci-fi author, and I just published my first book in may, The Golden Orb, available at http://www.amazon.com/The-Golden-Orb-Amanda-Cook/dp/1499134843/.

    “25-year-old Gabby’s normal human existence became anything but normal when she took the job as Fae Agent for Top Hat in the Fae Realms — magical lands full of wonder and adventure … and danger. When she agrees to find a missing magic artifact for the king of Ouestfold without Top Hat’s knowledge, her secret mission sends her on a journey of discovery that leads her to more than she’d ever bargained for. The Golden Orb is a modern fantasy for adults that blends aspects of high fantasy, similar to Tolkien or Robert Jordan, with elements of fairy tales and even mythology. It is both a love letter and an homage to stories and storytellers alike.”

WHATEVER


Taunting the tauntable since 1998
John Scalzi, proprietor – JS
Athena Scalzi, contributor – AMS
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