Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2018, Day Two: Non-Traditionally Published Books
Posted on December 4, 2018 Posted by John Scalzi 208 Comments
Today is Day Two of the Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2018, 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 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!
Over four hundred years ago, Jason’s great-grandfather mixed alien and human DNA until he created a lab rat son. Since the Herodians communicated with a telepathic link, it wasn’t surprising when Jason’s grandfather gained some of those abilities. Using mental manipulation, Shabin Industries became a planetary empire — always keeping details of the power a secret.
After Jason’s insane father murders his only friend, he runs away, fearing he’s next. Leaving the planet, and the protection he’s always enjoyed, was a stupid thing to do, but a chance meeting with company pilot, Sparrow, and several other minions, both willing and unwilling, turns his flight into a frantic attempt to stop an interplanetary war.
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07K6KVVC4&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_kxNbCb0F4S109
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07BJNM59W&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_UmtbCb9H8VTFD
A spec-ops commander on a dangerous mission.
A shipwrecked junior botanist trapped on a forbidding, remote world.
IRON TRUTH is a military SF novel packed with fast-paced action, dark secrets and psychological horror.
Love SF/F, but tired of the same old tropes? Me too.
When I started writing my own epic series, I decided that I’d take every single fantasy trope I could find and flip it, reverse it, or somehow turn it inside out — while having it still work in the story.
For example: You know how in fantasy novels there always seems to be a mysterious, secretive order? An ancient organization with a deep store of knowledge, arcane wisdom forbidden to any but their own members? And never (well, almost never) revealed to the simple, unworthy common folk?
Now, what’s the opposite of that? The exact opposite?
Meet the Steerswomen.
The Steerswoman Series has four volumes so far, and more on the way: The Steerswoman, The Outskirter’s Secret, The Lost Steersman, and The Language of Power.
Here’s what some very smart people say about the books:
Hugo and Nebula winner Jo Walton (Among Others, My Real Children, Lent): “If you haven’t read Kirstein’s Steerswoman books I envy you the chance to read them now for the first time… I think they have a very good claim to be my favorite thing still being written… These books really are terrific fun to read.”
Science writer and actual physicist Chad Orzel (How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, Breakfast with Einstein): “Maybe the best depiction of the process of science I’ve encountered in fiction is the Steerswoman series… It’s a joy to watch the scientific reasoning process Rowan follows, and the plots have plenty of excitement as well.”
Damien Broderick & Paul Di Filippo, 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.”
When the trad-pub versions of these went out of print, I got the rights back and re-released the series myself, in both paperback and ebook formats.
They can be bought from any reputable seller, but to make things easy, here’s the link to Amazon.com:
The Steerswoman Series on Amazon
Dawn Takahashai knows all about superheroes.
She’s been a fan of them for years. So, when she’s granted an impressive powerset of her own, she dives right in, eager to prove herself as Bailey City’s first superhero: Miss Red and Black.
Her first challenge is Faultline. He’s powerful, smart and, as a henchman for Bailey City’s first supervillain, standing right in her way. But that’s not the real problem. The real problem is that under the mask, Faultline is Alex Gage, a working-class guy trying to scrounge together enough money to help support his younger sisters.
Dawn has no idea that the charming and seemingly straightforward Alex is Faultline. Alex has no idea that the adorably awkward Dawn is the superhero he clashes with at night.
Red and Black, the first book in a series, is on sale all week for a 99 cent ebook, and $9.99 print copy.
https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?asin=B07DTVZGD7&preview=inline&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_xaObCb9SM2NMD
If you are interested in SOUS VIDE, the most sci-fi of cooking methods, I’d heartily recommend one of my books, either my best selling Modernist Cooking Made Easy: Sous Vide (http://amzn.to/1xuwJyu) or my latest book Healthy Sous Vide (http://amzn.to/2hPnLKT). They are both written to help the adventurous home cook get the most out of their sous vide machines and wow their friends and family.
In case of the apocalypse you can even use it to pasteurize zombie meat.
Thanks for providing this opportunity, John!
Hi folks – if you’re looking for a gift for a fan of Redshirts, Timeless, or Quantum Leap, consider trying out my series Genrenauts, a finalist for the r/Fantasy “Stabby” Award for Best Serialized Fiction.
The Genrenauts are a team of narrative specialists that travel to parallel dimensions each embodying a story genre (Westerns, Science Fiction, Romance, etc.). Their mission: find and fix broken stories to protect the multiverse from the chaos that follows a story gone wrong. It’s fun, upbeat, and very meta.
Grab your copy here! and happy holidays!
The Little Deaths of Watson Tower is a standalone twenty-page comic about a group of kids who are turned into tiny grim reapers and end up confronting death on more than one level, written by me, Nick Bryan (hi!), and beautifully illustrated by newcomer Rosie Alexander.
One reviewer described it as “sweet and dark and beautiful and powerful, all at once”.
Available in print and digital, see more details and some artwork here: http://www.nickbryan.com/littledeaths/
Thank you John! My paranormal sci-fi thriller ALWAYS GRAY IN WINTER, first in a family saga series, features the modern day remnant of an ancient clan of werecats torn apart by militaries on three continents vying to exploit their deadly talents. Born in an ethnic Chicago neighborhood following her family’s escape from Cold War-era Poland, were-lynx Pawly flees underground to protect her loved ones after genetically-enhanced soldiers led by rogue scientist and rival werecat Mawro overrun her Navy unit in the Gulf of Oman. Pawly’s family seeks her out in a desperate gambit to return their ancestral homeland and reconcile with their estranged kinsmen. But when her human lover arrives to thwart Mawro’s plan to weaponize their feral bloodlust, Pawly must face a daunting choice: preserve her family secrets and risk her lover’s life or chance her true nature driving him away forever.
https://www.amazon.com/Always-Gray-Winter/dp/1945247193/
My small-press publisher, Thurston Howl Publications, is offering 5% off their entire catalog now until Christmas and 10% off on Christmas Day for purchases made via their Storenvy page.
http://thurstonhowlpub.storenvy.com/products/21740660-always-gray-in-winter
I freely admit to the collusion between myself and fourteen other artists and authors on The Subverted Fairy Project.
In a coffee, and sometimes mead, fueled rage, we met and melded art and words in defiant tales capturing the brutal essence of nature.
We discarded the image of svelte fairies flittering about, and giggling. Removing the bonds of tradition, our fairies, became rooted in nature and made alive by organic collaboration..
http://subvertedfairy.com
I reserve the right to delete this post at a later time and deny all involvement.
“Don’t read this in a public place, you won’t be able to stop yourself laughing out loud. It reminds me of Douglas Adams, the careful plotting mixed with those absurdities and jokes that sneak up and make you snort tea through your nose. Hilarious.” Goodreads.
What if you really were the centre of the universe?
Norman Mi’s house is shrinking. He’s sure of it.
But that’s the least of his problems, even if he doesn’t realise it yet. There’s also the odd time dilation effects at the office, the invisible spiders that no one else can see, and the eccentric neighbours who insist on eating his bacon sandwiches.
Minutemen 2041
In the near future, all citizens are required to serve as Auxiliary Riflemen, ready at a moment’s notice to battle giant bug-like alien invaders. After wreaking havoc and destroying many nations, the aliens have dug-in underground and regularly storm out of their hives to feed upon humans. As incursions sirens blare, TacNet orders armed citizens into battle as the first line of defense.
Fun action-adventure military sci-fi, not too dark or heavy.
4.32 stars on Goodreads
KindleUnlimited and Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DCD2QMG
I’m the author of Take Control of Your Productivity. My book boils down 25 years of reading and trial-and-error into a framework you can use to build your own productivity system. It walks you through how to decide what’s important to you, express that in terms of either productivity or emotional outcomes from your work, and implement this with whatever tools work best for you. Plus it covers specifics I’ve never seen elsewhere: how to start using a new system (because you have an old one and life doesn’t stop while you switch), match what you do this week to long-term goals, and get up and running again when things break down. Life is chaotic. It’s okay.
The book’s on Amazon, but they whack a huge chunk from what we get paid. At the Take Control site, you can download it in DRM-free PDF, epub (for Apple Books or iBooks), or mobi (for Kindle). Or all three. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/productivity
I’ll add that the other books I’ve read in the Take Control series are excellent; most of them focus on a specific app, operating system, or kind of use on Macs and iOS gizmos. My colleagues are excellent and I’m thrilled to be among them.
The most recent book from CB Droege (That’s me) is a collection of 31 SFF flash stories anchored by a fantasy novella.
The Peacemaker and Other Stories: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0728D7P1V/
Ander is a prince, diplomat, and soldier in the clockwork army. Upon returning to his home from a months-long diplomatic mission, he learns that his father, the king, is dying. His sister is ill from grief, and their older brother is mad with power and an intense hatred of the kingdom’s enemies, among whom may be a long lost family member. Ander’s journey to discover the truth takes him beyond the borders of the kingdom, and his duty to his king.
HELIOPAUSE: THE QUESTRISON SAGA: BOOK ONE – Kirkus Reviews recommends this “…fast-moving adventure that involves aliens, telepathy and more than a couple of surprises.”
Flashes of light. An unseen menace. Messages from the void. Secrets at the edge of the solar system that threaten to destroy the future.
Mandira Research Station beckons at the heliopause–the brink of interstellar space. After Forster sees flashes outside that no one else can, the captain of an incoming ship is attacked by an invisible foe. Forster and his enigmatic coworker Efron search for a missing daughter who might be the cause of it all. Can the team stop the force from taking over Mandira, and the entire solar system?
Buy Heliopause today on Amazon or any other online vendor, or order from your indie bookstore! https://www.amazon.com/Heliopause-Questrison-Saga-Book-One/dp/0999408208/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1524746326&sr=8-2&keywords=j+dianne+dotson+heliopause
My book is a nice little children’s book about two boys who go to the North Pole to find out what Santa Claus wants for Christmas. I wrote the book and my niece illustrated it. I have been doing some readings at libraries and the kids really seem to enjoy it. Please check it out. Thank you, John. https://www.amazon.com/Going-North-Pole-Michael-Cotton/dp/1503167496/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543930081&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=going+north+to+the+pole&dpPl=1&dpID=515o7SQzxVL&ref=plSrch
On the day twelve-year-old Sophie Furrow learns that she may never walk again, she discovers that her seemingly ordinary farm horse, Rooster, just might be able to fly! Together, they face a powerful snob, a high-altitude stampede, and a life-threatening secret before Sophie’s dreams take wing in a way no one ever expected.
https://www.amazon.com/Pegasus-Potential-Book-ebook/dp/B00N6WY49W
When a messenger accidentally leaves lifesaving medicine behind, his son must ride a stubborn pony through a dangerous shortcut to reach him in time. This story takes place 500 years before the The Pegasus Potential.
https://www.amazon.com/Pegasus-Shortcut-Potential-Book-ebook/dp/B013XNEFY2
Thanks, John! (x3) Today I’d like to talk up my debut novel, a sci-fi/fantasy/mystery/horror/comedy/adventure story called PERCIVAL GYNT AND THE CONSPIRACY OF DAYS.
Set 18,000 years in the future, CONSPIRACY tells the story of the eponymous Percival Gynt, accountant and part-time hero, and his quest to find an ancient, sentient doomsday weapon before it falls into the wrong hands. (And of what happens when it falls into the wrong hands!)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY calls CONSPIRACY “a fun, frenetic story” that “reads like postmodern Douglas Adams.” It’s available from Amazon in print and ebook formats. Check it out:
https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?asin=B07D94XGSX&preview=inline&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_EqubCbQF2AQ42
(Thanks John!)
The sequel to Andy Hunt’s “Conglommora” is now out!
“It was a real surprise that one of my favorite authors of software development books like ‘The Pragmatic Programmer’ and ‘Programming Ruby: A Pragmatic Programmer’s Guide’ is also a science fiction writer!
“In ‘Conglommora Found’, Andy Hunt gives us real sci-fi entertainment centered on our relationship with ourselves and the universe. We keep moving with rich details from the organic worlds of the past to the synthetic worlds of the future, from the dark and dense deeps of ocean to infinite space, a delightful narrative of where we are and at the same time wanting to go back to the other worlds to check what happens next.
“‘Conglommora Found’ has a lot of surprises till the end of the book and makes us think about our human condition. Recommended!”—Eustáquio “TaQ” Rangel
Charlie Neylan and his son Alain thought their adventures were over, as they settled into the shape of their new lives on Conglommora. But things get complicated as Alain risks his life to find answers to the secrets of their world, and their very world gets a lot larger than anyone thought.
The new hidden undersea base, Denisova, expanded their world. So much new to study, so much to see—but safely, hidden from their descendants. The good People of Conglommora couldn’t reveal themselves without jeopardizing their future. They had to keep them isolated, alone. What was left of humanity was utterly alone. Until it wasn’t.
Now at Amazon, paperback and ebook:
https://www.amazon.com/Conglommora-Found-Andy-Hunt-ebook/dp/B07GTDSBFJ
HIS DARK MAGIC the first book in the Northern Circle Coven will be released December 11th. Contemporary fantasy with romance. Perfect for reading by candlelight on the Winter Solstice. Ebook. Print-on-demand. Kensington Publishing’s Lyrical Press https://amzn.to/2KACQeT
Thank you John!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FLP5W8P
A paranormal menace looms over an unsuspecting world. The dead are agitated. Golems walk the earth. The living shed their mortal skins and visit the shades of the afterlife. Dreams become nightmares, and when those nightmares let something nasty slip through the cracks in reality, no one is safe.
The Order of Aldred secretly guards against these supernatural threats, as it has for centuries. When a conspiracy is discovered at the very heart of the Order, all that stands between the peaceful dreams of humanity and a gruesome fate is Moxie Gore, a stubborn and troubled 16-year old girl who just wants to survive her junior year with her GPA intact.
Moxie has known about the paranormal threat since she was a young girl, and she has the psychic scars to prove it. She can see them. They can see her. Yet they’re the ones who are afraid. It’s enough to make a girl question her sanity.
When Moxie is named in the Pallbearer Prophecy as the bearer of an ancient curse, she’s forced on the run to the one place no one in the Order can find her: behind the veil that separates the living from the dead. In the realm of shades and shadows, she discovers the secret behind her ability to see the dead and the truth about her history. It turns out the dead were right to be afraid.
While on a mission to catch the squirrel who teased him through the window, Rowr’s people moved without him. Determined to find them, he stumbles, hungry and filthy, into a back alley owned by Maow, a queen with the desire to live alone.
Maow keeps the mouse population under control and the tom cats at bay in her alley. But there’s something about the pitiful kittypet who falls at her feet one night after a nasty rat bite.
How are these two supposed to get along when neither is what the other wants?
Maybe Bress can help with that. When he’s not dealing with the mishaps inside the Hearth and Forge and his wife’s fiery temperament. One poorly phrased comment could send him to the doghouse. Or in his case, the barn.
https://www.amazon.com/Alley-Cats-Hearth-Forge-Book-ebook/dp/B07CL4HKVH
Back in 2017, a group of my friends were jokingly batting around ideas for a themed anthology to work on together. “What should the theme be?”
“Airships!” said one.
“Pirates!” said another.
“Wizards!” said someone else.
“Airship pirate wizards!” I threw in.
We all had a good laugh, but the idea stuck. And so that summer, I enlisted the help of two of these friends, and we set out to make it real.
Skies of Wonder, Skies of Danger contains thirteen stories of airships, pirates, and wizards. Our tales span from high fantasy to steampunk to post-apocalyptic to dieselpunk and beyond. Dragons? Check. Daring sky-captains? Check. Nazi jetpack zombies? Check. So grab your cutlass and your magic wand, and take to the skies with us!
https://www.amazon.com/Skies-Wonder-Danger-Write-Anthology/dp/1732357706/
Are you a Greek mythology geek?
Are you a poetry nerd?
Are you, perhaps, BOTH?
If so (and I hope you are), I’d love for you to check out With Rough Gods, a book of dramatic monologues in the voices of Greek gods and heroes written in trimeter sonnets (so they’re short!). For folks who don’t know their Asterions from their Ariadnes, a glossary is printed in the back.
With Rough Gods–paperback
With Rough Gods–Kindle
Published in 2012 by Jagged Door Press (sadly out of business), it is still available through Amazon in print or on Kindle. The print version is $9.95 and the Kindle version is free with Unlimited or $2.99 otherwise.
The double entendres are free!
If you don’t believe me, see what these writers have to say about it:
“The poems in G.M. Palmer’s book force us into the bluntest of human truths.” (Jill Alexander Essbaum–Hausfrau)
“As an enormous fan of fairy tales, origin stories, and mythology, I found this book to be essential and enjoyable.” (Alissa Nutting–Made For Love & Tampa)
“G.M. Palmer has managed to take dusty old myths and breathe new life into them.” (Jessica Piazza–of Poetry Has Value)
“In With Rough Gods, not only are the ancient dramas kept very much alive; they are also made young again.” (David Yezzi–Azores & editor of The Hopkins Review)
“This is a splendid debut by a poet of considerable promise.” (Ernest Hilbert–Caligulan)
Here are two samples to whet your desire!
Helen & Menelaus
Here is the arrow’s scar,
still stiff, it goes straight through,
reminding me of you;
reminding me from far
years past of the men tossed
in arms, their faces stilled
in fright, not noble, just killed,
who won less than they lost.
Yet here I am: old man,
dry husk of brittle eyes,
blind ears, deaf mouth; I can
no longer lift the sword
that won my fickle prize
who turned upon a word.
Poseidon & Medusa
On this wet rock you come,
my hair around your waist
in streams like ocean foam;
the pressured salty taste
rests upon my tongue.
As we swallow the night
the morning rises stung
and stained with our delight.
Here in this temple crows
are swelling from the altar
screaming the holy vows
I promised I would keep.
I have done much more than falter
and vengeance never sleeps.
Janni is a person. He is fighting to show his protectors that he is their equal co-inhabitant of the planet. The enemy thinks all people should be removed from the planet. But not Janni’s people.
http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com/2018/10/molly-dog-with-diabetes-by-kevin.html
Control the wormholes, control the galaxy.
For over fifty years, the Commonwealth’s lock on wormhole transit has enabled the military government to keep its grip on commerce, travel, and the community in diaspora off Earth. But everything changed once Ro Maldonado resurrected the damaged AI on a derelict spaceship. When she and her accidental passengers aboard Halcyone stumbled upon a hidden planet and Ada May, its brilliant but reclusive leader, they became entangled with her covert resistance.
But behind the scenes of the Commonwealth lurks an even bigger enemy: the Reaction Chamber, a powerful shadow organization of politicians, business moguls, and crime cartels that has co-opted and infiltrated all levels of the government. The Chamber knows Halcyone is the key to finding and eliminating the resistance. And as people close to Ro and her companions disappear or die, it’s clear their enemies are closing in fast.
When May vanishes through an impossible wormhole, taking the leader of the Reaction Chamber with her, she abruptly shatters a decades-old stalemate. Now Halcyone and her crew must decode May’s revolutionary wormhole technology and locate the missing scientist before the Reaction Chamber obliterates the resistance and exploits its resources to seize complete control of the cosmos.
A STAR IN THE VOID is the 5th and final book of the Halcyone Space series of SF/space opera novels.
Available in all ebook formats and in trade paperback.
http://www.ljcohen.net/star.html
I’ve got 5 collections of SFF short stories. All are available in various ebook formats and paperback. The first one, “Dandelion Seeds”, is also available as an audiobook.
Best way to get them is through my site: https://www.stevedegroof.com/
Some reviews I’ve gotten:
“A great little collection of short stories. Reminds me a lot of John Scalzi, whom I also enjoy.”
“The author is the guy who does the Tree Lobsters web comic (which I highly recommend) so you know it’s going to be clever and quirky!”
“The stories are quirky, whimsical, and very similar to Ray Bradbury’s stories from the Fifties and Sixties.”
“The author has mastered the art of the short story, with emphasis on short.”
“Three books in and the short story world building hasn’t slowed down in the slightest. Wildly creative and surprisingly fun.”
Thanks for the opportunity, John!
Frank Fischer is a retired Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned winemaker, gambling his tech company wealth on a winery he’s managing right into the ground. There’s just one thing…Frank Fischer is really “Gentleman” Jack Burdette, one of the world’s most infamous jewelry thieves.
Jack’s mentor and fixer pitches him on the biggest job he’s ever seen—a jewelry exhibition in the French Riviera worth eighty million and almost no security. Too good to be true, Jack passes. But when his accountant disappears with ten million dollars, his business, the identity he’s built and his way into civilian life disappear with it. Now, the only chance Jack has to save them is the Carlton Job. The problem is, its no longer available. But with eighty million—and his life—at stake, Jack’s not going to let a little thing like competition get in the way.
If he’s going to succeed, Jack will have to outsmart the FBI, a gang of Serbian jewel thieves, an ex-con with a grudge, the very crew he trained, an Israeli diamond mogul and a fiery winemaker that Jack is probably in love with.
A Legitimate Businessman is based on the actual 2013 Carlton Intercontinental Heist, a crime which remains unsolved. It is a twisting and stylish international crime thriller that will keep you guessing to the last page. Getting it was one thing. Getting away with it…was something else.
Get “A Legitimate Businessman” today: https://www.amazon.com/Legitimate-Businessman-Gentleman-Jack-Burdette-ebook/dp/B07HYGRMPV/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543932622&sr=8-1&keywords=a+legitimate+businessman
All Nem Aster wanted was to pay his debts. He never expected he would be at the center of the world coming apart. Does he have the power to save the world?
…Or destroy it?
Aggadeh Chronicles
Books 1 & 2:
Nobody and Dragon
Available everywhere!
Thanks, John!
The full Divided Man series (3 novels)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075LJJ5XJ/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
Fin and Rook wish prophecy would go fulfill itself. All they want is each other, and to converse with Fin’s lava lamp. But when Rook pierces Fin’s eyebrow, she topples them both into a secret war of mind control. Black-ops nanotechnology, extraterrestrial invaders, and a guerrilla televangelist are not even the full list of their problems.
There’s also their families. Plus, there’s the technology cultist who hides Fin’s mom from the military’s paranormal research arm in the 70s, and teaches her part of the reason they were so interested in her. But that, of course, is not a service he provides for free.
Prophecies don’t end with happily ever after. Our reluctant heroes think they’ve earned a warm family reunion by (barely) averting the enslavement of the entire human race, but sometimes it’s hard to fit the pieces back together without cutting yourself on the edges. The aliens still want to annihilate freewill, the nanotech has fallen into yet more wrong hands, and Rook’s inner demons are proving all too real.
Miss Brandymoon’s Device
a novel of sex, nanotech, and a sentient lava lamp
Tenpenny Zen
a novel of sex, cults, and an interdimensional henge contraption
Elsewhere’s Twin
a novel of sex, doppelgängers, and the Collective Id
Are you a Greek mythology geek?
Are you a poetry nerd?
Are you, perhaps, BOTH?
If so (and I hope you are), I’d love for you to check out With Rough Gods, a book of dramatic monologues in the voices of Greek gods and heroes written in trimeter sonnets (so they’re short!). For folks who don’t know their Asterions from their Ariadnes, a glossary is printed in the back.
With Rough Gods–paperback
With Rough Gods–Kindle
Published in 2012 by Jagged Door Press (sadly out of business), it is still available through Amazon in print or on Kindle. The print version is $9.95 and the Kindle version is free with Unlimited or $2.99 otherwise.
The double entendres are free!
If you don’t believe me, see what these writers have to say about it:
“The poems in G.M. Palmer’s book force us into the bluntest of human truths.” (Jill Alexander Essbaum–Hausfrau)
“As an enormous fan of fairy tales, origin stories, and mythology, I found this book to be essential and enjoyable.” (Alissa Nutting–Made For Love & Tampa)
“G.M. Palmer has managed to take dusty old myths and breathe new life into them.” (Jessica Piazza–of Poetry Has Value)
“In With Rough Gods, not only are the ancient dramas kept very much alive; they are also made young again.” (David Yezzi–Azores & editor of The Hopkins Review)
“This is a splendid debut by a poet of considerable promise.” (Ernest Hilbert–Caligulan)
Here are two samples to whet your desire!
Helen & Menelaus
Here is the arrow’s scar,
still stiff, it goes straight through,
reminding me of you;
reminding me from far
years past of the men tossed
in arms, their faces stilled
in fright, not noble, just killed,
who won less than they lost.
Yet here I am: old man,
dry husk of brittle eyes,
blind ears, deaf mouth; I can
no longer lift the sword
that won my fickle prize
who turned upon a word.
Poseidon & Medusa
On this wet rock you come,
my hair around your waist
in streams like ocean foam;
the pressured salty taste
rests upon my tongue.
As we swallow the night
the morning rises stung
and stained with our delight.
Here in this temple crows
are swelling from the altar
screaming the holy vows
I promised I would keep.
I have done much more than falter
and vengeance never sleeps.
My short story ‘The Missionaries’ is available for purchase or free with Kindle Unlimited.
“Father Thomas arrives in the radiated wastelands of an alien planet, where his Order has been working in secret to bring the word of God to the native beings, the Anhaels. He is being tasked as a witness, on a day that is integral to the Mission’s Divine Plan.
His faith in their Holy mission will be challenged as sees firsthand the methods being used to ‘save’ the Anhael people.”
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07JLVPMSL&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_9IObCbPGK5HKS
Military superheroes!
The tradition of service runs deep. For the Tsukuda men, it comes with telekinesis.
The Captain Kinetic codename, a fixture in the Army’s 11th Rangers battalion of supersoldiers for over six decades, rests firmly on Benjamin Tsukuda’s shoulders. His grandfather fought under the name in World War II and his father fought under the name in Vietnam. On the day Ben retires, his teenage son will inherit their legacy. Until then, he serves his nation as the stalwart leader of a squad dedicated to saving lives and stopping rogue supers.
When the team is dispatched to Brazil for a covert mission, dark omens send them crashing into a conspiracy moving swiftly enough to set the world on fire and cast shadows over generations to come. Ben must choose between honor, duty, orders, and family to protect all he holds dear, including his own life.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F8H73X7
My new novel, Losing Venice, (May, 2018, Rogue Dog Press, 4.9 stars) was just short-listed for the 2019 People’s Book Prize.
“A remarkable novel… only someone who has lived in Venice could write with such vivid detail, clarity and affection about her charms and annoyances.”
JoAnn Loctov, Dream of Venice
Surrounded by beauty, can you learn to live beautifully?
Travel marketing specialist Mark Vandermar leads an itinerant life. Elsewhere is where he calls home, so it’s no surprise when he’s called to Venice to craft the Venice Tourism Council’s new campaign to attract suddenly skittish American tourism.
Falling in love with the colorful campos and canals of Venice comes naturally but how far will he go to chase the love of the right woman?
Mark’s new life abroad unfolds against the rich history of Venice, Prague, and the Greek islands, where he encounters a cast of compelling characters that lead to life-changing consequences. The geography of his new life is marked with discovery and reinvention, but what he really seeks is to learn to live beautifully, to find a place and a person to call home.
“Like the finest expatriate novels, Losing Venice is as richly textured as its fabled locales and dives deeply into the possibilities, perils, and pleasures of learning how not to be lost.”
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Losing-Venice-Novel-Scott-Stavrou-ebook/dp/B07C5R4LHN
Additional outlets: https://www.books2read.com/LosingVenice
My Central Galactic Concordance space opera series is adventure, telepaths, mystery, and romance. Oh, and there might be a rebellion brewing in the big damn story arc. Seven books so far, with the next in January. Start with Overload Flux (book 1).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The galaxy enjoys 200 years of prosperity, thanks to the sprawling Citizen Protection Service. The agency uses any means necessary to keep the peace, from allying with giant pharma corporations and political maneuvering, to secret black-box projects with darker purposes.
The CPS also employs minders—people with telepathic and telekinetic talents—for service and security, and covert operations.
Being a minder isn’t easy—they are followed by fear and prejudice. But being a “person of interest,” or of use to the CPS is even worse. Throw in corruption, hidden agendas, planet-sized secrets, and space battles…
Your only hope for survival is to know who your friends are… and keep them close.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
OVERLOAD FLUX: https://books2read.com/u/4jwG25
Audiobook: https://itunes.apple.com/lu/audiobook/overload-flux-central-galactic-concordance-book-1-unabridged/id1422538091
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CENTRAL GALACTIC CONCORDANCE COLLECTION, Books 1-3
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{Thanks, John!}
My short story ‘The Missionaries’ now available on Amazon and for free with Kindle Unlimited.
“Father Thomas arrives in the radiated wastelands of an alien planet, where his Order has been working in secret to bring the word of God to the native beings, the Anhaels. He is being tasked as a witness, on a day that is integral to the Mission’s Divine Plan.
His faith in their Holy mission will be challenged as sees firsthand the methods being used to ‘save’ the Anhael people.”
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07JLVPMSL&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_9IObCbPGK5HKS
You can check out other work of mine at http://www.atsayre.com/fiction
Do you like your paranormal sprinkled with romance? Then I’m your next favorite author. They say to write about what you know and what you love – so I merged them together into fun adventures with ghosts, witches, and more.
My first book entitled Adrift is available to download for FREE from most digital booksellers (except Amazon which is being a pill, there it is listed as .99).
Here is the link https://www.books2read.com/b/Adrift and here is the official description.
ADRIFT: On the coast of California nestled between Los Angeles and San Francisco is the quaint village of Crescent Bay.
In the past, it was an active port for smugglers, but now it serves as a tourist destination for those seeking cute shops, seaside relaxation, and nautical history.
Part of Crescent Bay’s history sits on the outskirts of the village, an abandoned lighthouse overlooking the cliffs.
It is said that on foggy nights you can see the wispy figure of a woman standing on the gallery of the lighthouse, searching the sea. Some claim that they have seen her jump over the edge and plunge screaming to her death.
Two unsuspecting individuals land in Crescent Bay, a grieving woman seeking her future and an industrious man, longing to bring the lighthouse’s past back to life.
But sometimes the past wants to be left alone.
https://www.books2read.com/b/Adrift
My latest, published by a micro press that doesn’t have distribution as yet:
Skylark
“Earth. 2404 AD
Much of Canada has been annexed by an alien force known as the daemon. Raised in a Vancouver ghetto on the edge of daemon territory, Bennejin Skye is adopted into the United Space Corps and becomes the commander of the highly successful, if somewhat maverick, Strategic Team 6.
When the outermost interstellar Way Station suddenly ceases communications with Earth, Commander Skye and Team 6 are sent to investigate. They discover a new alien threat—the insectoid Ragnar, who move through space consuming resources like a virus.
Humanity and daemon-kind must unite in the fight to protect Earth. However, there are those within the United Council who believe this latest aggressor is daemon, and this faction will go to any length to rid Earth of her newest inhabitants.
Overpowered within the United Council, Commander Skye and Strategic Team 6 must turn rogue to save the alliance, or Earth and all who call it home are doomed.”
Purchase links, if your interested:
https://www.smcarriere.com/skylark.html
*you’re. DAMN IT! This is what I get for commenting before my coffee…
Thanks so much for this opportunity–I get so many great gift ideas from these posts!
She’s a fangirl with a huge secret. He’s a former Redclaw Security agent who’s inner wolf is no longer speaking to him. Pitted together for a valuable inheritance, they’re forced to work together when a series of increasingly dangerous accidents threaten their lives. Oh, and they just might be fated mates, too!
All Redclaw Security stories can be read as standalones
Just 99 cents through Christmas. Ghost of a Chance by McKenna Dean
http://a.co/d/0eBvuyb
Thank you for this opportunity, John.
Bitten by a werewolf. Taught by a vampire. At this rate, she’s going to start a war.
Jordan was an average college student until she was bitten by a werewolf and rescued by a vampire. Her smart mouth lands her in trouble with the hostile alpha of the local pack and the stiff-necked vampire elder. She now has less than a moon cycle to master shape changing… or else. And the besotted werewolf who started this whole mess is stalking Jordan, killing her friends.
In the Northern California town of Rancho Robles where the children of the Wolf and the Bat share an uneasy coexistence, one woman makes an epic mess of the status quo.
Chaos Wolf is available from major ebook retailers.
Was Prohibition really a period in American history when you couldn’t beg, borrow, or swipe a drink? Hell no! And the wettest State of all? Maryland! Yep, that’s right. Maryland was the only State that didn’t pass any laws restricting liquor. Can you say-free-for all? Better yet, say THE CHURCH AT PARKERS WHARF by Louise Gorday.
The old brick church at Parkers Wharf has endured the ravages of time and a War of 1812 naval bombardment, but can it survive the fallout from a 1920’s liquor war?
Jackson Dwyer would be hard pressed to remember the last time he attended church. But he has pined for Camilla McClelland—the teetotaling sweetheart who jilted him—for over thirty years, and fought the urge to drink for almost as long. He’s respected, financially secure, and energized by the prospect of marketing Ollie the Oyster crackers. And then, with Prohibition on the horizon, he is elected mayor and his life turns upside down. The bayside town of Nevis is overwhelmed by bootleggers, sniping temperance forces, and rumrunners seeking riches at any cost. With a tenacious reporter digging for a career-defining scoop, and racketeers knocking on his door, Mayor Dwyer struggles to strike a balance between Prohibition, the needs of the community, and his personal ethics.
https://www.amazon.com/Church-at-Parkers-Wharf-ebook/dp/B07BCHWBKB
(Thanks, Mr. Scalzi!)
Everybody loves a pirate, right? Well I do and you should. You can read all about pirates on Mars in any one of my three novels. They are The Mars Run, Pirates of Mars, and The Night Watch. Visit my Amazon author page for buying options.
You can follow a recipe… Now what?
Now you make those recipes your own. Put your own spin on things.
Not feeling very adventurous yet? No worries! In this book we’ll walk through a recipe — then we’ll change it up. We’ll turn it into something new. You’ll find tips for making ingredient swaps, have a chance to practice changes, and build your confidence.
https://www.amazon.com/Recipes-Merely-Suggestions-Rebecca-McKinnon/dp/1722302496/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1543933975&sr=8-1
MULTIVERSE COMICS and STORIES is a 100-page color comic book of goofy sci-fi/fantasy fun for adults and kids. It’s available in print/Kindle versions at Amazon.com:
https://www.amazon.com/Multiverse-Comics-Stories-Scott-Spencer-ebook/dp/B07BRCDVM5/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543933923&sr=8-1&keywords=multiverse+comics+and+stories
Sample pages are on view at Chimera Spoor: https://chimeraspoor.wordpress.com
Thanks, Mr. Scalzi.
The house is pristine and fully furnished—despite standing in an abandoned Detroit neighborhood.
Glenn (and his buddy Lennie) are supposed to clear it out. But go through the front door, and you immediately tumble out the back—without passing through the rooms between.
Things get complicated when Glenn accidentally finds a way to enter the house: There are impossible views out the windows, very unlikely books on the shelves, a severed foot on the mantle—and worse.
Now their crooked boss has sold the house to a pair of crooked cops, and Glenn has discovered what truly dwells in the crooked house.
If you like “golden age” Stephen King and Twilight Zone, or modern Lovecraftian cosmic horror, you’ll dig There Was a Crooked Man, He Flipped a Crooked House.
An “absorbing horror novella” (recommended read)—Rich Horton, Locus magazine.
Now available on Kindle and in paperback.
All right! Thanks, John, for this opportunity. My most recent book, Elixir, came out yesterday.
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07KGNG2VX&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_KgPbCbZ62TKZV
His country is shattered. His city is dying. Clay Foster is fighting a losing battle against the dark tide that threatens to engulf Brooklyn. Science stopped the rising of the ocean waters at seven meters, but it has found no answer for Elixir. The drug has infiltrated every stratum of society.
Terry is dead. at first he believed his wife’s death was an accident, but then he found The hair. the photo. the rearranged office. Who searched his home and hurled his wife from the balcony? What were they looking for, and what happened to her SynchDrive full of data?
To gain answers, he’ll visit the flooded, lawless slum of Red Hook, the dangerous ganglands of Crown Heights, the ruined hellscape of Union City, and the shining walled fortress of Manhattan.
In the process, he’ll stumble into a conspiracy that stretches far beyond the murder of one woman to touch countless millions in New York and beyond. At its end, Terry’s assassin awaits.
—
You can get the first three chapters for FREE as well as find purchase links for all major eBook retailers at https://elixirnovel.com!
The Steel Discord is a magitech train heist:
Zarachius Skie is presumed dead.
His mentor, the Arcanist Mordekai Gethsemane, had been arrested for conspiracy to commit regicide. Zarachius knew it was false. He did what had to, and snuck onto a military train to break Mordekai out.
But now, the Ancien Legion, vengeful anarchists, and Mordekai’s old co-conspirators are doing whatever it takes to bring Zarachius out of hiding. They need to know what he knows.
They need to know the secret he uncovered on that train.
https://www.amazon.com/Steel-Discord-Concerto-Days-Book-ebook/dp/B07KXK887B/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1543934527&sr=8-2&keywords=the+steel+discord
Thanks for the opportunity!
What do you get when you throw The Lord of the Rings, Catch-22, Monty Python, and Hunter S. Thompson into a blender? An epic fantasy novel that goes to 11.
Low-level adventurer Elberon of the Isles has a problem. Through a chance encounter with a mysterious woman, he’s come into possession of a horned skull that keeps screaming at him—and whenever it screams, it summons hordes of monsters to kill him.Even worse, this screaming skull may in fact be the very skull of the Deathless One, the dark wizard who last appeared five hundred years ago to conquer the Free Kingdoms. Can Elberon and his friends learn the secret of the Screaming Skull before the evil forces arrayed against them can kill him dead? And more importantly, where can a simple fighter get a stiff drink around here?
The Screaming Skull is the first volume of the epic and hilarious heavy-metal fantasy trilogy The Chronicles of Elberon. If you like fantasy heroes who curse like sailors, party like rock stars, and battle vicious Hellspawn, time-traveling dragons, and a terrifying Rat King, then you’ll love Rick Ferguson’s epic tale of high adventure that turns the fantasy fiction genre on its head.
This e-book edition features four interior illustrations by renowned fantasy artist Obsidian Abnormal.
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07K2G4HSB&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_moPbCbP97F8M9
Do you like romance, Thanksgiving, or serious fanfiction tropes?
Checked Baggage: A Thanksgiving Romance
When Faris has to take a trip back to his family’s home in Lebanon to handle his grandmother’s estate, he finds himself caught between the world he left and the world he’s built himself in the United States. After an exhausting stay with his boisterous extended family, all he wants is a quiet trip home and a chance to rest before Thanksgiving with his parents in Massachusetts. But the weather has different plans for him.
Charlie’s father left when he was a toddler, and he’s never gotten a chance to connect with his paternal roots. A trip to the village his grandparents left in the 1930s gave him the facts but left him yearning for a connection he still didn’t feel.
When both men are stuck in Beirut for the night, can they find the feeling they’re both missing and make it home in time for Thanksgiving?
(M/M contemporary romance novelette, $2.99)
How about queer fairytales?
Once Upon a Rainbow, Volume Three
This anthology features a selection of awesome fairytales full of queer characters, including my story, Loose in the Heel, Tight in the Toe:
Catherine’s life was different before her stepmother took charge of the family. When her father was alive, she’d been the treasured daughter and the heir to his textile empire. Now she’s just her stepmother’s servant.
Prince Heinrich doesn’t want to marry, but as the only heir to the throne he knows he must. When a mysterious woman at the ball in his honor is completely unimpressed by him, he’s intrigued. Could she be the partner he’s been looking for? And when catastrophe strikes both their lives, how can their arrangement hold together?
(Queerplatonic fantasy in anthology, $5.99)
Check out the rest of my work at valetinewheeler.com!
Thank you for doing this every year, John!
Hi, everyone! I’m a queer, indie author. My most recent book is The Ice Princess’s Fair Illusion, a queerplatonic f/f retelling of King Thrushbeard.
“Happiness can be found where you least expect it.
All Marian wants is for society to accept that she’s just not interested in… whatever society thinks she ought to be interested in. Unfortunately, society doesn’t agree with her and in a fit of temper her father announces that he’ll give her hand in marriage to the first beggar to arrive at the gate to a ball room full of guests.
Edel was visiting only to ensure her daughter inherits a strong and peaceful kingdom when she’s of age. She certainly didn’t expect to be trading her life in riches for one in rags to save a girl she barely knows from a fate she herself was only lucky to avoid. But a mock marriage won’t hurt either of them. Probably.
They only need to keep up the ruse for a few months, after all, but that ruse soon turns into something else entirely and the two women learn that love, and happiness, are far more complicated than stories say. Also how does one undo an enchantment when True Love’s Kiss is not happening?”
The Ice Princess’s Fair Illusion is available from all major retailers as an ebook.
Thank you, John!
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DESTINY CAN BE CHANGED
Jutland, Denmark: a billionaire industrialist seizes control of a top-secret project that the European Defence Agency calls Destiny, manipulating it for his own ends.
Edinburgh, Scotland: physicist Neil Aldridge’s life is saved by an elite EU special forces team, codenamed KESTREL, drawing him into a race against time to prevent a disaster that will claim millions of lives.
As the chase leads to London, Amsterdam and beyond, Aldridge and his allies must battle a ruthless adversary: a trained killer with an unnatural ability, who seeks to hasten the cataclysm.
With time running out, Aldridge discovers that he and his enemy share an astonishing secret, which may be the key to salvation — or cause death on an unprecedented scale…
Amazon 🇺🇸 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HD60P5I/
Amazon 🇬🇧 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01HD60P5I/
Amazon 🇨🇦 https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01HD60P5I/
Amazon 🇦🇺 https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01HD60P5I/
Apple Books http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1126305995
OF DICE AND MEN, my second novel, is out now! It’s a coming-of-age story about an obsessive, adolescent dorkasaurus who sets herself a virginity-loss deadline and things…do not go according to plan.
Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1731411502 (eBook comes free with purchase of the paperback!)
If you’re more of a horror, thriller, suspense kind of reader then please check out…
JUNKYARD LEOPARD
Mary is a young woman who’s unaware she’s dealing with her anxiety by putting on a costume and slaughtering corrupt Wall Street bankers.
She only wants to be happy.
Get the paperback (and eBook for free) here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1790374995
Or just the eBook here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KX6RJPK
Motherhood doesn’t always look like the sentiments from a greeting card.
“Both Sides of My Skin” by Elizabeth Trach is a collection of four short stories that explore the reality of pregnancy and motherhood, from the uncertainty of waiting for pregnancy test results to the strange feeling of not being in control of your own body during pregnancy, labor, and the sometimes suffocating routines of parenting young children. The stories take an unflinching look at the changes motherhood brings, and also challenge our ideas of what stories are worth telling and what it means to be the lead character in your own story when key events are beyond your control.
A great gift for the women in your life who want — actually, need! — to see their experiences represented on the page. Trach’s writing has been described as “powerful,” “gorgeous and captivating,” and “unflinchingly honest.”
Available as an ebook and paperback at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Both-Sides-Skin-Elizabeth-Trach-ebook/dp/B0771KSJ9G
Greetings! This comic book is a one-shot titled inFusion and is only $1.99 on ComiXology.
In this tale of space oddity, humans mine Helium 3 from gas giant planets throughout their inter-stellar colonies, and though plentiful, it drives their economies. Balloon-World space stations are placed in the upper atmospheres of He3 rich planets where hyper-velocity winds swirl and rampage. A human crew tends to the gas collection, administration, and external repairs of the hull called the Skin. A sleep-cheat and a daydreaming doctor must solve a mystery when the Wind-Striders, who repair the Skin, disappear and a deadly A.L.F. (alien life form) begins to attack. They must resolve the problematic equation or lose time, life, and worst of all for the corporate sponsors, money. A late second discovery is infused into the turmoil and a terrible choice must be made.
The lettering was done by the acclaimed Taylor Esposito of DC, Marvel and Image renown.
https://www.comixology.com/inFusion/digital-comic/551519
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OF DICE AND MEN, my second novel, is out now! It’s a coming-of-age story about an obsessive, adolescent dorkasaurus who sets herself a virginity-loss deadline and things…do not go according to plan.
Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1731411502 (eBook comes free with purchase of the paperback!)
Some content was stripped by our security filters, but it should be possible for one of your Editors to embed the content for you.
JUNKYARD LEOPARD
Mary is a young woman who’s unaware she’s dealing with her anxiety by putting on a costume and slaughtering corrupt Wall Street bankers.
She only wants to be happy.
Get the paperback (and eBook for free) here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1790374995
Thanks for allowing us indie authors to promote here today, John! And happy holidays to you!
Hi, all! My most recent book is When We Were Forgotten, which can be purchased in both paperback and Kindle formats.
When We Were Forgotten is like The Hunger Games, without the games, meets The Handmaid’s Tale, but is set on a space station orbiting a near future Earth that is crumbling under the destructive hands of an authoritarian government and rapid climate change.
Both versions can be found at: https://www.amazon.com/When-Were-Forgotten-Amanda-Cook/dp/0990386848/
Thanks, and enjoy!
Thank you, John!
Agents, Adepts & Apprentices is a collection of science fiction and fantasy short stories. Tales of wizards training apprentices and interstellar operatives protecting more primitive worlds. How one university copes with a student from very far away, and where do some wizards get their supplies? A wizard seeking an apprentice won’t take no for an answer, and a would-be apprentice attempts the impossible to find a mentor. A twin discovers her sister’s new job is a lot different than she expects. And what’s the deal with the cat whiskers? The first four stories are available to read free at the publisher’s website, which also has Amazon, Kobo, and Nook links.
Available at :
https://www.amazon.com/Silence-Fog-Jawann-Fleet-ebook/dp/B07HQRBDDT
(In kindle or paperback form)
SUMMARY
Fleet’s kaleidoscopic debut is a multi-narrative tale, of it depicting realms, ORBcap, brewing tension and multitudes of set-pieces. All in their collective scope portraying a tale of helmers, personnel and civilians attempting to cope with the strains and toils of everyday life.
SYNOPSIS
Silence With The Fog is a novella in the speculative genre. The work takes place in an alternate world, and focuses specifically on a entity within the world/realm called Xeis (which is also the intended setting/universe for other works). Regarding narrative structure the work is split into two parts titled “Xeis” and “Incarnations”. The first part “Xeis” is pretty self-explanatory in and of itself consisting of 41 short stories, I call them “set-pieces” which paints an initial portrait of the Xeisian region and essentially begins to point to questions of how this region which seems to be industrial (rather than technologically-advanced), rather primitive and wholly passive (in response to more aggressive neighboring powers) manages to retain towering status within the realm for Incars. (Incars is short for incarnations and basically refers to a initial period of 999 earth-days.)
The second piece “Incarnations” is a loose, diffuse, kaleidoscopic, multi-narrative tale depicting the sentiments of helmers of a unique field, sport or game attribution called ORBcap and reflects how they come to clarity amidst the tenets of the field where everything isn’t exactly as it seems and of sites and scapes “clouded with fog”. This fog attribution being a reference not only to thick, dense packets of clouds but also of vampiric drainage systems, emeraldean aether layers, wooded forests and more…
Thanks so much for doing this, John!
***
What happens when a simple two-part cargo-hauling job with a tight deadline pays too well?
Captain Alisa Marchenko was ready to settle down to a quiet life of cargo hauling with her finance, Leonidas, her daughter and crew. Alisa’s troubles begin after the Star Nomad takes on a cargo of kitchen equipment on Baku Moon, and heads to pick up the second part of the shipment on Sherran Moon.
When the layover on Sherran Moon lasts longer than planned, the Nomad disappears out from under Alisa’s nose. With only the cyborg Leonidas and the Starseers Abelardus and Young-Hee to help her, she must find out why her ship vanished, what happened to the rest of her crew, and how the mysterious cargo ties into it all, or they’ll be stranded indefinitely.
Taking place shortly after the events in End Game by Lindsay Buroker, Spice Crimes is a rousing space adventure set in Lindsay Buroker’s exciting Fallen Empire universe.
This novel was originally published as part of the Kindle Worlds program and has been republished with the permission of Fallen Empire author and creator Lindsay Buroker.
Available in all eBook formats. http://daleivansmith.com/book/spice-crimes-a-fallen-empire-title/
Hello, my name is Mona, and I’m here to promote HIS ANIMAL INSTINCT! “From wolves to leopards, alphas to omegas, these men can change their shape… but they can’t change who they love.”
Some years ago, I got together with friends to create a whole anthology of m/m shifter romance, with our collective profits going to OutRight International. You get nine sexy romances for just three bucks, with lawyers, alpha and omega wolves, spies and more.
Obviously, I’d love it if you bought, loved, and bought books we’re selling for money, too, but times being as they are, I thought I might dust this one off and promote our good cause this year.
https://www.amazon.com/His-Animal-Instinct-Tales-Pleasure-ebook/dp/B01DPYIDTM/
Thanks as always for doing this, John!
Malaika is a barista that works in the big city… just trying to make a living. For some reason, she now has a demon and an angel following her around because they were ordered to. Life is about to change drastically for Mal, her best friend Ven, and her ultra conservative roomie, Aaya. Some evil corporation has kicked off Armageddon ahead of time and started a war between angels and demons… all centered around Mal. Mal-adaptive is available on Amazon as an eBook and also paperback (5-star rating so far).
If you like Mal, I have another novel about a kid that finds out he has any super power he could ever imagine… and how to deal with the consequences in Unlimited (also available as an eBook and paperback – 4-star rating so far).
All my books and short stories are completely free if you have Kindle Unlimited, too.
http://mybook.to/MBMal
A dishonorable discharge left Margo unable to find honest work on Earth. Signing onto a colonizing mission to a new world promised a fresh start. Or at least that’s what she’d thought. Strapped into a crashing colony ship, she realized how wrong she’d been.
On the ground, the straight forward colonizing mission becomes a scramble for survival. Accidents keep happening—too many to be just bad luck. Margo finds a trail of evidence that changes everything. One colonist is a saboteur, but who?
Available everywhere! https://books2read.com/b/bMre7v
Or check out the first two chapters here: http://jeannettebedard.com/settler-chronicles/
Petunia’s tired of being overlooked just because she’s six inches tall. She gets lost at home among her bazillion brothers, sisters, and cousins. Even her own parents don’t remember her name! And no one ever takes a pixie seriously. But when the Enchanted Forest is threatened, can she measure up to the task?
When Petunia’s best friend, Millie, offers a vacation at her house, Petunia jumps at the chance. Cooking for Millie’s witch of a mother and babysitting a tree should be easy, right? But when an epidemic of spickle pox hits the Enchanted Forest, and Millie’s mother comes down with a mysterious illness, Petunia must pitch in to brew cures as quickly as she can, even if that means using up all her pixie dust.
And when the cure doesn’t work as well as it should, it’s up to Petunia to figure out how to change the formula to save the Enchanted Forest, while living up to all the promises she’s made.
A PIXIE’S PROMISE is a magical 55,000-word middle grades novel and the sequel to A WITCH’S KITCHEN. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1940924340
Two options:
1. Middle grade / YA sci-fi adventure
2. Old-fashioned mysteries with a touch of cozy
1. The Balky Point Adventures: Sometimes a lighthouse is more than just a lighthouse. Go on a journey of adventure through space and time with aliens, time travel, ghost planets, and infinite universes in The Balky Point Adventures, starting with The Universes Inside the Lighthouse! A Wrinkle in Time meets Doctor Who. There are three books in the series, so if you are a parent / aunt / uncle / grandparent / friend of a young one, and you want to get the prize for best gift of the year, buy the whole set! (Or buy it for yourself!)
“5 out of 5 stars! I love finding a new book with well developed characters, and a huge dollop of uniqueness!”
Discover the wonder and imagination when everything is possible in The Universes Inside the Lighthouse!
2. Final Chapter: For Megan Montaigne, library director, living in the top floor of the mansion-turned-library is a dream come true. At least it was, before the murders started. The small-town library director has always secretly wanted to be a forensics investigator. But when a local celebrity turns up dead, the time has come to put her sleuthing fantasies into action. Has she unwittingly invited the murderer into her own home?
“5 out of 5 stars! A fantastically well-written novel with characters so real that one might reach out and touch them.”
Immerse in yourself in a cozy with a philosophical twist in Final Chapter.
Death at Glacier Lake: An atmospheric whodunit for fans of traditional and cozy mysteries! For two decades, the lush, isolated forests of the North Cascades have hidden a secret. Now, twenty years later, a mysterious contest has brought Mindy Harris back to the area she thought she’d left behind forever. A seemingly innocent creative design firm shows up for a company retreat, but all goes awry when one of their own turns up dead.
“5 out of 5 stars! The pace was just right for an evening spent curled up on the couch with a book. The whodunit plot kept me guessing throughout with an air of the murder mystery dinner party you have with your friends.”
Set aside your evening because you won’t be able to put Death at Glacier Lake down!
Available at :
https://www.amazon.com/Silence-Fog-Jawann-Fleet-ebook/dp/B07HQRBDDT
SUMMARY
Fleet’s kaleidoscopic debut is a multi-narrative tale, of it depicting realms, ORBcap, brewing tension and multitudes of set-pieces. All in their collective scope portraying a tale of helmers, personnel and civilians attempting to cope with the strains and toils of everyday life.
SYNOPSIS
Silence With The Fog is a novella in the speculative genre. The work takes place in an alternate world, and focuses specifically on a entity within the world/realm called Xeis (which is also the intended setting/universe for other works). Regarding narrative structure the work is split into two parts titled “Xeis” and “Incarnations”. The first part “Xeis” is pretty self-explanatory in and of itself consisting of 41 short stories, I call them “set-pieces” which paints an initial portrait of the Xeisian region and essentially begins to point to questions of how this region which seems to be industrial (rather than technologically-advanced), rather primitive and wholly passive (in response to more aggressive neighboring powers) manages to retain towering status within the realm for Incars. (Incars is short for incarnations and basically refers to a initial period of 999 earth-days.)
The second piece “Incarnations” is a loose, diffuse, kaleidoscopic, multi-narrative tale depicting the sentiments of helmers of a unique field, sport or game attribution called ORBcap and reflects how they come to clarity amidst the tenets of the field where everything isn’t exactly as it seems and of sites and scapes “clouded with fog”. This fog attribution being a reference not only to thick, dense packets of clouds but also of vampiric drainage systems, emeraldean aether layers, wooded forests and more…
Jo Mann is down to her last few dollars and looking for work when she bumps into (literally) Professor Alistair Conn who is looking for an assistant. Soon she is swept into a world of action and adventure Steampunk style. With a thinking automaton, train rides, airships, and a dastardly villain, The Marvelous Mechanical Man starts the series off with a bang! Available for Kindle for 99 cents. To find out more about the series, and read the first chapters of all five books, check out The Conn-Mann Chronicles website–https://theconnmannchronicles.com/novels/–and enjoy a New York City that never exactly was.
Do you like science fiction? Do you like football?
If so, I welcome you to check out my novelette “The Anachronism” — a speculative fiction story about a human quarterback in a future football league dominated by robots. Kind of like Scalzi’s Head On novels.
Originally included as part of the “Ancient New” anthology by Deepwood Publishing, The Anachronism is now available for stand-alone digital download on Amazon.
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I’ve been told that Matryoschka’s Heritage is a thriller, a genre-bending Sci-Fi, a clear-eyed exploration of PC and non-PC gender roles, and an examination of what is real. Other people talk about first-encounter ethics, intra-species accountability, and existensialism.
I’m happy that different people get so many different things from my humble offerings.
>>For me, it’s a fun-to-read novel series (4 so far), and if you wish, to ponder. For the person or book club that wants to dig down, there are reader questions at the end of the book.
“Matryoschka” is out now, still in pre-release discounts. The back-cover blurb:
When a quantum energy experiment goes horribly wrong, it accidentally shatters the future allowing alternative pasts to co-exist.
As Alexandria Jane Merk passes through the nexus of the effect, she splits into two identities-each with full histories of their own-merged into one body.
One identity, Army veteran Alex James Monroe, remembers a life full of failure and loss. The second identity, freshman college coed Sarah Beth Merk, remembers a difficult childhood in a suburban upbringing. Both sense each other but neither believes the other really exists.
To survive, they must accept their shared fates and find the person responsible for the fission before time runs out. Because if they fail, they will not only die, but they will also take everyone they have ever known with them.
A mind-bending journey into existentialism and the interconnectedness of the human race.
To purchase at
>>Your local bookstore https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781732942806
>>Amazon and all other distributors: https://bit.ly/2zzXKsa
“His new face is cyan neoprene, deadpan under slicked black hair. His jumpsuit, white satin. Cursive embroidery on the chest, magenta silk thread, spelling: Polymer.”
I wrote my novella Polymer based on a premise which, I think, no reader of good taste should be able to resist: Castlevania meets Purple rain. It’s about celebrity monster hunters in the neon Gothic city of Sickleburg. It’s full of horrifying creatures, synth-based magic, and potatoes. It was released earlier this year from Eraserhead Press, a small but awesome publisher of Bizarro and other weird things.
https://www.amazon.com/Polymer-Caleb-Wilson/dp/1621052559
I’m the editor of The Billfold, and we just published our first book: Frugal and the Beast and Other Financial Fairy Tales. If you like personal finance, fairy tales, parodies, or tongue-in-cheek cultural commentary, check it out! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K5X8S5N
You can also read the title story for free: https://www.thebillfold.com/2018/03/financial-fairy-tales-frugal-and-the-beast/
Portal fantasy with a healthy dose of Greek mythology!
Getting into a Parisian art school was a dream come true for Ariana, but night terrors are disrupting her sleep, making it nearly impossible to complete her coursework, and now she faces expulsion.
When a mysterious woman gives her a pendant, promising it will solve her problems, Ariana is desperate enough to try it.
Instead of sweet dreams, it transports her to the Demos Oneiroi – the dream world of the ancient Greek gods – and thrusts her amidst a war between the gods.
Now Ariana must choose to let the gods fight amongst themselves, or risk everything to keep their feud from spilling into the real world.
https://www.amazon.com/Moonflower-Oneiroi-War-Book-ebook/dp/B071ZZYXZQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543938880&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=the+moonflower+kim+may&dpPl=1&dpID=51AUUvS9CnL&ref=plSrch
Thanks, John!
Here’s my latest, KLONE’S STRONGHOLD.
In a world of supernatural beings, not knowing what you are is dangerous.
After Reeni Dutta’s ex-husband Karl attacks her at a music festival, she finds a refuge teaching cryptid construct children at Klone’s Stronghold in northeastern Oregon’s isolated Bucket Mountains. But things are not as they seem at the Stronghold, from the older proprietors of a nearby store and the Stronghold’s leader Alexander Reed Klone, to Reeni herself. She discovers it’s not just Karl who seeks to control who and what she is, but forces from her past that threaten her present. Can she learn the truth about herself and do what is needed in time to defend the Stronghold?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DVXFZ9H
https://www.books2read.com/u/m2vZDG
Petunia’s tired of being overlooked just because she’s six inches tall. She gets lost at home among her bazillion brothers, sisters, and cousins. Even her own parents don’t remember her name! And no one ever takes a pixie seriously. But when the Enchanted Forest is threatened, can she measure up to the task?
When Petunia’s best friend, Millie, offers a vacation at her house, Petunia jumps at the chance. Cooking for Millie’s witch of a mother and babysitting a tree should be easy, right? But when an epidemic of spickle pox hits the Enchanted Forest, and Millie’s mother comes down with a mysterious illness, Petunia must pitch in to brew cures as quickly as she can, even if that means using up all her pixie dust.
And when the cure doesn’t work as well as it should, it’s up to Petunia to figure out how to change the formula to save the Enchanted Forest, while living up to all the promises she’s made.
A PIXIE’S PROMISE is a magical 55,000-word middle grades novel, the sequel to A WITCH’S KITCHEN. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JFHQJ3H
Space Rogues 3: The Behemoth Job is available for Pre-order (Releases 12/24). All three books are available on all platforms (https://johnwilker.com/book/space-rogues-3-the-behemoth-job/)
The crew of the Ghost finds themselves working for an old boss that they don’t like, but the money is good, great actually. On top of working for someone they hate, they end up having to deal with spider-bears. SPIDER-BEARS!
There’s space battles, daring rescues, and as the crew calls them, plenty of Earthisms.
Spark & Change
Frannie’s a low-powered fae library school student, Shirl’s a shifter and shy about it. They tumble into bed and into each other’s lives in this sweetly explicit paranormal romance novelette.
The Lesbian Review called it “adorable,” the Pink Heart Society review summed up the heat level as “wowsa,” and Planet Jinxatron put it on their list of “15 Fantasy Romance Novels to Sweep You Away!” Plus it’s only $.99–put a little paranormal hotness in someone’s virtual stocking!
https://www.amazon.com/Spark-Change-Kellum-Jeffries-ebook/dp/B07H3FGTLQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543937472&sr=8-1&keywords=spark+%26+change
Written in the early 90s and first published as a short and then in serial form, Boomerang is now available collected. It is a GenX first novel that is utterly set in the early 90s written by someone experiencing the early 90s as a young GenX’er … The ebook is a buck; collected and now online. It came out print on demand in paperback for the first time this fall for a few dollars more.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BX121P6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3 (download)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729145442/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0 (paperback)
Bloodborne Pathogens is a dark, gritty UF series that follows Mina Sun…little sister, orphan, reluctant vampire.
In A Scarlet Fever, Mina wakes up after a night of partying to find herself caught in the middle of an ancient battle between mostly good and unapologetically evil. And with a thirst for blood.
As she struggles to adapt to her new life, and come to terms with her unnatural thirst and unexpected hungers, a new threat arises – part terrifying myth, part half-forgotten legend. It jeopardizes the precarious ceasefire between warring vampire factions, and puts everything she loves – her city, her family, her friends – in danger.
Book 1: A Scarlet Fever
Book 2: A Plague of Shadows
Thanks once again to John Scalzi for providing a promo opp.
So here’s a 5-story collection of short tales about various apocalypses, for the price of a coffee. Both the coffee and book will wake you up! Come dance to the End of the World!
Apocalypse Tango (Science Fiction)
http://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Tango-Dale-T-Phillips-ebook/dp/B00HOOY7AY/ref=tmm_kin_title_0
“His new face is cyan neoprene, deadpan under slicked black hair. His jumpsuit, white satin. Cursive embroidery on the chest, magenta silk thread, spelling: Polymer.”
I wrote my novella Polymer based on a premise which, I think, no reader of good taste should be able to resist: Castlevania meets Purple rain. It’s about celebrity monster hunters in the neon Gothic city of Sickleburg. It’s full of horrifying creatures, synth-based magic, and potatoes. It was released earlier this year from Eraserhead Press, a small but awesome publisher of Bizarro and other weird things.
https://www.amazon.com/Polymer-Caleb-Wilson/dp/1621052559
Thank you, John!
My latest work of fiction is my award-winning children’s chapter book, Wondry Dragon Finds a Home.
Follow the adventures of Wondry Dragon as she finds a new home with her new human friend, Rhea. Rhea and her mom and dad have never had a dragon in the house before, and they all learn what Wondry can and cannot do. Rhea and Wondry play together, help out their neighbors…and try to stay out of trouble. Rhea can never tell what Wondry will do next.
You can find this and more of my books at http://joanmarieverba.com
Need some classic Gothic fun?
It’s easy to check in to historic Kernroote Castle but checking out could be a different story.
Newly divorced Becca Winters hopes to write away her sorrows on an extended stay at the new Kernroote Castle hotel. Unfortunately, the Castle and its companions may have other plans for her.
The desk clerk is creepily serious and cold. The hallways are too silent and dark. Footsteps without a source thunder down the halls at night. Gardens change before Becca’s eyes. Certain she is having a breakdown, Becca intends to tough it out. However, even she has to acknowledge what her senses are telling her.
Unfortunately, her acceptance comes too late. Her tires are slashed and she is trapped at Kernroote.
Now, in order to save her own life, Becca must unravel the horrifying secrets of the ancient castle and the family that lives there.
https://www.amazon.com/Unnatural-Secrets-Bonnie-Elizabeth-ebook/dp/B07GBLMBZ6/
Thank you, John, for allowing us to advertise our wares here.
I have a Patreon where I post short stories, poems, novellas and the occasinal Zen Brush doodle.
You can read everything I publish if you become a Patron. I also sell my self-published books there, with a discount for Patrons, of course. So far I have self-published a collection of very noir children’s stories and a novella for grown-ups: a strange story about love and death, abandoned metro stations and a Sandman mural in New York.
The Patreon site is here: http://www.patreon.com/janthie
Here’s an old post with links to thirteen free short stories and poems: https://www.patreon.com/JanThie/posts?tag=1st%20Anniversary%20post
Enjoy your visit, if you come visit.
Looking for a short, cute comic full of New England autumnal warmth? Try my first ever graphic novel, The Golden Seeds.
The Golden Seeds tells the tale of two siblings, Chester and Mabel, who must learn to get along as they quest across the countryside in search of the mystical golden seeds, the only thing that can save their village from famine. But the journey is long and dangerous, and the seeds are guarded by a dangerous creature. The siblings must learn to trust in each other in order to succeed.
Each page is carefully illustrated and colored in a warm palette of fall hues, with inviting landscapes and creative creatures.
You can order a copy for $10 by messaging me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SirJoshington
His magic is real.
His enemies are horrific.
And his exams are a nightmare.
Dr. Alastair Stone, charming British expat with a black belt in sarcasm, lives a double life: occult studies professor at a prestigious Bay Area university, and powerful mage who battles arcane forces that would blow most normal people’s minds. Follow his adventures in this Amazon-bestselling series, starting with this value-pack edition of the first four novels.
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You can also get two free novellas by joining the mailing list at http://www.alastairstonechronicles.com
Thanks to John for the chance to post this, and hope everyone has a happy holiday season!
For the Doctor Who fans in your life! A book covering 88 of the Doctor’s companions, from Susan all the way up to Graham, Yaz and Ryan! In between you’ll find companions from television, audios, novels and comics, all written by different authors. Our contributors include three of the actors from the show — Katy Manning, Daphne Ashbrook and Mark Strickson (who wrote the book’s introduction) — plus well-known authors, four librarians, two ukulelists, a playwright, podcasters, publishers, students, Big Finish scriptwriters, writers and artists from the various comic book lines, and more. You can pick up a copy here:
https://www.amazon.com/Children-Time-Companions-Doctor-Who/dp/1987715985/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VJZ1SGBKFG270A4S211A
Two’s Company:
Medusa “Deuce” Grainger is smart, confident, and as good a pilot as she is a poker player. A freelance shuttle jockey working for an independent terraforming company, she’s left her former life, and her father, behind. Mostly.
Now, her AI has downloaded another Personality off a wrecked ship, and he’s acting oddly ever since. Someone wants to sabotage her friend’s company out of business, evidence of tampering is being corrupted, and people have died. With an investigation looming that could shut down the company and cut off her main source of income, Deuce needs to figure out what’s going on. And she needs to do it fast, because there’s more at stake than anyone realizes.
Two’s Company is my latest scifi space opera novel It is available at Amazon in both paperback and ebook form, and as an ebook just about everywhere. Links and such can be found here: https://makropp.com/books/ Please note: the ebook is on presale now, but will be available on 12/18, so in time for Christmas.
https://makropp.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/twos-company-coverthumb.jpg?w=900
Girls, Boys, Robots – Everyone is welcome here!
This stellar collection will appeal to both teens and grown-ups who dream of future worlds. ~Kirkus Starred Review
What’s it like to be a space station detective? To be homesick for Mars? What do you say when your robot gets you in trouble?
Join the adventures of a diverse cast of characters in this year’s Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide, featuring award-winning writers alongside great new voices. If you’re lucky, you might even learn how to raise a dragon from a chicken egg or where to find the best space treasure.
2018 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide
Thanks for this opportunity! We really appreciate it.
In the waning days of World War I, an English lord is sent home from the front to recover. But he has a secret: his wounds were cursed never to heal until he learns to love and finds love in return. A nurse with a magical secret of her own is hired to care for him.
Beauty and the Beast meets the Great War. Downton Abbey with magic. If this sounds right up your (or a loved one’s) alley, check out Poppies and Roses, available via Amazon Kindle:
https://www.amazon.com/Poppies-Roses-Retelling-Beauty-Beast-ebook/dp/B07DD7JM1S/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=CAJAYYYM3STW1Q9GHT0F
Non-fiction, for some more bling in your life:
Learn how to do Medieval gold embroidery with this book!
Basic techniques are explained with plenty of photos, and close-ups of Medieval embroidered pieces give you a rare insight in how the originals look close-up. Also available as part of a package to stitch your own fleur-de-lis, complete with prepared embroidery ground, gold and silk thread, needles and additional instructions, so you can get started right away.
Thanks for your generosity, sir!
First book in bestselling steampunk series is free …
London, 1889. Victoria is Queen. Charles Darwin’s son is Prime Minister. And steam is the power that runs the world.
Claire Trevelyan, daughter of Viscount St. Ives, was expected to do nothing more than catch a rich husband. Unfortunately, Claire’s talents lie not in the ballroom, but in the chemistry lab, where things have a regrettable habit of blowing up. When her father gambles the estate on the combustion engine and loses, Claire finds herself down and out on the mean streets of London. But being a young woman of resources and intellect, she turns fortune on its head. It’s not long before a new leader rises in the underworld, known only as the Lady of Devices …
https://www.amazon.com/Lady-Devices-steampunk-adventure-Magnificent-ebook/dp/B0053CYXS0/
Is the island paradise?
Or does a nightmare lurk beneath the surface?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K9TR032
When a mysterious island appears off the coast of San Francisco, two intrepid academics risk everything to discover its secrets. Catilen Taylor has struggled all her life with the ability to sense others’ emotions. Damian Cooke studies an ancient art he calls ‘magic.’
The island boasts an idyllic retreat, ruled by the enigmatic Sentomoru, who invites them to share the wonders of his bathhouse. But as the travelers strive to unravel the island’s secrets, Catilen senses danger stalking their steps.
Neither Catilen nor Damian know how long the island will remain on Earth. If they can’t solve its riddles quickly, they may be trapped wherever it goes when it vanishes.
PENNY HARPER, the latest novel from Jack Beltane
Twenty years after breaking up with him, high-school girlfriend Penny Harper reconnects with Jack, forcing him to finally confront what happened at the end of the summer he turned sixteen. As a midlife meditation on the loss of innocence, wrapped in teen drama, Penny Harper exposes how adult neurosis grows from the wiry tendrils of teenage crisis.
Sometimes the past is so close it hurts. It hurts because the distance in the air between then and now seems small enough to close, if only we could stretch back far enough.
“Jack Beltane writes about memories and music the way Jack White Plays guitar…” —Eric Anderson, author of “The Parable of the Room Spinning”
Available from Amazon (print and Kindle):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1929309236
Thanks for opportunity, John!
I’d like to suggest my SF adventure novel “Ancestors and Descendants”, book-1 in the Saga of Bob.
Bob has spent much of his life crisscrossing the galaxy trying to protect people from the ancient evils, horrors, and demons that lurk among the stars; fearsome creatures that consider humans as mere nothings, if they bother with humans at all.
Some call them monsters.
Bob calls them family.
Now he has discovered evidence of an insidious and corrupting influence spreading across the galaxy, threatening his family and all of humanity. Unsure of who he can trust, Bob must fight to uncover the truth and find a way to save everyone. He will discover there are no perfect solutions, and all come with a price
http://damnfoolpress.com/BrianGreiner/my-books/ancestors-and-descendants/
Thanks for this opportunity!
I have five self-published sci-fi books but would like to particularly recommend one of my favorites, “Gnatz!” It’s about a near-future paparazzo who uses a swarm of microdrones to spy on celebrities. He stumbles onto a puzzling (and deadly) drama involving the cast of a popular Disney Channel–style kids’ TV show—which, for several reasons, hits way too close to his own life. He gets tangled up in the situation, has to go into hiding, and finds himself needing to explain himself to his estranged teenage daughter. The book is his maybe-not-so-reliably-narrated letter to her.
This is my darkest book (touches on PTSD) but is also a ton of fun. And you’d rather read about a wisecracking robotic lemur or a rhubarb pie recipe that threatens the entire human race, take a look at my website. I have you covered.
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B073NWLB9H&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_TdRbCb9HV0DR4
This book’s been out for a few years, but of everything I’ve written, this particular series is one of my favorites. (Plus, I’m currently working on book #4, so…)
Danny Bannon and Eddie Roscoe have been fighting in and out of the ring for more than fifteen years, held together by mutual attraction and small-town ties, yet kept apart by a shared tragedy that continues to haunt them. Their steady on-again off-again is shaken up by the arrival of Tom Delaney, a teenage runaway trying to escape his tense home situation and his punch-happy dad.
In no time, the scrawny homeless kid has shown himself to be a boxing prodigy, and building him up brings Danny and Eddie closer than they’ve been in ages. It seems that the three of them, plus Eddie’s mother, Gloria, are forming a new family unit, much tighter than anything Tom experienced in his difficult past.
But Tom’s politically influential father isn’t the only person he left behind. When his mother shows up at Eddie and Gloria’s diner with a shiner and a haunted look in her eyes, Tom is hopeful for her future. But when that hope is snuffed out, Tom is ready to turn his new fighting skills to a deadly purpose: get revenge on his abusive father or die trying.
Black Dog (Bannon’s Gym #1) – Amazon
Black Dog – Nook
Black Dog – iBooks
Wisdom from Mom by Jenny Bristol, published summer 2018.
Mothers are famous for dispensing advice, whether welcome or not. Sometimes that advice is useful. Sometimes it doesn’t fit our sensibilities or our world view. Sometimes we remember it, but we often forget. Too bad we didn’t receive a manual…
Ultimately, not everyone has access to this kind of wisdom, support, or advice from a parent. Or maybe our mothers (or fathers) don’t give the kind of advice that is useful at the time. Or, perhaps, we don’t have a parent to guide us as we begin our lives, or to help us later in life. Having a reference book of motherly advice that readers can refer to as they need it, from childhood to our elderly years, helps fill the gap.
Wisdom from Mom seeks to fill that gap, offering sometimes life changing advice that can be delivered at just the right time. Perfect for teens, graduates, new parents, those having a mid-life crisis, and those retiring from working life, this book will help you feel as if Mom has your back.
https://www.amazon.com/Call-Me-Zhenya-Katriena-Knights-ebook/dp/B01M5JIITT/
Chosen by Kindle Scout for publication with Amazon, before Kindle Scout went away. *cries*
Short-term protective custody, they said. Just until people stopped trying to kill her. But two years later, Anna Slaten—and the data locked inside her enhanced brain—is still behind bars with no word on her status with the deep-cover agency she works for.
Evgeni Belyakov seeks atonement. Two years ago, the wolf shifter/assassin did what he was ordered to do. Since then, he’s learned the ugly truth about the Agency. And that Anna is next on their hit list. But saving her could mean risking everything. His heart. His secrets. And surrendering control to the most dangerous creature of all. His wolf.
Wrath of Dragons
Towns burn. Cities fall. War rages.
A magician’s ward sees his chance to be a hero.
A runaway princess seeks a way to save her people.
A rogue dragon wants to be left alone.
They are misfits bound together by fate’s cruel touch and pursued by a shape-shifting assassin who wants to tear them apart.
Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079W5QYY7/
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I know you’re here for the sci-fi.
But maybe there’s someone on your gift list who loves romance. Healing Heather (https://books2read.com/Heather) features a fast-driving physicist (hint: it’s Heather) coming to terms with loss and finding love. The small-town series continues with Accepting Aerin (https://books2read.com/Aerin), which introduces a feisty chef and a wise-cracking wedding crasher. Both available as e-book or paperback.
Thank you for the opportunity!
Aliens have touched down and you’re the first to find them: what will you do? Your choices shape the story in Beamed Up: Decide Your Destiny, an interactive gamebook for adults—because kids shouldn’t have all the fun!
You control the story—and the fate of the planet—as you probe 35 different scenarios and 140+ unique endings. Flee in terror, welcome your new overlords, or boldly go anywhere you like in this funny, scary, weird alien odyssey.
Available in paperback or on Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1732309701/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1532538450&sr=8-3
Not into aliens? Fight off the zombie invasion in Undead Rising: Decide Your Destiny. https://www.amazon.com/Undead-Rising-Decide-Your-Destiny/dp/0692394613/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543944110&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=undead+rising&dpPl=1&dpID=51EL5RzVdFL&ref=plSrch
MEGGE OF BURY DOWN, Book One of The Bury Down Chronicles.
Published by Zumaya Publications.
Set in medieval Cornwall, it is the story of a mother who has wagered her life that she will bring her daughter to accept a birthright vital to their family’s survival…and of Megge’s struggle to renounce a terrifying destiny.
Available as an audiobook, ebook, or paperback.
http://bit.ly/Audiobook_Megge
http://bit.ly/Paperback_ebook_MEGGE
Meet Threadbare. He is twelve inches tall, full of fluff, and really, really bad at being a hero.
Magically animated and discarded by his maker as a failed experiment, he is saved by a little girl. But she’s got problems of her own, and he might not be able to help her.
Fortunately for the little golem, he’s quick to find allies, learn skills, gain levels, and survive horrible predicaments. Which is good, because his creator has a whole lot of enemies…
Warning: Contains profanity and violence.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078KGS4V4
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Threadbare is a gamelit story. It takes place in a world that operates under game mechanics, with levels, hit points, and oh so many easter eggs and gamer in-jokes. It is also the story of a little girl and her teddy bear, and spans three volumes, with more on the way. It has been featured on The View as one of Whoopi Goldberg’s summer reading picks, and the audiobook version of the first volume (narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds,) was nominated for a Society of Voice Acting and Sciences (SOVAS) 2018 award for best science fiction voiceover.
Are you a Sherlock Holmes fan? Do you know a Sherlock Holmes fan? Have you ever wondered how the most rational of all detectives was created by a credulous believer in mystics and séances like Arthur Conan Doyle? BRIMSTONE, by John Allen, is a mystery based in the premise that Louise Conan Doyle was the actual creator of the iconic detective.
https://www.amazon.com/Brimstone-Louise-Conan-Mystery-Mysteries/dp/0984271694
And for a non-fiction but entirely readable proof behind this radical notion, see SHADOW WOMAN, by the same author, containing 30 years of research and analysis that will have you wondering at how and why someone as sophisticated as the creator of Sherlock Holmes could have gone to her grave never acknowledging her astonishing accomplishments.
https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Woman-creator-Sherlock-Holmes/dp/098427166X
Gift your favorite Sherlock Holmes fan with something entirely new for the holidays!
My novel AVIANS came out last year.
Orphans. Runaways. Thieves. The Avians don’t ask questions about a girl’s past. Or her age. They need glider pilots, and the smaller the better.
Raisa is fourteen. Born to a line of powerful silk merchants, her rebellion against an arranged marriage is doomed. The Avians are her only alternative.
The flying is difficult, the discipline is fierce, and the older pilots don’t even bother to learn her name.
Then a deadly accident reveals the truth: only the best survive.
Available in e-book, trade paperback and now audiobook formats, AVIANS is available online through your usual sources, and is easily found if you search for “Avians TImothy Gwyn.”
Here’s a link to Five River’s Publishing, where you can see the cover and some reviews. http://fiveriverspublishing.com/?page_id=3443
Hi everyone I have a steampunk, secondary world fantasy novel available. Here’s the description and a link!
Why hire mercenaries to kill a family just for one little key?
That question haunts Jacquie Renairre for six years as she hunts down the people responsible for murdering her parents. Not even accepting an assignment to investigate a conspiracy that aims to start a war can keep her from searching for the stolen key.
Armed with her father’s guns and socialite Clay Baneport, she continues her quest for answers abroad. With the world edging closer to disaster, Jacquie is running out of time to figure out how the war, the key, and ancient legend are intertwined.
The fate of the world hinges on her ability to unravel both mysteries before it’s too late.
https://smile.amazon.com/Exiles-Violin-Tethys-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B0736CRT1J/ref=sr_1_1
Pathfinder (Pathfinder Series Book 1)
The Federation of Independent Worlds returns to the planet Sestanus after many decades to restore the abandoned populace with its gift of citizenship. They dispatch one of their corporate contractors, Ascension Engineering and Mining Concern, to stabilize the planet and restore the economic might to this long-neglected sector.
Esperian, pathfinder sergeant for the corporation’s military arm, ASC, discovers not all is as it seems with hints to a secret agenda underlying the Fed’s plan. He struggles to balance working with mysterious allies and protecting the men and women of his elite squad.
Esperian finds further complications with the discovery of alien technology from multiple races not known to have previously visited the planet. He faces a collision of his past, present, and future, knowing it cannot be coincidence, and wonders what it will mean for everything happening on Sestanus.
Check it out: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B3QLRJP
“Bridget Jones’s Diary Meets Neverwhere” – contemporary fantasy/paranormal series for fans of cross-genre books like The Time Traveler’s Wife, Peony in Love, and The Night Circus.
The Afterlife Series (Hereafter, Thereafter, and Whereafter) by Terri Bruce
Thirty-six-year-old Irene Dunphy didn’t plan on dying any time soon, but that’s exactly what happens when she makes the mistake of getting behind the wheel after a night bar-hopping with friends. She finds herself stranded on earth as a ghost, where the food has no taste, the alcohol doesn’t get you drunk, and the sex…well, let’s just say “don’t bother.” To make matters worse, the only person who can see her—courtesy of a book he found in his school library—is a fourteen-year-old boy genius obsessed with the afterlife. Unfortunately, what waits in the Great Beyond isn’t much better. Stuck between the boring life of a ghost in this world and the terrifying prospect of three-headed hell hounds, final judgment, and eternal torment in the next, Irene sets out to find a third option—preferably one that involves not being dead anymore.
Available in paperback, ebook (all formats), and the first book (Hereafter) is available in audio book. Amazon link provided below, but all three books are available wherever books are sold – B&N, Book Depository, iBooks, etc.
Some content was stripped by our security filters, but it should be possible for one of your Editors to embed the content for you.
In case the above preview doesn’t load: https://www.amazon.com/Hereafter-Afterlife-1-Terri-Bruce/dp/0991303601
Happy holidays everyone, and thanks John!
How about some free books? And if you like them, you can grab them in paperback for your favorite friend!
First up is Maggie for Hire. This is snarky urban fantasy with lots of cussing, brawling, and unladylike behavior. It’s also been optioned for a TV show and a video game, so grab it now while it’s still underground and you can tell all your friends you knew about it before they did.
Link to all the free vedors – https://www.maggiemackaymagicaltracker.com/maggie-mackay-magical-tracker-series/
Next up, how about a YA gothic penny dreadful? Grab A Spirited Manor! Friendly chills without all the blood spills. https://books2read.com/u/bP1Lp7
And then some YA shifter awesomeness with a strong female lead. The Dark of Twilight. Again, free on all platforms. https://books2read.com/u/mgKLxq
Mission One on Amazon
370+ reviews and counting…
Titan. Sixth moon of Saturn. A gleaming jewel of natural resources, ripe for harvesting by the first private space company to stake a claim.
Diamond Aerospace launches a ship with an experimental engine that will get a crew to Titan in five months. Their mission is to lay the groundwork for a permanent orbital research station, one that will be the future base of operations for activity on that distant moon.
Shortly after launch, a devastating malfunction forces the crew to make a choice: continue to Titan, or go back home. As the truth about their mission unravels, one thing is clear: someone on Earth knew about the system flaw and covered it up.
Between the critical situation in space and the corporate politics on Earth, Humanity’s first voyage beyond Mars quickly turns into a relentless struggle for survival.
Yet surviving the journey isn’t the crew’s only concern. Even if they make it to Titan, they will face another problem:
SOMETHING is already there.
The fate of the world depends on an unwitting teenage witch and her overweight cat.
Sally Dahl thought she was casting rune spells for a healthier planet, but a grievous error in her magickal calculations has her calling up legendary Berserker warriors instead—sworn into her service, and with bottomless junk food cravings. Worse, her mistake rebounds and ages her at an alarming rate. So much for saving the Earth.
When she stumbles across a living Norse god in Portland who promises to help, she thinks she’s out of danger. But Sally doesn’t know that Thor, Freya, Odin, and other survivors of the Norse pantheon are nearby, struggling to eke out a living, and trying desperately to stop one of their own from bringing about the destruction of the Cosmos.
With her own life on the line, can Sally harness her power and find her way to a new generation of Vikings in time to prevent Ragnarok?
Moon Dog Magic is the first book in the Rune Witch urban fantasy series—and book six will be out before the end of the year. If you like modern-day magick, action-packed mayhem, and ancient legends come to life, you’ll love the Rune Witch books. Start reading today!
We thought first contact would bring a golden age of prosperity. We were very wrong.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KB55JZM
Court didn’t plan on becoming a revolutionary.
Fifty years after first contact, the Qyntarak dominate the planet politically and economically. Now things are about to get much worse.
When Elle’s adoptive father is killed for smuggling alien secrets, she and Court are thrust into a desperate mission to save humankind.
Grieving and ill-equipped, they need to stay alive long enough to get those secrets into the hands of people who can use them. But how much more will they have to sacrifice to see it through to the end?
And by then, will it be too late?
It’s about a Dungeons and Dragons nerd who gets turned into a vampire, and he sucks at it. Get it, get it? Heh heh.
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Dead-Book-Jamie-Wahl-ebook/dp/B01731FXLO
ALL MADE OF HINGES: BEING AN ANTHOLOGY OF MORMON STEAMPUNK is the peanut butter and pickle sandwich of books– the flavor combination you never knew you craved.
Cheerful in the face of dark opposition. Innovative to improve a backward world. Industrial as a cure for oppressive conditions. Unyielding beneath all who seek to bind and control them. Faithful until they conquer the fear of death and rise to great acts of heroism and service. Mormons and Steampunks are two faces of the same coin. Twelve authors spin tales of true believers facing impossible odds, risking this life in the hope of gaining something better after.
Grab a copy here (or wherever you buy books): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KH9WFSX
Want to know what REALLY happened in Oz? Get the story from Toto’s point of view.
TOTO’S TALE by K.D. Hays and Meg Weidman. The perfect gift for dog lovers and Oz fans of all ages.
Learn more and read free sample chapters at: http://katedolan.com/totos-tale
(You can tell I am more into writing than marketing because if I had any skill at this, I’d be posting a book cover and nice looking link 🐾 RIGHT HERE. 🐾)
Buy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Totos-Tale-K-D-Hays/dp/1936144611/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284602903&sr=8-1
THANKS FOR READING AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Two young Vushla questioned what everyone knew about death. What should they do with the answer?
A new novel and a new world . . . .
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998060437/
When the time comes for Vushla to die, they go into the ocean and are dissolved away. Or so Terrill has always believed, and still believes after taking part in his father’s final journey. But when he meets a young Vushlu who lives by the sea, Terrill must confront information that calls this fundamental belief into question. Will the two of them discover the truth? And what should they do with what they find?
Hi, John. Quick question: is there a way for me to use images from my site in my comment? I was hoping to show off the covers. (thanks again — sorry for cluttering the thread)
The Bug Boys!
For middle grade fans of science fiction/humor, and adults not too stuck-up to appreciate fart jokes!
Two South Yorkshire lads, infected with alien nanobots, discover they can absorb the abilities of the bugs they swallow. What follows is a crazy set of adventures as they explore their abilities and limitations, and deal with the aliens who sent the nanobots to Earth.
Book 1: The Bug Boys
Book 2: The Bug Boys vs. Professor Blake Blackhart
Series info -> Click here!
“Five Corner Rose”
Cowboys and Dragons. Gods and Centaurs. The Five Corner Rose embodies the myths and legends of the creation of the world. And, perhaps, its destruction. Book 1 of series.
Ebook and paperback
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00YTNNFNI
WERECOCKROACH (Science Fantasy Novella) – Rin moves into a new flat on the day the aliens arrive. Their new flatmates are laid-back Sanjay and conspiracy theorist Pete. It doesn’t take long to notice some oddities about the pair, like hoarding cardboard and hissing at people when they’re angry. Something strange is going on, but it’s not all due to the aliens.
More information: http://www.polenthblake.com/words/cockroach.html
SUNSTRUCK (Urban Fantasy Novel) – The Spokane Ecology Board covers up supernatural incidents, until the team is murdered. Ari, the new team’s Bigfoot liaison, is armed with everything she’s learned from detective shows. Ben Cabot is more at home in a lab. Together, with their combined lack of experience, they have to find out what got the old team killed. But that’s not so easy when the killer might be watching their every move.
More information: http://www.polenthblake.com/words/bigfoot.html
Most historical fiction embedded in the Elizabethan era tends to be bodice-ripping tales of Court intrigue, set amidst the silken splendor of palaces. Mine tends to hang about in ale-soaked taverns, muddy streets and fetid back-alleys where cold-steel by lantern light offers redemption or grim death by turns…
Ex-soldier turned play-actor Christopher Tyburn thought he had left bloodshed and violence behind him when he abandoned the war against the Spanish in Flanders, but fate has different and far bloodier plans waiting.
When Tyburn accidentally intercepts a coded letter from a hidden Jesuit priest in Warwickshire, he is entangled in a murderous and deadly conspiracy. Stalked by unknown enemies, he must race to uncover the conspiracy and hunt down the Jesuit to clear his name. . .or die a traitor’s death. His only hope – an eleven-year old glover’s son named William Shakespeare.
https://amzn.to/2SqO223
Killed It by LuLu Smith (Dark Comedy/Thriller)
Ally Brown has lost her creative voice as a comedian and is hiding her failure from Drew Stephens, her live-in boyfriend. She has a day job as a legal assistant at a prestigious New York law firm which she is not particularly good at and also hates.
When Elise Newman, the attorney she works with, disappears without a trace, an already bad day escalates into a violent encounter with a man in the park. Gaining a false sense of control, Ally channels her rage into further acts of vigilantism until someone discovers her secret and wants to exploit her newfound violent disposition for their own gain. When Ally finally discovers the truth behind Elise’s disappearance, she must rely on her wits and cryptic notes Elise left behind in order to restore sanity to her life and relationships.
Ebook and paperback
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07JGF29N1&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_WDSbCb0ZRA2RW&tag=887020-20
So what would the 1950s be like if the era’s SF movies had been real? If America and the world had to cope with alien invasions, radioactive mutants and mad scientists, while launching humanity into space years earlier than in our timeline? Atoms for Peace tells the adventures of science investigators Steve Flanagan and Gwen Montgomery and National Guard medic Dani Taylor as they cope with their personal struggles while trying to keep the world safe. Available in hardback from Amazon and ebook from multiple retailers.
An ancient evil awakens.
Three unlikely heroes rise.
An age of myth is reborn.
This fantasy adventure from bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Kristin Cashore, and Tamora Pierce! The bundle includes all three full-length novels following Jinji and Rhen’s story, as well as all four novellas following Princess Leena’s story.
“If you want to set out on a journey, read this.” – We do Write
“Mind. BLOWN.” – Spiced Latte Reads
“Wow. My more extensive review: Just wow.” – Brooke Blogs
Thanks for considering my series :) And a huge thank you to John for the opportunity!
https://www.amazon.com/Dance-Dragons-Complete-Kaitlyn-Davis-ebook/dp/B0195QJOME/
I’ve been writing for a while now in a number of genres, and probably these days people mostly think of my work either in terms of Star Trek or of the ongoing Young Wizards YA sf/fantasy series. But lots of people don’t know that my earliest published work was fantasy with a distinct LGBTQ feel — including a debut novel that wound up getting me nominated for the John W. Campbell award two years in a row.
With an eye to announcements about further work in this universe that will be made in conjunction with Dublin2019, next year’s Worldcon, I’ve brought that first book, The Door Into Fire, and its two sequels The Door Into Shadow and The Door Into Sunset, together in a discounted digital-only compendium edition to introduce the books to those who may not be aware of the existence of the Middle Kingdoms ‘verse. WARNING: The Tale of the Five Omnibus contains 350,000-ish words of epic battles, three kinds of magic, runaway princes, frustrated sorcerers, stubbornly nonmagical swords, a fire elemental with a serious human kink, working royalty, politics, gay sex, straight sex, bisexuality, polygamy, true love, extremely non-otiose deities, supernatural monsters and forces of ultimate evil, demigods with agendas, villains and usurpers, numerous subverted tropes, and absolutely the biggest dragons you’ve ever seen. (Sorry, George!)
Interested? Click here: http://bit.ly/T5Omnib
(…And hey: thanks, John!)
(Would add an image here, but can’t figure out how. Oh well!)
A student at the Pifianka Academy of Polytechniques, Khaly accidentally reveals her magical gifts when she brings her school project, a mechanical dragon, to life.
Forced into hiding from the Guild, a powerful government faction with the sole purpose of destroying all magic, Khaly discovers that the Guild has bigger plans than simply snuffing out all magic; they want complete control of non-magic users as well.
Can Khaly find the Guild’s mechanical army and destroy it before they wipe out magic once and for all?
Pick up this first in series at all major online retailers!
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00R35X1FQ
I arrived on the Spanish island of La Palma with a six month contract. That was 28 years ago, and I’m still there, mostly because I met a tall, dark, handsome local in the Isaac Newton Telescope, under the stars in the heart-shaped island.
This anthology of children’s stories is set on the island. Take a journey through La Palma’s turbulent past, into its present and out into the exciting future. Chedey will tell you how his world collapsed when the Spanish conquered the Island in 1493, Althay will explain what happened when the volcano erupted, Daida shares her visit from an extraterrestrial and Leyre will take you out into space.
Suitable for 10-12 year olds. Available at Dragontee
“The Dodo Dragon and other stories”
(Science Fiction). Nine quirky SF stories from the off-beat imagination of Sheila Crosby. Chose from .mobi (for Kindle) .ePub (for iPad, Sony reader etc.) or .PDF for almost anything. Due to the changes in EU sales tax, this book is currently only available from Amazon. Amazon.co.uk Amazon.comand Amazon.es
And thank you, John. Very much appreciated.
The Tales from the Canyons of the Damned anthology series is best described as Black Mirror for the printed page. Volume 27 came out this year and contains my story “Human Wheels Spin Round and Round” as well as stories by Daniel Arthur Smith, Lorna Wood, and David Alan Jones.
The anthology Spring Into SciFi offers a variety of takes on the SF genre. My android story “Look for the Union Label” appears herein, alongside a dozen other great pieces.
In a solar system sucked dry by corporate miners who have now all but abandoned it, Mya just wants to enjoy her job as a salvager. But when an unlikely salvage turns out to not only be historical but embarrassing to the corporation that founded the system, powerful interests try to stop her. Can she prevail with the help of her friends and the people?
Gallium by Tom Merritt read by Veronica Belmont
http://tommerrittbooks.com/blog/2018/6/22/gallium
Thank you, John!
My book, Boston Metaphysical Society: A Storm of Secrets, is a steampunk paranormal thriller.
Blurb:
Politics and power. Demons and spirits.
When ex-Pinkerton detective Samuel Hunter married Elizabeth Weldsmore, the heir to one of Boston’s Great Houses, he knew his life would change forever, but he never expected the return of Elizabeth’s psychic abilities.
Not only do they have to keep it a secret, but Elizabeth must learn quickly how to master them. For a psychic in a Great House is a political liability which her father, Jonathan Weldsmore, knows only too well.
As the Great Houses jockey for power, the three of them must contend with treachery, subterfuge, and potentially a new demonic threat, in this political and supernatural thriller set in an alternate-history Boston of 1890.
This novel is a prequel to the graphic novel, Boston Metaphysical Society.
It is available at these fine stores: https://books2read.com/u/3R1ZLv
And Amazon:
https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?asin=B07HCP9SW5&preview=inline&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_nkAbCbSEWBKZX
Throttling the Bard, a modern tale of motorcycle road trip mayhem, has been described as Don Quixote meets Easy Rider. Hilarity ensues when an antiquated English professor and his grad student travel the state of Nevada encountering cults, drugs, and the Burning Man Arts Festival.
Within the pristine halls of academia lurks the unsavory department of financial aid, and an English professor who has bilked that system in order to redistribute its wealth to students of a lower socioeconomic class. When the Great Basin Student Loan Corporation discovers Dr. Don Vendicarsi’s illegal means of obtaining student loans, they demand his presence at their Reno office. Fearing that his teaching career will end prematurely, Vendicarsi must ride to Reno to face the inscrutable loan board. Graduate student Quentin Mann goes along for the ride, thinking that the trip is the perfect opportunity to force dissertation comments from Dr. Vendicarsi. Together they embark upon a quixotic motorcycle trip across Nevada where they encounter everyday Americana: a book burning cult, drugs, captivating women, and the Burning Man arts festival.
https://www.amazon.com/Throttling-Bard-Jay-Barry/dp/0615419313/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1543953674&sr=8-1
Do you like science fiction? Do you like football?
If so, I welcome you to check out my novelette “The Anachronism” — a speculative fiction story about a human quarterback in a future football league dominated by robots. Kind of like Scalzi’s Head On novels.
Originally included as part of the “Ancient New” anthology by Deepwood Publishing, The Anachronism is now available for stand-alone digital download on Amazon.
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B074K3QNQD&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_o8TbCbY34Z14F
My story, Napoleon’s Tallest Teamster”, is in All Made of Hinges, an anthology of Mormon Steampunk. The “Mormon” part is just tangential, and the stories are not preachy or anything.
https://www.amazon.com/Made-Hinges-Mormon-Steampunk-Anthology-ebook/dp/B07KH9WFSX/
A new reality show pits ten contestants against one another, confined to a cramped bunker deep underground. But when the production crew learns that they are trapped with no way of contacting the world above, they are faced with a difficult choice: do they reveal the truth and risk panicking the players, or continue with the increasingly cutthroat game?
– – –
Hey everyone! My book, Beneath the Blast, is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, and a bunch of other stores. Just $13 from Amazon, and the is free ebook on all sites where that’s possible — I recommend Smashwords, as it has any format you’re likely to need for your preferred device. Thanks for taking the time to read this!
http://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Blast-Jeff-Rorik/dp/0993899501
What happens if you try to retire a god who’s not yet ready to leave? There’s more to the god Ohin than meets the eye, as the decommissioner from the Ministry of Divinities is about to find out. The Inconvenient God is available in ebook and paperback formats from Annorlunda Books: here
Like reading fun fiction that appeals to both teens and adults? Also a fan of music biographies? Then head on over to Smashwords and check out my ebook ‘Meet the Lidwells! A Rock ‘n Roll Family Memoir’! For only $2.99 — even lower than buying your favorite band’s latest EP!
Here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/799454
And here’s the blurb:
“Rule number one in the music business: never start a band with any members of your family.
Sure, it’ll start off just fine, everyone having fun, with big dreams of success and gold records, but then you realize you’re stuck in a stinking, too-small tour bus with your siblings for the fifth year running, and your brother hates you. Next thing you know, the band implodes just as it’s reaching its highest success, your family won’t talk to you anymore, the press is having a field day ripping you to shreds, and you’ll need to start your career all over again as a solo act. If you dare to at that point.
Rule number two in the music business: rules were made to be broken.” — Thomas Lidwell
Meet the Lidwells! is the story of four siblings and two cousins who start a band as teenagers and achieve success beyond their wildest dreams. But while they consistently top the charts with their irresistibly catchy tunes, they’re also fighting their own demons: perfectionism, disenchantment, addiction, exhaustion, sexism…and figuring out how to become an adult in front of millions of fans.
https://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Storm-Mark-Terry/dp/1731097948 Former army researcher, Dr. Doug Shepherd, has been out of the military for nine years when the U.S. Army re-activates his status. Within 48 hours Shep finds himself at a secret scientific military installation in Antarctica, tasked with finishing the work of a scientist who committed suicide—or was murdered. But something is dangerously wrong at Camp Crystal. Deep within the bowels of the experimental facility Shep will discover the horrifying truth. But the clock is ticking. Because the Army’s research is spreading out of control, a saboteur is attacking from within, and winter is about to descend on the continent, locking everyone in for months.In darkest Antarctica, a storm is coming..
What happens if you try to retire a god who is not ready to leave? This official from the Ministry of Divinities is about to find out. The Inconvenient God, a novelette, is available in ebook and paperback, from Annorlunda Books. Link here!
(Apologies if this is a duplicate–I think the first attempt to post failed)
Do you have a Mac, or an iPhone, or an iPad, or a web browser? Would you like to learn how to use Apple’s free Pages word processor/layout app on any or all of them?
If so, you can pick up a copy of my recently (like yesterday!) updated “Take Control of Pages, Second Edition” ebook (in EPUB, Kindle, and PDF versions) from Take Control Books. $14.99 and it’s yours, along with future free updates to this edition.
Don’t think that Pages is a “toy” word processor—it isn’t. It’s a very full-featured word processing app that Apple makes available for free to Mac or iOS users. It can
• open and save Word files,
• generate PDFs and EPUBs,
• provide change tracking and comments and annotations,
• perform real-time collaborative editing over the internet,
• incorporate images and media (audio and video) into documents,
• generate tables of contents,
• supply hundreds of free modifiable shapes and graphics,
and a whole lot more. It’s slick and powerful and more fun to use than a word processor has any business being.
This 339-page book explains how to use Pages on all of the platforms for which Apple makes it available.
Visit https://alt.cc/8i to buy it directly from Take Control Books, or find it at
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Take-Control-Pages-Michael-Cohen-ebook/dp/B072N6K5FC
Apple Books: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/take-control-of-pages-second-edition/id1241983937?mt=11
(Note that the latest version of “Take Control of Pages”, 2.3, was released yesterday, so it might not appear yet at Amazon or Apple. No, worries: even if you get the previous version (2.2), the book includes a Check for Updates link that takes you to Take Control Books where you can obtain a free update to the latest version.)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9TFL5F
Ten years ago Rook Aeron knelt in the mud next to her dying grandfather, begging forgiveness for killing him. Instead, she got the Black Hare.
The spectral Hare is Rook’s penance. In the decade since that rainy, bloody day Rook has drifted through life, always dreading the unwelcome appearance of the Hare. For when the dark creature appears it takes her away to areas where a violent death has occurred. The pain and suffering of a person who dies in violence stains the very earth itself, kindling a cancer of misery that touches all life. The Black Hare and Rook cleanse these areas, removing the toxic stain, and burdening Rook with the last horrifying moments of the dead people’s lives.
To deal with the mess of her life and the burden of what she has done Rook armors herself in booze and sarcasm. She sees no future beyond endless service to the Hare.
And then the Black Hare brings her to a Wyoming town called Red Horse River.
Red Horse River is unlike any place Rook has ever been. For one, there is a coursing magic that runs under the town. For another, some of the inhabitants are not quite normal – the owner of the local café has snakes for hair, an otherworldly little girl appears when she is needed most, and Rook’s landlady just might be an ancient goddess.
And someone is killing people by fire, tainting the magic river for a monstrous purpose.
Reluctantly, Rook is drawn into the middle of the strange happenings in this strange town. In the course of tracking the killer she discovers that there is more to her than existing as a drunken failure. She has a deadly power of her own. But is there enough time left in her life to become the person she was destined to be?
Or will her journey end in fire and blood?
Throttling the Bard, a modern tale of motorcycle road trip mayhem, has been described as Don Quixote meets Easy Rider. Hilarity ensues when an antiquated English professor and his grad student travel the state of Nevada encountering cults, drugs, and the Burning Man Arts Festival.
Within the pristine halls of academia lurks the unsavory department of financial aid, and an English professor who has bilked that system in order to redistribute its wealth to students of a lower socioeconomic class. When the Great Basin Student Loan Corporation discovers Dr. Don Vendicarsi’s illegal means of obtaining student loans, they demand his presence at their Reno office. Fearing that his teaching career will end prematurely, Vendicarsi must ride to Reno to face the inscrutable loan board. Graduate student Quentin Mann goes along for the ride, thinking that the trip is the perfect opportunity to force dissertation comments from Dr. Vendicarsi. Together they embark upon a quixotic motorcycle trip across Nevada where they encounter everyday Americana: a book burning cult, drugs, captivating women, and the Burning Man arts festival.
https://www.amazon.com/Throttling-Bard-Jay-Barry/dp/0615419313/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1543953674&sr=8-1
(Sorry if this is repeated! I think my first attempt is lost in cyberspace.)
Hi folks,
If you’d like to experience some wonderful poetry from a fresh voice, please consider one or both of these short collections from Victoria Cohen.
Apologies in advance, at this time only the self-published Kindle edition is available.
Thank you.
Elsa’s family grows more unkind by the week. Her boss, a seven-foot-tall rage demon, has control of everything but his anger. And her cat wants to eat her. Things could be better.
In a world where one’s Animal Affinity is a sign of maturity and worth, Elsa’s inability to demonstrate hers is becoming more than a disappointing nuisance; it’s becoming a danger. She has no confidence she’ll ever conquer her Plainness by “blossoming.” She also fears both the wolf packs that prowl her neighborhood and being stuck in a life plummeting rapidly from lackluster to perilous. Fortunately, she has a cousin and a co-worker who know her better than she knows herself and can see through to what society won’t.
FINIS. is the magic realism of our time, a story of finding one’s way to the end of things, of persevering through the dregs of life to discover something more.
PRAISE FOR FINIS.:
“It’s not often I get that viscerally emotional on behalf of a fictional character. In a setting of overt fantasy, Angélique Jamail has created some of the most real people I’ve encountered via text in a long time.” – Ari Marmell, author of HOT LEAD, COLD IRON and The Widdershins Series
“A silver vein of irony runs through Angélique Jamail’s fantastic Finis. It is a witty tale of conformity, prejudice, and transformation, in a world that is disturbing as much for its familiarity as for its strangeness. In a place where everyone is different, Elsa is the wrong kind of different, and that means facing pity, discrimination, danger, and sharp teeth. Dive into this story, readers, and confront them for yourself; it may just change the way you feel about things…” – Marie Marshall, author of THE EVERYWHEN ANGELS and I AM NOT A FISH
https://smile.amazon.com/Finis-Ang%C3%A9lique-Jamail/dp/1732862907/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543956384&sr=8-1&keywords=finis.jamail
Thanks for the opportunity to post here, John! :)
Hi folks,
If you’d like to experience some wonderful poetry from a fresh voice, please consider one or both of these short collections from Victoria Cohen.
https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?asin=B074G58PQW&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_DGUbCb3BMB8S8
https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?asin=B07CBMDSJ2&preview=inline&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_LHUbCb0Q47KN4
Apologies in advance, at this time only the self-published Kindle edition is available.
Thank you.
My latest release is a YA 90s-era fantasy, You’re Not a Real Goth Until You Sack Rome mybook.to/NotaRealGoth
This start of a new trilogy is set in the same era as my ADHD Faerie Princess series ( mybook.to/FoulisFair ) , but focused more on Germanic witchcraft folklore as well as Greco-Roman mythology.
Ever wonder why Swamp Thing was a hit and Man-Thing never took off? Ever wonder how the Batman TV series brought Alfred the Butler back from the dead? Ever wonder what Conan the Barbarian and Mystery Science Theater 3000 have in common? I’ve got the answers!
https://www.atbpublishing.com/product/storytelling-engines-how-writers-keep-superhero-sagas-going-and-going/
“Storytelling Engines” examines dozens of long-running (and not-so-long running) comic book series, from ‘Spider-Man’ to ‘Shadowhawk’ to ‘Rip Hunter, Time Master’, to show how writers come up with different ways to help them generate a setting that can sustain multiple plotlines over years or even decades. If you’re a writer who wants to learn how to create a series bible or a reader who wants to know why Brother Voodoo never became a hit like Doctor Strange, this is the book for you!
(ATB also publishes the “Outside In” series, books of critical essays by fans and professionals alike about Buffy, Star Trek, and Doctor Who. They’re also a lot of fun, and the author royalties go to an AIDS charity, but I will confess to being only 1 of about 150 authors in each book.)
THE END OF THE TETHER is an epic dramatization of the siege of Yorktown during the American Revolution, told from the points of view of several characters, rebel and redcoat, fictional and historical (including Washington and Cornwallis). What were they all fighting for, anyway?
Available as an ebook or trade paperback from small press publisher Zumaya Yesterdays.
https://www.amazon.com/End-Tether-Novel-American-Revolution/dp/1612712886/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1543956292&sr=8-2&keywords=The+End+of+the+Tether+Harold+R.+Thompson
Also, EMPIRE and HONOUR is a trilogy about the adventures and slow awakening of Victorian soldier William Dudley, who serves in the Crimea and in India. “The best book on this subject,” one reviewer said of the first volume.
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Honor-3-Book/dp/B016QAI09K/ref=sr_1_9?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1543859898&sr=1-9
Not SF/F, but aren’t historical novels a form of alternate history? I argued they’re the most basic type in a presentation I recently delivered on “Steampunk and Alternate History Fiction” at Hal-Con, the largest SF/F convention in Atlantic Canada.
TRIO is a Novel Biography of the Schumanns and Brahms, a novel for those who hate novels (who read about only “real” things) and a biography for those who hate biographies (for the intrusions of footnotes, speculations, and commentaries). Zubin Mehta’s endorsement adorns the cover, Kirkus awarded the book its coveted star and included it among its Best Books of 2016.
Germany grows in the hinterland of the story from 400+ principalities to one nation under Bismarck. The great composers of the century (Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky among others) have their entrances and exits when their lives cross those of the trio – and the ghosts of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert are never distant.
Firmly grounded in fact, the book unfolds like a novel, a narrative of love, insanity, suicide, revolution, politics, war – and, of course, music.
FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE
A Star Trek style space opera, featuring an own-voice queer autistic woman protagonist. Available as e-book or paperback. A sequel, Tone of Voice, is out as e-book, paperback forthcoming.
https://www.amazon.com/Failure-Communicate-Xandri-Corelel-Book-ebook/dp/B01N81A1XO
As one of the only remaining autistics in the universe, Xandri Corelel has faced a lot of hardship, and she’s earned her place as the head of Xeno-Liaisons aboard the first contact ship Carpathia. But her skill at negotiating with alien species is about to be put to the ultimate test.
The Anmerilli, a notoriously reticent and xenophobic people, have invented a powerful weapon that will irrevocably change the face of space combat. Now the Starsystems Alliance has called in Xandri and the crew of the Carpathia to mediate. The Alliance won’t risk the weapon falling into enemy hands, and if Xandri can’t bring the Anmerilli into the fold, the consequences will be dire.
Amidst sabotage, assassination attempts, and rampant cronyism, Xandri struggles to convince the doubtful and ornery Anmerilli. Worse, she’s beginning to suspect that not everyone on her side is really working to make the alliance a success. As tensions rise and tempers threaten to boil over, Xandri must focus all her energy into understanding the one species that has always been beyond her: her own.
Hey,
lately I have finished preparing my ultimate tutorial:
+++ [Beginner’s Guide] How To Make A Website From Scratch +++
I would really apprecaite your feedback, so I can improve my craft.
Link: https://janzac.com/how-to-make-a-website/
If you know someone who may benefit from reading it, I would be really grateful for sharing a link.
Much love from Poland!
Cheers
THE DEEP AND SHINING DARK is a fantasy novel set in the city of Marek with politics, malfunctioning magic, annoying (and annoyed) siblings, and a touch of queer romance. Jonas wants to stop seeing the future; Marcia wants to find her missing brother; Reb wants to fix Marek’s magic; and Beckett the cityangel just wants their city back.
A GLIMMER OF SILVER (UK link) is a YA SF novella, with a sentient ocean, a grumpy teenager who can talk to aforementioned ocean, and xe pronouns for everyone.
Earthcore Book 1: RotoVEGAS…Superpowers from hot springs – who knew?
Like X-Men with dragon guardians in Rotorua, New Zealand, my own family’s hometown. Adventurers call it Vegas because it offers so much to do. Backyard geysers, boiling mudpools, hot earth, streets that vent steam, brooding volcanoes, and mineral springs that might just have an odd effect on some people’s DNA…
Book 1: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0714Q4T9W/
Free short story right on the front page at http://www.gracebridges.kiwi.
Book 2 VOLCANO CITY out now, Book 3 AFTERSHOCKS imminent!
Thanks very much, John. Enjoying your work since finding you 10 years ago :)
Giving an ereader and want to add a great read, or just love some romantic suspense for yourself? Mountain of Lies is currently free to download! https://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Lies-Pack-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01N6IOSHR/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=49J3SJ6492AGX2WF6C1Q
This is for one of my pseudonyms! Two books in the series.
The future is a pain in the ass. Detective Frank Mallory investigates a case about an empathy drug gone wrong and the serial killer who learns to abuse it. Click here.
They called her Isobel then. Her hair was bright and her eyes were dark; she took in the world and she burned. And so it was no surprise that she began to stray, into the forest and far from the village, to those deep forbidden places where the magicians were said to dwell. They took the forms of animals. They were tricksters. She had been warned of them since birth. And yet from the moment Absalom beckoned, and she touched his thick red fur, seeing the shades of sunrise, she knew where she belonged. The fox was sleek and beguiling, and she, having nothing, could neither give nor lose.
https://www.amazon.com/Flower-Poison-Tree-Rose-Streif/dp/0985409738/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543959722&sr=1-4&keywords=flower+of+the+poison+tree
Chanda Kasmira devotes years of her life and career to saving the inhabitants of the planet Splendor from the planet’s coming destruction.
Her latest effort fails. Life on Splendor faces more danger than ever before.
Disheartened, Chanda places herself into a “long sleep,” intending to awaken decades later to a brighter future for Splendor and its people.
She doesn’t.
Instead, an even more difficult path lies ahead after CHANDA’S AWAKENING.
https://amzn.to/2QhYxZ6
My new novella is Merry Happy Valkyrie, an ebook-only release from Australian micro-press Twelfth Planet Press.
This festive fantasy is all about the authentic small town Christmas experience in Tasmania: white wine in the sun, upside down traditions, unexpected Norse magic, ravens, a film crew determined to make Hallmark Movies eat their dust, a mountain covered in snow… and a dragon, probably. There’s a bit of f/f romance, a lot of epic friendship, and some weird weather patterns closing in.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K8QF79W/
Alice Peavley, young heiress, had hoped life would be simple once everything surrounded her inheritance had been settled. However, life had other ideas, and Alice keeps running into touchy situations and absurd adventures! From book thievery to motorcar mayhem, riding flightless birds to outwitting mad scientists, Alice must face them all…and will hopefully triumph with the help of her eccentric and loyal friends, her brainy gnome valet Macalley, and a good cup of tea. Blending comedy, steampunk, and fantasy, Tales of Peavley Manor is an entertaining and delightful collection of four mannerpunk novelettes! https://amzn.to/2rknpjL
For the Jane Austen-lover in your life there’s Lady Catherine Says. Imagine if Lady Catherine de Bourgh had the internet. And a Twitter account. Got it? You’d better watch out and you’d better not cry…crying is impertinent. #Verily https://www.amazon.com/Lady-Catherine-Says-Tweets-Condescension/dp/1974485234
For the child who loves time-travel adventures, how about In a Pickle? A time-traveling orphan gets caught up in a murder in 1910s Chicago. Now he’s got some history to fix. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1974589854/
And for those who like women’s fiction: Circus in a Shot Glass is about an alcoholic amnesiac who’s trying to get her act together…and maybe allow some romance into her life. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GZNT9DZ/
If you like crazy pulp adventure with Nazis, talking Gorillas, rocket-powered Zeppelins and a side of true love, try my latest Doc Vandal Adventure — The Sunkiller Affair.
Travel to an alternate version of 1937 and join the team:
Doc Vandal: The world’s foremost scientific adventurer, he was raised by AIs on an alien moon base.
Victoria “Vic” Frank: An expatriate Russian countess, daredevil pilot and thrill-seeker. Conceived in the fallout from Tunguska, she’s more than a step beyond human.
Li Ming. Vic’s true love, she’s a medical doctor and the daughter of an Indonesian revolutionary.
Augustus Q “Gus” Ponchartrain: A silverback gorilla, he has a dozen doctorates, a fondness for Earl Grey tea, and excellent manners.
Kehla Ponchartrain: Raised to be the host body for an alien intelligence, she carries a revolver chambered for 12-gauge slugs in her purse.
Gilbert “Gilly” Chanter: The son of a Baptist preacher, this pulp fiction addict is the team’s driver, mechanic, and photographer.
Even though it says “Book 5” on the cover, every Doc Vandal Adventure can stand on its own.
Query:
how do you embed cover shots
“Putting the sigh and the friction in science fiction romance”
If you want your science fiction with more kissing and your romance innnn spaaaace! the #IntergalacticDatingAgency wants you! It’s a shared universe of SFR authors playing with some of the favorite tropes in romance and SF.
You can find all our pretty man-chesty heroes and bold heroines at http://romancingthealien.com/
Thanks for letting us post, and happy seasonal book snuggling!
My latest book The Clues to Kusachuma, just won a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award – Gold Medal in Young Reader – Adventure. It’s a fun adventure for kids aged 9-12 wrapped around a treasure hunt in a small mountain town.
I have self-published five other picture books for kids from ages 3 to 10. They can be found here: http://amazon.com/author/adambford
Thanks for looking!
In a sultry magical realm, an enchanting Lady ensnares a virtuous tax-collector into her dangerous double life. Taxing Courtship is a story of forbidden romance, where an honorable man has to decide how far he will go for the woman he loves…
“With lavish, sensuous language, Jarvis draws you into their world and intoxicates all the senses as these two struggle to face down their enemies and conquer their doubts about themselves and each other.” –Amazon reviewer
“Engaging characters in an interesting world!”
“…a fun and engaging romp!”
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07DHY7XWJ&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_9JVbCb6FG77GH
Billed as “the most realistic game ever,” Worlds at War was a video game unlike any other—one that promised a virtual reality experience that rivaled operating a giant mecha in combat. People flocked to the game in anticipation.
For some, the game lived up to and far exceeded their expectations—the level of graphics was indeed, “just like being there.” The game didn’t provide the experience many others had hoped for, though; for a large number of players, the game was “too real to be fun.”
For video game design majors Ryan Johnson and Noah Bowden, the game play was incredible. It made them feel like they actually were saving a foreign world from horrific enemies, and they rapidly moved up on the leaderboard of the game’s best players.
But then fatal accidents began happening to the gamers at the top of the leaderboard, including many at which men in black were seen. When Ryan sees those same men at his dorm, he realizes there is more going on in the shadows of Worlds at War than he has been led to believe…but can he determine what’s going on before a fatal accident happens to him, too?
Check it out here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FVVN1J8.
We all have that one teen girl we know who loves anime. If you have no idea about that stuff then my novel The Unseen World is probably what you need to buy her for Christmas.
Sanami is teenage girl living in a tiny village in a remote province of the Tensho Empire. While her father is unknown and her mother abusive, she’s found a safe place with some kindly neighbors. Sanami is content with her quiet life and with her upcoming marriage to her childhood sweetheart. But an unforeseen obstacle to the wedding sends Sanami to the capitol, to beg the immortal Emperor’s help. While there she meets the onmyouji, servants and advisors to His Majesty. Part sorcerer, part medium, part fortune teller, the Sasugawa onmyouji clan is one of the most powerful and feared families in the empire. They recognize her as one of their own, a surprise made stranger by the fact that onmyodo powers belong almost exclusively to the males of the clan.
She agrees to stay in the capitol for one year while the onmyouji try to figure out why she is what she is, and what role she is meant to play. Over the course of this year Sanami is introduced to a world of spirits and magic that she never dreamed existed. But when she discovers the purpose for which the gods have chosen her, she wonders if she will ever be strong enough to fulfill her destiny.
https://www.amazon.com/Unseen-World-Patricia-Correll/dp/1720175861/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543961665&sr=8-1&keywords=patricia+correll
Hi All!
BOOK: WE ARE MARS. Book 1 of the Rubicon Saga.
The year is 2128.
For the people of Rubicon, Mars is Home – hostile and unforgiving – but still Home. When Rubicon is taken by surprise by an unexpected and deadly threat, it’s a race against time and a desperate fight to stay alive.
Jax and Dana, Ridley and Chuck, Lenny and Maliyah all stand on opposite sides of a class divide, battling passions and tensions in equal measure. But can they work together to avert a disaster? Could the fundamental differences between them be the key to their survival, or to their destruction?
To make matters worse, unsettling events on Earth put the entire Mars Mission at risk and Rubicon – with little choice left – declares its independence. The news of this is not welcomed by powerful politicians that devise dubious plans to shelve the settlement, once and for all.
Mistakes are made, allegiances shift and lives hang in the balance. No one can be trusted as allies become enemies and the true nature of life on Mars is revealed – One wrong move, and it could be your last.
THANK YOU!
AMAZON link:
https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Mars-Rubicon-Saga-ebook/dp/B07CJRT1YC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
From Dec. 5 through the 9, the kindle version of my second book Scarlet Raven will be free as a lead-up to Christmas.
Scarlet Raven
With most of her past still a mystery and the man who tried to kill her dead, Scarlett thought she could live a normal life.
She was wrong.
As rogue shadow-military units and world governments vie for control of a new nanite technology, she has to face them both to discover the truth of humanity’s future – and how she’s involved.
Once again, she’ll have to become the Scarlet Angel in order to protect everyone and everything she cares about. But when the plasma blasts start flying, she may just find that the harsh truth of the future could cost her everything.
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B079N7PZ16&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_zvVbCbSW87RSW
Also, don’t miss Book 1, Scarlet Angel!
New from my micropress, Queen of Swords (and thanks, John!)!
Scourge of the Seas of Time (and Space) edited by Catherine Lundoff
Think pirates are all about the rum and the pieces of eight? Let these fifteen tales draw you into the adventures of a new kind of pirate. Sail with them as they seek treasure, redemption, love, revenge and more. Raise the Jolly Roger and sharpen your cutlass (or recharge your raygun) and climb aboard for some unforgettable voyages.
Queen of Swords Press:
https://queenofswordspress.com/product/scourge-of-the-seas-of-time-and-space/
Books2Read (universal store link):
https://books2read.com/b/3nYx9P
Ghosts of War: Retribution by Paul Robinson
———-
This is a tale of vengeance.
Six months after the death of his mentor, Cole Traske is returning to work as the new leader of his former interplanetary shadow-ops squad, Penumbra. As they head towards their first target, Cole must balance the responsibility of leadership, the squabbling of his pilot and demolitions man, and the inexperience of their young new sniper.
With a heavily scarred body and a history shrouded in secrecy, Cole has tried his best to steer clear of the curious, believing that his past should remain right where it is―in the past.
Unfortunately for Cole, his hopes for an uneventful return to work are shattered by a chance encounter with a spectre from his past, Tobias Navarr. Tobias’s return, and its tragic consequences, propel Cole headlong into the pursuit of revenge that will take him beyond the edge of the galaxy and perhaps the edge of reason itself.
It’s time to stop running.
Retribution awaits.
———–
“Playtime is indeed over as violence begets violence in this vivid future-esque
setting. Robinson excels at creating an immersive off-world experience while
inducing a laugh at spinning action tropes inversely.”
―Rick Heinz, author of The Seventh Age: Dawn
“Ghosts of War: Retribution is a wild ride from start to finish. Action, revenge,
and a complex story that will keep surprising you right till the end―this is
sci-fi done right.”
―Craig Munro, author of The Bones of the Past
“Ghosts of War: Retribution ain’t your granddaddy’s space opera. A ruthless,
relentless page-turner you won’t be able to put down ’til the contralto sings.”
―Tal M. Klein, author of The Punch Escrow
–Purchase Links–
Amazon: http://a.co/d/huLOJtl
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghosts-of-war-paul-robinson/1127930360?ean=9781947848900
Powell’s:https://www.powells.com/book/-9781947848900
Miss Firefly? Wish there were more Alien moves after the first two, because clearly 3+ were a mistake?
Check out Tyche’s Flight. Blasters and aliens, sarcasm and swearing. It’s what you need when you’re considering murdering in-laws during festive feasting. Digital and dead-tree versions are available across planet Earth
Some content was stripped by our security filters, but it should be possible for one of your Editors to embed the content for you.
Feminist fiction, speculative fiction, magical realism, women’s fiction. Writing is on website.
Thanks, John. Happy Holidays, all!
A Matter of Nurture in Neo-opsis 29
Dani Díaz is a virtuoso in a dark but necessary profession. Or is she? A job gone horribly wrong makes her doubt everything she thought she knew, including her own identity.
My story “A Matter of Nurture” is now published in issue 29 of Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine. I am honored to have my tale in this award winning magazine. So many great stories have found a home here over the years, and the authors of those tales include some of the legends of science fiction.
Get your copy here: http://www.neo-opsis.ca/Store
Theia grew up just across a canal way from Eoin. As part of her apothecary apprenticeship, she searches the colossal ruins of an ancient civilization for “rare and obscure animal bits” (as Eoin calls them), bringing them back to her grandfather’s laboratory for processing into medicines. Sometimes things don’t go as planned, but she usually gets the ingredients she sets out for. But this time, as she rises, something will go amiss in the world below and she will return to find it changed forever.
If you’re looking for a strong teenage female character in a rare blend of steampunk, dieselpunk, and nanopunk, check out AETHERBORNE: PART I by Tydeus on Amazon.
Some content was stripped by our security filters, but it should be possible for one of your Editors to embed the content for you.
https://www.amazon.com/Aetherborne-Part-I-Tydeus-ebook/dp/B07KQV5TG4
“In this story, which is based on Chinese cultivation novels, a boy born weaker than anyone else starts on a series-long journey to become strong enough to punch holes in all-powerful interdimensional angels.”
Will Wight is the author of UNSOULED, the first book in the best-selling CRADLE series.
Two Warriors,
Two Hearts,
One Chance at Love
Abandoned to his fate, a shapeshifting gargoyle is trapped—until she sets him free…
“So many paranormals have the same old story, but this was so unique!” — Amazon reviewer
A gargoyle betrayed by his soldiers…
A combat veteran scarred inside and out…
Trust isn’t in their vocabularies…
A tentative truce frees them to investigate his regiment’s abandonment—and unleashes passionate temptations. But when the truth is uncovered, Garrett and Raquel’s fragile bond—and the healing power of love—might be the only thing that keeps them alive.
Learn more about Stone-Cold Heart here!
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07111BGRG&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_NuXbCbZ2PDKHN&tag=jamgolparaut-20
For a short, sweet, yet sinister read, check out “The Fridge of Unspeakable Horrors.” An everyday appliance mechanic attempts to be charitable by fixing his neighbor’s retro refrigerator. He never expected Lilith’s Kelvinator to be crammed full of nightmares, let alone nightmares that would try clawing their way out of the deep freeze through his own mind! What can you expect when you live next door to the Mother of all Monsters?
The Fridge of Unspeakable Horrors, a novella in the Eden’s Outcast universe
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JZKC973/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb
Is there someone on your list who likes gritty sci-fi? Start this series for $0.99 and follow Frank Parker through the seedy streets of Tycho City in this noir with a touch of cyberpunk! Get caught up on his series before book three arrives in the late spring or early summer.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lunatic-City-T-Allen-Diaz-ebook/dp/B07DH8N39C/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/lunatic-city-1
“My alarm woke me from one of those falling dreams. As I roll over to silence it I remember it’s a Tuesday. I don’t like Tuesdays.
I reach out but can’t feel my alarm so I open my eyes.
It’s not there. Neither is my bed…”
Quirky, light science fiction always made me happy, so I gave it a try… Hopefully you enjoy it too!
https://author.obm.one
My indie gem is TimeBangers, a light science fiction series with 5 stars on Amazon, about two friends who time travel to have sex with famous historical figures. Available in both trade paperback and for Amazon Kindle. I’ve had many people purchase this book as a gift for a friend or significant other, and on the occasions that the recipients later seek me out they all make one thing clear: they like it, and they have never run into anything quite like this before.
Be aware: this book does have sexually explicit content. I suggest checking the reviews to get a sense of whether this is a good fit for your recipient. Many reviewers remark that they don’t usually read erotic fiction but were glad they gave it a try.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z1EVDNI
Ten years after abandoning their wild sorority life for unfulfilling attempts at adulthood, history buff Beth and science whiz Tawny reunite to jumpstart their flagging love lives—by embarking on a time-traveling sex spree!
In this first installment of a new series, Tawny plans a “maiden” voyage to England in the Year of Our Lord 1536, for a steamy encounter with none other than Henry VIII. But when she and Beth are accused of espionage and witchcraft, their pleasure cruise becomes a storm of danger, intrigue, and way too much spiced wine.
Will our heroines bask in kingly kisses and royal romps… or be burned at the stake? Find out in TimeBangers Volume 1: One Does Not Simply Walk Into Tudor!
🔫🤖Ten years after the last war . . .⚔️🚀
Across the universe, on the desert world of Stuk’s Hollow, the New Year celebrations are in full swing with gatherings of Houses; the technological, the magical and the mortal.
All the while invisible fingers pull the living, the dead and the banished towards the festivities.
It’s just a question of who’s going to reach the festivities first and what secrets they will uncover.
The Fallen Techno Mage. The Forgotten Weaver. The Lost Leader. The bloodthirsty evil.
Welcome to Where Weavers Daire, the first in an ongoing space opera series.
Where Weavers Daire is available on Kindle Unlimited and as a paperback via Amazon, Ingram and B&N.
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When faerie tale dreams come true, nightmare creatures can be deadly.
Eve’s Christmas vacation takes a dangerous turn when she falls for Liam, only son of the Faerie Queen, and ends up caught in the middle of a war between the Fae and the Underworld.
You can read the first chapter and find all the purchase links here: http://www.elizabethmenozzi.com/ or buy on Amazon here: http://bit.ly/EveoftheFae.
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Dear Folks,
I sell limited-edition, hand-printed-and-bound monographs of my work:
http://ctein.com/monographs.htm
The four collections are:
The Final Frontier
Chasing the Sun, Baja Mexico
Christmas in California
Scotland~1995
pax / Ctein
Like rogues? Like webcomics? Like discovering new fantasy and science fiction webcomics by talented independent creators? I have your book.
Threads: A Gallery of Rogues is 147-page original comic anthology by the SpiderForest Webcomic Collective. Featuring 16 short standalone comics, this anthology includes everything from elvish thieves to space pirates, outlaw mages to cyberpunk con men, demon pickpockets to trickster snakes!
(My story features the story of a teen gangster and his horrible, no good, incredibly embarrassing rogue grandmother.)
Pick it up from the SpiderForest Gumroad store and give the gift of mischief to your favorite comics fan.
Villains want to take over the world, and heroes want to stop them. But what’s wrong with using your powers to make a buck? Wildside, Inc, are superhuman mercenaries, powers for hire. A missing persons case leads to vanishing scientists and a scheme that could effect two worlds. Wildside: Cadre Clash, book one of the Wildside, Inc series.
https://www.amazon.com/Wildside-Cadre-Clash-Wayland-Smith-ebook/dp/B07CGLJBCL/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543974369&sr=1-1&keywords=cadre+clash
Cursed Planet (availabe in ebook and print on Amazon)
Who knew ghosts could exist in heavy gravity?
Hope Delgado, the galaxy’s only alien ghost expert, confronts her toughest challenge on S.C. Kangjun’s latest mission.
The local aliens, 49ers, blame the humans for a ghost. And they hide a deadly secret. A secret they will kill to protect.
Hope must make a desperate last stand against the aliens and the ghosts—if she fails, her friends will die. A science fiction novel of deep space thrills and adventures.
https://www.amazon.com/Cursed-Planet-GALCOM-Universe-Book-ebook/dp/B07K77TGSJ
“These Fair Days, ”
I wrote this book, “These Fair Days,” so I may be biased. I was a suburban kid (Chicago area), but after college, with a degree in art, I moved to rural Missouri to begin life as a rancher. Forty years later I wrote this book, which is an accounting of those years. It is written as fiction. The setting is in rural Oklahoma, rather than Missouri, because I love that part of the country. It is told from the point of view of a young man, and his experiences living in the country, working cattle, riding horses, as well as his junior and senior years of high school. The story revolves around his best friend Colt, his sweetie Regina, their mutual friends (and some who are something other than friends), and life as they know it. It is written with dry humor and reality—the events related (life on a cattle ranch) are true and accurate. I almost hate to mention this, but it is written as a series of fourteen line poems. Though in poetic form, it is meant to be read as a novel, from beginning to end. I had fun writing it, and I tend to think that if it’s fun to write, it’s fun to read.
Here’s a random poem:
Lookin’ Back
Me and Colt grew up in the country
pretty far outside of town.
We never spent much time with the other kids
except for school
and ridin’ the bus back and forth.
We never gave it much notice one way or the other.
I reckon we were lucky havin’ an easy ride between places
and I expect we spent half our lives
helpin’ each other do chores of a mornin’
or botherin’ Colt’s big sister of an evenin’
or just ridin’ there and back
for no good reason other than we could.
I expect we were the luckiest two boys in the world
though I reckon other boys say the same thing.
—
You can read more of it on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/These-Fair-Days-James-Meyer/dp/149932846X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543974215&sr=8-1&keywords=These+Fair+Days+James+Meyer
I was going to place the normal jacket copy like stuffs that people use to entice readers here, but instead here’s a quick cabaret dance revue: Tra-la-la-la-laaa-la-la-la-laaaa
Now that that has come to a satisfactory conclusion, on we tread.
appSOLUTION is… well its a queer cyberpunk semi-romantic thriller. So yes, clutch your pearls folks, there is sex. There is also murder. Music. Gender politics. Class warfare. Fancy ass tech. Creepy ass robotic geisha. Even creepier children. Industrial espionage. And the occasional trip to the patisserie.
I had been thinking about self-censoring the sex before putting out the paperback but I just read this twitter thread about “vaginal ratchets” and “enameled pepper mills” which I’ve decided has set a new bar for the level of bad metaphor that must achieved now in the sequel. I was thinking of maybe using “anal Cuisinart” on the dust jacket.
Here’s the link for the paperback (also available on kindle):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1730816991
Thanks, John!
My 2017 release is titled: Do The Dead Dream? An Anthology of the Weird and the Peculiar
It won the 2017 Best Books Award for Fiction: Short Stories!
These are the best of my short stories written over forty years!
Do the dead dream?
• Dive a wreck that was never there, in the waters off Bimini . . .
• Meet a young girl who debates with rooftop monsters . . .
• Dine at a tiny café teetering on the edge of oblivion . . .
• Take refuge from a downpour in a gas station from nowhere . . .
• Discover the real reason behind migraines . . .
• Encounter a love gone bad before it ever existed . . .
• Explore the emotional remains of a woman’s not-quite-dead past . . .
• Follow a WWII airman plummeting through flak-filled German skies . . .
Edgy.
Unnerving.
Not quite right.
These are but a few of the surreal, the weird, and the peculiar you will encounter in a realm few willingly tread…with or without the lights on. Or medication.
6 x 9 Trade Paperback and eBook
Buy Do The Dead Dream? at: https://www.amazon.com/Do-Dead-Dream-Anthology-Peculiar-ebook/dp/B077KHTGPW
“F. P. Dorchak writes like a hot-rodder heading toward a brick wall. Edge of your seat entertainment! I pondered over each of these stories long after I’d finished reading them. That’s what great writing is all about!”
Dean Wyant
Co-Founder, Hex Publishers
Your brain needs a firewall…
In 2050, the world is a little denser, a little greyer, and a little more firmly under the corporate thumb. Wriggling carefully under that thumb, in their dimly lit flats, Katja and her friends have tended to walk the fine line between cyber criminals and cyber crusaders. For them, no physical reality compares to their lives built on lines of aggressive code.
But then somebody blows up the office where Katja is pretending to be a well-behaved wage slave and jolts them into the concrete and clouds of corporeal Seattle. Of brains infiltrated by a clandestine threat.
Can a handful of digital warriors win a war that stretches into the world on the flesh and blood side of their computer screens?
Praise for Peace Fire
“A smart, fun, fierce tale of geek revolution and high-stakes adventure.”
-Ernest Cline, Bestselling Author of Ready Player One
Get Peace Fire from Amazon or your preferred bookseller
The War Chronicles, Warrior, Warlock, and Warlord, is an epic fantasy set in a world with unique magic, gods at war with one another, world-spanning conflict and the most fearsome dragons since Smaug himself.
Here is the description of the first book, Warrior:
Demon-spawn, they call him; evil seed of the UnNamed One. Lirak wonders if they might be right. Sent on a holy quest to test his prophetic dreams, he returns to find his people scattered or slaughtered. Ruthless invaders and their dread warlocks spread death and destruction across the land. Before he can lead the remnants of his people in vengeance, he must win their trust. But blades and arrows alone will not defeat this enemy. His only hope is to master warlock sorcery, turning their own fell powers against them.
Can he learn their arcane secrets in time, or will the deadly power consume him?
Only the Seven Gods could know, but they war amongst themselves, Lirak is a pawn in their divine conflict. Even if he defeats the invaders, he fears his trials are just beginning.
Follow Lirak as he grows from a stone-age hunter into a warrior. In the second book he learns to master his warlock powers, and in the final book of the trilogy he leads massive armies into a battle to save not just his world, but all worlds.
Warrior
Warlock
Warlord
Author Page
Hi all Fantasy lovers. I’m promoting my multicultural children’s book (pre-readers age 2-7), The Bad Little Fairy. Jenny, the fairy, knows how to play and have fun. She’s far too busy to learn the joy of being considerate. Thankfully, Curiosity is the Fairy of Invention.
https://bookofvenus.com/index.php/product/the-bad-little-fairy/
Thanks so much, John, for this opportunity!
Just in time for my annual year-end sale: An invisible killer, a dead man walking, and a lost tribe deep in the Amazon. From the ashes of tragedy emerges a mysterious avenger! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T44SLHCA
From the friendly confines of a home to the noirish sulfuric wasteland of the late 19th century west, “The Friendship Has Begun” is the quintessential story of redemption of a woman’s spirit and the salvation of her lost soul.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DMZH2ML
(Other titles to be had at https://gbmjrflashy.blogspot.com/2017/11/what-i-currently-have-out.html)
THE EASY WAY TO GREAT GUITAR SETUP
Imagine your best friend was a guitar setup guru…
And wrote a book just for you.
Completely hand-drawn, Sketchy Setups guides are the friendly and straightforward path to getting your guitar or bass playing its best. No need to wade through massive books, trying to find the relevant parts for your guitar. No trying to make sense of the manufacturer’s vague instructions. No searching for the pearls among millions of forum posts.
Perfect if you want a great playing instrument without having to take a degree in Advanced Guitary Stuff.
Just great guitar and bass setup. Easy-peasy.
https://hazeguitars.com/sketchysetups/
Hi there. I’m Andrew Otto Linke.
I write things down. It’s cheeper than therapy and carries the vague chance of becoming a career one day. My books range from lighthearted adventure novels in the vein of the Uncharted games to dark, bloody thrillers set in the ruins of the modern world. Both make me equally happy.
The characters in my books are normal people. That is: They come in a range ethnicities, genders, and sexualities, and I do my best to represent them all as fully developed humans. They also have a tendency to be grappling with psychological issues, complex relationships, and dark backgrounds. Sympathies if any of this is upsetting, but the more people I meet the more I’m convinced that we’re all a little broken and the best way of putting ourselves back together is by sharing and connecting with each other, even if it’s through fiction.
You can find all of my novels in print and Kindle on Amazon. My early books are labeled as Andrew Linke, while I’ve switched to my middle name for my more recent (and perhaps darker) books.
Thanks John!
An ambitious anthology from award-winning Australian publishing house Twelfth Planet Press, Mother of Invention features diverse, challenging stories about gender as it relates to the creation of artificial intelligence and robotics.
From Pygmalion and Galatea to Frankenstein, Ex Machina and Person of Interest, the fictional landscape so often frames cisgender men as the creators of artificial life, leading to the same kinds of stories being told over and over. We want to bring some genuine revolution to the way that artificial intelligence stories are told, and how they intersect with gender identity, parenthood, sexuality, war, and the future of our species. How can we interrogate the gendered assumptions around the making of robots compared with the making of babies? Can computers learn to speak in a code beyond the (gender) binary?
If necessity is the mother of invention, what exciting AI might come to exist in the hands of a more diverse range of innovators?
https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Invention-Rivqa-Rafael/dp/1922101478
I have a couple of self-published books/series:
VENOM IN THE VEINS — Elemental Assassin 17 — Urban fantasy about an assassin who runs a barbecue restaurant — https://www.jenniferestep.com/books/venom-in-the-veins/
SEASONS OF SORCERY — An anthology featuring fantasy romance novellas by myself, Amanda Bouchet, Grace Draven, and Jeffe Kennedy — https://www.jenniferestep.com/books/winters-web-in-seasons-of-sorcery/
SPARTAN HEART — Mythos Academy spinoff 1 — Young adult urban fantasy about a Spartan girl who must save her friends/school from an evil mythological group — https://www.jenniferestep.com/books/spartanheart/
Happy reading! :-)
The EXPONENTIAL APOCALYPSE series: a post-post-post-apocalyptic comedy series following the exploits of Thor, the former Norse God of Thunder; mercenary clones Chester A. Arthur XVII, Queen Victoria XXX, William H. Taft XLII, and Boudica IX; Mark, a cybernetic hotel owner; Timmy, a telekinetic squirrel; and Catrina, a surprisingly well adjusted human woman.
The fifth and final book, BLACK HOLE, SON!, was released earlier this year. All five books in the series can be found on Amazon (https://goo.gl/WBRs7B) and a direct link to the first book can be found here:
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B002PDOQFA&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_n1.bCbRR599KC&tag=jerdevpre-20
I wrote a comedic novel called Confessions of an Average Boy that inverts the usual trope of “a boy wins a girl as a sex trophy after chasing her for the requisite amount of time” and you can check it out right here: https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Average-Boy-Mark-Hill-ebook/dp/B077JCY6MR/
UNIVERSE IN FLAMES is a completed 10 Book series (1st season) mixing Sci-Fi and Mythology.
“I am Fury. Evil has followed me to Earth. I shall Protect this World until my Dying Breath.”
You can think of this series as a cross between Star Wars & DBZ with mostly Greek (but some Norse too) mythology thrown into the mix. It will touch other subjects like AI, the afterlife, and more but that’s a short and mostly accurate definition anyway.
Right now the 5+1 Boxset is on sale. All 10 novels are free to read on Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D8J3FV5
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07D8J3FV5&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_R4acCb6266Z78&tag=fttsbookpromo-20
What if all the intelligent humans abandoned Earth… and we’re what’s left?
Samantha is a journalist who travels through the wormhole to New Atlantis and discovers that embarrassing reality when she meets the People, humanity’s more intelligent—and smugly superior—distant relatives. Unfortunately, thanks to humanity’s penchant for fighting, a Human/People conflict is brewing. She could almost forget she’s not on Earth, except the People have tails and don’t slap idiot warning labels on everything.
Plagued by anti-Human sentiment on New Atlantis and unwilling to return to Earth, Samantha moves to the Five Alpha, the space station closest to the wormhole, where Human—and People—stupidity lurks around every corner. Then the conflict worsens, causing concern for the security of the wormhole—and its closest neighbor. Naturally, politicians from both sides decide they can provide a diplomatic solution by holding peace talks on the station.
When sabotage puts both Five Alpha and her only route back to Earth in jeopardy, everyone blames Samantha—including a manipulative politician with her own agenda—forcing her to fight to uncover who is plotting to destroy the wormhole and cut off Human/People relations for good. Can she find a way to save the wormhole—and her sanity—before it’s too late?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H7FQ3VU
Remember that squirrel in armor meme? Well now it’s a book. Kinda.
It’s a MG fantasy novel entitled: The Squirrel Squire and the Tournament of Oaks
A small but brave squirrel. An annual tournament. And threats from a dark challenger.
Puff faces many pressures as a squire, but looking for a missing knight isn’t supposed to be one of them. When things take a turn for the worse, can Puff face his fears and help avert disaster? If Puff can’t find the champion, he’s the only one left to fight.
If you like talking animals, epic sword fights and exciting adventures, then you’ll love The Squirrel Squire. Perfect for fans of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Redwall by Brian Jacques and The Green Ember by S.D. Smith, along with other fantasy series including The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KMQZQQS
Thanks, John.
This Christmas, board The Ship to Look for God. Maybe you’ll find Him. Maybe.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073WXFBBG/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
Being “good with money” is an important part of life, and financial security helps enable people to be creative and productive (never liked the starving artist meme, myself), or just simply secure. Investing is a big part of that, but not many people know how to do it.
Specifically for Canadians, The Value of Simple will show you (or your loved ones) how to create a simple investing plan using index funds, and then actually implement it. It has step-by-step instructions for creating your account, placing an order, and staying on track, as well as general info on TFSAs and RRSPs. Everything is specific for the Canadian market, so unfortunately Americans may not find it of much use.
Direct link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/Value-Simple-Practical-Complexity-Investing/dp/0987818937/
The first time Ty died he was five, the second time he was seven. He’s always believed his third death will be the final one, and now he may find out.
Greece, 1958. More than twenty years after his near-death experiences and the visions of terrifying gods that came with them, Ty leads a quiet life working as a locksmith. When a client persuades him to play in an ancient game of throwing bones his peaceful existence is shattered and Ty quickly finds himself deeply in debt, his life hanging in the balance once more. Forced to descend to the eerie mid-world of Erebus to repay his debt, his fate is soon entwined with sleeping gods, the factions that seek to control them, and an enemy powerful enough to destroy them all.
A dark fantasy thriller with surprising plot twists, While Gods Sleep, is the first in a set of stand-alone, mythology-based novels by award-winning author, L. D. Colter. Get ready to dive head-first into a 1950s Greece where conjoined queens rule a nation perched above an underworld filled with demi-gods and monsters, and a mortal man holds the key to the fate of the gods.
“The pleasures of Greek mythology mixed with the dark undercurrents of contemporary fantasy.” Walter Jon Williams, New York Times bestselling author
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GGPZFT5/
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/516v5TqL0ML.jpg
Once a scientist, always a scientist.
Private eye Charlie Handler used to be a scientist, and she hasn’t stopped using her brain. She prefers leaving the footwork to lesser PI minds. What’s the big deal about brawn anyway? Think through the possibilities, pick the likeliest one, use e-skills to fill in the details, case closed. She was doing so well at it, she thought she could predict any human behavior. She was wrong.
Then a witness goes missing.
Was he killed? Kidnapped? Did he run? Charlie Handler is hired to find out. She’s used to run-of-the mill searches, run a name through Lexis, put up a camera, target found. But she soon gets clued in that there’s something seriously weird about this case. The witness’s yipping socialite wife follows in disappearing without a trace, corporate flunkies act stranger than usual, thugs start following her, and her client has to be locked up in the loonie bin for his own safety. Chessmaster logic always helped her think through every step she took, but now it leaves her stranded at every turn by curious human behavior. How far down the rabbit hole will Charlie go?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071WNTNSG
What do you do when the Dark God proposed marriage? You say no.
Adrastea, a simple country healer, is surprised to receive a marriage proposal from the Dark God Mor-Lath. As a devotee of a rival god, of course she turns him down. She was raised on chilling tales of this Chthonic being who drags the souls of the unrepentant to Dom-al-gol. Adrastea loves her simple country life of brewing medicines and saving lives. Marriage to Mor-Lath would greatly complicate things. Besides, why would the Dark God propose to her?
Undaunted by her refusal, Mor-Lath insists on courting her. Sometimes he is charming, winning over the other villagers, but other times, she sees him for the dark god he truly is. He refuses to let anyone stand in his way. While he makes it clear he’ll only have her willingly, he’s making it very difficult for her to say no. She wonders, what is he really after?
Adrastea faces a quandary: if she accepts the Dark God’s marriage proposal, she’ll lose her very soul. But if she rejects it, the world itself and everything in it might be at stake. Either way, the price is too high.
First book in the Of The Dark series.
Read an Amazon preview here