Some days the evil loose in the world can’t be beaten by two fists, a trusty sidekick, and a pump shotgun.
Some nights reek of deep time, musty tombs, and creatures spawned from beyond the stars.
When monsters attack, you need heroes with a strong moral compass...and a little supernatural help.
Adventures in the Arcane contains four fantastic stories of pulp heroes, werewolves, pirates, and wizards. Prepare to be thrilled! A Syndicate Production featuring the work of Mark Boss, S. Brady Calhoun, Lou Columbus, Jayson Kretzer and Tony Simmons.
My friend Mark Boss has finally released the first three books of his new series, SUPERHEROES ALIENS ROBOTS ZOMBIES. If you like any one of those four subjects, you will devour these books. I have read them (during the editing/writing phase) and loved them. Each book comes with bonus materials, as well.
The story follows a boatload of vibrant characters, from Special Agent Kyle Kane, who first battles the zombies in a small town and eventually plays a major roll countering an alien invasion; Vigilant, the high-tech vigilante; Schroeder and Alvin, the sniper and his smartgun; Protor and his robot brethren; Hook, the singularity in human form, and his robot spider soldiers; and so many more!
<< It continues with ROBOT REVOLUTION (which includes a short story about the character SCHROEDER), and comes to its interplanetary conclusion with ALIEN INVASION (which includes a behind-the-scenes essay about the origins of Mark's ideas, characters, and more).
Mark is a fellow member of the Coffeehouse Syndicate (a group of friends that get together once a week for lunch and conversation about movies, comics, TV, creativity and how we're going to take over the world), as well as The Cheshires writing group in Panama City. We also shared a table recently at Creative Con, where we shilled each other's work. I'm telling you all this for two reasons: 1) Transparency, and 2) I know what I'm talking about. Mark puts real thought and love into his work, which is fast-moving, hard-hitting, full of surprises and big ideas, as well as the smaller moments that make the action worthwhile.
Tonight at midnight, the first installment of The Caliban Cycle goes live on Amazon Kindle. Just 99 cents for more than 30,000 words of mystery, Lovecraftian horror, occult detectives, Southern Gothic generational drama, ghosts, shapeshifters, Creek Indian and Christian belief systems, all intermingled into a page-turning and vivid adventure.
The Caliban Cycle is what I'm calling an ongoing series of novels about Tom Caliban, who doesn't get properly introduced until the beginning of Part 2, which will go live on Kindle Aug. 1. The first book is titled "Giants in the Earth," and will be serialized (in three segments released a month apart) through Sept. 1. Part One is "The Changeling."
It ain't the cover o'the Rolling Stone, but I'm not complaining.
Panama City Living magazine came out this week with a story titled "Read Local Authors" by my friend, Lou Columbus. Lou took some great photos for the article, which focuses on me (specifically, "This Mortal Flesh") and our mutual friend Michael Lister (and his new novel, "Innocent Blood").
Lou is a talented film maker/videographer and writer; he's a top reviewer at Amazon.com, reads for audiobooks and short stories, writes short fiction, and now can add magazine writer to his resume.
This is as good a time as any to remind everyone that we're celebrating the print debut of "This Mortal Flesh" at a book launch event this Saturday, March 28, from 5 to 7 p.m. at St. Andrews Coffee House & Bistro, 1006 Beck Ave., Panama City.
Enjoy food and free refreshments, have your photo taken with "live" zombies, and hear the author reading selections from the novel. Commiserate over the impending zombie apocalypse, and speculate how The Walking Dead will end its fifth season on Sunday.
Here's the book trailer (also by Lou Columbus), in case you've missed it:
Did I mention the book got noticed by the folks over at Lousy Book Covers? Having taken a look at other covers on the site, I'm pleased to say that mine has to be one of the best of the worst. And since there's no such thing as "bad publicity," all that matters is that people notice, talk about it, and get out the word — I hope.
Finally, a request: If you have read the book, then please go to the Amazon page and take just a minute or two to give it some stars and write a short review. Reviews help boost notice to the book, which boosts sales. Which means I'd owe you a solid.
My latest manuscript was entered into this spring's Amazon/CreateSpace Breakthrough Novel competition, and has made it through the first two cuts (it's a quarter-finalist!). Which means you can now read the first 5,000 or so words for free by downloading the Kindle file (you don't have to own a Kindle device to read it; you can get a Kindle app for your smartphone or laptop or pad or desktop system for free from Amazon).
I'm really thrilled by the reception it got from the judges so far. Two reviews by "expert reviewers" were posted to my CreateSpace account, and here are some of their notes:
"Beautiful writing, really terrific. Love the description of the car crash and its immediate aftermath.
Sweet character-building for Arthur Magus. ... Super beginning to what promises to be a great story. Really looking forward to reading it."
"The writing is great, it really shines. It seems like someone put a lot of time into perfecting it and it felt like part of a finished novel. ... I'm stumped. I can't find anything weak about it. ... This is a very well written piece. As long as the rest of the book is as strong as this excerpt, it could go to print right now and I'd want to read it. From the use of italics to the unhurried pacing and switching of story back and forth between characters, the whole thing is quite a treat."
Some 10,000 entries (so I understand) were trimmed to 2,000 on the first cut, which is now at 500 (100 in each of five categories). The next cut will determine 25 semi-finalists, which will be announced on or about May 23. I'm holding on to hope that the tale will make the next cut. The final level will call for voting by Amazon users to determine a grand prize winner, so I'll let you know if that ever becomes a concern for me. The grand prize is $50,000 and a book contract; the four second-place winners will receive $15,000 and book contracts.
It's been an honor just to make this far. Seriously. "Caliban" is in the world now. People are reading it. That's something I dreamed about since I was a teenager. I hope they like him and root for him as much as I do. I hope you will too.
