Spring marches on. This month has so far been filled with prep work. There’s always the hope – both in writing and in life – that clearing out the small obstacles will give you a clearer path to tackle the big ones. A big part of that is trying to be more healthy, so I’ve been bumping my steps along with my spring yard work to get the pounds down.
A bit of culture..
Early this month we went to see Angkor: The lost Empire of Cambodia at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. It was an interesting exhibit and I highly recommend it if you have the opportunity. One takeaway – Ganesha is considered the patron of writers, letters and learning, and remover of obstacles. I’ll take all the help I can get!
Matt’s Media:
The Core (2003)
Ill give you a break from horror this month for one of my guilty pleasure movies, The Core. The science is absurd, the tropes are loose and it’s just overall a good time. Get your popcorn or other favorite form of unobtainium and settle in while Stanley Tucci asks “What the hell am I doing?”
Writing:
Warbirds is currently at 17967 words. I’ve also added two scenes to Shoggoth on the Run. The follow up to Hollow Threats.
Ratings and Reviews:
You spending time in my worlds is the best part of my writer journey. Thank you!
For an Author – like coffee – reviews are the stuff of life. The more you have, the easier it is to sit down and write that next story. If liked one of my stories – please consider a Rating or review. Text reviews are the BEST, something as simple as “Great Read!” or “Enjoyed it!” Helps me find new readers.
If you aren’t the texty type – a quick click on those stars at the end of your read makes my day, and it lets potential new readers know the juice is worth the squeeze.
Featured Story: New Short Story Release!
They Called Him JACK
Originally released as part of the excellent “Thirteen Stories of Horror” Anthology through Three Ravens Publishing edited by Nick Steverson and Marisa Wolf. I’m releasing JACK as a stand alone short now that I have the rights back. If you read it there and liked the story, please consider dropping some stars. Currently available on Kindle and KU.
In the haunted streets and shadowed alleyways of 1888 Whitechapel, nothing is what it seems.
An eminent surgeon, Thomas Bond lived life with all the certainty his profession and status provided, but he was about to be drawn into a mystery that placed him in the footsteps – and the mind – of a killer.
Behind the tabloids and clippings, there’s another story you’ve never heard, one where even Red Jack serves older, darker masters.
So as the fog rises, let me reintroduce you – to a Legend.
Spring is in the air here in sunny Colorado – though of course as I write this we’re waiting for yet another snow storm to blow through. No worries, we’ll be back up in the 60’s by the weekend. In February I attended Superstars Writing Seminar in Colorado Springs. Superstars is focused on the business side of writing, but it’s also a chance to catch up with friends and mentors. I also participated in the Bookstravaganza book signing event which is open to the public and signed a few copies of Soul Mate, A Nest of Stars, and Bureau 42.
There are a lot of new folks on the mailing list this month -Welcome Aboard- It’s great to have you here!
Warmer weather also means – you guessed it! Yard work! My sometime favorite procrastitask. I have the excuse that it gives me a little exercise, and let’s face it. I never got over liking playing in the dirt.
This round I cleared the dead ground cover in the fountain garden. It will be a while yet before it’s time to get the fountain running, but other than a bunch of grass I need to clear out it looks good. Soon the Lily’s and sages will start to break through. As always, George the Green Man watches over his domain.
Matt’s Media
Lo (2009)
My media pick this month is Lo (2009) This was a YouTube find after asking “What’s the strangest movie you’ve ever seen?” on my facebook page. While Lo isn’t my strangest it certainly qualifies. For video it is almost a live theater experience that id describe as Faust meets Monty Python. If you enjoy movies off the beaten path, give Lo a shot – and be sure and drop by my author FB page to let me know what you think of it.
Writing
After getting myself well and truly stuck on Warbirds – I’m once again butt-in-chair working through the issues. The outline I planned had way too many story threads and I’m reworking the story to smooth those out. Some will be dropped and some will be moved to the next novel, but I think the simplification will let the story flow better.
Ratings and Reviews
You spending time in my worlds is the best part of my writer journey. Thank you!
For an Author – like coffee – reviews are the stuff of life. The more you have, the easier it is to sit down and write that next story. If liked one of my stories – please consider a Rating or review. Text reviews are the BEST, something as simple as “Great Read!” or “Enjoyed it!” Helps me find new readers.
If you aren’t the texty type – a quick click on those stars at the end of your read makes my day, and it lets potential new readers know the juice is worth the squeeze.
Featured Story
When the alarms sound on one of the largest structures in space, it gets your attention.
They say adventure is months of boredom punctuated by hours of sheer terror. It’s a saying Charlie Biggs – a career Officer on the Benthi Federation’s orbital ring security force – can absolutely tell you is true. When a routine check into some noisy alien visitors coincides with an attack on the station, It’s up to Charlie to sort things out – even when the authorities on the station seem to want them dead.
2024 is speeding by. As I get older time seems more and more compressed, and the things that once happened quickly have a way of gathering moments to themselves so that before you realize it days and weeks have passed instead of minutes and hours. I’m working on getting the blog to generate the newsletter again. Social Media continues to make mystifying changes, which makes a direct connection to my readers that I can measure myself a priority. If you got here through my social media, please take a minute to hit the website and subscribe. That way when the Zuck decides to hide my posts I can still show you the latest from Mattlandia.
Meet Iggy…
When I was young some of my best moments were when I got to go to the library, or the used bookstore to pick out a stack of books, or even pick a few comics from the spinning wire rack at the grocery store. Once I knew that was the day’s outing would take me there was no containing my excitement. There were new stories in the offing for me to READ! New worlds to conquer.
Being of a certain age, I wasn’t told to settle down. I was told not to freak out.
I wanted a mascot that like me – is a Reader Freak – and who has the same excitement for every new story. Being somewhat grown up now, I can pick my own imaginary friend. Someone who enjoys all the dark places, from the haunted wood to the depths of space, and who wouldn’t want to hang out with a half-mad undead alien cyborg?
At any rate, you’ll be seeing more of Iggy. Disclaimer time – when you see the Reader Freak – It’s not you. It’s me. Unless you want it to be. I’ll share. Iggy looks a bit scary – but he’s got a big heart.
It doesn’t feel like summer to me until we get the fountain flowing. This year we had an early appearance from the tiger lillies. I got some good exercise replacing the rotted wooden garden border with stone, and George the Greenman got a new home by the fountain.
Matt’s Media
The Devil Rides Out
I watch a lot of horror films. Recently I took some time to re-watch some classics. You just can’t beat Hammer horror when you want to scratch that nostalgic itch. I have a special place in my black little heart for The Devil Rides Out. Based on the 1934 book of the same name from horror master Dennis Wheatly, it was one of the first non-Lovecraftian horror novels I read. If you enjoy classic horror, this is a must see.
Writing
What’s new?
I was lucky to be invited to submit a story for the new Peacemaker anthology – Bureau 42! In this collection of cold-case files from a fantastic cast of authors I got to kick things off with a new story featuring the Ragin Cajjins! Join me in a little space haunt action in “The Ghosts of War”
It doesn’t happen often, but when a Peacemaker can’t solve a case, it goes to the Peacemaker Archives, as all Peacemaker cold cases reside within “Bureau 42,” as it’s also known. Cases dealing with ghost ships, missing Peacemakers, mysterious killers, and even a few cases that aren’t even really cases can all be found in the files of Bureau 42.
Fourteen authors present thirteen all-new stories from the depths of Bureau 42. Take a look into the forgotten files of the Peacemaker Guild and find never-before-seen secrets, some of which herald the future of the Peacemaker Guild and even the Galactic Union itself.
These stories honor the threat, set the terms, and walk the knife edge between standing or falling. Step inside, Candidate, and see what our files hold…
I’m still working on Warbirds, the second book in my Salvage trilogy. My writing time got sidelined by family obligations and a seemingly endless run of home maintenance. With most of the latter accomplished I’m looking forward to making progress on that novel soon.
On the Horizon
SOUL MATE will be released in November from Hit World Press – This novel featuring Solomon Thorpe, Ivanova, and Mila has been waiting for some time and I can’t wait to have it out in the world for you! Set in the Hit World/Valkyries Initiative universe! More about this will be coming soon.
Plotting and planning files have been growing steadily for two new projects. One Mil-Scifi and the other Alt-History Horror.
Featured Story
Worried about the relentless advance of AI? Skynet got you down? Call Reynard Dupree! I released ContAInment as a stand alone short story at the end of March. It’s also the first short I released a paperback version of.
Reynard Dupree is a hunter, but not a hunter of men.
He searches the peaks and valleys of signal, the oceans and rivers and streams of data. The world behind the world. His bounties are AIs that have gone rogue or missing. Unfortunately, sometimes the worst part of his job is having to deal with the humans who hired him…
ContAInment is a short story of 10,000 words in the StarPunk Universe.
December in Colorado conjures visions of snowy mountains and holiday lights spreading a multi-colored glow over a winter wonderland. While we have snow on the high peaks, this year has been unseasonably warm and dry. Today for the first time I can remember I had to water the yard in the winter.
No worries though, I’ve been using the opportunity to get some additional hiking done, mostly because I can always use the exercise. The daily walks have given me some welcome churn time for the stories I’m working on.
Whether we manage a white Christmas or not, I wish you and your loved ones the very merriest of holiday seasons.
JOLABOKAFLOD – the book flood.
The Icelandic winter tradition of gifting new books to loved ones goes back to world war II. While other products were scarce or unavailable, Icelanders made the best of the situation and gave each other the gift of stories to enjoy. As a writer AND a reader this seems an eminently sensible tradition. Curl up with a good story and your favorite warm beverage while you wait for Santa.
As my gift to you this year I’m running a FREE promotion on Cast the First Stone December 22, 23 and 24.
Some brief updates:
Website
I’ve done a series of updates on the website, including adding a status bar for work in progress to the main Blog page and transitioning to a new mail client that +should+ email new blog posts out to my mail list. This post will be a test of that function. If all goes well I’ll look at some additional integrations. There is a bit of wonkyness in the formatting as the mail client converts the blog feed into my newsletter and the blog and mailer have different ideas about how images should look.
I’ve also added a Behind the Scenes page that you can access from the main page that gives some of what I’ve shared on different projects in the past.
New Audio!
Thirteen Stories of Horror now has an audiobook available through Audiobooks.com .
There’s no thrill for an author that’s quite like hearing our stories come to life through narration.
Already in the Holiday spirit? Thirteen Stories is still great for those snowy nights. Just remember “A Christmas Carol” – is a ghost story.
Warbirds
I’m a little over ten percent in at 9100 of a projected 85K, but based on some of the scenes so far this one may run long. Don’t forget you can see how I’m doing with the spiffy progress bar now on the main blog page.
There’s a lot to keep track of with the Seven Deadly Sins Merc company helping the Votha and Futaba to secure their system in the aftermath of the Xoth’tar attack.
Preston Pembrooke and the the Consortium are busy consolidating power on the Benth Orbital station and Benth itself, neither situation is one the Benthi are happy about. While the resistance works to free the station, the Federation seeks to recover and find new allies while planning their next move.
Rath and 7DS can only be sure that any real response will require ships – a lot of them.
On the Horizon
There +might+ be a new Cajun story for an anthology out next year – I’m waiting for news on that project. I’ll give you more when I can.
Likewise, SOUL MATE, in the Hit World/Valkyries universe will be released sometime in 2024.
Happy spooky time! The fall and Halloween are some of my favorite times of the year. The crisp air, sometimes tinged with woodsmoke and the rustle of leaves beneath a Colorado blue sky? It doesn’t get better than that! There’s been a lot going on in the Mattiverse, but not nearly enough on the writing front. Some updates:
The personal front:
At the end of August I underwent a “Reduction in Force” from my employer of 24 years. I’m not going to go into detail other than to say it’s so far been a positive move for me. A great deal of the stress I carried came from the way that role functioned within the companies framework and the fact that I hadn’t taken an extended break in too long a time. All work and no play didn’t make Matt a dull boy, but it did make him a tired one. While there are certainly new challenges dealing with the tail end of a case of burnout along with needing to expand a “very particular set of skills”, it’s also given me time to look at my opportunities with fresh but still tired eyes. It’s an ongoing process and I expect it will take some time to sort out.
On the writing front:
NEW RELEASE:
On October 13th I was fortunate to have a story included in THIRTEEN STORIES of HORROR – an Anthology edited by Nick Steverson and Marisa Wolf. I joined an all-star cast to help your spooky season along and send a shiver down your spine. If you love horror you are sure to find a new favorite from the offerings inside. Published by Three Ravens Publishing!
In my story I’ll take you back to London of 1888, into the streets, and the mind of a killer. But there is another story you’ve never heard, so as the fog rises, let me reintroduce you – to a Legend.
They Called Him Jack
Thirteen tales of Horror, perfect for a dark and stormy Friday the 13th…or a sunny Tuesday afternoon.
From science fiction to classic European horror, interwoven with layers of creep factor, gore, and mystery that will keep you turning the page…and looking over your shoulder.
So, light the candles, stir the cauldron, and check your ammo count, because things are about to get dark!
Warbirds
Work is still moving ahead. I’ve added a bunch of bits to the outline and have been writing scenes sporadically. Part of the delay is life-event related and part has been an overhaul in my writing process that I’m hoping will pay steady dividends down the road. This includes some pre-outlining on the third book – Birds of a Feather. I’ve been experimenting with looking at the outlining process from more of a series based point of view.
Concept work
I currently have two series concepts I’m working on. One for an alt-history/horror series and another for Military Sci-fi. It’s too early to go into much detail, but there’s plenty on the drawing board. Both of these are minimum 3-5 books and possibly much more.
Pro-crast-i-tasking
Today I completed a major revision on the website for the Book Shop. Check it out and let me know what you think!
Soon I will be taking another look at mail lists. The current mailer I use could do better notifying me when I have new sign-ups. That could be a limitation in the product or a problem in the way I have it set up – either way it’s in need of improvement. Fortunately most of my followers are with me across multiple platforms for which I’m very grateful – you folks rock! I’m also revisiting all of my writer-tech decisions with an eye toward integrations and ease of use. The goal is to streamline the admin tasks as much as possible.
That’s the not-so-quick and dirty. Thanks for being part of the madness!
The first part of 2023 has been really busy on multiple fronts, and as a result I haven’t had as much writing time as I would have liked – but there are still a bunch of exciting things happening.
What’s New?
What Goes Around
New for May – a short story release from the Fallen World Universe, with a bad-ass cover by my friend Jamie Ibson at Ibson Writes!
Deathrace meets the Thunderdome – In this Fallen World.
Thaddeus Drake will do whatever he must to protect the Arcology and the life they’ve built in the shadow of the Devil’s Head lookout. When an Agent makes a run on seven mile road, she brings with her an enemy he has no way to face.
There is only one place he can find what he needs to save them. The ruins of Denver, and the TraderTrack. In a race against time, Thad will gamble his skill as a driver that they can win – or lose everything, including their lives.
What Goes Around is a short story of 10500 words set in the Fallen World Universe.
A Nest of Stars – In German!
This was a particularly exciting feather in my cap made possible by CKPI! (Chris Kennedy Publishing International) The release of my short story “Whatever Happened to Charlie Biggs” as part of the German language release of “It Takes More Kinds” and of “A Nest of Stars means I’m now internationally published, with additional language options planned for the future.
So far NOS has done very well for ratings in Germany, and I’m looking forward to sharing the journey of the crew of the Merry Dreamer and the Votha with a wider audience!
Down the road…
Soul Mate
After a few rounds of edits to reshape the book and add tie-ins and Easter eggs galore – Soul Mate is finished and approved by the IP owner. It still has to be submitted to the Publisher and accepted before I’ll find out when the publication date will be and I’ll share that as soon as I’m able, but my best guess is Q1 of 2024. The next chapter of the story that began in “Cast the First Stone” and continued in “Glass Houses” is coming to you in a full-length novel.
Every profession has its perks—and its problems.
When Solomon Thorpe accepted the mantle of the Sin-Eater on the death of his mentor Roland Addy, he became the kind of rich most people only see in movies, and as the Chairman of the Second Chance Foundation, he was in a position to make a real difference in the world.
To add to the dream, Solomon was learning to use kaval—magic, and his bodyguard was a succubus whose favors men would literally die – or kill for, even if she did nibble on his soul from time to time. It was a lot for a man whose highest ambition had been to become a tenured Professor.
But while Solomon struggled to come to terms with his new responsibilities, Life Enders has a problem they need his help with. A Shooter they think is possessed, but possessed by what?
With Addy gone, forces from his past are moving in the shadows, and as a Sin-Eater for more than half a millennium, Addy cast a long shadow indeed.
In process…
Warbirds
For those of you looking forward to a return to the Benthi Federation, I’ve been working steadily on the outline for Warbirds.
Far from a local skirmish, the Benthi not-so-civil war threatens to destabilize an entire sector. On the Benth Orbital Ring, those still loyal to the Federation fight to survive against the oppression of the Pembrooke corporation and Consortium security forces. Meanwhile, the Federation Council considers if it’s better to attempt to re-take the station, or destroy it before the Consortium crushes what remains of the Federation with sheer economic might. Either choice could kill millions of former Federation citizens on the ring, and if the ring should fall, possibly millions more in the undersea cities on Benth itself.
In the Vothan system, the Xoth’tar are gathering to honor the new Sho’kahr, and the Futaba Council faces the choice of joining the Federation or returning to their previous isolation. Rath Peterson and the crew of the Merry Dreamer struggle with the consequences of Rath’s new position, torn between the need to stay and protect the Votha or return to Halo to help their friends. Even with Interdictor to anchor the system’s defense, once the Xoth’tar leave, the Votha will need ships of their own, and even if they had them to give, the Federation is stretched to the breaking point.
At Split-Rock, Raptor Benedo hopes to rebuild the Raptor command while the Votha learn a new game. A game called War.
Other work…
I have one other short (horror) story in process, and I’m still planning on having the next Tolliver Case Files story out this year.
A call for help
There have been a couple of changes on Amazon lately, and both can really help not just me – but any Author whose work you enjoy. The first is I can see how many followers I have on the Zon – If you have an Amazon account (I know you do) please check my Author page here:
Look to the upper left next to my picture and click the +FOLLOW button. This really helps by letting Amazon know I have an audience, and it also helps me to get information about new releases to you!
The second is on the subject of Reviews. Amazon has recently cross-platformed reviews with Goodreads, so your reviews reach a wider audience than ever before. Text reviews are the BEST! Something as simple as “Great Read” or “Enjoyed it!” Helps me find new readers. If you aren’t the texty type – a quick click on those stars at the end of your read makes my day, and it lets potential readers know the juice is worth the squeeze. For an Author, like coffee, reviews are the stuff of life. The more you have of either, the easier it is to sit down and write that next story.
That’s the news for now – Thank you, and as always,
2022 has been a challenging year on the writing front. My production was less than I wanted due to a number of things. A demanding day job and scheduling conflicts top the list along with the seemingly endless list of things that a writer needs to do – that isn’t writing. A good deal of what was published in 2022 was written in 2021, and the single release short stories were all part of anthologies where the rights reverted.
When I started writing in 2020, I had a narrow concept of what a writer did – specifically, write stories, but the reality is that every writer who intends to make a living outside of the traditional publishing path has a lot to do, and a lot to learn, because unless you are blessed with an independent income – you are going to be doing it yourself. In addition to outlines and story structure, plots and sub-plots, genre pacing, there are the demands that every small business faces. Tools and software, advertising images and copy, artwork and book covers, networking, marketing, social media and the time management that keeps all of those things from overshadowing the first, if not the only goal. Telling a good story.
A good portion of the end of my year has been focused on setting up these necessary business tasks in a way that makes them sustainable – I’ll come back to this later.
2022
Novels
The Executioners – with Jason Cordova, published April 26. This project started as a concept of Jason’s that I was invited to work on and It’s one of my favorite projects to date. Depending on schedules there’s definitely more for the future!
Anthologies
You Pay: We Slay – January 25. Among the Embers, April 12. WE DARE – Wanted, Dead or Alive – May 3. The Valkyries Initiative – September 13. All of these universes were fantastic opportunities that I’m hoping to do more in – Notably Hit World / Valkyries already has a novel in development for 2023.
Short Stories
GUMBO, February 4. Hollow Threats, October 21. Whatever Happened to Charlie Biggs, November 23.
2023 – On Deck
On the writing board:
Edits, rewrites and revisions for SOUL MATE – A novel in the Hit World/Valkyries universe.
Short stories in the 4HU, the second Irving Tolliver case file, and a Horror anthology submission. There’s also a novella planned as an expansion of some previous work that will be announced in the down the road.
The main work of 2023 will be a return to the Benthi Federation for books 2 and 3 in the Salvage Title universe that started with A Nest of Stars. The working titles are WARBIRDS and BIRDS of a FEATHER.
Lastly – I may have a release for Ravenswept Chronicles, but I’m still undecided on what form that might take. I recently expanded one of the initial stories and will be looking at how those changes work downstream.
Around all that I’m developing my own Military Sci-Fi universe concept – I’m still in the very early stages of planning – more information to be announced later. If all goes well this will probably have a release date in 2024.
The Business Side
Back to all those bits and pieces I’m trying to learn how to juggle. The first is that I now have an official website – mattnovotny.net – which of course, you know, since you are already here. I will be transitioning the point-of-origin for my blog from Goodreads to my website. I do plan on streaming to my Goodreads Author blog. I was going to stream to Amazon as well, but Amazon has changed its author pages in the U.S. and blog posts are no longer available there. This post will be the first test – stay tuned, shenanigans may ensue.
I ALSO have an updates and Blog sign-up on the main page. In the future I plan on adding exclusive content and giveaways that will only be available here.
I’d like to invite you to do some exploring on my website. In addition to slinging books I have links to a bunch of the Filk I’ve written, a link to the Hope Station T-Shirt shop for Executioners and Prodigal Son swag, and have plans for a gallery to showcase some of the settings and characters.- Find it all, along with pithy commentary here:
Social media
There are a few other places social media wise where you can find me. I’m also working to make sure they are all available through the website:
Okay – not JUST Christmas – it’s a Charlie Biggs Holiday Special – The release was November 23rd. Charlie doesn’t mind. He’s a celebrate them all kind of guy.
This time of year is busy for everyone, so I’ll keep it short. The first bit of news it the stand-alone release of “Whatever Happened to Charlie Biggs?” and is a return to the Salvage Title Universe and the Benthi Federation.
Charlie” is a tie-in story to “A Nest of Stars” and – as a teaser – sets up a lot of future events on the Benth orbital ring. Those things that don’t seem important? Well, wait and see!
When the alarms sound on one of the largest structures in space, it gets your attention.
They say adventure is months of boredom punctuated by hours of sheer terror. It’s a saying Charlie Biggs – a career Officer on the Benthi Federation’s orbital ring security force – can absolutely tell you is true.
When a routine check into some noisy alien visitors coincides with an attack on the station, It’s up to Charlie to sort things out – even when the authorities on the station seem to want them dead.
Whatever Happened to Charlie Biggs? Is a short story of 10200 words in the Salvage Title Universe.
The beginning of December I rewrote an introductory story for the Ravenswept Chronicles Universe. The jury is out on if that will appear in a future anthology or will become part of a novel, but after doubling the original word count I’m happy with where it ends – and how it begins the next part of the story.
There has been a delay in the production of SOUL MATE – that’s actually good news as it led to some additional opportunities that I’m looking forward to telling you about when things solidify – expect an announcement sometime in Q1, 2023.
I plan on finishing up 2022 with A new short story for the 4HU, outlining a Horror story for later in the year, and I may tinker some with Shoggoth on the Run – the next story in the Irving Tolliver Case Files.
2023 starts with with a deep dive into my next novel in the Salvage title universe with the working title: WARBIRDS.
I wish you all an amazing Holiday season, with Health, Wealth, and Happiness for all the new year!
How is it the end of October already? I’ve just returned from FactoryCon – the annual conference held by Chris Kennedy Publishing in Coinjock, NC. It’s a place to relax, connect with other Authors and talk shop, plan, plot and scheme for the year ahead. It’s also one of the places where we talk with readers – the hardy souls who venture out to connect with folks that (we hope) are the best kind of crazy.
I have a bunch of catching up to do, so I’ll start with what’s happening now and work backwards.
First up is the short story release of Hollow Threats, The first story in the Irving Tolliver Case Files. Hollow Threats originally appeared in And Then It Got Weird, edited by Jamie Ibson. Its a Genre-smashing future noir detective story set against a mythos background. Cosmic horror? Not so much, but by the time you make it through all the twists and turns – I hope you have as much fun reading this story as I did writing it.Seven hundred years in the future – the stars are right. Followers of Cthulhu are calling out to the Great Old One, and it’s up to Private Detective Irving Tolliver to stop them.The next Tolliver Case Files story – Shoggoth on the Run – is in progress!
September saw the release of The Valkyries Initiative edited by Marisa Wolf! In my story Glass Houses I had a fantastic time exploring the relationship between Mila and Ivanova. This one was all about the ladies.
In Hit World, everything is legal—if you pay the right amount to the right person with the right paperwork.
LifeEnders, Inc. has made a lot of money taking all kinds of targets off the board—everything from an annoying boss to a rampaging monster from another dimension.
But there are some things no contract can cover. When a rival organization threatens to eat LEI from the inside out, they’ll need something beyond their licensed Shooters to counter their new enemy.
They’ll need Valkyries.
In September I also completed Soul Mate – a novel in William Alan Webb‘s Hit World Universe. Soul Mate is the continuing story of Solomon Thorpe, AKA The Sin Eater, and stars characters from Cast the First Stone and Glass Houses which appeared in: You Pay; We Slay and The Valkyries Initiative respectively. Now that the manuscript is turned in, once approved I can begin the editing process. More info on this later.
In May I was part of: Wanted, Dead or Alive, edited by Jamie Ibson, and wrote what I hope will be the first of many tales in his Contractor Wars Universe. In ContAInment Reynard Dupree gives you a new way to look at Bounties and Bounty Hunters.
There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter. – Hemingway.
Bounty hunting is one of those morally gray areas that exist at the periphery of civil society. Few people know anyone whose job it is to find and retrieve fugitives, and bring them before the courts. In the future, however, one can envision any number of ways of how bounty hunting can be used (or abused) for any number of problems. Alien monsters haunting your space station? Bring in a team of hunters, and watch the double-crosses fly. Indentured workers flee ‘the system’ for the safety and anonymity of the Underhive? Facial recognition and some DNA sampling might help you find them. On the flip side of the coin, what if you were born wanted, and have been on the run your whole life?
From there we go alllllll the way back to the end of April for the release of The Executioners! The Executioners was a kick-ass ride written with my friend Jason Córdova which has already passed 200 ratings on amazon – A first for a project I’ve been a part of. There’s more to come in this segment of the 4HU!
Death comes for us all. Enforcers simply expedite the process.
The Alpha Contracts was the turning point in modern Human history. Of the one hundred companies who accepted the first mercenary contracts, only four returned. These four—collectively known as the Four Horsemen—would go on to become the largest and most successful Human mercenary companies in existence.
But what happened to the people who survived the Alpha Contracts when the rest of their friends and their companies died? Some were subsequently killed by merciless aliens, while others were enslaved. Still more tried to find their way through an unforgiving universe, eking out a living with the hope of one day returning home. Some became legends, while others faded into obscurity.
Juwan Washington, on the other hand, was recruited into something bigger—and more important—than anything he could have dreamed of. Thrust into a clandestine operation to discover the truth about a Peacemaker Candidate’s long-forgotten murder, Juwan and his newfound allies will have their revolve tested in ways unimaginable.
The only question is, can any of them survive it?
Whew! That’s a lot of stuff – there’s more in progress, but I’m going to save that for the next installment.
Tokyo Drift meets Death Race, by way of Thunderdome!
Tomorrow is launch day for Among the Embers – A new anthology in Christopher Woods Fallen World Universe.
This is a new universe for me and one I’m really excited to be a part of. I was also excited to bring a version of one of my favorite places into the Fallen World – The Devil’s Head Lookout tower. It’s a place I’ve been many times over the years, with a great hike, and at the end a spectacular view, and all accompanied by the the real life wisdom and stories of Billy Ellis, who retired recently as the lookout after 35 years at the age of 87.
My version of Devil’s Head is bigger, with a tight knit community and more than a few surprises, but if you’re ever in Colorado, it’s a place worth visiting, with a view that you will not believe until you experience it. I tried to give my characters the same love of the place and of the view that Billy described to to me. That’s home.
Once you’re out in the Fallen World though – that’s a dangerous place, and in What Goes Around – you’ll see how far that can go when the stakes are high. Join me for a few turns of Tokyo Drift meets Death Race – By way of Thunderdome.
