Running Down 2011

I've compiled a list of my writing misadventures for 2011. Here's the rundown...

January my space opera novella The Artificial Woman starring the crew of Barclay Salvage appeared in Startling Adventures #2. (Still available for just $6.66 at Amazon)

In February I nabbed a Pulp Ark 'Best Author' nomination.  Alas, another worthy writer, Barry Reese, took the final honors when the winner was announced in May.

In July I had two weird west tales featuring Native American gunman Lone Crow published: The Lost Vale and Gunmen of the Hollow Earth in How the West was Weird 2 and in How the West was Weird: Campfire Tales, respectively.

 $14.99 for a hard copy and $3.99 for a digital download at Amazon.

Campfire Tales is available as a 99 cent digital download at Smashwords.

In July Lone Crow, Porter Rockwell, and a doughty fellow that goes by the name of Josh Reynolds appeared in The Shadow Walkers which was published in Showdown at Midnight. (Hard copy for $15.99 or Kindle download for $4.95)

Also in July came Strange Gods of the Dire Planet, the fourth novel detailing the adventures of displaced American astronaut Garvey Dire. ($12.95 at the PulpWork Press store or $3.99 kindle format)

A couple of days later Dark Worlds summer issue came out, carrying a short story entitled The Remnant Band--a fantasy tale set in the city of Bathos where my previous novels Escape from Devil's Head and Through the Groaning Earth take place. (Dark Worlds is available in hard copy format for $14.59, or you may want to pick up the bargain digital download for $4.99)

Things slowed down until November when The Gantlet Brothers Greatest Hits came down like a ton of heavy metal. (Available in Epub and Kindle formats for just $2.99 or in hard copy for $11.95).

Then to round out the year The Christmas Eve Killers was released in the PulpWork Christmas Special 2011.  For a few more days this is available as a free download.  Get it before the Christmas spirit evaporates and PulpWork posts it for actual hard-earned money for Nook and Kindle.

Phew...that was exhausting!  On an upcoming post I'll share a couple of things that are coming down the pike for 2012. 

Gantlet Brothers on the Book Cave

I recently chatted with Ric Croxton and Art Sippo on the Book Cave Podcast about my latest literary/pulp endeavor The Gantlet Brothers Greatest Hits. You can listen in here.  Pick up a hard copy of The Gantlet Brothers Greatest Hits at PulpWork Press ($11.95) or digital copies at Amazon and Barnes and Noble (just $2.99)

Z7 Reviews Campfire Tales

Tim Mayer of Z7's Headquarters Reviews Campfire Tales, which contains a quartet of western tales guaranteed to make you quiver with fear.  Check out the review here and pick up a digital copy at Smashwords or on Kindle for a mere ninety-nine cents.

PulpWork Christmas Special 2011

Until the end of the year Pulpwork is offering free downloads of the PulpWork Christmas Special 2011. This features a spectacular cover by MD Jackson and two tales of Christmas deviltry and destruction by Josh Reynolds and Joel Jenkins.

First, occult investigator Charles St. Cyprian uncovers the ancient Christmas evil behind the legend of merry John Mock and then icy-hearted assassin Monica Killingsworth undertakes a Christmas Eve killing with treachery lurking around every corner.

Note: The free files for the PulpWork Christmas Special have been removed.  Check on Amazon.com to purchase a Kindle copy for just 99 cents.

Campfire on Kindle

How the West was Weird: Campfire Tales is now available on Kindle and in various other electronic formats at Smashwords.  The cool thing is that it's only 99 cents!

Here's what's in it:

Four novellas combining the western with sci-fi and horror. This new addition to Pulpwork Press's best-selling HOW THE WEST WAS WEIRD series includes cowboys in a lost world, robot Pinkertons fighting sky pirates beside Teddy Roosevelt, and zombies - lots and lots of zombies.

CAMPFIRE TALES includes the following stories:

MR. BRASS AND THE CRIMSON SKIES OF KANSAS by Josh Reynolds. The robot Pinkerton is all that stands between President Teddy Roosevelt and an attack by sky pirates and Mr. Hyde.

HELL'S OWN by Russ Anderson. Zombies overrun a small western town, and the town's lone sheriff is the only one that's armed. Will anyone survive?

THE TALE OF THE BARON'S TRIBUTE by Derrick Ferguson. When a foe from Sebastian Red's past attacks him through his friends, Sebastian must undo the damage done to his loved ones and do battle with a foe who is, for once, in every way his equal.

GUNMEN OF THE HOLLOW EARTH by Joel Jenkins. Lone Crow, Doc Holliday, and Morgan Earp lead the surviving members of the Wild Bunch into a lost world at the center of the Earth, running afoul of dinosaurs, a tribe of barbarian women, and a posse of silver-hungry banditos who have followed them from the surface world.

Greatest Hits on Nook and Kindle

The Gantlet Brothers Greatest Hits is now available in Epub and Kindle formats for just $2.99.

Excluding the novel The Nuclear Suitcase, this book contains all the previously-published and hard to find adventures of the Gantlet Brothers, and includes two never-before-published stories.

Cyber Monday Special

One day only, get 30% off my just-released book, The Gantlet Brothers Greatest Hits.  Normally, you're looking at $11.95 (still a bargain in my completely biased estimation), but if you follow this link and use the discount code 5YRZ6A8W you get 30% off the cover price.

So what's the book about? Here's the back cover blurb:

From the broken and dusty terrain of Egypt's Qattara Depression to the grimy underbelly of New York City, erstwhile rock musicians and guns for hire, the Gantlet Brothers, use charm, blades, bullets, and fists to plow a path through amorous starlets with ill intentions, bounty hunters, a deranged serial killer and terrorists hell-bent on bringing down nuclear annihilation.

These are the Gantlet Brothers' greatest hits collected for the first time and including two never before published stories.
 

This book is just released so there are no reviews out yet.  However, Pulp Fiction Review wrote a piece on the previous Gantlet Brother novel, The Nuclear Suitcase which you can still find at the Pulp Fiction Review Website.

Weird Review

The Big Al's Books and Pals blog has posted a brief review of How the West was Weird (Book One) in which I have a tale about Native American gunslinger Lone Crow coming face to face with a monstrous wyrm from the outer darkness.  Yep, that's why it's called the weird west.

Showdown at Midnight

Here's a brief review/synopsis of Showdown at Midnight in which Native American gunfighter Lone Crow makes an appearance. This review is extracted from Black Petals Issue #57

I found editor David B. Riley’s Western horror collection quite a contrast to the modern and urban. SHOWDOWN AT MIDNIGHT (Tales of Horror and Dark Fantasy from the Weird Weird West) features stories by a wide variety of authors. Although not as polished as Cassiday’s work, it was definitely worth reading. The book goes way beyond "cowboys and Indians" out West, although not quite as far as the summer box office success, "Cowboys and Aliens." Pull up a stool, sip a sarsaparilla, and dig in.


Don D’Amassa’s "The Incorruptible" centers on a Choctaw belief in a haunt that kills and eats up ignorant innocents. The Devil’s bounty hunter plays his cards right in Bill Craig’s "A Ghost of a Chance." Comanche phantoms and murdered miners go for the gold in Joel Jenkins’ "The Shadow Walkers." Sam Kepfield mixes Civil-War era science and superstition in the wolvishly clever "Lycaon Unbound." The cover with zombie gunman derives from Henrik Ramsager’s humorous "Low Noon." Another ironic piece, about Annie Oakley on vacation, proved to be my favorite—"The Great Ghost Train Robbery" by Jennifer Campbell-Hicks. This was followed by the morose but satisfying haunted-sword tale, "Samurai Blade," by John M. Whalen. "Wolves of the Comancheria" by Carol Hightshoe is a poignant narration by a female warrior ghost, Wolf Shadow, who delivers vengeance. M. H. Bonham warns us about the dangers of "The Banshee Mine." The final three offerings are: Jennifer Brozek’s "A Promise Made," with a ghost sheriff helping another ghost settle a score; Aaron B. Larson’s "Belfry’s in Your Bats," about an unholy attack on General Grant; and the editor’s "Night Thunder," about a hellish horse.


Cover art for SHOWDOWN AT NIDNIGHT is by Russell Morgan. Print and layout are nice, and Mr. Riley did a good job with the bios in back.

Four Bullets for Kindle

Four Bullets for Dillon is now available on Kindle for $2.99.  This book includes four adventures of global instigator and troublemaker Dillon and includes a team-up (co-written by me and Derrick Ferguson) with erstwhile rock guitarist Sly Gantlet where they battle against a group of mercenaries who lead them into a trap baited by their own titanic egos.

"The prose equivalent of Tango and Cash"

Mat Nastos (who has writing credits for both Marvel and DC and is the instigator of the great New Pulp debate of 2011) has written a review of Four Bullets for Dillon and refers to the story Dead Beat in La Esca, which co-stars Derrick Ferguson's character, global instigator Dillon, and my own character, rockstar and erstwhile gun for hire Sly Gantlet, as "the prose equivalent of Tango and Cash." He points to the buddy action movies of the eighties an example of the tone of the story.

You can find Dead Beat in La Esca in Four Bullets for Dillon.  Derrick Ferguson and I co-wrote the story. You can also find three other very cool Dillon stories inside Four Bullets.

The Dillon/Joel Jenkins Team Up

The hosts of the Pulped! podcast interview Derrick Ferguson about the mythical Dillon/Joel Jenkins team-up as well as his new Four Bullets for Dillon, which is 144 pages of action-packed coolness. It includes one story co-written by me which co-stars rock musician Sly Gantlet (not me--despite the assertions of the Pulped! hosts)

Strange Gods Reviewed

Ron Fortier of Pulp Fiction Review shares his take on Strange Gods of the Dire Planet. I'm pretty pleased with this review. I should probably quit while I'm ahead.

Four Bullets for Dillon

Four Bullets for Dillon is now available at Amazon:


A lost city in the Cambodian jungles run by a pint-sized tyrant wearing a gem-encrusted belt buckle; Beautiful women who lure Dillon and his rival, rock musician Sly Gantlet, into a clash of alpha males and a deadly set-up; a deceitful queen and a backstabbing friend; a quest for an evil artifact linked to the betrayer of Christ. Four Bullets for Dillon includes four hard to find and never before seen stories ripped from the life of global adventurer and instigator, Dillon. 

 Four Bullets includes a story, Dead Beat in La Esca, which I co-wrote with Derrick Ferguson. It's ten bucks at Amazon.com.

James Bond Meets Cthulhu

A couple of years ago I used the phrase "James Bond meets Cthulhu" to describe a Dillon novel called Dillon and the Golden Bell, which is written by Derrick Ferguson.  Garrison James kicks off his Pulp Magnet article on Dillon with my quote. You can check it out here.

The Lost Vale

Author Mark Bousquet has posted a short interview with me on his blog.  Mostly it discusses my latest weird west horror tale featuring Native American gunslinger, Lone Crow.  Check out the interview here.

All Pulp Reviews Exiles of the Dire Planet

All Pulp has posted a review of my novel, Exiles of the Dire Planet.  Read the review at All Pulp and/or pick up a copy at PulpWork.com.  Electronic versions are available at Barnes and Noble (Also, I notice that they've got the hard copy of Strange Gods of the Dire Planet for sale at just $9.32 at the moment!) and Amazon.

Strange Gods of the Book Cave

Book Cave hosts Ric Croxton and Art Sippo interviewed me about Strange Gods of the Dire Planet (with a few tangents and digressions) for the 138th episode of the Book Cave.  Listen to the PODcast here.

Until the 10th of August you can get a 20% discount on Strange Gods by punching in the code ZUEEWBQV when purchasing the book at the PulpWork Press website.

Joel Jenkins gets Pulped!

I did a PODcast interview with the folks at Pulped!  Here's the announcement below:

It's another release day episode as Derrick Ferguson and Tommy Hancock talk with Joel Jenkins,  author of STRANGE GODS OF THE DIRE PLANET available today! Tune into hear what swords, women warriors, time travel, and Mars have to do with Joel predicting the Kindle before it existed!!

www.pulped.libsyn.com

Strange Gods Discount

Purchase Me

As of today the fourth book of the Dire Planet series, Strange Gods of the Dire Planet is released.  In conjunction with the Pulped! and Book Cave Podcasts, Pulpwork Press is continuing its pre-order sale and until August 10th anyone ordering a copy can get a 20% discount by punching in the discount code of ZUEEWBQV before completing the order.  This discount is only available if you order the book through the Pulp Work Press website.

The Remnant Band Preview

The Dark Worlds website has posted an excerpt from my latest short story, The Remnant Band.  This is an all fantasy issue of Dark Worlds and has a great line-up of authors.  (And it's not me that I'm talking about).

Dire Planet in the Bargain Basement

As part of Amazon's Big Deal sale where they've got 900 ebooks on sale in the range of .99 to 3.99, they have marked Dire Planet down to $1.99.  With the release of Strange Gods of the Dire Planet coming down the pike on August 1st, now might be a good time to pick up a Kindle copy of the first novel in the series.

The sale lasts through the 27th of July.

The Remnant Band

Azark, the impetuous outlander hailing from the cliff-dwelling Arcasians, finds a clue to the whereabouts of the man who slew his father. His quest for vengeance sends him headlong into the tower fortress of Governor Icarod where he finds himself face to face with the remnant band--the surviving vestiges of the destroyed Assassins Guild.

The Remnant Band is a tale from the City of Bathos and picks up where my novel Through the Groaning Earth left off.  You can find The Remnant Band and a host of other great stories by excellent authors in issue six of the Pulp-Ark Award nominated Dark Worlds.

Dark Worlds is available in hard copy format for $14.59, or you may want to pick up the bargain digital download for $4.99.

Strange Gods of the Dire Planet

Purchase Me

At long last the fourth book of the Dire Planet series, Strange Gods of the Dire Planet, has a hard release date--August 1st.  Yes, just two weeks away.  Pre-order copies are available at the Pulp Work Press website.  Until August 1st anyone ordering a copy can get a 20% discount by punching in the secret (at least it's a secret if you don't happen to be reading my blog or Facebook postings) discount code of ZUEEWBQV before completing the order.  This discount is only available if you order the book through the Pulp Work Press website.

Two of a Kind

You might not expect to see these two hanging out together in a London tea room, but how about in the California wilderness?  Author, Joshua Reynolds, appears in the latest Lone Crow story, The Shadow Walkers. Read his comments about his role in The Shadow Walkers at Reynolds' Hunting Monsters Blog.

Showdown at Midnight

A missing bag of gold, an encampment full of dead miners, two of the weird west's most infamous gunslingers, Lone Crow and Porter Rockwell, and a trio of murderers that is neither wholly dead nor wholly alive. Science Fiction Trails has just released their latest anthology, Showdown at Midnight, which has The Shadow Walkers--a story written by me--inside of its covers.

This book is available at Amazon, but if you order it direct from the Science Fiction Trails store and punch in the code 2BWNDXLZ when you're ordering you'll get a 20% discount on the purchase price.

Myth Hunter

Below is a brief interview I conducted with Percival Constantine about his new book The Myth Hunter:

Q: The heroine of Myth Hunter is drawn in the vein of such artifact hunters as Indiana Jones and Lara Croft.  What differentiates Elisa Hill from Croft and how did you put your own spin on the genre?

Percival: I think what differentiates Elisa from Lara is that she’s more developed as a character. In the Tomb Raider games, comics and movies, there was never that much development behind Lara—she was a thrill-seeker, pure and simple. And everything always seemed to come easy for her. With Elisa, you see her struggle a lot—she struggles not only in the physical and mental challenges she faces, but emotionally as well. She’s dealing with the specter of her past and her parents’ legacy hanging over her and how that drives her in the present.

Q: The genre you are working in has roots in the classic cliffhanger serials and pulp novels of the 1930's.  What sort of inspirations did you draw from for Myth Hunter and how were you introduced to the pulp ethos?

Percival: My biggest source of inspiration for The Myth Hunter definitely comes from the Indiana Jones films. That was my first real introduction to pulp and I was raised on those films, so it’s no wonder I draw on them a lot. I also did a lot of research on various myths and legends, which I drew a lot from. The book focuses on the search for the lost continent of Lemuria and in the story, there’s mention of James Churchward and his book, Mu: The Motherhood of Man. Churchward was a real person and his book does exist—that hoax was the springboard of my theory. There’s also mention of the Yonaguni Monument, which is a real thing as well and is rumored to be relics from Lemuria/Mu.

Q: In the pages of Myth Hunter, Elisa battles against a mysterious and powerful sect known as The Order.  Are there any parallels here between The Order and any actual or rumored conspiratorial groups and are you secretly a member of said group?

Percival: I could tell you if I’m part of a secret society, but then you’d suddenly end up a victim of a freak accident, so best if I keep quiet, haha. There are parallels between the Order and other rumored conspiratorial groups. I find conspiracy theories extremely fascinating fiction, so I do draw a little bit from them.

Q: Elisa's quest takes her to Japan.  You've spent quite a bit of time in Japan, yourself.  How did this help you in drawing the location and culture?

Percival: Actually, the only thing about Elisa’s time in Japan I’ve taken from my own experience is a very brief exchange the characters have in Japanese. While researching Lemuria, I discovered information about the Yonaguni Monument and did some more research on the island of Yonaguni and some of its culture. So while it may come as a surprise, the only thing related to Japan in the book which comes from firsthand experience is the language aspect.

Q: Though you live in an area that is not close in proximity, how have you seen the Fukushima nuclear melt down affect life in Japan?

Percival: I live quite far from Fukushima, so I haven’t seen anything firsthand. My area wasn’t affected by any blackouts or natural disasters or anything like that. The only thing that really affected us was the shock of the whole situation, just like everyone else in the world. I do have some friends who live further north and for them the situation was a bit more tense. But fortunately, no one I know suffered anything. 

The Myth Hunter is available in hard copy for $11.95 at Amazon or pick up a Kindle edition for $2.99.

The Lost Vale Character Roster

It's been pointed out that The Lost Vale, my short weird west tale that is included in the upcoming How the West was Weird Two anthology, has a fairly extensive character roster for a short story.  I thought it might be interesting to gather photos of the cast so it would be a simple matter to keep the players straight.

The Good Guys: (top to bottom) Asuncion Ramirez, Doc Holliday, Lone Crow, Morgan Earp, Warren Earp

The bad guys: (top to bottom) Butch Cassidy, Jorje and Javier, Kid Curry, the Sundance Kid, The Tall Texan, William 'News' Carvey.

Granted, this cast is winnowed down considerably for the follow up tale, Gunmen of the Hollow Earth, which can be found in How the West was Weird: Campfire Tales.  How do you get a copy of these stories? Just pre-order How the West was Weird Two and you get free shipping and a free PDF of Campfire Tales.  Pre-order your copy here: