The Pirates of Xonira

Derrick Ferguson's newest Dillon novel, Dillon and the Pirates of Xonira is now available at the PulpWork Press website.  If you buy it direct from PulpWork Press you can get a 20% discount by entering the following code: 5YRZ6A8W

Also, this same code is good for a 20% discount on almost all of the Pulp Work Press titles, including Josh Reynolds Dracula Lives! and the (lucky) thirteen books that I have written.

I Accidentally Wrote a Novel

I've been working on this novel for the last five months, so you might wonder just how I "accidentally" wrote The Gantlet Brothers: Sold Out.  The truth is a mighty amount of time and effort went into putting those 93,000 words down, however when I first sat down to write the tale I was intending to write a short story.

However, I did not stick to my Two-Step Formula for Constructing Short Stories.  Instead I approached Sold Out with just one pivotal scene in mind: I asked myself what would happen if one of the Gantlet Brothers was brutally murdered on stage during their rock concert.  Then I let the rest of the story unravel in front of me. One full-length novel later I know the answer.

Before I attack my next large project I plan to do three or four short stories for various anthologies.  This time I'll actually keep my short stories short.

Sold Out should see print in 2013.  The two Gantlet Brother novels that are currently in print are The Nuclear Suitcase and The Gantlet Brothers Greatest Hits. You can find them at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and at pulpwork.com.

The Vanishing City

The latest issue of Science Fiction Trails is an 'All-Martian' issue, which might give you some clue to the content of my latest Lone Crow story, The Vanishing City, which is included therein.  Crow accompanies Doctor Sylvia Conrad on an archeological expedition to Mount Shasta, investigating claims that an outpost of lost Lemuria has been discovered there.  In the meantime, the infamous bounty hunter known as the Grim brothers have gathered a motley crew of cutthroats and killers and are dogging his trail.  This story has some loose tie-ins with my Dire Planet series.

This issue of Science Fiction Trails is available in hard copy for $8.00 or for a $3.05 Kindle download.  If you are a member of Amazon Prime you can get a copy for free.

Update: You can a 40% discount on a hard copy of Science Fiction Trails #9 by going to this link and entering the discount code of RMYAE97U.

Lone Crow Story List

To my pleasant surprise, I happened across a Facebook posting about Native American gunfighter Lone Crow, which led to an article on Josh Reynolds' Royal Occultist Blog that lists every published occurrence of Lone Crow's weird western adventures. Check it out, and while you are there poke around Reynolds' blog for information on other occult investigators and especially his own excellent series characters Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass.

In a bit of Crow-related news, which I've mentioned previously, an eighth Lone Crow short story entitled The Vanishing City has been accepted for publication by Science Fiction Trails magazine.  I'll share more information as that comes to fruition.

Works in Progress

...still chronicling the potential demise of the Gantlet Brothers.  The Gantlet Brothers: Sold Out is at 88k words and counting.  I should be wrapping up the first draft next week.

As for the this year, look for The Island of Lost Souls within the next couple of months.  This is my take on the Arthurian legend and my reading of Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur leads me to believe that Arthur and Merlin were less than paragons of virtue and goodness. Still, we do have a pair of heroes in the brother knights, Balan and Balin, from North Umberland.

In Case You Missed It

Fellow PulpWork Press author, Josh Reynolds, has been very busy pumping out various sorts of pulchritidinous pulp prose.  Over the years he's established a number of series characters which make for some great reading.  A few of my favorites are the half man/half robot Pinkerton detective known as Mr. Brass, the steam punk Ulrich Popoca and Countess Felluci stories, and the adventures of the Royal Occultist Charles St. Cyprian and his charming companion-in-arms Ebe Gallowglass as they battle evil magicians and strange and hungry creatures wherever they might uncover them.

In case you missed the news, Josh has a new website devoted to Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass and to celebrate he's posted a free short story entitled Wendy-Smythe's Worm. If you browse through the back postings you can locate the three parts to the story, but to make it easier I've located the three parts and posted the links right here!

Wendy-Smythe's Worm Part 1
Wendy-Smythe's Worm Part 2
Wendy-Smythe's Worm Part 3

Last Rail to Khusra

Check out Derrick Ferguson's Dillon blog for the skinny on his upcoming Dillon novel and some super secret info about the next story that teams up rock star troublemaker Sly Gantlet with that same global instigator known by the one-word monicker of Dillon.