another nice review of Nights of the Living Dead

It’s been very gratifying to see how much acclaim Nights of the Living Dead has engendered. Alex DiVincenzo is the latest to sing the anthology’s praises, with an in-depth review on the Broke Horror Fan site. He goes into great detail on several of the stories (though note mine), and at least gives a mention to all the other authors, which is nice.

An excerpt:

Romero and Maberry did not impose strict guidelines on the writers. Tones and styles vary widely as a result, and so too do the time frames, settings, and characters. It’s interesting to see what each author came up with when given creative freedom and armed with the knowledge that Romero himself would be reading. Many stories, like the film from which they draw inspiration, are set early in the zombie uprising, though others take place after time has passed. Some even connect directly to the events of Night of the Living Dead.

gratuitous cover post!

Haven’t done one of these since I started the new blog, so what the heck………….

Here are the covers for my recent and upcoming work:

Super City Cops: Avenging Amethyst

 

Super City Cops: Undercover Blues

 

Super City Cops: Secret Identities

 

TV Gods: Summer Programming (with “Behind the Wheel”)

 

Mermaid Precinct

 

The Best of Bad-Ass Faeries (with “House Arrest”)

 

Marvel’s Warriors Three: Godhood’s End (Tales of Asgard trilogy Book 3)

 

Marvel’s Thor: Tales of Asgard omnibus

 

Baker Street Irregulars (with “Identity”)

 

Outside In Makes It So (with “‘The Big Goodbye’: A Hard Rain”)

 

Stargate SG-1/Atlantis: Homeworlds (with “Sun-Breaker”)

 

Supernatural: John Winchester’s Ruled Journal

 

Orphan Black: Classified Clone Report (with “Dr. Delphine Cormier”)

 

Nights of the Living Dead (with “Live and On the Scene”)

 

Joe Ledger: Unstoppable (with “Ganbatte“)

 

Aliens: Bug Hunt (with “Deep Background”)

 

Icarus Book 1 (with Gregory A. Wilson, Matt Slay, & Mark Dos Santos)

 

probably the final updated Dragon Con schedule

I’ve updated my Dragon Con 2017 schedule to what should be the final thing, including confirming the Orphan Black panel and also doing the Doctor Who costume contest.

irons in the fire update

It’s not quite the end of the month, but we’re about to dive into Dragon Con, at which point I will have no time to breathe (have you seen my schedule?), so I want to get this done now, especially since I just turned something in….

Sooper-seekrit tie-in project #1: This is a very cool thing that fans of the thing it ties into will enjoy immensely. I just yesterday turned in the revision. I believe it’s scheduled for fall 2018.

Sooper-seekrit tie-in project #2: Did the writing sample for this, and am now in the lovely “wait and see” period.

Sooper-seekrit tie-in project #3: This is nebulous, as I had preliminary talks with the people and then things kinda got crazy. Need to see if this is still on track…………

Comics project: Pitched this to an editor. Waiting for word.

Bram Gold: Now that sooper-seekrit tie-in project #1 is finally off my plate, I can dive back into A Furnace Sealed. Before SSTIP1 consumed my life, I’d intended to get the novel done by Dragon Con. Yeah.

18th Race: I was the editor on David Sherman’s first two books in this series, Issue in Doubt and In All Directions. Due to David’s poor health, he has brought me on to collaborate with him on the third and final book in the trilogy, To Hell and Back. I’ll be diving into that once A Furnace Sealed is done.

Precinct series: I have a big announcement coming, er, soon with regard to the Precinct series. Mermaid Precinct is still on track for fall release, as per the Kickstarter. I also have a bunch of Kickstarter rewards to fulfill for both Mermaid and also “Baker’s Dozen.” And I’ve got another short story percolating that will be another Kickstarter. Once all the paperwork is signed, sealed, and delivered for the big announcement, I will actually, y’know, make the big announcement. Oh, and I have written “The Fall of Iaron,” which is in the same universe as the Precinct stories, but not actually a Cliff’s End Castle Guard story. That will be in Kingdoms Fall, edited by Jonathan Maberry, next year.

Super City Cops: I’ve got a story for an upcoming superhero anthology in this world that I should probably write at some point…..

Cassie Zukav: No current Cassie stories in the pipeline, though I have notions for Cassie stories floating about in my head, and if I get them written, then I will have enough for a second collection, Ragnarok and a Hard Place……

Thriller: My collaborator has asked for a revision on this, in addition to the notes my agent asked for. Now that SSTIP1 is off my plate, I can go through that and tackle those revisions.

Mystery: Really want to write this. Really don’t have time. Grumble.

Battlestar Galactica: Have an essay to write about this show for an upcoming anthology.

Tor.com: I have debuted “4-Color to 35-Millimeter: The Great Superhero Movie Rewatch” and I will be reviewing Star Trek Discovery when it debuts. And I’ve written about Marvel’s The Defenders, with possibly another piece percolating in my head…..

 

GO TEAM KENSHIKAI! — support breast cancer research…..

My dojo has been doing the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure to support breast cancer research for the past ten years. The picture above is our team in 2009 — that’s me on the far right in the Yankee cap.

Over the years I drifted away from being involved for a variety of reasons, but this year, I feel the urge to be supportive of the endeavor once again, mostly because in the age of Trump, women’s health is seriously endangered and any charity that helps in that field is worth supporting. (That’s also why I’m part of Mine!)

Anyhow, my dojo is running again this year on the 10th of September, and while I can’t participate this year, I do support them, and urge all and sundry to click on this paragraph and do likewise.

Thanks very much!

GO TEAM KENSHIKAI!

updated Dragon Con schedule

I updated my Dragon Con 2017 schedule, adding two more autographings, one more panel, and one more tentative panel.

 

4-Color to 35-Millimeter: Spider-Man (1977) and Dr. Strange (1978)

Marvel’s first two films are TV movies that serve as backdoor pilots (one went to series, one didn’t), both of which suffer from problematic origins, bland female leads, and poor pacing. The Great Superhero Movie Rewatch looks at the Nicholas Hammond Spider-Man and the Peter Hooten Dr. Strange.

An excerpt:

In each case, the adaptation removes any sense of character journey. Instead of a Peter Parker who is a nerd who is picked on by other kids, and who sees being a hero as a release, a way to become what puny Parker never could be, we just get an ordinary-ish grad student who is struggling to make ends meet. Instead of a kid who gets heady with power and then has a comeuppance when his newfound arrogance gets his father-figure killed, we just get a guy who gets powers and, uh, becomes a superhero and stuff.

Strange doesn’t go through any real changes. His world changes around him, but he’s still the same guy at the end that he is at the beginning, except now he has powers and an awful costume.

reviewing Marvel’s The Defenders season 1

On Tor.com, I do a full review of the eight-episode first season of Marvel’s The Defenders, which brings together Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist into one big quivering mass.

An excerpt:

I didn’t list Rand as a strong, complex character above, but Defenders makes that work, too. In Iron Fist, Rand was a whiny, arrogant, twerp that the script kept trying to crowbar into a hero. In The Defenders, Rand is a whiny, arrogant twerp that the script comes right out and acknowledges is a whiny, arrogant twerp. It makes the character a whole lot easier to take, especially given how often the other characters call him on it. (Best line of the whole series belongs to Stick, speaking for the entire audience: “The immortal Iron Fist is still a thundering dumbass.”)

on sale now: Orphan Black: Classified Clone Report

Yes, the cover says it’s by Dr. Delphine Cormier, but she’s fictional. *wry grin* In fact, the new coffee-table book Orphan Black: Classified Clone Report is by me! And it’s on sale now in hardcover, with the eBook editions to come along in due course.

The book wasn’t released until the show ended because it’s a complete guide, all the way to the final episode. So there are spoilers throughout the book for all five seasons of the show. You have been warned…….

Here’s the cover copy:

From the secret files of Dr. Delphine Cormier, comes this ultimate guide to all of the characters, conspiracies, and shadowy organizations in the smart, innovative BBC America television thriller Orphan Black.

Designed to resemble the classified files and notes of Dr. Delphine Cormier, this in-world compendium chronicles the inner workings of the mysterious people and organizations at the heart of the acclaimed hit television series Orphan Black. A detailed and creative look at the thrilling international hit series, Orphan Black Classified Clone Report includes detailed dossiers of Sarah Manning, Felix Dawkins, and all of the show’s beloved characters; examines every twist and turn from season one to the present; provides exclusive information on the Dyad Institute, the Neolution clone program, and the notorious Proletheans; and features observations of the different clones from their monitors, classified intelligence, breakthroughs in Cosima’s research, and private journal entries chronicling Delphine’s experience with the clone club and her own complicated love for Cosima.

Packed with exclusive concept art, photos, and intriguing removable inserts and ephemera, Orphan Black Classified Clone Report is an immersive reading experience and essential companion for fans of Orphan Black.

You can order the hardcover or preorder the eBook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or Indie Bound.

first impressions of Marvel’s The Defenders on Tor.com

I’ve watched the first three episodes of Marvel’s The Defenders and written my impressions of them over on Tor dot com. I’ll have a more detailed review of the entire eight-episode season on Monday, but I’m liking what I’ve seen so far.

An excerpt:

Sigourney Weaver is quietly menacing as Alexandra, and it makes her scarier than the other effective villains of the Netflix corner of the MCU. Vincent D’Onofrio’s Fisk, Mahershala Ali’s Cottonmouth, and Alfre Woodard’s Mariah all had the calmness but it was leavened with their tendency to fly off the handle at any second. Alexandra, at least in the first three episodes, only has the calm, and it’s frightening as hell. Probably the best compliment one can give her performance is that you actually believe that Madame Gao—who has quietly been the nastiest and scariest presence in the Netflix MCU so far, thanks to Wai Ching Ho’s understated brilliance—takes orders from her. Gao has never been subservient to anyone prior to this, but you buy it with Alexandra.