Click on the link and please consider supporting three nifty new fantasy novels:
Yeti Left Home, a cryptid tale by Aaron Rosenberg
Esprit de Corpse, a Parisian steampunk novel by Ef Deal
Phoenix Precinct, the latest in the fantasy/police procedure series by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Yup! The latest in the “Precinct” series is being written and crowdfunded even as we speak. In Phoenix Precinct, Lieutenants Danthres Tresyllione and Torin ban Wyvald investigate a hate crime, as a Barlin refugee is found beaten to death. But their investigation uncovers corruption in the Castle Guard — and in the castle itself!
Today is the official on-sale date for Devilish and Divine. Originally titled Horns and Halos, this anthology, which was successfully Kickstarted last year with several other eSpec Books titles, features stories of angels and demons by a nifty lineup, including:
Danielle Ackley-McPhail (who co-edited the anthology)
Michael A. Black
Christopher J. Burke
James Chambers
Russ Colchamiro
Keith R.A. DeCandido (hey, that’s me!)
John L. French (who co-edited the anthology)
John G. Hartness
Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg
Hildy Silverman
Michelle D. Sonnier
Patrick Thomas
Robert E. Waters
My story, “Unguarded,” takes place in the same urban fantasy universe as the novels A Furnace Sealed, All-the-Way House, and the forthcoming Feat of Clay and the short stories “Under the King’s Bridge” and “Materfamilias.” Like the latter story, which was in 2020’s Bad Ass Moms, “Unguarded” features Yolanda Rodriguez, a Courser who works in upper Manhattan, aided by her two teenage daughters. In this case, one of her daughter’s classmates is having an epic run of bad luck, and there may be a supernatural component. It’s a story of guardian angels from two different faiths.
I did five bits of programming at the virtual Shore Leave convention this past weekend — the second year in a row the show was forced to be online-only thanks to the current apocalypse. With luck, we’ll be back in person next year for a proper Shore Leave 42.
Anyhow, here’s what I did:
Me moderating “The New Age of Star Trek,” as Kirsten Beyer, David Mack, Kelli Fitzpatrick, and Dayton Ward talked with me about Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Short Treks, and the upcoming Strange New Worlds and Prodigy.
Me and fellow author guests Aaron Rosenberg, Heather E. Hutsell, James Swallow, Joshua Palmatier, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Roberta Rogow, Christopher D. Abbott, Michael Jan Friedman, and Paul Kupperberg pimping our latest offerings at the “New Release Party.”
Publisher/editor/author Danielle Ackley-McPhail leads “eSpec Books Presents,” joined by me, Hildy Silverman, Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg, Robert Greenberger, Mary Fan, Russ Colchamiro, and Aaron Rosenberg to talk about all the cool stuff from eSpec.
Kelli Fitzpatrick moderated this wide-ranging talk on “Characterization in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” that included myself, Amy Imhoff, Derek Tyler Attico, Mary Fan, and Glenn Hauman.
And finally, “How Did I Get In This Mess?” which had Howard Weinstein moderating a talk on how we all broke into the business, featuring me with fellow scribes Richard C. White, Christopher D. Abbott, Joshua Palmatier, and Robert Greenberger.
You can now preorder Devilish and Divine — the forthcoming anthology of stories about angels and demons edited by John L. French & Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and which will include a story by me — from any number of online sources:
Last year, eSpec Books did a big-ass Kickstarter that included three novels and a short-story anthology. The latter was originally called Horns & Halos, and is now called Devilish & Divine, featuring stories about angels and demons. The anthology, which is edited by John L. French & Danielle Ackley-McPhail, now has a cover and back cover copy!
My story is one of the ones featuring angels, specifically Muslim ones, the hafazhah, a Yolanda Rodriguez story called “Unguarded.”
Here’s the back-cover copy:
Hell Bound or Heaven Sent?
Some of us will never know until it’s too late.
From an infernal fiend reduced to baking cookies to comfort a small child, to a pastor’s kid rescued from a fall from grace by an unlikely pair, and every iteration in between, Devilish & Divine explores the spectrum of mankind’s encounters with beings of power beyond our comprehension.
Are you ready to explore otherworldly hosts—both heavenly and otherwise?
With stories by
James Chambers John L. French Robert E. Waters Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg Christopher J. Burke Michelle D. Sonnier Danielle Ackley-McPhail Keith R.A. DeCandido Russ Colchamiro Michael A. Black Patrick Thomas Hildy Silverman
Now, obviously, All-The-Way House is not your first published book. Are there any writers, or specific stories, that you think of as having a big influence on All-The-Way House but not on anything else you’ve written?
Probably the biggest literary influence for this particular novella would be Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell books and stories. A big chunk of All-The-Way House takes place in the past, in the early 20th century and the mid-18th century, and it’s a real challenge to re-create a past time period well. King is better than almost anyone at immersing you in a particular time and place, and she’s done a particularly superlative job of it in the Russell tales, which take place between 1915 and 1925 in various locales around the world.
It’s the official on-sale date for All-the-Way House, my contribution to the Systema Paradoxa series about cryptids from the NeoParadoxa imprint of eSpec Books! On Prime Day, no less!
This story provides the secret origin of the legendary Jersey Devil, and takes place in the same milieu as the Bram Gold Adventures novels and the Yolanda Rodriguez short stories.
Here’s the cover copy:
There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky–or unlucky–few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.
These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, and some from other worlds, and others that have always been with us-watching us, fearing us, hunting us.
These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales.
***
When there are talks of a monster sighted in the waves off the Atlantic City boardwalk, Coursers Valentina Perrone and Sarah el-Guindi–supernatural hunters-for-hire–are called in by the local Boss to… handle it. But echoes of the past send them into the heart of the Pine Barrens, where more than one secret hides, along with their answers.
Will history repeat itself? Or will the monsters find safe haven?
Either way, in the end, they discover there is always more than one way to deal with a problem.
You can also read an excerpt from the book here, and watch and listen to me read a bit from the book at the video below, which is archived on the Tube of You:
In just five days, NeoParadoxa will release the fourth book in the Systema Paradoxa series of standalone novellas about cryptids: my own All-the-Way House, which is the secret origin of the Jersey Devil (and features a bunch of other cryptids as well). The story takes place in 2020, 1909, and 1735, and is available for preorder:
All-the-Way House, Book 4 of the Systema Paradoxa series of novellas about cryptids, is coming out this month from eSpec Books! To that end, we’ve got two promo pieces out now.
KRAD's Inaccurate Guide to Life 