Phoenix Precinct now officially on sale!

Meant to post this sooner, but when the calendar flipped to March, Phoenix Precinct, the sixth novel in my series of epic fantasy/police procedurals, officially went on sale! You can now get the trade paperback or the eBook from whatever your online dealer of choice is. Or you can order the trade paperback directly from me and I’ll send you an autographed copy! (This applies to the other Precinct books, too, as well as several other titles that I have in stock…) Email me at krad@whysper.net or comment below for details…

Across the Universe now available for preorder!

Now available for preorder: Across the Universe: Tales of Alternate Beatles, edited by Michael A. Ventrella & Randee Dawn, coming out next month from the fine folks at Fantastic Books. The anthology reprints two classic alternate takes on the Fab Four, Spider Robinson’s “Rubber Soul” and Gregory Benford’s “Doing Lennon,” plus new stories by Matthew F. Amati, Eric Avedissian, Patrick Barb, Charles Barouch, Pat Cadigan, Brenda W. Clough, Gregory Frost, David Gerrold, Alan Goldsher, Sally Wiener Grotta, Carol Gyzander, Gordon Linzner, Gail Z. Martin, R. Jean Mathieu, Jody Lynn Nye, Beth W. Patterson, Cat Rambo, Kenneth Schneyer, Christian H. Smith, Allen M. Steele, Bev Vincent, Lawrence Watt-Evans, and me!

My story “Used To Be” — which takes place in the Dragon Precinct universe — will be joining this very illustrious company, and introduces us to the Fabulous Foursome, a group of adventurers in Flingaria, Jahn the bard, Paol the wizard, Gyorg the cleric of Rish, and Starki the barbarian.

The anthology already got raves from both Library Journal and Publishers Weekly, and now you can preorder the trade paperback or the hardcover from Amazon or Barnes & Noble! (EDITED TO ADD: the book is out now, so the links below are now ordering links, and the eBook editions are available as well.)

Check it out!

Oh, and we’ll be doing a group reading at Brooklyn Commons as the December New York Review of Science Fiction reading on the 3rd of December! If you’re in NYC then, come on by! Co-editor Randee and publisher Ian Randal Strock will be there, and I know for sure that I will be there, as will several of the contributors. Hopefully it will be even more successful than the group reading we did at Philcon earlier this month (picture below).

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L.-r.: Eric Avedissian, Michael A. Ventrella, Randee Dawn, Sally Wiener Grotta, Charles Barouch, Carol Gyzander, Gordon Linzner, Gregory Frost, and me

just a few days left to get the “Cities of Magic” Story Bundle!

The “Cities of Magic” Story Bundle is only available for a few more days! For up to $15 you get eBooks by Emily Martha Sorensen, Erin M. Hartshorn, Janet Tait, and Paul Kane. For $15 or more, you get those eBooks by Gail Carriger, Amity Green, J.S. Morin, Meg Cowley & Victoria DeLuis, and Joseph R. Lallo, plus another book by Sorensen, and my new novel A Furnace Sealed!

You guys have heard me babble enough about Furnaceyou can read an excerpt here and hear me read from it here — but here’s what folks are saying about the other books…..

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On Paul Kane’s Arcana:

Arcana is a hugely entertaining read, a real rollercoaster ride of ups and downs that keep the pages turning until the very end, and another work of high quality from this prolific author.

– Starburst Magazine

On Emily Martha Sorensen’s “Werevulture” series:

I can say with absolute certainty that this is one of my new favorite series. Trials of a Teenage Werevulture has the perfect amount of paranormal, mystery, and humor to make it a wonderful action-packed adventure! There was never a dull moment and I loved Lisette’s character.

– Amazon Review

On Erin M. Hartshorn’s Ghost Garages:

Urban fantasy and cozy mystery mix amusingly in this first novel in the Boston Technowitch series. … Some aspects of Pepper’s life are a little absurd …. But if you can handle them, the quirks and over-the-top bits add a lot to the fun, for a very entertaining start to a new series.

Locus Magazine

On Janet Tait’s Cast Into Darkness:

A fun, creative, non-stop adventure! Tait brings us a well-realized magical world full of double dealing, action, and romance that fans of urban fantasy (like me!) will really love.

– Chris Marie Green, author of Only the Good Die Young

On Amity Green’s Scales:

Amity Green proves that there’s still room for invention in YA fantasy. Leave it to a Texas Gargoyle in London to teach us what it means to be human.

– D.J. Butler, bestselling author of Witchy Eye

 

On Gail Carriger’s How to Marry a Werewolf:

This book is a lot of fun but also goes a little deeper and darker into the worst of Parasolverse society problems than some of Carriger’s other books. From what sends Faith to London to Channing’s own past, I’d call both backstories much more tragic than others Carriger has written. It gives these two more minor characters a bit of depth that we don’t always get for “lesser” characters.

– Book Loving Nut

On J.S. Morin’s Shadowblood Heir:

Matt’s is an interesting head to live in, and it’s fascinating to see the world through his eyes and experience the ensuing weirdness along with him.

– Amazon Review

On Meg Cowley & Victoria DeLuis’s Relic Guardians Collection:

The marketing blurb on Amazon says of Ancient Magic: “Fans of Lara Croft and Indiana Jones will enjoy this fast-paced urban fantasy adventure series filled with magic, action, and kick-ass characters.” For once you CAN believe the hype, because this is exactly what you are getting.

– Steph Warren, Bookshine and Readbows Blog

And, what the heck, here’s one for my own A Furnace Sealed:

The author is a born and bred New Yorker and the love for his city practically oozes from the pages. It’s so refreshing to see other parts of New York, besides Manhattan, represented in prose. There are a slew of tidbits about the city thrown in. They showcase the history of the city and the flavour of the different neighbourhoods. The tidbits also add depth to the story, and as a history lover, they make me want to go read up more on the topics mentioned.

—Amazon Review

So go check it out!

 

new Story Bundle: “The Cities of Magic” (featuring A Furnace Sealed)

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I’m in the latest from the fine folks at Story Bundle: “The Cities of Magic,” featuring a bunch of nifty urban fantasy tales!

With Story Bundle, you pay whatever you want for DRM-free eBooks of the books in the bundle. For up to $15 you get the following:

  • Arcana by Paul Kane
  • Trials of a Teenage Werevulture (“Teenage Werevulture” Book 1) by Emily Martha Sorensen
  • Ghost Garages (a “Boston Technowitch” novel) by Erin M. Hartshorn
  • Cast Into Darkness by Janet Tait

If you pay $15 or more for the bundle, you also get these bonus tales:

  • A Traitor in the Shadows (“Shards of Shadow” Book 1) by Joseph R. Lallo
  • Trifles of a Teenage Werevulture (“Teenage Werevulture” Book 2) by Emily Martha Sorensen
  • A Furnace Sealed (“The Adventures of Bram Gold” Book 1) by Keith R.A. DeCandido
  • Sales  by Amity Green
  • How to Marry a Werewolf (a “Claw and Courtship” novella) by Gail Carriger
  • Shadowblood Heir by J.S. Morin
  • the Relic Guardians Collection omnibus, collecting Books 1-3 by Meg Cowley & Victoria DeLuis

So check it out! It’s a great deal on some excellent urban fantasy!

 

talkin’ the new Cassie Zukav story with the editor of Unearthed

Ran For Your Life final illustration

Altrix Books is running Q&A’s with the authors who contributed to Unearthed, and they led off with me! Click here to read my thoughts about writing for the anthology in general and about “Rán for Your Life” in particular.

An excerpt:

Altrix: What books, shows, or real life events inspired your work, if any?

DeCandido: The biggest inspirations are Norse myths and my experiences being married to a scuba diver — not my wife Wrenn Simms, but rather my ex-wife Dr. Marina Frants, who was and is an avid scuba diver. Plus, of course, just the general vibe of Key West…..

talkin’ A Furnace Sealed on Author Week

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I’m on the Author Week blog talking about A Furnace Sealed. Check it out!

An excerpt:

I was born the same year we landed someone on the moon, the Mets won the World Series, and Woodstock happened—among other things, this means I turned fifty this year. This doesn’t make me feel old at all. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go to the window and shake my fist and tell those kids to get off my lawn.

Anyhow, I was raised by a roving pack of wild librarians, who trained me in their vile and depraved ways. A steady diet of Ursula K. Le Guin’sEarthsea trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Robert A. Heinlein’s YA fiction, and P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves & Wooster stories and novels doomed me to a life of crime. Or, rather, a life of science fiction, fantasy, and silliness. Either a career as a writer or decades of therapy was inevitable…..

cover and illustration reveal: Unearthed with new Cassie Zukav story!

Kara Dennison of Altrix Books has revealed the cover to her upcoming charity anthology Unearthed, art by Ginger Hoesly. This anthology of stories about containers of various kinds that are, well, unearthed will include a new tale of Cassie Zukav, weirdness magnet, entitled “Rán for Your Life.”

Here’s the cover:

Unearthed

 

And as an added bonus, here’s the illustration that will accompany my story, by Monica Marier!

Ran For Your Life final illustration

 

Ordering links for the anthology — which will benefit the American Research Center in Egypt — should be going up soon. Keep an eye here and on Altrix’s site for more details…..

talkin’ Mermaid Precinct and A Furnace Sealed On The Write Stuff

I’m on Raymond Bolton’s “The Write Stuff” feature discussing my two new releases, A Furnace Sealed and Mermaid Precinct. Check it out!

An excerpt:

What is your writing routine?

BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH! “Routine.” That’s funny…

Do you create an outline before you write?

Always. I started out doing tie-in work, and an outline is required for licensed fiction, as the plot has to be approved by the copyright-holder before you can write a single word. That habit has carried over into my other fiction, as I find it’s much easier and smoother to write the book if I already know the plot.

Why do you write?

I can’t possibly not write. I’ve been doing it since I was six, I can’t imagine any circumstance under which I would stop. (Actually, I can imagine a few, but they’re all really awful, so I don’t particularly want to dwell on them.)

me talkin’ A Furnace Sealed on Mary Robinette Kowal’s “My Favorite Bit”

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It’s a day for A Furnace Sealed on the web, it seems. Today, Mary Robinette Kowal featured me on her regular feature “My Favorite Bit,” as I talk about how much fun it was to write a book that took place in my home borough.

An excerpt:

I love writing about the people here. The Bronx is one of the most fascinatingly diverse places you’ll find. In 2009 and 2010, I worked for the U.S. Census Bureau, and I got to see so many different places and things and people.

My favorite was going to a Buddhist monastery, located in an old two-story house on a side street near Kingsbridge Road. From the outside, it looked like just another house, but inside I was greeted by a wizened old monk and his acolyte. They gave me tea, and for half an hour, I felt like I’d been transported to a secluded region of Asia rather than the middle of the Bronx.

The team I supervised for the main Census operation included people who were from (or whose ancestry traced back to) western Africa, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Korea, Cambodia, Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Poland, Russia, Italy, and Ireland.