Russell S. Newquist's Blog, page 5

Paragons – An Anthology of Superheroes

[image error] Look – up in the sky!

They awe us. They fill us with wonder. But most of all, they inspire us – to be stronger, faster, and smarter. Superheroes teach us how to aspire to the best versions of ourselves. Enjoy this master collection of collection of 13 tales of all-new, all-original superheroes from today’s up and coming science fiction and fantasy masters!

When the police fail to take down the super powered mobs a rogue vigilante steps up to the plate in Nightstick by Kai Wai Cheah. Peek in on a superhero marriage proposal via Blackout by Morgon Newquist. When a young nuclear engineer gains superpowers, the Soviet government wants to control her for the sake of the motherland in Stalina by Sam Kepfield.

Enjoy these tales and more by Alt-Hero novelist Jon Del Arroz, Dragon Award and Hugo Award nominee Kai Wai Cheah, Dragon Award nominee Declan Finn, and others

Paragons – An Anthology of Superheroes will be available for only $0.99 through Saturday, November 3rd – so get yours now on Amazon.com!

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Lyonesse Volume 1

Psychics, time travel, gods, and sci-fi battle angels.

A woman with the power to raise the dead. A man stranded on another world, fighting all alone for a lost cause. Zombies invading New York. Alien artifacts. Sci-Fi battle angels. Samurais fighting demons. Interplanetary detectives and lost unicorns.

Read all these and more in this amazing first volume, collecting works from the paradigm shifting short fiction service Lyonesse.

Featuring Dragon Award nominees Declan Finn, Kai Wai Cheah, and L. Jagi Lamplighter

Includes the following 16 short stories:

Four Weddings and a Funeral by L. Jagi Lamplighter
The Dreaming Wounds by Anya Ow
The Dragon’s Teeth by David Hallquist
Zombie Jamboree by Declan Finn
The Artifact by Dean Abbott
We Bury Our Own by Kai Wai Cheah
Number 43 by Jonathan Ward
The Last Winter by A.R. Aston
Shini Tai by C.L. Werner
The Case of the Unicorn by Nora M. Mulligan
The Harsh Mistress by Mike Murphy
St. Lucian’s Star by Dawn Witzke
A Day Without the Horned Goddess by Kieran McKiel
In Another Life by Morgon Newquist
Moonset by S.D. McPhail
Mile High Murder by Declan Finn

Get Lyonesse Volume 1 today or tomorrow for only $0.99, before it jumps to full price. Or subscribe to Lyonesse directly and get access to our entire back catalog (including these stories and more), plus an entire year’s worth of new stories (1 each week!) for only $6.99!

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A Place Called Hope – BOOK REVIEW

I absolutely loved A Place Outside The Wild, Daniel Humphreys‘ Dragon Award nominated debut novel, even though I don’t normally go for zombies. So when Mr. Humphreys offered me an early preview copy of the sequel, A Place Called Hope, I absolutely jumped at the chance.

This story picks up very closely where the first book left off, and it hits the ground running. The primary story concerns Pete, the amputee Marine, and Charlie as they set off on a new mission to bring some real Hope into their world. The stakes are high and compelling, and the characters are just as fun as ever.

The story focuses more heavily on the Marines this time out. On the one hand, that was really fun. On the other, it leads to my two actual complaints about the book. First, the title is excellent and a wonderful followup given the ending of the first book. But despite the title, very little of the book actually takes place in Hope. Second, I really missed Miles.

I strongly suspect the sequel will deal with both of those issues, however – especially given some of the revelations at the end of this book. And boy, are there some doozies!

If you loved the first book, this worthy sequel won’t let you down. I give it five out of five stars, and I can’t wait to see what Humphreys has coming next!

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The Gravity of the Game – BOOK REVIEW

My friend Jon Del Arroz has a new novella out this week. The Gravity of the Game fits into a rather unusual niche: science fiction sports stories. Attention all, we’ve found a unicorn! I know – two great tastes that go great together. Like ice cream and kale, strawberries and Pine Sol, or ribeye and motor oil. I strongly suspect that the sports guys and the scifi guys will interpret those metaphors very differently.

But they’ll both agree that unlike each of those combinations, Jon’s novella is actually really good. Whether you’re a sports guy or a scifi guy, you’ll enjoy this story. In a future of near-Earth space travel, the World Baseball League is coping with a sharp decline in attendance and viewership. Commissioner Hideki Ichiro thinks he knows the answer: baseball on the moon!

First of all, that’s actually kind of a cool idea. I’m not a sports guy, and I’m definitely not a baseball guy. To me, it’s one of the slowest and dullest sports out there – long periods of boredom punctuated by a few moments when something almost interesting happens. But come on – you put “on the moon” after anything and it becomes cool. But that’s not what makes the story work. That just makes an interesting hook.

The story works because of Commissioner Ichiro. This is a man who loves baseball so much that he almost makes me love the sport. And though I don’t share his love of baseball, I definitely identify with and respect his passion.

Somewhat like baseball itself, this is a dramatic piece with no actual “action” in it. But the drama and the characters will keep you interested. I give The Gravity of the Game five stars out of five, and dare you not to find Commissioner Ichiro just as captivating as I did.

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Cursed City – BOOK REVIEW

As I prepared to publish and market my latest novel, War Demons, I set out in search of other, similar novels. Cursed City by William Massa quickly rose quickly to the top of my list. It turns out that male leads represent an endangered species in urban fantasy novels. Many of the books sold in the genre should actually sit in the paranormal romance category. I hold nothing against that, but War Demons doesn’t fit with that crowd at all.

Neither does Cursed City. Book one of Massa’s Shadow Detective series, this book packed in the fun. It’s pulp as hell, and I mean that in the best possible way. Mike Raven, the hero, provides a welcome breath of masculinity in an estrogen dominated genre. Furthermore, he lives up to the primary duty of a protagonist: he’s interesting.

The writing is simple and straightforward. At first, that worried me. But a few chapters in it became clear that the simple writing is intentional, in the tradition of the old school pulp writers. This kind of deliberate simple writing is actually a challenge to accomplish, and it makes the book very accessible. And if I hadn’t already overcome that objection, the twists in the final act more than compensated.

A quick, thrilling read, this book started in the middle of the action and only paused for a few breaths along the way. I give it four stars out of five, and I look forward to finishing the rest of the series. I highly recommend it to fans of male led urban fantasy. It’s available right now on Amazon for only $0.99, or you can pick it up for free on Kindle Unlimited like I did.

[Cross posted on PulpRev.com.]

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Win 20+ Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Books!

Fantasy Bridge is dedicated to bringing you exclusive deals, new releases, and other exciting news from your favorite Fantasy authors straight to your inbox! Its Captains are excited to bring you an Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Giveaway that’s sure to keep you up all night reading. There are FREE Prizes available for all who enter between October 1 and 8, plus the chance for 5 winners to receive 25+ e-books from Fantasy Authors of every stripe. One grand prize winner will win those books and a $25 Amazon Giftcard!

Enter at www.fantasybridge.com!

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Fade – BOOK REVIEW

Longtime readers will already know that I’m a fan of Daniel Humphreys work. They’ll also know the caveat that I have to provide: Dan and I “attended” the same online writing class from Larry Correia, and we’ve participated in the same closed Facebook group that resulted from that class. He’s also provided an excellent blurb for my new novel, War Demons. With that said, these are my honest opinions on his first urban fantasy novel, Fade.

Fade is book one of the Paxton Locke series. Paxton Locke, unsurprisingly the series’ protagonist, suffered a rather unfortunate childhood. I can’t go into that too much without spoiling the book. Suffice to say, he also developed a bit of magical power. As the book begins, he’s using that power to help rid unfortunate people of the traumatized ghosts that haunt their homes. But then one of those ghosts gives him a message from beyond the grave. Everything hits the fan from there and the plot explodes.

I don’t actually want to say a lot more than that, because this book has a ton going for it in the plot department. Paxton Locke manages to out-Dresden Harry Dresden. Read it for yourself and enjoy it.

I loved Humphreys’ A Place Outside the Wild enough to give it five stars even though I’m not a fan of the zombie genre. I am, however, a fan of the urban fantasy genre. When you add Humphreys’ fantastic writing to a genre I love, the result is truly amazing. I blew through this book faster than I could blink, and my only complaint is that Dan is busy writing the sequel to his zombie book instead of this one. Thankfully, he’s nearly finished with that book, so we should be getting the sequel to Fade sooner rather than later.

If you liked War Demons, you should definitely check out Fade while you’re waiting for the sequel. It won’t disappoint you. This is one of the easiest five star reviews I’ve ever given.

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War Demons

Today I’m very pleased to announce the launch of my debut novel, War Demons.

When he came home, so did they…

Driven by vengeance, Michael Alexander enlisted in the Army the day after 9/11. Five years later, disillusioned and broken by the horrors he witnessed in Afghanistan, Michael returns home to Georgia seeking to begin a new life. But he didn’t come alone. Something evil followed him, and it’s leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

The police are powerless. The Army has written Michael off. Left to face down a malevolent creature first encountered in the mountains of Afghanistan, he’ll rely on his training, a homeless prophet, and estranged family members from a love lost…

But none of them expected the dragon.

Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden collides with Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International in this supernatural thriller that goes straight to Hell!

 

 

I’m very happy with how this ended up for my first book. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what early readers have to say:

Recommended for anyone who enjoys the more action-packed branch of urban fantasy, particularly if they wish for more explicitly Christian protagonists and story worlds without wanting to inflict the glurge of official Christian Fiction™ on themselves.


The twists and turns don’t stop and the reader will rarely, if ever, see them coming. Michael, Peter, Jim, and Abby are all well developed and dynamic characters. None of them leave the tale the same people they were when they came in. Newquist knows how to create tension (every chapter ends with a cliffhanger), but he makes sure you care about these characters before he literally throws them into the fire. War Demons is a fun quick read that will leave you looking forward to more from the world of Michael Alexander.

An excellent first novel. It has its own flavor, but I’d compare it favorably to the Monster Hunter Chronicles by Larry Coriea. Guns and monsters, good stuff.

Mr. Newquist has delivered a solid debut work in the vein of early Larry Correia or Jim Butcher. Fans of the latter two authors will devour War Demons.

You can get your Kindle edition through Amazon today for only $2.99, or free with Kindle Unlimited. If you still prefer the feel of physical books, you can get the paperback for $9.99.

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2017 Dragon Awards Final Vote Recommendations

The deadline for your final votes for the 2017 Dragon Awards rapidly approaches. The finalist list this year contains a fantastic summary of amazing works in science fiction and fantasy over the last year. I can highly recommend a huge number of the entries. They’ll prove well worth your time.

With that said, each of us can only vote for one of them. In some categories, that means difficult choices. Here’s how I’m voting this year. As it happens, my vote lines up entirely with the Happy Frogs suggestions. There’s a good reason for that. Someone over there has great taste.

Best Science Fiction Novel


A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

Rise by Brian Guthrie


Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey


The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi


Escaping Infinity by Richard Paolinelli


Space Tripping by Patrick Edwards


The Secret Kings by Brian Niemeier


Death’s End by Cixin Liu

Once again I have to choose between not only several great novels but also two good friends – Richard Paolinelli and Brian Niemeier. They’re both fantastic works, as are several others on the list (I confess, I have not yet read them all). But in the end, my vote goes to Brian. If you’re not up on the Soul Cycle series, you should be. And now you can get Secret Kings on Kindle Unlimited!

Best Fantasy Novel


Beast Master by Shayne Silvers
The Heartstone Thief by Pippa DaCosta
Dangerous Ways by R.R. Virdi

Wings of Justice by Michael-Scott Earle


Blood of the Earth by Faith Hunter


A Sea of Skulls by Vox Day


Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge by Larry Correia and John Ringo

Once again there’s a hard choice here. The Correia/Ringo MHI collaboration is great (see my review). I haven’t finished Beast Master yet, but I’m enjoying it. But this one has to go to A Sea of Skulls. Vox Day’s Acts of Dark and Light series is simply one of the most interesting things going on in the SciFi/Fantasy world right now. Also, Correia asked to bow out. I know he’s relented a little since he’d share it with Ringo… but he’s still right that he’s already been duly recognized. Ringo will have plenty of other chances.

Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel


Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray
It’s All Fun and Games by Dave Barrett
Firebrand by A.J. Hartley
Rachel and the Many Splendored Dreamland by L. Jagi Lamplighter
The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan
Swan Knight’s Son by John C. Wright
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

I don’t read a ton of young adult. But once again I’m forced to choose between two amazing works that also happen to be written by friends. Rachel and the Many Splendored Dreamland is a delightful read, and John C. Wright honored me with the very great privilege of a work-in-progress version of Swan Knight’s Son as a Christmas gift. This husband and wife pair are not only good friends, but Ms. Lamplighter also edited my own upcoming novel, War Demons. However, they made the choice easy for me by declaring their own wish that fans of either author vote for John. I could have gotten behind either book easily, but I’m happy to support their choice.

Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel


Cartwright’s Cavaliers by Mark Wandrey
The Span of Empire by Eric Flint and David Carrico
Star Realms: Rescue Run by Jon Del Arroz
Caine’s Mutiny by Charles E. Gannon
Aliies and Enemies: Exiles by Amy J. Murphy
Invasion: Resistance by J.F. Holmes
Starship Liberator by B.V. Larson and David VanDyke
Iron Dragoons by Richard Fox

When I made my nomination list, I hadn’t yet read any Mil SF this year. Since then, I have had a chance to catch up on a few. I can easily recommend Star Realms: Rescue Run by my friend Jon Del Arroz.

Side note: if they’re going to break out Mil SFF as its own category, there are several other subgenres that should be broken out. Paranormal is the first that comes to mind, including both SciFi and Fantasy (as Mil does).

Best Alternate History Novel


1636: The Ottoman Onslaught by Eric Flint
A Change in Crime by D.R. Perry
Breath of Earth by Beth Cato
The Last Days of New Paris by China Mieville
No Gods, Only Daimons by Kai Wai Cheah
Another Girl, Another Planet by Lou Antonelli
Witchy Eye by D.J. Butler
Fallout: The Hot War by Harry Turtledove

Kai Wai Cheah (also credited in some instances as Cheah Kai Wai, due to the confusion between Asian and Western surname customs) is one of the most interesting new writers out there. We have two of his short stories running on Lyonesse, and they’re easily two of the best we’ve got. No Gods, Only Daimons is a fantastic debut novel. Keep an eye on this author.

Best Apocalyptic Novel


American War by Omar El Akkad
The Seventh Age: Dawn by Rick Heinz
ZK: Falling by J.F. Holmes
Codename: Unsub by Declan Finn and Allan Yoskowitz
Walkaway by Cory Doctorow
 A Place Outside the Wild by Daniel Humphreys

With respect to my friend Declan Finn, A Place Outside the Wild is one of the best books I’ve read all year – and I don’t even like zombie books. That’s how good it is. Get it, even if you, too, don’t like the genre. You won’t regret it.

Best Horror Novel


Blood of Invidia by Tom Tinney and Morgen Batten
A God in the Shed by J-F Dubeau
Live and Let Bite by Declan Finn
 The Bleak December by Kevin G. Summers
The Changeling by Victor LaValle
Donn’s Hill by Caryn Larrinaga
Nothing Left to Lose by Dan Wells

There’s some good stuff in this category, but you really should check out Declan Finn’s vampire romance series. It’s worth the time.

Best Comic Book


Saga by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples
Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson, Takeshi Miyazawa
The Dresden Files: Dog Men by Jim Butcher, Mark Powers, Diego Galindo
Monstress by Marjorie Liu, Sana Takeda
Motor Girl by Terry Moore
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eleven by Christos Gage, Rebekah Isaacs
 Wynonna Earp Legends by Beau Smith, Tim Rozon, Melanie Scrofano, Chris Evenhuis

I picked this one up after seeing it on the Happy Frogs list. Good choice.

Best Graphic Novel


Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files: Wild Card by Jim Butcher, Carlos Gomez
My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris
Stuck in My Head by J.R. Mounts
Girl Genius: the Second Journey of Agatha Heterodyne, Book 2: The City of Lightning by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio
Love is Love by Marc Andreyko, Sarah Gaydos, James S. Rich
Clive Barker Nightbreed #3 by Marc Andreyko, Clive Barker, Emmanuel Javier
 March Book 3 by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin

Precisely zero of my friends or fans will express surprise that I picked Butcher here.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series


Marvel’s Agents of Shield, ABC
Stranger Things, Netflix
Wynonna Earp, Syfy
Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, Sky1
Doctor Who, BBC
 Westworld, HBO
Lucifer, Fox
The Expanse, Syfy

This category was easy. Everything else on this list either always sucked or has taken a serious nose dive in the last season or three. Stranger Things, hands down. This is the sole category where I diverge from the Happy Frogs slate, and I can only assume that’s because the frogs haven’t actually seen the show.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie

There are still too many films on this list I haven’t seen. I’m working to rectify that. And for the rest of the categories, I’ve been out of gaming for too long. I defer to the fine folks at Happy Frogs for suggestions.

Remember – get out and vote!

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Vigil: First Draft Complete

Time for a writing update, and the news is good! The biggest news is that I’ve completed the first draft of my next novella, tentatively entitled Vigil. That title is subject to change, and the text itself still needs to go through editing. Vigil picks up one of the two paths left hanging at the end of War Demons and runs with it. The working start of the book description:

There’s a demon in the church.

When Peter Bishop received the Sword of Saint Michael the Archangel he understood right away that dragonslaying would be part of the gig. After all, he first bonded with the blade while fighting a dragon back home in Georgia. And when there’s dragonslaying, saving damsels kind of comes with the territory. But he never expected he’d have to rescue a damsel from a dragon under an ancient medieval church in France. On Easter Sunday. During the Easter vigil mass.

Now Peter’s stuck eighty feet below ground with the damsel, a faithless priest, and a little girl to care for. Thankfully, the stray dog showed up to help.

The extraordinary mashup of Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International and Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files continues in Vigil.

Look for Vigil in December. It still needs a strong editing pass, a cover, and some other work before release.

Next on the agenda is Spirit Cooking – book two of The Prodigal Son series and the direct sequel to War Demons. The outline is about 80% done, so I’ll hit the ground running later this week or early next.

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