Bill McCormick's Blog, page 42

Angelic Review

Angelic Musings, a wonderful blog hosted by Aaron-Michael Hall, just tossed out a nice 4.5 star review of The Brittle Riders , everyone's favorite trilogy about the apocalypse. CLICK HERE to read it all.

Stay Healthy (non fiction)

In this age of miracle cures, and stupid memes, it's a good idea to do some research before you sign off on anything related to your health. Smart people like Steve Jobs fell for crap they read on the internet and died. So did a friend of mine. Today's blog takes a look at some of the bogus claims and how you can avoid them. CLICK HERE TO READ IT ALL

And In Summation ...

This sums everything up nicely. Now buy my shit.

Vote Now! Get Free Stuff!

Click the link, vote for Legends Parallel and Svarožič (just hover over the cover of each and then click on the heart icon), and then check out all the other great creators who are there. You can read issue #1 of each title for free (online only). CLICK HERE

Try Not to Get Ripped Off

There's an old adage, "If something sounds too good to be true, it is." Variants of that phrase are, literally, older than the United States. And yet, thanks to people being stupid and greedy, it gets ignored every day. And then the saps who fell for this week's obvious con take to the internet to moan and wail about how unfair life is. They never go on here to admit how fucking stupid they are. While I know I may as well beat my head against a wall and hope a million dollars pops out, I still feel someone must take a moment to rail against the criminals among us. And, since I'm just as much a someone as anyone else, today I took a moment out of my busy day to do just that. GD Deckard, owner of the Writers' Co-Op, allowed me to steal some room on his website to post a lengthy, and well documented, rant. Use the link to read who the known scammers are, who the worst agents are, and what the most common scams are. What sucks is, despite how long and in depth my post is, it's just tip of the iceberg shit. Still, we have to start somewhere and this is as good a place as any. CLICK HERE TO READ IT ALL

I'm a Busy Busy Dude

Okay, I've been a touch busy, so here's an update so you can all play along. You might want to sit down and make sure your coffee's full. I have been commissioned to do a nonfiction book which has a working title of THE KIND: FROM CHICAGO TO CHICAGO. I am currently in the interview phase of this. It will focus on the Chicago music scene from 1978 to 1984. THE BRITTLE RIDERS , my trilogy about the fun you can have with an apocalypse, is now being groomed to be sold in stores. You remember, those places with people in them who help you find what you're looking for. Legends Parallel is getting more love and issues 1 & 2 are out on Nerdanatix and doing well. Issue 3 is in the hands of the artist and headed your way as quickly as possible. Svarožič is also out on Nerdanatix. The, young adult, story of a transgender Serbian fire god seems to be gaining serious fans. You can check out the 8 page character introduction for free at www.Nerdanatix.com . There will also be 3 complete issues this year as well as an ICC Anthology, which spawned the title, on Kickstarter. Pestilent, which makes Legends Parallel seem like a toddler's tea party, has begun penciling and will have three issues, and a complete graphic novel, for you to spend all your hard earned money on later this year. Bob: Sins of the Son is going through a rewrite and will have 3 complete issues for you to enjoy in the early fall. Whew. In addition to all that there is a collection of short stories I wrote currently being assembled for release by Azoth Khem, 4 more anthologies which have been blessed by my presence, and an anthology featuring sci-fi reimaginings of Edgar Allen Poe's work which has Brian Biggerlion Daniel & me reworking THE OVAL PORTRAIT. There will be more on that soon. I think that's it. No, fuck, I forgot Alokia the Kaiju Hunter. Issue one of that masterpiece originally created by Joey Carlon, is headed off to artists as I type and should be available this summer. It's a traditional Kaiju tale filtered through my mind and now features a drunken gorilla king and a talking centipede. I also gave the titular character gills. The character art by Esma Kurbegović is awesome and you need to scour my FB pages to soak it all in. Oh, and I'm doing a rewrite on someone else's comic (more soon) that has the attention of an international magazine. Speaking of magazines, don't forget that I'm now a regular contributor to ICC Magazine. That comes out quarterly and is cool as hell. The next issue will deal with all things Black Panther related. Of course you can just click the link below and stay up to date that way. Please do, these long posts are exhausting. Bill McSciFi

We Have a Winner!

Congratulations to Brian Adair who won the Valentine's give-a-way for the coolest Science Fiction and Fantasy books. His copy of the custom edition of The Brittle Riders, with extended commentary and unreleased graphics, has been sent and I'm sure he will soon be erecting a shrine in my honor. Or he'll just chuck it and go have a beer. Either way, he still won. Get your copies of the commercial release, either in paperback or Kindle, via the link below. CLICK HERE TO BUY

Step Inside My Mind

J. Steven Young took some time out his busy day to take some time out of mine and then post the result for you to read. You'll discover why I hate vanity publishing, love commercial geneticists, and that I still drink vodka. That last one didn't shock you, did it? The fun part is that J. Steven assumes everyone in the universe has already read Book I of The Brittle Riders so he links to Book II. Just in case you're one of those people who may have missed my masterpiece, you can CLICK HERE to catch up. CLICK HERE TO READ THE INTERVIEW

More Stuff You Can Buy

If you toddle on over to Nerdanatix you can preview every debut issue for free before you commit. While I, obviously, want you to but my shit, there's a ton of great stuff up there and it's all worthy of your attention. Coming in March you can get issue #2 of, the critically acclaimed , Legends Parallel. The perfect series if you're one of those people who thinks that quantum physics isn't violent, or sexy, enough. Also coming in March is Svarožič, a prelude to the upcoming ICC Anthology . You think you have issues? Wait until you meet Albina. She takes the phrase "going through changes" to a whole new level.

Hard Copies from a Squishy Brain

Good news super humans, and that's all of you .... well, not you in the corner, you creep me out .... anyway, back on topic, you can now get Books I & II of The Brittle Riders delivered right to your home. Or the home of a sworn enemy. That's up to you. You can get all three on Kindle now as well. But, and this is the fun part, if you have a hard copy, and you're in Chicago, I will happily arrange to meet you and autograph your copies for free. Of course you can buy me vodka if you want. I like vodka. The Brittle Riders - Trilogy A, far future, Earth had already been visited by an alien race, called the Sominids, who came here for the express purpose of drinking and having sex with everyone they could. When one of their, infamous, parties resulted in the moon being cut in half, and killing everyone who happened to live there, they quietly left. Their encounter with the Sominids taught the human race many things, primarily that faster than light travel didn’t exist. Denied the stars the human race began to dwindle in number and terminate any space programs. A thousand years later a scientist named Edward Q. Rohta circumvented anti-AI laws, which had been on the books for millennia, by creating organic creatures to provide manual labor. Instead of dying after ten years, as promised in the company brochure, they would develop flu-like symptoms and go into hiding. Eventually, fed up with the mistreatment they suffered at the hands of humans, they rose up and killed every man, woman, and child on the planet. This the story of what happens next. The Brittle Riders, apocalypses are funny that way.