Chris L. Adams's Blog: Bizarre Tales, page 7
May 11, 2017
Bizarre Tales Misc Updates
After a ten-month project where I created The Cosmos of Despair I am at last ready to get back on my latest Ansen story - a sequel to Blonde Goddess. As part of a branding project I recently designed a Bizarre Tales logo which I've added to the covers - a symbol anchoring my GoodReads blog to the stories in a more concrete fashion. In the latest release of Valley and Cosmos I have included a link to this blog - a feature I will incorporate in future releases.
Check out these latest covers when you can - available at retailers of your choice where my works are available. Note that as these were just republished there may be a time delay in them showing up everywhere.
At the suggestion of a writer-mate in the UK I revisited Valley of Despair, editing the story to more-fully flesh out certain characters and events. There weren't many changes to the story, just a bit more attention to detail, changes to the dialogue to make it flow more easily, etc. It grew by some 10k words.
The story previously ended as a cliff-hanger with the tale picking up in Cosmos right where Valley ended. To give the reader a better feeling of closure with the Valley yarn I moved some of the stuff to Cosmos and ended Valley in a better fashion. If read them back-to-back you wouldn't notice anything really - it just made for a better closing in Valley to move certain things to Cosmos which really belong in that story.
For now I will be working on finishing The Banshee of the Atacama which will be my second release in the Tales of the Tomahawk series. I've conceived two more stories so Ansen will be keeping me busy for awhile - unless I get sidetracked on something I don't yet know about, that is.
If you haven't been introduced to him yet, give Ansen a try. He's an interesting character. A Norse lad, he is raised by Arapaho. He then goes on to fight in WW1, afterward becoming a globetrotter. Having inherited a tomahawk that is in reality a spiritual token of power that combats evil supernatural forces, he finds himself in quite some predicaments. Blonde Goddess is a story I feel H. P. Lovecraft might have enjoyed containing as it does other worldly entities of titanic proportions hearkening to the Elder Ones.
Anyway, until next time.
Chris
Check out these latest covers when you can - available at retailers of your choice where my works are available. Note that as these were just republished there may be a time delay in them showing up everywhere.
At the suggestion of a writer-mate in the UK I revisited Valley of Despair, editing the story to more-fully flesh out certain characters and events. There weren't many changes to the story, just a bit more attention to detail, changes to the dialogue to make it flow more easily, etc. It grew by some 10k words.
The story previously ended as a cliff-hanger with the tale picking up in Cosmos right where Valley ended. To give the reader a better feeling of closure with the Valley yarn I moved some of the stuff to Cosmos and ended Valley in a better fashion. If read them back-to-back you wouldn't notice anything really - it just made for a better closing in Valley to move certain things to Cosmos which really belong in that story.
For now I will be working on finishing The Banshee of the Atacama which will be my second release in the Tales of the Tomahawk series. I've conceived two more stories so Ansen will be keeping me busy for awhile - unless I get sidetracked on something I don't yet know about, that is.
If you haven't been introduced to him yet, give Ansen a try. He's an interesting character. A Norse lad, he is raised by Arapaho. He then goes on to fight in WW1, afterward becoming a globetrotter. Having inherited a tomahawk that is in reality a spiritual token of power that combats evil supernatural forces, he finds himself in quite some predicaments. Blonde Goddess is a story I feel H. P. Lovecraft might have enjoyed containing as it does other worldly entities of titanic proportions hearkening to the Elder Ones.
Anyway, until next time.
Chris
March 27, 2017
The Cosmos of Despair now available!
What happens after Erik and his friends escape the grasp of the denizens of Deneb in The Valley of Despair?
I hope readers will find this conclusion to Valley gripping. It's been months in the creation, developing odd ideas into twisty plot points and coming up with some interesting characters I hope will be memorable.
This much lengthier tale involves temporal themes and brings together into one tale many popular science fiction memes - so be prepared for surprises.
That's all I'll say.
Hope you enjoy the story.
I hope readers will find this conclusion to Valley gripping. It's been months in the creation, developing odd ideas into twisty plot points and coming up with some interesting characters I hope will be memorable.
This much lengthier tale involves temporal themes and brings together into one tale many popular science fiction memes - so be prepared for surprises.
That's all I'll say.
Hope you enjoy the story.
March 20, 2017
From Cosmos to Banshee
The Cosmos of Despair
is complete, all that remains being to write the blurbs and upload the manuscripts. I plan to stick to the previously set release date of March 27, 2017, but the story may not be available in some areas until the following day or so. Also, if I encounter any problems with epub vetting, those can sometimes take a day or two to work through.
Now that Cosmos is done I will be moving back to a sequel I started last year to The Blonde Goddess of Tikka-Tikka . This new tale of Ansen Grost, a Norseman whose parents are slain in a raid and who is then raised by an Arapaho medicine man, are reminiscent of Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane yarns.
The stories are centered in the mid-1920s after Ansen has left the tribe to fight upon the battlefields of WWI and then globe-trotted for several years, embittered by his experiences in the war. A man of great meloncholies who is prone to bury his woes in a pint, he drifts from job to job, typically taking on details for which no one else is suited.
A great, blonde-haired Viking of a man, he is led down paths of supernatural oddness by the tomahawk bequeathed him by his Arapaho adoptive father. Ansen learns the tomahawk is a token of power far older than 'the people'. The thing has been around since the beginning, and taken many sundry forms - assuming a shape and size suitable for the hands wielding it.
With its thrumming power showing him denizens of the night unseeable by Earthly eyes, the axe draws the man from one supernatural event to another. But Ansen is a man of mixed background - being a full-blooded Norseman who is raised by an Arapaho where it was instilled in him the respect of Father Sky and the ways of 'the people'. The clashing of those two worlds forges an interesting character who, while he bashes other worldly deities and beards demons in their dens, seeks to find the secrets of his parents and unravel his Norse past.
I hope you will join me later this year in this second story in my Tales of the Tomahawk series, with the release of The Banshee of the Atacama . At present two further tales have been conceived that I am very excited about.
Look to hear more soon about Banshee as it nears completion. This story will be 4x-5x greater in length than Blonde Goddess with quite a bit more complex plot than the initial 'pilot' story.
Till next time,
Chris.
Now that Cosmos is done I will be moving back to a sequel I started last year to The Blonde Goddess of Tikka-Tikka . This new tale of Ansen Grost, a Norseman whose parents are slain in a raid and who is then raised by an Arapaho medicine man, are reminiscent of Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane yarns.
The stories are centered in the mid-1920s after Ansen has left the tribe to fight upon the battlefields of WWI and then globe-trotted for several years, embittered by his experiences in the war. A man of great meloncholies who is prone to bury his woes in a pint, he drifts from job to job, typically taking on details for which no one else is suited.
A great, blonde-haired Viking of a man, he is led down paths of supernatural oddness by the tomahawk bequeathed him by his Arapaho adoptive father. Ansen learns the tomahawk is a token of power far older than 'the people'. The thing has been around since the beginning, and taken many sundry forms - assuming a shape and size suitable for the hands wielding it.
With its thrumming power showing him denizens of the night unseeable by Earthly eyes, the axe draws the man from one supernatural event to another. But Ansen is a man of mixed background - being a full-blooded Norseman who is raised by an Arapaho where it was instilled in him the respect of Father Sky and the ways of 'the people'. The clashing of those two worlds forges an interesting character who, while he bashes other worldly deities and beards demons in their dens, seeks to find the secrets of his parents and unravel his Norse past.
I hope you will join me later this year in this second story in my Tales of the Tomahawk series, with the release of The Banshee of the Atacama . At present two further tales have been conceived that I am very excited about.
Look to hear more soon about Banshee as it nears completion. This story will be 4x-5x greater in length than Blonde Goddess with quite a bit more complex plot than the initial 'pilot' story.
Till next time,
Chris.
March 13, 2017
The Cosmos of Despair release date
I have settled on March 27, 2017 as the official release date of The Cosmos of Despair.
This gives me more than enough time to finish the final editing and to then manufacture the various upload documents for the publisher sites. Also, that's my birthday so I thought it'd be a nice gift to myself.
I hope there are a few of you out there who are as excited as I am to see the publication of this sequel to The Valley of Despair.
The Valley of Despair
This gives me more than enough time to finish the final editing and to then manufacture the various upload documents for the publisher sites. Also, that's my birthday so I thought it'd be a nice gift to myself.
I hope there are a few of you out there who are as excited as I am to see the publication of this sequel to The Valley of Despair.
The Valley of Despair
March 6, 2017
Update on The Cosmos of Despair
The release of this novella had to be postponed due to recent events so I'm now aiming for end of this month (March '17). I've also made a few 11th hour revisions, wishing this story to be the best it can possibly be.
If you enjoyed The Valley of Despair and are looking forward to another tale about Erik von Mendelsöhn I can promise you another bizarre turn of events! For anyone unfamiliar with the opening tale I urge you to read it and come back for what I can promise will be one strange story.
I don't wish to add any spoilers, but Cosmos will be every bit as dark and twisting as was Valley - maybe more so. The development of this second tale in my Despair duology has resulted in a much more complex plot and is roughly 4x longer than the first tale.
Expect memorable characters, strange creatures, and, I hope, twists you will not have foreseen!
Stay tuned!
Chris.
If you enjoyed The Valley of Despair and are looking forward to another tale about Erik von Mendelsöhn I can promise you another bizarre turn of events! For anyone unfamiliar with the opening tale I urge you to read it and come back for what I can promise will be one strange story.
I don't wish to add any spoilers, but Cosmos will be every bit as dark and twisting as was Valley - maybe more so. The development of this second tale in my Despair duology has resulted in a much more complex plot and is roughly 4x longer than the first tale.
Expect memorable characters, strange creatures, and, I hope, twists you will not have foreseen!
Stay tuned!
Chris.
February 8, 2017
The Cosmos of Despair
I wanted to let the community know I have completed a sequel to my story The Valley of Despair that I hope to publish February 2017. This work was begun in July 2016 after a discussion with a reader on Amazon who wished a sequel. After thinking about that, I realized I did indeed have additional, despairing ideas and thus was born The Cosmos of Despair.
As a result of that decision a new conclusion was conceived for Valley with the addition of an entirely new chapter (entitled Encounter on the Plains) and the excising of a few paragraphs from the original final chapter. In the event a reader may have read the earlier version I have decided to make this newly added chapter available at the end of Cosmos.
This story will continue to follow the acts of derring-do of our intrepid adventurer, Erik von Mendelsöhn, as he travels to the furthest edge of the cosmos. Their vessel, Draconis IV, fueled by the detonation of living bodies in the Denebian-designed light-igniters, stretches backward in time as it surpasses velocities beyond Erik's wildest imaginings.
Teamed with friends from among the crew of the slave craft, crewmen who have lost everything to the despots who now control the many populated galaxies that have fallen to their merciless rule, they conceive a mutiny to end all mutinies. Because if it is not successful the reach and grasp of the beasts will extend to every populated planet, with darkness falling to forever en-shadow humanity and all the other races who now shiver beneath their cruel dominion.
How can one man deliver the planets orbiting a trillion suns? What does he know that can turn what is almost certain destiny, remaking the past and reshaping the future? Does his mind indeed hold a secret, a secret the masters of the known cosmos would give much that he didn't know? Will they divine who he really is, and what he has already accomplished in The Valley of Despair?
From the back of the book:
Trapped in a Cosmos of Despair
When Lieutenant Erik von Mendelsöhn led a band of refugees from a lost city buried in a dark valley hidden in the African jungle he believed the worse was behind them. They had destroyed the portal that gave passage to the gray-backed beasts of Deneb to Earth, sundering at the same time the evil grip of their grim, orange star.
But after weeks of pilgrimage, reaching at last a savannah upon which they encamp, a strange, immense ship descended from the sky out of which a force issued, taking them captive. Only then does Erik learn that ages had passed outside the strange influence of Deneb while he and the others slaved in the mines for their cruel taskmasters.
Once again their captives, he is scanned by their strange science during which they discover his mind to be highly suitable for assignment as replacement for their navigation assistant – a position they are desperate to fill, lacking as they do any among their contingent of crew with the requisite properties.
Erik now finds himself conscripted to serve aboard a Denebian slave vessel – a vessel on which he and his friends are now prisoners – captives destined for food and labor on distant worlds - worlds subservient to…. Deneb.
The Valley of Despair
As a result of that decision a new conclusion was conceived for Valley with the addition of an entirely new chapter (entitled Encounter on the Plains) and the excising of a few paragraphs from the original final chapter. In the event a reader may have read the earlier version I have decided to make this newly added chapter available at the end of Cosmos.
This story will continue to follow the acts of derring-do of our intrepid adventurer, Erik von Mendelsöhn, as he travels to the furthest edge of the cosmos. Their vessel, Draconis IV, fueled by the detonation of living bodies in the Denebian-designed light-igniters, stretches backward in time as it surpasses velocities beyond Erik's wildest imaginings.
Teamed with friends from among the crew of the slave craft, crewmen who have lost everything to the despots who now control the many populated galaxies that have fallen to their merciless rule, they conceive a mutiny to end all mutinies. Because if it is not successful the reach and grasp of the beasts will extend to every populated planet, with darkness falling to forever en-shadow humanity and all the other races who now shiver beneath their cruel dominion.
How can one man deliver the planets orbiting a trillion suns? What does he know that can turn what is almost certain destiny, remaking the past and reshaping the future? Does his mind indeed hold a secret, a secret the masters of the known cosmos would give much that he didn't know? Will they divine who he really is, and what he has already accomplished in The Valley of Despair?
From the back of the book:
Trapped in a Cosmos of Despair
When Lieutenant Erik von Mendelsöhn led a band of refugees from a lost city buried in a dark valley hidden in the African jungle he believed the worse was behind them. They had destroyed the portal that gave passage to the gray-backed beasts of Deneb to Earth, sundering at the same time the evil grip of their grim, orange star.
But after weeks of pilgrimage, reaching at last a savannah upon which they encamp, a strange, immense ship descended from the sky out of which a force issued, taking them captive. Only then does Erik learn that ages had passed outside the strange influence of Deneb while he and the others slaved in the mines for their cruel taskmasters.
Once again their captives, he is scanned by their strange science during which they discover his mind to be highly suitable for assignment as replacement for their navigation assistant – a position they are desperate to fill, lacking as they do any among their contingent of crew with the requisite properties.
Erik now finds himself conscripted to serve aboard a Denebian slave vessel – a vessel on which he and his friends are now prisoners – captives destined for food and labor on distant worlds - worlds subservient to…. Deneb.
The Valley of Despair
Bizarre Tales
Weird tales; strange tales; tales with bizarre, unforeseen twists and endings; macabre little tales; encounters and close brushes with mind-warping beings both supernatural and otherworldly.
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