Joshua Reynolds's Blog, page 83
March 4, 2013
The Royal Occultist on Kindle
For those fans of Charles St. Cyprian and his assistant, the plucky (yet murderous) Ebe Gallowglass interested in the digital side of things, here’s a brief run-down of the Royal Occultist’s electronic adventures, all ready for downloading to your Kindle!
”Krampusnacht” sees Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass battle the demonic Krampus in London on Christmas Eve, 1920. It is available for the Kindle HERE.
”The Dreaming Dead” finds St. Cyprian and Gallowglass facing down a trauma-eating entity in Bethnal Green Infirmary in 1919. It is available for the Kindle HERE.
”Merry John Mock” sees St. Cyprian and Gallowglass dealing with ghostly swine and malevolent mummers during a Winter Solstice in the Channel Islands in 1919. It is available for the Kindle HERE and HERE.
”The Unwrapping Party” finds St. Cyprian and Gallowglass confronting a linen-shrouded horror out of black aeons at a Soho mummy-unwrapping party in 1919. It is available for the Kindle HERE.
”The Gotterdammerung Gavotte” sees Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass join forces with five other occult detectives–including Algernon Blackwood’s John Silence–to confront the horrors of the Great Old Ones in London in 1921. It is available for the Kindle HERE.
”Feast of Fools” finds St. Cyprian and Gallowglass facing down the sinister Saturn Society on a bothersome Boxing Day in 1922. It is available for the Kindle HERE.
And be sure to visit the Royal Occultist Facebook page and the Royal Occultist site for more information about the series!
March 3, 2013
New GOTREK & FELIX: ROAD OF SKULLS Review
Abhinav Jain reviewed Gotrek & Felix: Road of Skulls for the Founding Fields review site. And he seems to have enjoyed it, which is always a good thing.
From the review:
Possibly one of the best. That’s pretty good, right? To read the full review, head over to the Founding Fields site. To read an excerpt from the book, click here. And if you like what you see, why not give Road of Skulls a try for yourself?
March 1, 2013
DUEL: Guest-Post by MD Jackson/Jack Mackenzie
Today’s guest-post is a bit of a first. Two men enter the squared circle of this blog and only one man leaves. Cue theme music. Cut the lights. The interview begins…
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M. D. Jackson is a science fiction and fantasy artist. His work has been seen on book covers from Pulpwork Press, Rage Machine Books and others. He has also had artwork featured in Dark Worlds Magazine, Outer Reaches, Realms, A Fly in Amber, and Imagine FX Magazines. He is also a blog columnist for the Amazing Stories website.
Jack Mackenzie is a writer who has had numerous short stories published in Dark Worlds Magazine, Raygun Revival, Encounters Magazine, as well as the anthologies Kings of the Night, Sails and Sorcery and Swords of Fire. His first novel, The Mask of Eternity has been published by Rage Machine Books and his second novel, Debt’s Pledge is scheduled to be released later this year.
These two talented individuals sat down for a chat recently. The results were… unexpected.
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M.D. JACKSON: So, Jack, we’ve worked together on a couple of things, the latest of which is your book, The Mask of Eternity.
JACK MACKENZIE: What did you do?
M: I painted the cover.
J: Big whoop. I wrote the book. I did all the work.
M: Okay, well, cover art isn’t the same as writing a whole book, I know. But it’s nice, right?
J: It’s okay.
M: Okay, well, tell me about the book.
J: The Mask of Eternity, at its core is about the nature of reality and about how we, as part of the fabric of that reality, can influence the universe around us.
M: Uh…okay. But there are spaceships, right?
J: Well, yes, there are spaceships and aliens and all the things you would expect from a science fiction book. It’s classic space opera, yes, so it will appeal to fans of STAR TREK or BABYLON 5 or FARSCAPE, but it’s also about more than just spaceships and aliens, it’s about our place in the fabric of reality.
M: Because I put an alien on the cover. And a spaceship.
J: Yeah. That was pretty weak, actually. Your Daa’baa’kh didn’t look nearly as scary as I’d imagined him. And your spaceships suck.
M: I painted them the way you described them.
J: No you didn’t. You painted them the way you wanted to.
M: Okay, let’s get back to the book. Why did you write it?
J: For the money. Heh.
M: No, really. The book features a number of very strong female protagonists, which is refreshing. What prompted that?
J: Actually I was watching a documentary on television.
M: About the nature of reality?
J: No. It was about Troma Entertainment and their Scream Queens.
M: Scream Queens?
J: Yeah. Troma Pictures are the studio that produced THE TOXIC AVENGER and SURF NAZIS MUST DIE. They make dreadful pictures and they feature actresses whose job it is to be sexy, jiggle, scream and usually die in very bloody and violent ways. As I was watching the actresses being interviewed it became obvious that a lot of them were very upset about the sexist and misogynistic way they were being portrayed. As I was watching I though; Hey, I could write a better film than the crap the studio puts out. I could write a film that would cast these women, who are really sweet people, and give them something better to play then T&A objects. That’s where the germ of the story began.
M: That’s very… that’s strange. These aren’t ‘B’ movies, these are, like, ‘C’ or ‘D’ pictures.
J: Yeah, their films are awful but good ideas can come from the weirdest places.
M: So your main character, Solace DeLacey, started life as one of these… Scream Queens?
J: Yeah. Julie Strain. She’s very hot.
M: Wasn’t she in HEAVY METAL 2000? I mean her voice, right?
J: Yeah.
M: So, if The Mask of Eternity were to be made into a movie, you’d want Troma Pictures to…
J: Fuck, no! Those guys make shitty pictures! I’d want a decent studio and ‘A’ list actors.
M: Okay. Let’s talk about your other work. Tell me about the Ka Sirtago and Poet stories.
J: Well, Ka Sirtago and Poet… there’s another idea that was prompted by a documentary. I was watching a documentary about the Alpha Male. The documentary showed an example of an atypical alpha male — a monkey who had only one eye and a strange, tusk-like tooth. Normally a monkey like that would not take the top spot but within this particular group of monkeys this one’s mother was the dominant female and she helped pave the way fro him to become the top banana (pardon the pun). I started thinking about a human analogue of that situation and that was how I came up with Ka Sirtago, the prince of Trigassa who has a hideously scarred face but maintains his position because of his mother who is the de-facto ruler of the kingdom.
I didn’t think I could write about Sirtago on his own so I created a foil for him in Poet, who is learned and sensitive and yet every bit as deadly with his twin daggers as Sirtago is with a sword or an axe. So the Ka Sirtago stories are kind of like mini “buddy movies” where the two get into trouble and have to find their way out. Sirtago is the brawn and Poet is the brain. Sirtago is slave to his appetites but Poet keeps him focussed on the tasks at hand. It’s a dynamic that has worked over half a dozen stories.
M: Will there be any more?
J: Oh, yeah. And maybe a novel down the road. I’m certainly not done chronicling their adventures. There will be many more.
M: I illustrated one of them. That was fun.
J: Yeah, that’s nice.
M: So what’s next for you?
J: DEBT’S PLEDGE is another science fiction novel I have coming out soon. It’s very action oriented but it also examines our place in time — how we owe a debt not just to those who have paved the way for us, but also to those who will come after us.
M: Kind of like a ‘Pay-it-forward’?
J: No. Completely different.
M: So how did this one come about?
J: Well, you know how Gene Roddenberry used to describe Star Trek as Hornblower in Space?
M: I thought that was ‘Wagon Train to the Stars’?
J: That was what he said for people who weren’t literate. So if Star Trek is Hornblower in Space, then DEBT’S PLEDGE is Sharpe in Space.
M: Richard Sharpe? Bernard Cornwell’s hero?
J: Yup. The book was very much inspired by Cornwell’s Sharpe novels, which are really excellent books. I can’t recommend them or his other novels enough. Cornwell is a terrific adventure writer.
M: So you ripped him off?
J: No. It’s an homage. I didn’t rip him off. I’m gonna kick your ass.
M: Uh… just not the hands, okay? I need them.
J: You’re not worth the effort.
♦♦♦
THE MASK OF ETERNITY is available now for kindle and in paperback and hardcover from Rage Machine Books. The Ka Sirtago stories can be found for Kindle and other e-reader formats at the Rage Machine e-Bookstore. A print version will be available soon.
Jack Mackenzie’s website can be found here. M. D. Jackson’s website can be found here.
February 27, 2013
Theoretical Unofficial Soundtrack (for a Novel I May Never Write)
One of the few writerly idiosyncrasies to afflict me is the need for a good soundtrack. When I sit down to start a new novel or short story or whatever, one of the first things I do is to put together a quick list of subject matter-appropriate songs. The list is usually never more than seven or eight songs that I then play in a repetitive loop until I despise the very sound of them.
Like I said, idiosyncratic.
They have to be the right songs, though. It doesn’t matter whether I particularly dig that style of music or not, if the song fits what I’m writing, into rotation it goes. Granted, most of the time the songs are coming straight from the disorganized morass of MP3s I like to call my music library, so it’s likely a safe bet that I have some fondness for ‘em.
Just for the heck of it, I whipped up a Theoretical Unofficial Soundtrack for a Novel I May Never Write. If you’re curious, it’s a crime novel, set in my be-kudzu’d birthplace of South Carolina. Hence the preponderance of twang.
The songs aren’t in any particular order, and, like the title says, I may never use this particular UOST, but I thought I’d share it. If you enjoy the songs, I encourage you to drop some coin in the hat of the respective artist.
February 26, 2013
New NEFERATA Review
Mass Movement Magazine has reviewed Neferata: Blood of Nagash. As is becoming a happily common occurrence, they seem to have enjoyed it. Here’s some of what they had to say:
Isn’t that nice? Why not go check out the full review? And while you’re at it, why not pick up a copy of the book and see for yourself what all the fuss is about? The book is available on Amazon and other various on-line retailers, or via Black Library.
February 25, 2013
The Tuesday WIP Shuffle
And by WIP, I mean work-in-progress. It’s been a good while since I’ve talked about what I’m currently working on, mostly because I’ve been, you know, working on it. But I figure the literally tens of people who follow this blog are due an update. So…what am I working on?
Time of Legends: Master of Death, the follow-up to ToL: Neferata, is complete–well, the first draft at any rate–and in the hands of my illustrious editor, getting all gussied up for the re-writes.
The Vril Agenda, the book I co-wrote with my good friend Derrick Ferguson, which features his New Pulp character Dillon teaming-up with the ‘Old Pulp’ character Jim Anthony, Super-Detective, is also in the hands of an editor.
Speaking of the latter, Jim Anthony, Super-Detective:The Death’s Head Cloud, a ‘pocket-novel’ I wrote featuring the Super-Detective, is–again–in the hands of an (different) editor. This one is the start of a series of short novels with the character that I’ll be writing. In case you were wondering, the tentative title for the next in the series is Red Shambhala.
Currently, I’m muddling my way through a follow-up to The Executioner: Border Offensive, which sees Mack Bolan going toe-to-toe with an apocalyptic society in the Arctic. Lots of gunfights, car chases, plane crashes and the like.
Once that’s out of the way, I can get back to Beasts of Blackheath, the Royal Occultist novel I’ve been trying to get finished for the past three months. I was supposed to have this done last year, but–well, paying work comes first.
There’s also a bevy of short stories in the offing, including a rough and rowdy western, a hard-boiled Southern fried mystery, several featuring St. Cyprian & Gallowglass, at least one Gotrek & Felix and possibly a few free ones as well, time and circumstance permitting.
And then there’s the usual flurry of spec-pitches, sent off in a desperate bid to convince editors to give me license to play in their respective playgrounds.
That’s what I’m working on at the moment. How about you?
February 24, 2013
New NEFERATA Review
The intriguingly named Xhalax has reviewed Neferata: Blood of Nagash for the new pop culture site, Fifty Shades of Geek. Short version: she liked it.
Here’s a bit:
So far so good, right? Why not go check out the full review? And while you’re at it, why not pick up a copy of the book and see for yourself what all the fuss is about? The book is available on Amazon and other various on-line retailers, or via Black Library.
February 21, 2013
New NEFERATA Review
Sandra Scholes over at the British Fantasy Society site has reviewed Neferata: Blood of Nagash, and given it a very nice review indeed.
Here’s some of what she had to say:
Pretty good right? Why not go check out the full review? And while you’re at it, why not pick up a copy of the book and see for yourself what all the fuss is about? The book is available on Amazon and other various on-line retailers, or via Black Library.
February 20, 2013
New Review-”Berthold’s Beard”
Stefan Fergus at the Civilian Reader has reviewed my recent Digital Monday contribution, “Berthold’s Beard”. To see what he had to say, why not pay a visit to his site? And, if you want to see what all the fuss and bother is about, why not download a copy of “Berthold’s Beard” for yourself? Or, if you want to go the extra mile, why not grab a copy of my novel, Gotrek & Felix: Road of Skulls?
February 19, 2013
STEAMFUNK! ANTHOLOGY Debuts at Anachrocon 2013
Balogun Ojetade, one of the editors of the forthcoming Steamfunk! anthology, has announced that the anthology will debut February 22nd at Anachrocon 2013. For a full TOC and a rundown of what’s going on on the day, visit Balogun’s site. I talk a bit more about my story, “The Lion Hunters”, HERE if you’re interested. You can also pre-order a copy of the anthology HERE, if you’re not planning to attend Anachrocon this year.
