Steven Radecki's Blog, page 5

New Book Release: “Goddess Chosen”

The man who would beat the devil isn’t a hero, but a ruthless madman.

Running from his dark past, former Duvalier hit man Charles Redmond is forced to take sides in a battle that has been raging since Exodus: between a power-mad magician named Silas Alverado and Sammael, the Demon Prince of Liars.

When Charles’ beloved Voodou is threatened with extinction, he must wager his life between pure evil and the man who could destroy the world.

Charles’ psychiatrist, Sanantha Mauwad, steps into this maelstrom of nightmares, violence and insanity to help Charles find his strength. She tries to save Charles’ mind, but can she save his soul?

This is a fascinating novel that combines elements of historical fiction and urban fantasy into a suspenseful mix. Highly recommended!

Goddess Chosen by Jay Hartlove is available from Paper Angel Press (and the usual online booksellers).

New Book Release: “Sometimes After Dark”

A collection of thoughtful tales by J Dark

Among the tales collected here to make you think, question, and wonder …

A rescue mission in a combat zone on a hostile planet becomes something more
A young girl, searching for the parents who abandoned her, discovers that some answers only lead to more questions
A young boy learns that it takes more than superpowers to become a hero
A man who had led a less-than-perfect life finds out that it’s never too late for redemption
A dying Afghanistan veteran’s last moments of his life are not what he expected them to be
And, sometimes, on the night before Christmas, it is not always a silent night

Explore the past, future, and triumphs of the human soul.

This is a terrific collection of short stories by J Dark, author of the “Glass Bottles” series. None of these stories are related to that series, and each story has a flavor and spirit all it’s own. There is a broad mixture here from light comedy to heavy drama. On the latter, I particularly recommend “The Jiminy” and “Saying Goodbye”, both of which are also available separately from this collection in digital formats. If you are looking for a set of short stories rather than a long novel to settle down with with for the night, this is one you’ll want to consider.

Sometimes After Dark by J Dark is available from Paper Angel Press (and the usual online booksellers).

Report from BayCon 2019

My first ever BayCon!

You’d think that, after living in the Bay Area all of these years, I would have gone before now. But, um, no. I was told that it was smaller than in previous years, but I had no previous experience from which to measure that. It was much smaller than World Con (which I expected), but, from a business-side perspective, it was much more successful for us.

I was joined throughout the weekend by my fellow Paper Angel Press authors Andrea Monticue and Nancy Wood. It was Nancy’s first science fiction convention, so it was probably good that we started smaller.

We filled our one table with all of our books — and that was only the science fiction and fantasy titles. Next year, we are going to need two tables.

We sold almost as many books as we did at WorldCon, but if you look it at from an attendees-to-sales ratio, we actually did far better. We also signed up three new authors, so that was definitely a win.

New Book Release: “Grimaulkin Tales”

You can tell a lot about a person by looking at the people in their life — Mike LeBonte is no exception.

Who is Ritter, and why is he so important to Mike?
Who is the Grey Man in the Atheneum? And what is Chevalier to the Rosicrucians?
Did Reverend Greene really escape? Whatever happened to Becky?

Also included in this collection is the first case that Grimaulkin has with his new apprentice, Ash.

Re-enter the world of Grimaulkin, where magic is real.

This is a neat collection of short stories set in L. A. Jacob’s “Grimaulkin” series, some of which have been published before, but many are new. It was interesting to learn the backstories of some of the background characters from the “Grimaulkin” books. There is also fun nod to Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in that each of the stories are titled (or, in come cases, re-titled) in a similar fashion, such as “The Demon’s Tale” or “The Jailer’s Tale”. This is a great book if you’re looking for a follow-on to the “Grimaulkin” series or want something to whet your appetite before you read those books.

Grimaulkin Tales by L. A. Jacob is available from Paper Angel Press (and the usual online booksellers).

New Book Release: “Due Date”

Surrogate mother Shelby McDougall just fell for the biggest con of all — a scam that risks her life — and the lives of her unborn twins.

Twenty-three-year-old Shelby McDougall is facing a mountain of student debt and a memory she’d just as soon forget. An ad in Rolling Stone for a surrogate mother offers her a way to erase the loans and right her karmic place in the cosmos. Within a month, she’s signed a contract, relocated to Santa Cruz, California, and started fertility treatments.

But intended parents Jackson and Diane Entwistle have their own agenda — one that has nothing to do with diapers and lullabies. With her due date looming, and the clues piling up, Shelby must save herself and her twins.

As she uses her wits to survive, Shelby learns the real meaning of the word “family”.

In full disclosure, I purchased Due Date when it first came out from another publisher because the author is a friend and colleague of mine. This is what we do: we support each other in our artistic endeavors. I am pleased to have been involved in giving Due Date a new lease on life with a new edition and wonderful new cover.

If you enjoy mysteries that involve ordinary people trying to deal with extraordinary events, this is a book you will want to check out. You’ll also want to check out her related short story “Treasure Hunt”, available as a free download.

New Book Release: “Memory and Metaphor”

Civilization fell. It rose. At some point, people built starships.

A millennium after the Earth was abandoned to climate change and resource depletion, Sharon Manders wakes up in a body that used to belong to somebody else, and some say she was a terrorist. She has no idea how she could be digging for Pleistocene bones in Africa one day, and crewing on a starship the next. That was just before she met the wolfman, the elf, and the sex robot.

Struggling with distressingly unreliable memories, the expectations of her host body’s family and crewmates, future shock, and accusations of treason, Sharon goes on the lam to come face to face with terrorists, giant bugs, drug cartels, AIs, and lawyers.

All things considered, she’d rather be back in 21st Century California.

I have to admit that after reading the tagline and summary, I was hooked. Seeing how the story was going to involve “the wolfman, the elf, and the sex robot”, I was ready for quirky.

If you’re looking for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy-type humor here, you are not going to find much of that here. You will, however, discover a fun, rollicking good story that will keep you involved through the very last page. Highly recommended.

New Book Release: “The Last Speck of the World”

No name. No race. No nationality. The survivor of the perfect catastrophe struggles to preserve herself and her hope that she may be found — by humans.

“I am female, thirty-two, alone in the last speck of the world. My name, my race and my nationality are no longer important. I do not know why the plague has spared me. It has taken everything else. All the clocks and all the machines are dead. What keeps me breathing is the hope that I may not be the sole custodian of the planet.”

This is a neat little book that describes well what it might be like to be the last survivor of a plague that wipes out all life in your part of the world. It’s a different take from the usual post-apocalyptic story, because the homes and buildings still stand, preserved foods are available, and life is still quite livable — except that you are alone … very alone.

The Last Speck of the World is only a novella-length read, but well-worth the time.

February 22, 2019 update: This book is now also available in an Italian edition.

Prime Discovery

Having now watched Star Trek: Discovery Season One on Blu-ray, and that’s been available for over a month (who releases a set that like on DVD and Blu-ray in the middle of NaNoWriMo? I’m looking at you CBS/Paramount!), I want to offer one additional quick item:

I would love to see an episode, or even a Short Trek, where Harry Mudd comes back looking to get even with Lorca, and the prime Lorca is like, “Who the hell are you?”

CBS All Access, I am available for hire.

NaNoWriMo 2018 Report: Hindsight Rather Than Foresight

Final word count:  50,203

Words this week:  3,181

Average words per day:  1,591

Slow and steady once again “wins” the race. I broke my three-year-long “losing” streak (although any year during which my word count is greater than 0 cannot truly be considered a “loss”). During the first two weeks, it looked doable, but not a slam-dunk. A steady stream of persistence and, mostly, 15-minute word sprints did the trick!

As for the story itself … yeah, well. At 50,203 words, it’s not a complete novel, so I have plenty of room in there and steer it back in the direction that I had originally wanted it to go. One particularly interesting thing was that it was supposed to be Rusty’s story, but Elizabeth ended up being the made point-of-view character. I’m not quite sure how or why that happened. The muse, as I think we all know, often has a mind entirely of her own.

Until next year … Thank you everyone, as always, for your support and friendship.

NaNoWriMo 2018 Report: Week Four

Current word count:  47,022

Words this week:  15,752

Average words per day:  2,247

This week’s word count ended exactly where I needed it to in order to ensure a reasonable chance at “winning” this year. The Virtual Write-In helped a lot and accomplished its goal for me: putting my word count “above the line” going to back into a work week for the final five days.

The story progresses. Well … the perhaps the word count does, but I’m not so sure about the plot. I have written myself into kind of a hole. So, far almost nothing has taken place that harkens back to my original story idea. (Yeah, don’t read the summary on my NaNoWriMo page; it is not nearly that story — at least not yet.

One more week to go!