Michael C. Bailey's Blog, page 15
April 16, 2024
Weekly Update – April 16, 2024
Back to things being a little slow for a bit, but maybe not for long. I’m working on the next draft of Action Figures – Legacies while I continue to puzzle out exactly how the climactic scene of the eighth Strongarm & Lightfoot book plays out. Big action sequences are tricky.
WRITING PROJECTS
Action Figures – Legacies: Second draft completed, now in beta-reading phase.
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – untitled book eight: First draft underway.
APPEARANCES & EVENTS
Nothing scheduledMISC.
I am having issues with my newsletter service provider, so if you want to keep tabs on my projects, your best bet is to simply follow this blog and have its posts delivered directly to your inbox.
April 11, 2024
Action Figures – A Series Overview
What’s it About?
The series focuses on Carrie Hauser, a 15-year-old girl who one summer experiences two life-changing events: her parents announce they’re getting divorced, and she gains superhuman abilities after encountering a dying extraterrestrial after he falls to Earth.
Her adventure begins after Carrie and her mother Christina move back to Christina’s childhood home town of Kingsport, Massachusetts, and Carrie meets four teens with powers of their own: superhero fanboy Matt Steiger, who owns a pair of magic gloves that can produce any object he can envision out of thin air, like a living cartoon character; Sara Danvers, a telepath and telekinetic who is afraid of her own abilities; the easygoing Stuart Lumley, who possesses superhuman strength; and Missy Hamill, an adorable motormouth with enhanced strength and reflexes.
The teens form a superhero team almost on a whim, but soon find themselves fighting for their lives against very real super-villains – much to the dismay of Kingsport’s hometown hero Concorde, leader of the super-team The Protectorate.
Who is this Series For?
Fans of superhero comics, TV shows, and movies in general, but particularly of titles featuring teen heroes such as Young Justice, Teen Titans, Young Avengers, and Champions.
The tone is generally lighter than a lot of YA books out there now. While there is drama and conflict, and some later stories deal with darker issues, I try to keep the series fun, upbeat, and optimistic.
Is it Suitable for Young Readers?
Action Figures is a PG-13 series that contains mild to moderate profanity, non-graphic violence, some mature themes, and later on in the series mild sexual content.
An added word about the violent content: while the violence is not graphic, the consequences are not downplayed. This isn’t sanitized Hollywood violence. People get hurt just as they would in real life and do not easily shrug off injuries, and in some cases the characters have to deal with the emotional trauma of their experiences.
What are the Books in the Series?
Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins – Carrie and her new friends in the Hero Squad (yes, they know their team name is awful) find themselves caught in the crossfire as the deadly mercenary Manticore comes to Kingsport, on the hunt for the rogue artificial intelligence known as Archimedes. Soon to be available through Audible!
Action Figures – Issue Two: Black Magic Women – The sorceress Black Betty threatens to raise hell – maybe literally – as she pursues her vendetta against the Protectorate’s resident paranormal expert Dr. Enigma.
Action Figures – Issue Three: Pasts Imperfect – Missy’s life is turned upside-down when she learns the truth about the source of her powers, and her connection to the bloodthirsty killer Buzzkill Joy.
Action Figures – Issue Four: Cruel Summer – Sara finds herself in the crosshairs of the mysterious hero killer the King of Pain, but to save herself, she might have to sacrifice everything she holds dear.
Action Figures – Issue Five: Team-Ups – The Hero Squad, still reeling from their devastating encounter with the King of Pain, get a little help picking up the pieces from their friends in the Protectorate and the Quantum Quintet.
Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play – The Squad finds itself outnumbered and under-powered after one of their members goes missing – and at the worst possible time as foes from their past reappear, more dangerous than ever and ready to exact revenge.
Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War – On Earth, Carrie Hauser is a hero, but on the far side of the galaxy, she’s just another soldier on the front lines of an interplanetary war against the terrorists in the Black End.
Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage – Carrie returns to Earth to reclaim her life, but life has moved on without her. Does she have a place with her team, her friends, or her family anymore?
Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury – Black Betty is back, and ready to unleash Hell — literally, but can the Hero Squad trust Dr. Enigma to have their backs? Or does she have her own dark agenda?
Action Figures – Issue Ten: Unintended Consequences – The Hero Squad learns that hard way that no good deed goes unpunished and the sins of their past have not been forgotten.
Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Zero Day – It’s the final showdown between the Hero Squad and ShadoWorks, in this, the epic conclusion to the Action Figures core series.
Action Figures: Legacies – In the wake of Zero Day, Aja Pershing, daughter of the murderous Manticore, finds herself on a collision course with the latest young woman to adopt the mantle of the vigilante known as the Silhouette. The first sequel to the core Action Figures series. Tentatively set for mid-2024 release.
The Action Figures Omnibus – Volume One: Stepping Up – Collects the first three books in the series (Secret Origins, Black Magic Women, Pasts Imperfect) and features a new foreward by Patrick Hodges and a new introduction by the author.
Beneath the Mask: A Superhero Romance Anthology – Features the superhero noir tale Like a Knife in the Heart featuring the Sapphire Silhouette. Set in the Action Figures universe. Currently out of print.
How Long Will the Series Run?
The core series has finished its run, ending with issue eleven. Two spinoff titles are currently in the early planning stages, with the first of those books, Legacies, set for a 2024 release.
Where Can I Learn More?
Read can read sample chapters from Secret Origins, short stories set in the Action Figures world, buy signed copies, connect with me through social media, and get regular updates at my website: innsmouthlook.com
April 9, 2024
Weekly Update – April 9, 2024
It’s a two-fer this week, folks: cover art reveal time AND new book drop time!
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Draconian Measures, the seventh book in the series, is now available for the Kindle and in print! You can also get the cover art, created as always by Tricia Lupien, on T-shirts and other goodies through her Teepublic shop. That way, you can support two independent creatives — me by buying the book, and Tricia by buying some merch. Or swag. Or whatever the kids call it these days.
So, what’s this one about? Here’s the full back cover test for you. You read, that, then go buy some stuff, and I’ll get back to work on book eight.
Public sentiment has turned against the Ambride Academy of Magic, for years a respected institution, now the object of fear and anger after unleashing a bloodthirsty army of the undead on the unsuspecting populace.
It was an accident. Really.
In an effort to save the academy’s reputation, Dean Elzbet Roust launches a radical goodwill campaign to open the institution to the general public for the first time in its history. When her gambit proves successful, Roust decides to take her initiative one step further and reach out to other academies, hoping to end decades of pointless rivalries and forge promising new alliances.
When Artur Greenstone of the Academy Atébo accepts the invitation, David Everwiser is tasked with acting as Roust’s ambassador. Simple enough, right?
If it were, this would be a very short story indeed.
Immediately after David and his friends arrive in Atébo, they run afoul of the city-state’s power-hungry warden Lord Dominon, who sees in this proposed alliance an opportunity to expand his own reputation within the wardens’ court.
As if that wasn’t headache enough, the company makes another new enemy in Holmer Grimsword and His Fearless Foursome, self-styled adventurers whose epic tales of heroism are suspect at best. Eager to prove himself, Holmer throws down the gauntlet and challenges Derek, Felix, and friends to a most unusual contest: to brave the legendary Catacombs of Despair, home of the great dragon Frughirach, and slay the mighty beast.
A mad tyrant on one side, a fire-breathing dragon on the other, and as usual, our heroes are stuck in the middle of it all.
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Draconian Measures is the seventh book in the award-winning* fantasy series by Michael C. Bailey (Action Figures, Well-Behaved Women). Prepare yourself for another thrilling adventure featuring a diabolical despot, a somber songstress, a windbag warrior and his cocky crew, a dreadful dragon, and most importantly, a cat.
(* = The 2016 Bella Online Ebook Awards, gold medal in fantasy fiction)
WRITING PROJECTS
Action Figures – Legacies: Second draft completed, now in beta-reading phase.
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – untitled book eight: First draft underway.
APPEARANCES & EVENTS
Nothing scheduledMISC.
I am having issues with my newsletter service provider, so if you want to keep tabs on my projects, your best bet is to simply follow this blog and have its posts delivered directly to your inbox.
April 4, 2024
Station Identification Time
Who Am I?
I’m a writer originally from Falmouth, MA who now lives in Oxford, MA with my awesome wife Veronica and four cats who don’t like to let us sleep in.
After 15 years with the Falmouth Enterprise, where I worked as a general and political reporter, blogger, and editor, I left the news industry to focus on my creative writing.
In addition to my novels (more on that in a minute) I’m a freelance writer, and I’ve produced scripts for Pastimes Entertainment of Revere, MA and the Connecticut Renaissance Faire.
When I’m not writing, I’m busy as a stage combat director and choreographer in the central Massachusetts area, and I teach stage combat at the Hanover Theatre & Conservatory for the Performing Arts.
What Do I Write?
Action Figures is a YA superhero adventure series featuring a team of young superhumans who set out to make a name for themselves in the superhero world and quickly find themselves in over their heads. Fun, full of humor and action, populated with likable characters (including some of the villains), and suitable for teen readers and adults who still love superheroes. Oh, and no love triangles. Ever. The first book, Secret Origins, and the last book in the core series, Zero Day, both reached the #1 spot on two Amazon best-seller lists, Hell Hath No Fury, reached #1 on one Amazon best-seller list.
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot is my response to all the overly serious fantasy novels out there that have forgotten how to have fun. The series follows two hard-luck adventurers for hire with a knack for biting off more than they can chew and their friends as they explore ancient ruins, fight deadly monsters, go on epic prophecy-driven quests for artifacts of great power hidden in highly inconvenient locations, and cross a lot of rickety rope bridges along the way. The first book, Scratching a Lich, received a gold medal for fantasy fiction from BellaOnline, a resource for women in writing, which also recognizes feminist writers and their work. The first five books are available in audiobook format.
Beneath the Mask is an anthology of superhero romance stories. The collection, scheduled for a February 14, 2021 release, features ten stories, including my story Like a Knife in the Heart, starring a new character, the Sapphire Silhouette. Currently out of print.
Cheap Thrills Digest is a short story collection featuring introductions to my two series, plus an original novelette-length horror story, Lost Souls, which is exclusive to CTD. If you’re curious about my writing, you can grab this for just $7 in print or 99 cents in e-book format.
The Final Summons is the first anthology from the New England Speculative Writers. The collection features 14 fantasy, horror, and science fiction stories by NESW members, including my story The Going Rate for Penance, which is set in the world of Strongarm & Lightfoot.
Freedom Winds is a mini-comic I wrote for Underdog Comics, and you can read it for free at any time here, here, or here.
Copyright 2018 Tessa Beatrice/Underdog ComicsWell-Behaved Women is an urban fantasy trilogy for feminist audiences. After returning to work following a near-fatal shooting, Sergeant Rose Booker encounters a woman claiming to be the reincarnation of Julie d’Aubigny, the infamous 17th Century French swordswoman. Things only get stranger from there as Rose and Julie cross paths with a crime boss with a knack for exacting bloody revenge on his enemies. This is more serious and mature than my other projects — not recommended for young readers. Book one, Awakening, is now available. Book two, Transition, was released in April 2019, and book three, Endtimes, was released August 2019. The entire trilogy is available in audiobook format.
Meet the Innsmouth Look Publishing Team
Heather Auden is a professional actor and audiobook narrator. She narrates The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot series and did the second and third books of the Well-Behaved Women trilogy. You can find her other audiobook work on Audible.
Bethany Boles is a professional actor, a former PA for the Jim Henson Company, and is active in the children’s television production industry in California. She narrates the Action Figures series.
Darci Cole is an author and narrator, who narrated the first book in the Well-Behaved Women trilogy. You can find her other audiobook work on Audible, and buy her debut novel, Target, on Amazon.
Patricia Lupien is a graphic artists and designer who is responsible for the covers that grace all books produced by Innsmouth Look Publishing. Visit the Art Store page to buy her art on a variety of products.
Julie Tremblay began as a beta reader for Innsmouth Look Publishing before taking over as regular editor on all the company’s novels.
What Will I See Here?
I post weekly updates that include progress reports on various projects, cover art reveals, new release announcements, a schedule of appearances and book-signings, the occasion essay on writing, and whatever random bits and pieces capture my attention.
Where Can You Find Me Online?
April 2, 2024
Weekly Update – April 2, 2024
This was a long-ish weekend for me, and my wife was visiting family for the holiday, so I had all of Easter Sunday to myself to work on then next Strongarm & Lightfoot book — by which I mean book eight. Draconian Measures is almost ready to go, I’m just waiting on the cover art from Tricia. And speaking of which, enjoy some WIP shots of the cover in question!
This is always the most exciting part for me, seeing the cover art develop, in part because it means I’m close to wrapping up a project and getting it out to readers. Plus, it’s cool to watch the image develop in leaps and bounds from the rough to the finished product.
WRITING PROJECTS
Action Figures – Legacies: Second draft completed, now in beta-reading phase.
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Draconian Measures: Fully edited and formatted, awaiting cover art. Tentative release date: 4/24.
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – untitled book eight: First draft underway.
APPEARANCES & EVENTS
Nothing scheduledMISC.
I am having issues with my newsletter service provider, so if you want to keep tabs on my projects, your best bet is to simply follow this blog and have its posts delivered directly to your inbox.
March 28, 2024
The Best of the Rest
If you enjoy Michael’s full-length novels, check out these anthologies, collections, and side-projects featuring his work. Available on Amazon, and signed print editions may be purchased directly from the author.
Beneath the Mask – A Superhero Romance Anthology features ten tantalizing tales of masked heroes saving the day and falling in love.
From sweet saviors to steamy angelic warriors, reluctant heroes to grumpy playboys, this anthology has something for everyone who’s ever fantasized about being a hero…or falling for one.
Do you dare to peek behind the mask and live out your sweetest, darkest, steamiest fantasies?
Each story includes superheroes and swoon-worthy happily-ever-afters!
Sorry, readers, this book is out of print, but my short story, Like a Knife in the Heart, will be reprinted in the upcoming Action Figures – Legacies.
Cheap Thrills Digest is a bargain-priced short story collection featuring tales from Action Figures and The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot, the original horror short Lost Souls, and the essay Critiquing Critiques – How to Leave a Review.
Freedom Winds is a mini-comic written by me, illustrated by Tessa Beatrice, and distributed by Underdog Comics and artist Tessa Beatrice. The comic follows the adventures of a crew of renegade pirate women fighting the Triangle Trade.
You can go read it on Underdog Comics’ Facebook page now, as well as on Tapas, WebToon, Becomics and Tumblr. Please support this small press by liking the comic and sharing the link!
Copyright 2018 Tessa Beatrice/Underdog ComicsThe Final Summons is the first anthology from the New England Speculative Writers. This collection of sci-fi and fantasy stories includes The Going Rate for Penance by me, a fantasy short set in the world of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot. Available in hardcover, paperback, and for the Kindle.
March 26, 2024
Weekly Update – March 26, 2024
Alas, my staycation is over and I’m back to the day job, but I got a lot done over that week off, starting with fully finishing up The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Draconian Measures. I got the final version worked up over the week and spent Sunday on the most tedious part, formatting. Now I just have to wait for Tricia to finish up the cover work — enjoy the rough concept to your right — and we can get this out to the masses. Look for it (tentatively) next month!
Because Legacies, the next Action Figures book, is still in beta, that meant I could get back to work on the as-yet unnamed book eight in the Strongarm & Lightfoot series, so you won’t have too long of a wait for that to drop.
WRITING PROJECTS
Action Figures – Legacies: Second draft completed, now in beta-reading phase.
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Draconian Measures: Fully edited and formatted, awaiting cover art. Tentative release date: 4/24.
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – untitled book eight: First draft underway.
APPEARANCES & EVENTS
Nothing scheduledMISC.
I am having issues with my newsletter service provider, so if you want to keep tabs on my projects, your best bet is to simply follow this blog and have its posts delivered directly to your inbox.
March 21, 2024
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – A Series Overview
What’s it About?
Derek Strongarm and Felix Lightfoot are a pair of hard-luck adventurers for hire with an unfortunate knack for landing jobs that pay too little and threaten their lives too much. Erika Racewind is a hardened elven warrior who doesn’t like people, except maybe when she’s killing them. Winifred Graceword is a kindhearted elven priestess skilled in the healing arts. David is a young sorcerer on a path to discover who he really is — and whether that person has a last name, because going by just “David” is getting old fast.
Together these companions travel across the land of Asaches looking for adventure and the glory and riches that come with it. Mostly the riches, though, because you can’t buy food and beer with glory.
Who is this Series For?
Sword-and-sorcery fantasy fans looking for something a little lighter than most of the fare currently on the shelves. If you want heavy, dark, serious stories with lots of death, destruction, torture, rape, and political intrigue, go read something else because you won’t find it here.
What you will find is a fast-paced adventure filled with colorful characters, rip-roaring action, humor, and gentle jabs at the classic elements of fantasy fiction.
Which is not to say this series is a comedy or parody. There is still drama aplenty, but as a rule I don’t take things too seriously. You can read these books and not feel like you need a hug and a room full of puppies afterward.
Basically, if you like fare like The Legend of Vox Machina and Dungeons and Dragons – Honor Among Thieves, this is the series for you.
Is it Suitable for Young Readers?
Not really. The series is a hard PG-13/light R for violence, language, and sexual content. It is suitable for older teens, but not for the YA crowd.
What are the Books in the Series?
Scratching a Lich: Derek and Felix find themselves entangled in an urgent quest to slay a legendary lich before he can trigger a world-ending apocalypse – as insane undead sorcerers are wont to do. Together with Erika Racewind, bodyguard for a mysterious young wizard named David, and Winifred Graceword, they head out to discover lost cities, recover long lost magical artifacts, and slay great evils in order to fulfill curiously specific prophecies – as mismatched, ragtag groups of adventurers are wont to do.
Assassins Brawl: The companions are hired to safeguard a spoiled brat of a princess targeted for death by the assassin Ruined Isys, but as is often the case, there’s more going on here than meets the eye. Now all they have to do is determine who is behind the plot before they get caught in the crossfire.
Blades of Glory: Derek, Felix, and company are up for a job that seems a little too simple for a payday that seems a little too generous – but unfortunately, so are the famed adventurers of fortune known as the Noble Blades. Which of them will be the first to find a stolen ceremonial mask that is absolutely positively completely normal and not at all some lost artifact possessed of dark power?
Sworded Affairs: The company takes a job to dispose of a potentially dangerous magical artifact only to become snowbound in an isolated city besieged by flesh-hungry beasts — and under assault from within by a dark conspiracy.
Elfish Motives: Winifred Graceword is called home under mysterious circumstances, which lead to the company revisiting the lost even city of Wihend. But what do the four clans want with their long-abandoned ancestral home?
Twins and Losses: The company finally returns home to Ambride, only to become immediately embroiled in a scandal threatening to consume the Ambride Academy of Magic.
Draconian Measures: David is charged with a diplomatic mission that could unite Asaches’s fractured magical academies, but first he has to contend with a maniacal warden, political upheaval, and an enormous dragon terrorizing the coastal city of Atebo. Tentatively set for a late 2023 release.
Untitled book eight: The companions find themselves in the middle of a power struggle that threatens to tear apart their adopted home of Ambride. Tentatively set for a 2024 release.
The Final Summons – An Anthology of the New England Speculative Writers: Featuring The Going Rate For Penance, a short story set in the Strongarm & Lightfoot world. Mercenaries Jessica and Samantha Summerland receive an assignment from their least favorite client, and one way or another, this will be their last job.
How Long Will the Series Run?
Unknown, but tentatively ten books.
Are They Available As Audiobooks?
The first four books, narrated by Heather S. Auden, are currently available on Audible.
Where Can I Learn More?
Read can read sample chapters from Scratching a Lich, buy signed copies, connect with me through social media, and get regular updates at my website: innsmouthlook.com
March 19, 2024
Weekly Update – March 19, 2024
With Action Figures – Legacy, the first sequel-spinoff from the core Action Figures series, in beta-reading phase, it’s time to return my attention to The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Draconian Measures! I got my editor’s notes back and spent part of the weekend tackling the next draft. I hope to have it fully formatted by the end of the week, but we’ll see. I’m on staycation so I might do something crazy like leave the house and do something fun.
WRITING PROJECTS
Action Figures – Legacies: Second draft completed, now in beta-reading phase.
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Draconian Measures: Fourth draft underway.
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – untitled book eight: First draft underway.
APPEARANCES & EVENTS
Nothing scheduledMISC.
I am having issues with my newsletter service provider, so if you want to keep tabs on my projects, your best bet is to simply follow this blog and have its posts delivered directly to your inbox.
March 14, 2024
Action Figures – A Series Overview
What’s it About?
The series focuses on Carrie Hauser, a 15-year-old girl who one summer experiences two life-changing events: her parents announce they’re getting divorced, and she gains superhuman abilities after encountering a dying extraterrestrial after he falls to Earth.
Her adventure begins after Carrie and her mother Christina move back to Christina’s childhood home town of Kingsport, Massachusetts, and Carrie meets four teens with powers of their own: superhero fanboy Matt Steiger, who owns a pair of magic gloves that can produce any object he can envision out of thin air, like a living cartoon character; Sara Danvers, a telepath and telekinetic who is afraid of her own abilities; the easygoing Stuart Lumley, who possesses superhuman strength; and Missy Hamill, an adorable motormouth with enhanced strength and reflexes.
The teens form a superhero team almost on a whim, but soon find themselves fighting for their lives against very real super-villains – much to the dismay of Kingsport’s hometown hero Concorde, leader of the super-team The Protectorate.
Who is this Series For?
Fans of superhero comics, TV shows, and movies in general, but particularly of titles featuring teen heroes such as Young Justice, Teen Titans, Young Avengers, and Champions.
The tone is generally lighter than a lot of YA books out there now. While there is drama and conflict, and some later stories deal with darker issues, I try to keep the series fun, upbeat, and optimistic.
Is it Suitable for Young Readers?
Action Figures is a PG-13 series that contains mild to moderate profanity, non-graphic violence, some mature themes, and later on in the series mild sexual content.
An added word about the violent content: while the violence is not graphic, the consequences are not downplayed. This isn’t sanitized Hollywood violence. People get hurt just as they would in real life and do not easily shrug off injuries, and in some cases the characters have to deal with the emotional trauma of their experiences.
What are the Books in the Series?
Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins – Carrie and her new friends in the Hero Squad (yes, they know their team name is awful) find themselves caught in the crossfire as the deadly mercenary Manticore comes to Kingsport, on the hunt for the rogue artificial intelligence known as Archimedes. Soon to be available through Audible!
Action Figures – Issue Two: Black Magic Women – The sorceress Black Betty threatens to raise hell – maybe literally – as she pursues her vendetta against the Protectorate’s resident paranormal expert Dr. Enigma.
Action Figures – Issue Three: Pasts Imperfect – Missy’s life is turned upside-down when she learns the truth about the source of her powers, and her connection to the bloodthirsty killer Buzzkill Joy.
Action Figures – Issue Four: Cruel Summer – Sara finds herself in the crosshairs of the mysterious hero killer the King of Pain, but to save herself, she might have to sacrifice everything she holds dear.
Action Figures – Issue Five: Team-Ups – The Hero Squad, still reeling from their devastating encounter with the King of Pain, get a little help picking up the pieces from their friends in the Protectorate and the Quantum Quintet.
Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play – The Squad finds itself outnumbered and under-powered after one of their members goes missing – and at the worst possible time as foes from their past reappear, more dangerous than ever and ready to exact revenge.
Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War – On Earth, Carrie Hauser is a hero, but on the far side of the galaxy, she’s just another soldier on the front lines of an interplanetary war against the terrorists in the Black End.
Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage – Carrie returns to Earth to reclaim her life, but life has moved on without her. Does she have a place with her team, her friends, or her family anymore?
Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury – Black Betty is back, and ready to unleash Hell — literally, but can the Hero Squad trust Dr. Enigma to have their backs? Or does she have her own dark agenda?
Action Figures – Issue Ten: Unintended Consequences – The Hero Squad learns that hard way that no good deed goes unpunished and the sins of their past have not been forgotten.
Action Figures – Issue Eleven: Zero Day – It’s the final showdown between the Hero Squad and ShadoWorks, in this, the epic conclusion to the Action Figures core series.
Action Figures: Legacies – In the wake of Zero Day, Aja Pershing, daughter of the murderous Manticore, finds herself on a collision course with the latest young woman to adopt the mantle of the vigilante known as the Silhouette. The first sequel to the core Action Figures series. Tentatively set for mid-2024 release.
The Action Figures Omnibus – Volume One: Stepping Up – Collects the first three books in the series (Secret Origins, Black Magic Women, Pasts Imperfect) and features a new foreward by Patrick Hodges and a new introduction by the author.
Beneath the Mask: A Superhero Romance Anthology – Features the superhero noir tale Like a Knife in the Heart featuring the Sapphire Silhouette. Set in the Action Figures universe. Currently out of print.
How Long Will the Series Run?
The core series has finished its run, ending with issue eleven. Two spinoff titles are currently in the early planning stages, with the first of those books, tentatively titled Legacies, set for a 2024 release.
Where Can I Learn More?
Read can read sample chapters from Secret Origins, short stories set in the Action Figures world, buy signed copies, connect with me through social media, and get regular updates at my website: innsmouthlook.com
