Michael C. Bailey's Blog, page 69

Station Identification Time

Who Am I?

I’m a writer originally from Falmouth, MA who now lives in Worcester (pronounced like the name of Hugh Laurie’s dim-witted socialite) with my awesomely talented wife Veronica, who runs a business called Storied Threads.

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.

What Do I Write?

[image error]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, reached the #1 spot on two Amazon best-seller lists.

[image error]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.

[image error]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 $6 in print or 99 cents in e-book format.

Well Behaved Women is a planned urban fantasy trilogy now in the early stages. Book one is tentatively scheduled for a summer 2018 release.

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?

Official website

Amazon author page

Facebook

Twitter

BookBub

Instagram

Goodreads

Google +

LinkedIn

Weekly Update – January 30, 2018

Still pretty sore from a weekend of stage combat seminars, which I take every winter to freshen up my skills for the forthcoming spring renaissance faire season. I have a pretty heavy fight load for the spring show (more on that below) so I need to scrap the rust off so I’m ready to craft some quality fake violence.

WRITING PROJECTS

Well Behaved Women: After several weeks of slow-going, I’ve finally hashed out the plot issues and got back to serious work last week. The first draft is new creeping up on the 40,000 word mark, and once I finish book two I will be ready to plunge right into writing book three.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book four: First draft in progress. Got a couple thousand words in last week, in-between thinking over WBW stuff.

[image error]Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: Edited and formatted, waiting on cover art — which is in progress! Tricia is playing around with Carrie’s new look a little, and this is one of the concepts she’s experimenting with.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage: Third draft written.

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Rough plotting in progress.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins (audiobook): Review completed, final editing in progress.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

Saturday, February 17, 5 PM to 9 PM: Connecticut Renaissance Faire/Robin Hood’s Faire Meet the Directors Mixer. The producers of the Connecticut Renaissance Faire in Lebanon, CT and Robin Hood’s Faire, which has relocated this year to Lancaster, MA, are hosting a special promotional event at their Southbridge, MA headquarters to drum up interest in this year’s auditions for the two shows. If you’re interested, stop on by to meet with the directors — including me! I’ll be returning to the spring show as fight director.

MISC.

The end is nigh!

You have until the end of the day tomorrow to grab Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins along with 33 other titles for free as part of a superhero fiction cross-promotion.

You also have until tomorrow to submit a story for the New England Speculative Writers group’s open call for its first anthology. If you’re a New England-based writer, you’re eligible to submit a story. Go here to get the full details.

Finally, if you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Weekly Update – January 23, 2018

Big announcement time!

Over the weekend I signed a contract with a Boston-based indie comic company, Underdog Comics, to write a mini-comic for them. It’s a steampunk adventure called Freedom Tides and features a crew of women pirates fighting the so-called “triangle trade” during the Golden Age of Piracy.

Underdog Comics’ overarching mission is to increase diversity in media, and that’s a mission I can get behind.

I met the company’s founder, Tessa, at Arisia 2018, and after talking about Action Figures and what I try to do with that series in terms of representation, she asked if I’d be interested in writing a script for her. She had a couple of concepts in need of a writer, one of which was “steampunk pirate women.” By the end of the day I’d come up with some characters and a basic concept, and I spent the following week fleshing it out. I finished the script this past weekend and submitted it on Sunday.

Tessa herself will be the artist on the mini-comic, and I’ve already seen some of her character sketches. They’re looking pretty damn cool.

Freedom Tides is scheduled for a March release. I’ll keep you all updated as things progress.

WRITING PROJECTS

[image error]Well Behaved Women: Got some more work done but, for time constraint reasons, not as much as I’d hoped. My day gig is back in full swing, though so hopefully I’ll return to pounding out more than a page a day. In the meantime, I managed to finish work on one of the costumes for the March photo shoot, and I think it looks pretty damn good.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book four: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: Edited and formatted, waiting on cover art.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage: Third draft written.

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Rough plotting in progress.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins (audiobook): Review completed, final editing in progress.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

Saturday, February 17, 5 PM to 9 PM: Connecticut Renaissance Faire/Robin Hood’s Faire Meet the Directors Mixer. The producers of the Connecticut Renaissance Faire in Lebanon, CT and Robin Hood’s Faire, which has relocated this year to Lancaster, MA, are hosting a special promotional event at their Southbridge, MA headquarters to drum up interest in this year’s auditions for the two shows. If you’re interested, stop on by to meet with the directors — including me! I’ll be returning to the spring show as fight director.

MISC.

I’m taking part in a month-long cross-promotion with several other superhero fiction authors, and until January 31 you can grab Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins along with 32 other titles for free!

It’s the final countdown for the New England Speculative Writers group’s open call for its first anthology. If you’re a New England-based writer, you’re eligible to submit a story. The deadline for submission is January 31, so get cracking! Go here to get the full details.

Finally, if you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

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.

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?

[image error]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.

[image error]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.

[image error]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?

How Long Will the Series Run?

Unknown, but tentatively ten books.

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

Weekly Update – January 16, 2018

Arisia 2018 is a wrap!

I had what was, financially, my best show ever. This is not to say I am rolling in money, but the weekend was profitable — which can be a big deal to an indie author. These shows are not cheap to do and it’s easy to lose money — which is what happened in previous years — so it’s nice to be able to go home even a little in the black.

But the best part may be yet to come. I’m currently chatting with someone who is interested in having me work on a project for her small company, and the concept I’ve been pitched is intriguing. We’ll see where that goes, but I’m feeling hopeful.

WRITING PROJECTS

Well Behaved Women: I managed to sneak in a little bit of work during my busy week, but I’m mostly hashing out some plot issues for a while.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book four: First draft in progress. Got some work in on this last week, and I’ll pop back to jot down stuff as it comes to me.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: Edited and formatted, waiting on cover art.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage: Third draft written.

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Rough plotting in progress.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins (audiobook): Review completed, final editing in progress.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

For a variety of reasons, some voluntary and some out of my control, I am going to be passing on Boskone this year. I don’t have any other shows on the horizon quite yet, but I’m on the lookout.

MISC.

I’m taking part in a month-long cross-promotion with several other superhero fiction authors, and until January 31 you can grab Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins along with 32 other titles for free!

It’s the final countdown for the New England Speculative Writers group’s open call for its first anthology. If you’re a New England-based writer, you’re eligible to submit a story. The deadline for submission is January 31, so get cracking! Go here to get the full details.

Finally, if you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Arisia 2018 – That’s All, Folks!

The dealers room is now closed, for the day and for the year. Thank you, readers, guests, and panel attendees, and I’ll see you next year!

Arisia 2018 – Day Four Begins!

This is it! The fourth and final day of Arisia 2018! The dealers room is open for business and will close today at 2:30 PM, so come on down and spend some money!

Arisia 2018 – Dealers Room is Closed

That’s it for day three of Arisia! At least down here in the dealers room, but we’ll be back tomorrow for the fourth and final day beginning at 10 AM. Remember, tomorrow is a short day, so if you have yet to make any purchases, tomorrow will be your last chance!

Panel Time! Fight Science for Writers

Just 15 minutes until my next panel:

Fight Science for Writers – Hands-On Demos – 4 PM – Otis (2W)

Have you ever wondered how your fight scene would look acted out in real life? Here’s your chance to play with some toy soldiers, see your fight scene acted out with authentic weapons, and listen to our panel of martial artists and authors SHOW you what works vs. doesn’t work in your or other writer’s fiction. Mark Millman (m), Michael Bailey, Rachel A. Brune, Genevieve Iseult Eldredge, Dan “Grim” Marsh.

Panel Time! Stage Presentation: A Minute or Less to Impress

My next panel begins in just 15 minutes!

Stage Presentation: A Minute or Less to Impress – 11:30 AM –  Faneuil (3W)

A minute can seem so short when trying to put together a masquerade presentation, but it can feel like an eternity on stage. How do you use the time allowed to both entertain the audience and wow the judges? Can it be done in less than 30 seconds? Gaia Eirich (m), Michael Bailey, Jill Eastlake, James Hinsey, Anastasia Holt

And later today:

Fight Science for Writers – Hands-On Demos – 4 PM – Otis (2W)

Have you ever wondered how your fight scene would look acted out in real life? Here’s your chance to play with some toy soldiers, see your fight scene acted out with authentic weapons, and listen to our panel of martial artists and authors SHOW you what works vs. doesn’t work in your or other writer’s fiction. Mark Millman (m), Michael Bailey, Rachel A. Brune, Genevieve Iseult Eldredge, Dan “Grim” Marsh.