David Lee Summers's Blog, page 17

Legend of the Vampire

The original Scooby-Doo television series debuted when I was about three-years-old. I’ve watched the adventures of the mystery-solving gang and their talking dog about as long as I can remember. Although many of the episode premises are kind of silly, Scooby did help me think critically and skeptically about things. After all, all the monsters and ghosts turned out to be criminals in masks! I’ve enjoyed some iterations of the series more than others. Scooby’s nephew Scrappy first appeared around...

The Battles of Mora

When I wrote my novel Owl Dance almost fifteen years ago, I had the idea that the protagonist, Ramon Morales, would meet a Captain Nemo-like character who I called Onofre Cisneros. In the novel, he attacks ships with his submarine, the Legado, in an attempt to show its worth as a weapon. In the years since, I’ve realized that Cisneros also was something of a response to Ragnar Daneskjöld from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, a pirate who robs from the poor to give to the rich. Cisneros basically w...

A Cry of Hounds

Body and Soul, the Hunt Is On!

Hounds, faithful, tenacious, and oft the subject of otherworldly lore. Will they stand beside you or hunt you down? Only time (and the tale) will tell. A Cry of Hounds is an anthology presented in conjunction with the Tell-Tale Steampunk Festival that presents eleven tales inspired by the master of mystery, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, paying tribute to his genius for deduction and his passion for things beyond the ken of mortal men.

When we were invited to cre...

Other Aether: Tales of Global Steampunk

In the anthology Other Aether edited by Greg Schauer and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, invention and adventure go hand in hand. Clockwork technology and ingenuity are not the sole purview of Jolly Ol’ England. By airship or locomotive, prairie schooner or steamboat, it is time to explore the global landscape through lenses polished in the Age of Steam!

I was excited that Danielle and Greg invited me to be part of this anthology. My story in the book is called “No One Alone” and its an origin st...

The Quest for Vampirella

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I grew up with comic books and remained a fan through my college years. My interest waned after I left grad school as work, marriage, and children took increasing chunks of my time. However, as my kids reached an age to show an interest in comics, I sought out a new local comic shop in the 2010s and gradually began collecting again. Lurking on the shelves near the end of the alphabet was a woman vampire in a red outfit that was revealing by bathing suit standard...

Captain Harlock’s Final Odyssey

Space Pirate Captain Harlock first appeared in a one-shot manga story by Leiji Matsumoto published circa 1970 titled “Great Pirate Harlock.” Right from the beginning, Harlock’s whole purpose would be to fight against those who would suppress humanity’s freedom. The captain would go on to be reimagined and reinvented over the rest of Matsumoto’s life. While working on Space Battleship Yamato in the early 1970s, Matsumoto imagined that Harlock was an identity assumed by the protagonist’s brother. ...

Arithmophobia

This Thursday, 3/14 is Pi Day. Appropriately enough, editor Robert Lewis has chosen that day to release his latest anthology, Arithmophobia: An Anthology of Mathematical Horror and I’m proud that my story, “A Presence Beyond the Shadows” is included in this volume.

“Arithmophobia,” n.: The fear of numbers or mathematics.

Whether you love mathematics or find it terrifying, this anthology of original tales of terror is sure to send a chill down your spine. With an unlucky thirteen brand n...

Read an Exciting Ebook!

Today is the last day of Read an Ebook Week at Smashwords, but it’s not too late to grab some amazing deals at https://www.smashwords.com/ebookweek. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with some amazing authors including Don Braden, Lyn McConchie, and Greg Ballan. I’ve just started editing Don’s latest book and it’s a real page-turner. All of these authors are great and you really should do yourself a favor and get to know them better. I’ve included a book by each of them in th...

Read a Vampire Ebook!

Happy Read an Ebook Week! You can find my Scarlet Order Vampire novels available now at Smashwords at a promotional price to help you celebrate. Find my vampire novels and many more great books at https://www.smashwords.com/ebookweek from March 3-9! The third volume of my Scarlet Order vampire series was released just last month. This is your opportunity to grab all three books for a special promotional price of just 99 cents each. That means you can get the whole series for less than the pr...

Death’s Embrace

This weekend finds me at Wild Wild West Con at Casino Del Sol in Tucson, Arizona. It’s a fabulous steampunk event that is in it’s twelfth year. You can get all the details about the event at https://www.wildwestcon.com/. If you’re in town, I hope you’ll drop in. If you catch me on a panel or in the dealer’s room, be sure to say hello. Later this spring, the anthology A Cry of Hounds will debut at the Tell-Tale Steampunk Festival in Baltimore, Maryland. One of the authors who will also have a sto...