David Lee Summers's Blog, page 38

Wrangling Brazen Sharks

The Brazen Shark

Last year, I announced that I’m updating and releasing new editions of my Clockwork Legion novels. Today, I’m proud to announce the release of the second edition of book three: The Brazen Shark. This novel picks up right where book two left off. Ramon and Fatemeh have just married and their friend, a one-time pirate captain Onofre Cisneros, has swept them off for a romantic honeymoon in the South Pacific. However, once they reach Hawaii, a British agent makes Cisneros an off...

Relatable Vampires

My dad worked as a night foreman for the Santa Fe railroad when I was a kid. He would wake up in the morning and drive me to school, then go home and sleep until it was time to get ready for work. For most of my childhood, I saw him for breakfast and that drive to school. He suffered a heart attack in 1980. He was 52 and I was 13. While he was on the road to recovery, I took walks with him and, for the first time in my life, really started to get to know him as a person and not just as “dad.” A ...

When Steampunks Discover Black

“Steampunks are Goths who discovered brown,” is a quote attributed to author Jess Nevins that was popularized by Cherie Priest. The quote holds at least a little truth from my personal perspective. I started writing short vampire fiction in 2000 and then published my first vampire novel in 2005. Although I wrote and published my first steampunk story in 2001, I really didn’t really appreciate it as a subgenre separate from historical fantasy until I was introduced to Cherie Priest’s novel Bonesh...

Anno Dracula – The Comic!

Soon after reading Kim Newman’s novel, Anno Dracula, I took a closer look at the other books he’s written in this universe. As it turns out, the second story in chronological order was told over the course of a five-issue comic book series from Titan Comics. The five issues have since been collected into a single graphic novel, Anno Dracula -1895: Seven Days in Mayhem. The comic series, released in 2017, was written by Newman and features art by Paul McCaffrey.

The vampire Jane considers Kim ...

Anno Dracula

In the past few weeks I’ve been working on an outline for a new Scarlet Order Vampire novel. Back when I first wrote Vampires of the Scarlet Order in 2004, I’d written four synopses for novels in the series. I started the prequel, Dragon’s Fall almost right away in 2005 as a NaNoWriMo project. I set the novel aside for a time, but finally published it in 2012. Recently, I was prompted to think about the series again as I brought out new editions of the novels in 2020. Also, around that time, Bou...

Space: 1999 – Earthbound

The end of February brought us a new Space: 1999 audio adventure from Big Finish Productions. Ostensibly, we are presented with three stories, “Mooncatcher” written by Marc Platt, “Earthbound” written by Iain Meadows, and “Journey’s End” written by Nicholas Briggs. It turns out, “Mooncatcher” is the only completely original tale on this disk. The other two stories are, in fact, a two-part retelling of the classic TV episode “Earthbound” which featured Christopher Lee as the alien space ship capt...

Read an Ebook Week 2022

I’m pleased to announce that several of the books I’ve edited are part of the thirteenth annual Smashwords Read an Ebook sale which is running through March 12. We have books that will transport you back to the weird and wild west, books that will take you to other realms and books that will transport you to the distant future. All of these featured ebooks are 75% off the cover price, which makes most of them just $1.00. Read on to learn more!

The Way-Out Wild West

The Way-Out Wild Wes...

The Tyrant of Mongo

Today, I’m at Wild Wild West Con in Tucson, Arizona. At 3pm today, I’ll be on the “Authors of Steampunk” panel and at 11am tomorrow, I’ll be discussing the Oz novels of L. Frank Baum and related media in a panel called “Oz: A Literary Perspective.” When I’m not at those panels, you’ll be able to find me at my dealer’s table in the vendor hall. If you’re around the convention at all this weekend, please make sure to stop by and say “hello.” It seems fitting to have a post about the original Flash...

War of the Worlds: Infestation

While reading and enjoying Caliber’s Oz comics a few days ago, an ad for another comic series from Caliber caught my eye. This new comic book appeared to be inspired by the H.G. Wells novel, The War of the Worlds. I was especially captivated by the cover, shown here, which depicted Martian tripods in the Mississippi, near the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. A quick online search revealed this to be War of the Worlds: Infestation written by Randy Zimmerman, with art by Horus Odenthal. Given ...

Wild Wild West Con X

The tenth Wild Wild West Con is less than a week away. This is the first time the convention has been slated to be held in person since March 2020. This year’s theme is “Over the Rainbow” and the convention will be held from Thursday, March 3 though Sunday, March 6 at the Westward Look Resort in Tucson, Arizona. This is a new venue for Wild Wild West Con since Old Tucson Studios closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among this year’s notable guests will be Gail Carriger, Madeleine Holly-Rosin...