David Lee Summers's Blog, page 46

Guinevere and the Stranger Now Available

Print copies of the comic Guinevere and the Stranger are now available to order. I wrote the comic, Michael Ellis illustrated it, and Bram Meehan lettered it. The comic adapts one of the standalone interlude chapters from my novel Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order Vampires. As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I often present these when I’m asked to give a short reading because they are not only short, but satisfying, complete tales. This comic tells a story of Queen Guinevere after th...

It Came From Her Purse

My story “Dusty Violet and Bleached Bones” is now available in the anthology It Came From Her Purse, published by Hiraeth Publishing. “Dusty Violet and Bleached Bones” is a dieselpunk fairy tale set during New Mexico’s dust bowl. Billy Bones dreams of getting as far away from the desert southwest as possible. He’d love nothing more than joining a pirate crew and look for buried treasure. Violetta is a Native American girl escaping Santa Fe’s Indian School. The two find themselves pursued by ...

Owl Dance (Queen Titania’s Court) — Wyrmflight

This past weekend, Fatemeh Karimi, one of the protagonists of my novel, Owl Dance, visited the court of the fairy queen, Titania. As the segment opens, Fatemeh follows an owl into the queen’s court. The queen then asks her whether she’s an insider or an outsider in her own land and who is her best friend. It should come as no surprise to longtime readers of the series that her best friend is Ramon Morales.

The queen then turns to me and asks me questions about how I chose to write wild we...

Children of the Old Stars – Twentieth Anniversary Edition

Children of the Old Stars

I am excited to announce that the twentieth anniversary edition of my novel Children of the Old Stars has just been released. This is the third novel in my Space Pirates’ Legacy series. In the novel just before this, an implacable alien intelligence called the Cluster arrived in the galaxy and began literally dissecting space ships. In an effort to stop the Cluster, the Confederation of Homeworlds united all the fleets and started building new ships, but a civil war ...

But, It Wasn’t a Dream

At the end of the 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy wakes up in her room, relieved to be home after her journey to distant land of Oz. Her Aunt Em tells her, “You just had a bad dream.”

“But it wasn’t a dream,” insists Dorothy. “It was a place.”

My journey through L. Frank Baum’s original Oz novels has brought me to the sixth book in the series, The Emerald City of Oz, and sure enough, Aunt Em will learn that Oz was no dream!

The Tin Woodsman is ready to defend The Emerald City of O...

Justice Society: World War II

A little over a month ago, I was excited to learn there would be a DC animated movie featuring the first ever super hero team from comics, the Justice Society of America. I’ve discussed the Justice Society a few times here and I’ve enjoyed many of their incarnations in the comics from their earliest appearance in 1940 up through their more modern appearances in the 1990s and early 2000s. This new movie promised to return the Justice Society to World War II to punch some Nazis.

Justice Society...

Crossroads in Oz

My travels through L. Frank Baum’s original Oz novels continued with book five, The Road to Oz. Dorothy and Uncle Henry have returned to Kansas by the time the story opens. A hobo called the Shaggy Man comes by the farm and asks Dorothy for directions to the town of Butterfield. He seems scattered and Dorothy decides to take him to the road that will lead to the town. As they walk, the surroundings become unfamiliar and they soon come to a place where many roads intersect. Dorothy is confused be...

Fevre Dream

I first became aware of George R.R. Martin’s vampire novel from a review Kurt MacPhearson wrote for Tales of the Talisman Magazine back in 2010. His enthusiasm for Fevre Dream caused me to put it on my to-read list. I finally had a chance to dive in and my only real regret is that I waited so long to read the book.

Fevre Dream Novel

Starting in 1857, Fevre Dream tells the story of Abner Marsh, owner of a small steamboat company in St. Louis, who lost most of his boats the previous winter w...

The Wizard’s Return to Oz

My wife and I share a love of great science fiction and fantasy. When we met, she had a large collection of great books and that collection has only grown. In that collection were most of the 29 Oz novels published by Del Rey Books in the 1980s. These were lovely editions of the novels featuring realistic covers by Michael Herring, inspired by John R. Neill’s original illustrations. I went back to the shelf the other day to appreciate them, when I learned this month was the 165th birthday of L. ...

Breaking the Code Now Available

Yesterday was release day for my novella, Breaking the Code, published by NeoParadoxa Press, an imprint of eSpec Books. My copies have arrived as seen below, and I think they look wonderful. If you pre-ordered a copy, I hope it’s been seamlessly delivered to your e-reader or on its way by means of a reliable delivery service.

Breaking the Code print copies

As it turns out, I celebrated the release of the book while operating the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope at Kitt Peak on a blustery, windy ni...