There’s a lot going on right now, and it’s all good but it’s why I missed sending out a newsletter over the last two weeks. If anyone ever tells you about the joys of migrating thousands of email addresses, hundreds of HTML templates, and coding unique web pages just for an email to point to, you are free to beat them with a hammer. Nevertheless, I’m glad I did it.

  I want to start by saying “Hello” and “Welcome” to the thousands of people who attended The Book Fest and spent time meeting new, as well as incredibly famous, authors. In case you missed the memo, I’m one of the new ones.

   For those of you who’ve been with this rodeo for a while you’re going to notice some changes. Chief among them is your weekly dose of McSciFi is now sponsored. There will be an ad for Morphy Mail at the bottom of each email and I hope you will check out and support them. This came about because I’m a petulant child and didn’t want to pay exorbitant monthly fees just to say hi to all of you. Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease, other times it gets replaced. This time it worked out well for me.

  Also, you may have noticed a new “from” address. Please white-list it. The number of subscribers has grown far beyond the limits of Gmail. Now I have a dedicated server that does nothing but house and ship emails.

  I should note the tech behind this upgrade is all new to me. If something doesn’t work, please let me know by replying to this message. Thanks.

  By way of introduction, I’m a science fiction writer based in Chicago who, occasionally, dabbles in horror.  I again so dabbled on November 9 at Independence Con. When you click that link, and you will, you’ll be treated to a an incredible video of horror writers the world over sharing their stories, answering questions, and trying not to swear. You have to watch just so you don’t miss me in all my glory.

  Well, not all of it. I wore clothes. My fiancée would kill me if I didn’t. Otherwise I have the body modesty of a toddler.

  For those just joining me, I have four novels out. The first three comprise a trilogy called The Brittle Riders. It’s a fun filled dystopia which starts with the death of every man, woman, and child on the planet before chapter one. Apocalypses are funny that way.

  Just FYI, the trilogy, and now Omnibus, is actually a 310,000 word chapter. You should have been at the pitch meeting for that when I sold it.

  A beta reader said “If David Brin came off a three day tequila bender and dropped acid, he’d have written The Brittle Riders.” Another reviewer on Amazon noted “This is a story where old meets new, where religion meets science in an epic story of what happened ‘after’ our world changed. It is masterfully written with attention to detail and it sympathetically manages to bridge the gap between faith and technology.”

  My publisher, Azoth Khem, thought it might be fun to welcome the newcomers, and thank those who’ve been here all along, by giving away a free copy of The Brittle Riders: Book I. The file is a PDF and should be no problem to read on a mobile device or regular computer. For those who haven’t read it, it has been consistently lauded as a prime example of world building.

  The next one is called SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY. The story behind this is fun so I’ll share. I pitched Watchdog Entertainment an idea for a new comic book based on a character from their line of comics. After some back and forth I sold them a movie instead. Yeah, I know, first world problems. Nevertheless, after I wrote the movie I circled back to the comic book thinking it might make a nice property to support the movie. They thought a better way to support the movie was for me to write a novel. Which I did.

  So, either I’m the most successful pitch man in the universe for selling a movie and a novel, based on the same story, or I’m a complete failure for not selling the comic. I’ll leave that distinction to you.

  The story follows a young boy, abandoned in Omaha, who discovers he has an affinity for computers. One thing leads to another and he ends up joining a Mafia family in New York and, later, the Marines. When all is said and done, he’s become the world’s most famous super-villain and no one knows his name. How did he get here? Where did he come from? The world may never know, but you will.

  U.S. Army Cpt. Josh Grenard (Ret.) had this to say about it. “SPLICE is a non-stop thrill ride, taking the reader on an edge-of-your-seat experience through the military and organized crime worlds. Bill McCormick absolutely captures the senses of the military and combat from sight to sound to smell and leaves you only wanting more at the turn of every page. This book gets it right and keeps it coming!“

  One thing I should note is that my newest graphic novel, Legends Parallel: Meta Observable, just nailed another five star review from Sci-Fi Comic Nexus.

  There is much to ponder here in terms of thought-provoking issues of race, sexuality, culture and society’s attitudes to history and relationships.  

  You want anthropological context and sociological commentary?  This has jugs of it.

  But, yeah… BOOBS. 

  It’s rated “M” for Mature, and it isn’t lying about that.

  I’m also the assistant editor for ICC Magazine, have numerous other comic book series ongoing, appear in over twenty international anthologies, and write nonfiction based on science and pop culture for The World News Center which serves as the basis for my weekly radio appearance on The Big Wakeup Call with Ryan Gatenby.

  I hope you’ll take the time to visit my website, BillMcSciFi.com, and check everything out.

  Until next week, I thank you for joining in on the fun and hope you’ll stay safe, sane, and inside as much as possible.