For the record, even though you never asked – okay, Bob did, but no one gives a rat’s patoot what he wants – I am not a fan of cover reveals. I know authors who swear by them. God bless. Honestly, keying up an e-blast and spending a day making the same post on multiple social media accounts just to show folks a pretty picture seems like a waste of everyone’s time.
So, why am I doing it? I’m glad you asked.
A couple of reasons. First, and foremost, The Darkling Wind, the top image when you scroll down, is my first stand-alone book since the first stand-alone book I wrote that won a cool award, SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY. And there are similarities. Both are books. Both have plots. Both have unexpected friendships. And, this is the biggest thing, both were written by me.
The second reason is that I’m dancing like a four-year-old on meth now that I’m reunited with the legendary Ian Bristow. “Who dat?” you ask. Well, I’ll tell you. He’s so humbler than thou even he sometimes forgets he exists. But he’s been doing highly regarded sci-fi covers for authors all over the world, even Chicago, for quite some time. Wonderful humans like you will remember him for the brilliant cover art he created for The Brittle Riders.
The last reason may be the one that interests you. Yeah, I know, “WAY TO BURY THE LEDE, ASSHOLE!”
This book started as a satire of the UFO-Believer’s Movement that I felt, even with my atrocious typing skills, I could knock out fast. But a funny thing happened. The more I wrote, the more I liked the characters. Meanwhile, The Brittle Riders started getting attention, still is but now we all talk privately, and life did life stuff, and my wife and I both needed surgeries, which we just had, and blah blah blah, but I finished it, got beta-readers, paid attention to them since half the book was UFO believing pseudoscience, and finally turned it in to my publisher who honestly didn’t believe this would ever see the light of day.
Did you enjoy that run-on sentence?
“The Darkling Wind” presents mysterious flying disks descending upon Earth, targeting the elderly and ailing with beams of unknown energy. Instead of destruction, these encounters grant the recipients inexplicable youth, vitality, and, in some cases, extraordinary abilities. As enhanced people around the globe embrace new lives, multiple organizations scramble to uncover the origin and purpose of the disks.
When a gay teen in Arizona inadvertently replicates the disks’ effects while trying to get into MIT, the stakes escalate. Earth is forced to define what is and is not human while it faces an existential threat from forces beyond the stars. Who will unravel the mystery and mount a defense?
Witty, irreverent, and wildly original, The Darkling Wind blends sci-fi, satire, and sex-positive adventure in a race against extinction where only the most human of connections may save us all.
Fret not, there will be more stories in The Brittle Riders universe. Why? God only knows. Mostly, I’ve been immobile for reasons, got a hair up my ass, and decided to write three books at once. Professional authors call this “fucking stupid.”
I did it anyway. The Darkling Wind is done, going through a professional edit, and is begging to be in your hands this spring. A first draft of The Plato Wars is in the capable hands of beta-readers. One, Bello Atinuke of Luminous Types, whom I have decided to dearly love, had an AI do a review of my story about an evil AI, and it liked it. She also provided her thoughts on the matter, and they were both helpful and positive.
Side note, Bello offers a variety of services, so if you have a book that needs some love, click that link.
No, I haven’t started The gen-O-pod(™) Wars. Yes, I have thought about it. I’ve thought about bowling too. I can barely walk, so that’s a ways out, as is The gen-O-pod(™) Wars.
Okay, I lied. I’m a naughty McSciFi and deserve to be punished. I have started The gen-O-pod(™) Wars. In fact, one thing that bugged me more than a cloud of mosquitoes after the rain in a nudist colony was trying to come up with a through point for the story. Anyone who’s read The Brittle Riders knows Edward Q. Rohta is responsible for this mess. Since he’s a genius hedonist, I could write a salacious ton about him. However, that leaves a lot unanswered. I mean, “Rich dude does the badoink badoink with all da peeps” is a limited plot.
But, and this took me a while to get here, Fluffkins, the pansexual Hashmallim with a smile made of rainbows and a heart made of stone, who decides the best future for humanity is one without humans? Now we’re talking.
I pride myself on creating interesting villains. The super soldiers in The Brittle Riders, the first Pearl in Goptri of the Mists, my human side in Stuff About Things, and so on. Fluffkins will join the pantheon of names that will make acolytes whisper in envy.
Anywho, there you have it. Until next time, stay safe and sane.
Oh, yeah, calm down, the images still pop up in a new tab if you click on them.
