Bill McSciFi's Blog

I’m sorry I’ve been AWOL for the last two weeks but I was neck deep in adulting and had no choice.  One fun thing that happened while I was gone was that I was named science fiction author of the month by the Knights of the Science Fiction Roundtable. That was a pleasant surprise.

Anyway, Marcie’s Marvels is out and starting to get noticed. There are two video trailers; one done by Zak Webber and the other by me. Although both were labors of love, I can honestly say Zak’s is cooler.

Zak not only cut a teaser for Marcie’s Marvels he also wrote a great review.

In the story, Marcie lives with her blind mother who knows nothing of her daughter’s alter ego (or does she?)… Being able to literally fly in and out of your bedroom window makes sneaking around even easier than usual, but mothers – even blind ones – can be more perceptive than they appear.

Prihanto illustrates the proceedings with a light, fresh touch. Our heroine is superhuman but also human; a believable teenage girl rather than a stereotypical Amazonian goddess. This is no lycra-clad athlete with an improbably buoyant bust (so beloved of comic fanboys of all ages), rather a very normal looking kid who could be your own sister or classmate… but with a secret life.

Her associate – a mysterious older guy who acts as researcher and protective mentor (kind of like Batman’s Alfred and James Bond’s Q) – provides her with her suit and various gadgets to help her in her missions. She sets off to hunt for possible locations where the missing kids are being held. She runs into plenty of trouble along the way, but nothing she can’t handle.

This is straightforward caped crusader fare, but with a dark edge. It does not shy away from the grim realities of the world. Marcie is super-powered but not invulnerable. The ending is not totally happy. The message here is an uplifting one about fighting for what is right, but without the naiveté of a children’s story in which everything turns out perfect once the villain has been thwarted. This is aimed at a somewhat more mature readership. There are dangers out there and you don’t make them go away by pretending they don’t exist. This is also a message about awareness: knowledge is power, and empowerment is essential to young people.

Not to be outdone, critically acclaimed and award winning author, Pam Harrison, wrote a review for ICC Magazine. Like Zak, she liked the art from Eko Prihanto, which is clean and fits the story perfectly.

I know Bill McCormick’s writing style, and by the end of the first issue I was left with a lot of questions. This intro sets the stage for some intense, gritty storytelling, because that’s how Bill rolls: This series supports the MJG Movement, named in honor of Marcie Jonea Gerald. The MJGM is a Children’s Advocacy organization dedicated to serving as a resource for children and families that are victims of sexual abuse and suicide. Bill says of this series, “We decided to avoid the origin trope (in the very first issue of the series). Marcie is who she is. Each issue will tackle different aspects of horrors directed at teens.”

The stage is set. We soon will find out exactly why Marcie is so driven in her mission to avenge abused kids. And she’s good at it. She has passion for what she’s doing, and still manages to get to school on time. She’s driven. She has the tech and the savvy provided by her agent friends, who we know nothing about, either. Seriously, Bill. No origin story yet? We’ll have to wait for the next installment – just like a classic pulp fiction serial – to learn all the back story, one clue at a time, and find out what happens next!

And we’re going to root for Marcie balancing school and superheroing, and getting home in time for dinner. But in the end of that first issue, we already get the feeling that her Mom is not as blind as we think she is.

That’s a lot of drama, tension, and anxious anticipation for just one little comic. I knew, when the first draft was done, I was on to something. It was decided early on to eschew the traditional origin story. I wanted to throw readers into the deep end without a life-vest.

More below

Just a quick reminder that I write books without pictures and some people like them. I will note, that as of this date, you can only buy the paperback version of the Omnibus edition of The Brittle Riders in select countries, none of which are named the United States of America. That is not due to some grand conspiracy. Instead, it’s due to supply chain issues and paper shortages. My author copies of Goptri of the Mists: Kitaab Ek took almost four months to arrive. The comics I write have experienced a twenty percent cost increase for printing. We had to suspend sales of comics to stores for now. Between shipping and printing I would lose .75 ¢ per comic. If you want one you’ll need to order it from my online store. I’ll even autograph it if you wish.

SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY

Winner of the Best SciFi Novel of 2020 on the Critters Reader’s Poll.
* – A nonstop thrill ride
* – Fascinating and terrifying
* – The best damn thing I’ve ever read
* – The Desert Eagle seems like overkill for a close shot, but I have no complaints
* – I’m buying popcorn now for when this hits the big screen

The Brittle Riders Series or its Omnibus Edition

* – Some of the best world building I’ve ever encountered
* – It sympathetically manages to bridge the gap between faith and technology
* – McCormick packs more in twelve words than others do in twelve paragraphs
* – Fuck McCormick, he made me cry when a cockroach died
* – When I hit book three I surrendered. I had no clue what was going to happen, but I needed to find out

Goptri of the Mists: Kitaab Ek

* – There’s a horny squid and nukes. What more could I ask for?
* – I never considered giving my spouse a year’s worth of meat for our anniversary
* – Okay, wow, did not see this villain coming
* – Relentless and riveting
* – He’s always been LGBTQIA+ friendly, but this subtly raises the bar and I, for one, am thrilled

I should also note that I appear in numerous anthologies and there are some shorts you can read for free on that link. Just scroll down.

As always, if I’ve written something you liked, you can always leave a review on my GoodReads page. While you’re there you can also post questions, check out my suggestions, and have more fun than you might imagine.

Until next week, please stay safe, sane, and inside as much as possible. I’ve grown kind of fond of you.

I do love when something new and fun lands on my plate. I have been asked to write for Catpunk. Just FYI, the site is currently being built so it’s still a work n progress. Even so, it’ll give you a good idea of what’s going on. Unlike my other projects, this time I’m creating a fictional history for an NFT. The acronym stands for non fungible token.That means you get something unique, i.e. non-fungible or not capable of being duplicated, attached to the value of a bitcoin. Bitcoin is a type of crypto currency, also known as a blockchain, that is the digital equivalent of the gold standard. There is a set amount that can be made and after that all you can do is trade for them.

The Catpunk NFTs will be based on the Solana blockchain. Over two thousand people buy or trade this currency every second. That’s a lot of people.

And each and every one of them will get the opportunity to visit Paw City and catch up on the world I’m creating. This is going to be a fun project. I hope you’ll bookmark it and follow along.

More below.

A few of you asked me to share the fan reviews again. I am happy to do so. Just remember, all my newsletters are memorialized on my blog and there’s a handy search engine to help you find what you’re looking for.

SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY

Winner of the Best SciFi Novel of 2020 on the Critters Reader’s Poll.
* – A nonstop thrill ride
* – Fascinating and terrifying
* – The best damn thing I’ve ever read
* – The Desert Eagle seems like overkill for a close shot, but I have no complaints
* – I’m buying popcorn now for when this hits the big screen

The Brittle Riders Series or its Omnibus Edition

* – Some of the best world building I’ve ever encountered
* – It sympathetically manages to bridge the gap between faith and technology
* – McCormick packs more in twelve words than others do in twelve paragraphs
* – Fuck McCormick, he made me cry when a cockroach died
* – When I hit book three I surrendered. I had no clue what was going to happen, but I needed to find out

Goptri of the Mists: Kitaab Ek

* – There’s a horny squid and nukes. What more could I ask for?
* – I never considered giving my spouse a year’s worth of meat for our anniversary
* – Okay, wow, did not see this villain coming
* – Relentless and riveting
* – He’s always been LGBTQIA+ friendly, but this subtly raises the bar and I, for one, am thrilled

If I’ve written something you liked, you can always leave a review on my GoodReads page. You can also post questions, check out my suggestions, and have more fun than you might imagine.

Until next week, please stay safe, sane, and inside as much as possible. I’ve grown kind of fond of you.

I’ve known Nancy Chandler, owner of Azoth Khem Publishing for almost thirty years. In that time we’ve worked on records together, arranged tour promotions for bands, compiled film soundtracks, and, now, we’re both hooked on book publishing. To be clear, I have nothing to do with the publishing end of things. I just throw letters at a screen and pray for words.

Yesterday her mother passed away after a lengthy battle with various illnesses. To add insult to injury, since Nancy is currently dealing with COVID, even though she’s on the mend, she will be unable to attend her mother’s funeral.

For those of you who don’t know her Nancy’s a fascinating woman. She’s a lifelong devotee of Trinitarian Wicca. In fact, the name Azoth Khem roughly translates to blending the sacred feminine with our earthly realm.

Nancy’s always been her own woman. When I met her she was running Delinquent Records USA. The label featured goth and glam bands. While the pairing may seem unlikely, the two genres supported each other well, even releasing a two CD set called The Pink and the Black. Chicago residents will immediately recognize the legendary Scary Lady Sarah as the cover model. Support shows for the release covered from LA to NYC and all points in between. Although it’s been twenty-three years since its release it’s still a popular compilation.

When she approached me in 2016 about submitting to Azoth Khem I jumped at the chance. While I knew almost nothing about the company I knew a lot about Nancy. And, while I have made many poor life choices, this is not one of them. Thanks to the care she puts into anything attached to her name, all of my books have won critical acclaim and SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY won the Critter’s Readers Poll as the best sci-fi book of 2020. More importantly, as far as my landlord’s concerned, major chains like Walmart in the U.S. and Waterstones in the U.K. have begun carrying my humble offerings and making them available to an unsuspecting public.

Make sure to whitelist info@mcscifibooks.com to not miss a thing.

I really don’t have much more to say. She’s a wonderful human going through some tough times. If you have a prayer to spare please send it her way. Next week I’ll dive back into the wonderful world of McSciFi. Until then stay safe, sane, inside, and wear a mask.

Stick with this since you’ll need a little history first.

There are times the internet can be a pleasant space. My pal, and yours too if your smart, Jude Matulich-Hall was putting together a promo for me on her YouTube channel and needed to confirm what was, and was not, currently in release. This is not as crazy a request as you might think. I write stuff, send it out, and eventually get a link to share so cool kids like you can buy it. Sometimes that’s ahead of the release, sometimes not.

So, I fired up Google, and found this.

Waterstones (U.K.) has added two of my titles to their collection of 283 stores. Yep, if you’re in, or at last near, the United Kingdom, you can buy SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY, which is recommended by people who liked The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I’m sure that makes sense in England. To be fair, they are both stories about young men who go on an adventure. It’s just that dear old Huck didn’t become a super villain.

You can also buy Goptri of the Mists: Kitaab Ek. According to their site, if you like Goptri you should also like Dune. That one kind of makes sense. However, unlike Dune, the crazed zealots aren’t the heroes. They’re not even nice.

As of this writing they are not carrying The Brittle Riders. Which is odd since that trilogy is the whole reason Goptri exists. There are even a few characters, not many, who appear in both. That said, people who have only read Book 1 of Goptri seemed to have no problems. So, who knows?

As of right now, you have to order in advance to get your U.K. copies, but that was the case with Walmart when we started and now SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY, which is currently on sale, and Goptri of the Mists: Kitaab Ek are being shelved in select stores.

When you don’t have a ton of money to throw at promo, care and patience are virtues you learn to appreciate.

Speaking of money, if you live in the U.K. and want to showcase your McSciFi Pride, all you need to do is go to my U.K. Merchandise Shop and select any of the wonderful options. All you need to do is pick the logo you like then add it to any of over one hundred items ranging from clothing to coffee cups to onesies for toddlers.

Fans of this newsletter may remember the internet ad created by my mega-fan, Jin-ah, in London when the shop first opened. If not, and God knows you’ve had other stuff to remember, just CLICK HERE to enjoy the awesomeness of it all.

More below.

I told you before how Marcie’s Marvels has been developing. Marcie’s Marvels is based on the life of a young girl named Marcie who killed herself after suffering endless bullying. Her mother decided to use her daughter’s tragedy to provide hope to others. With that in mind she started the MJG Movement as a Children’s Advocacy organization dedicated to serving as a resource for children and families that are victims of sexual abuse and suicide.

The comic itself is fun, uplifting, and eye popping. The art by Eko Prihanto is bright and friendly. The story, despite some grim themes, is warm and laced with light humor. Beta readers thoroughly enjoyed the recurring joke about how Marcie’s blind mother never hears her come in. Of course, Marcie can fly so she doesn’t create foot steps.

Right now I have limited copies you can buy. Ever since I was told my autograph might lower the resale value of one of my books, I only autograph when requested.

Yes, that really happened.

A quick reminder, this is the last week for you to enter the C. L. Cannon contest where you can win lots of legendary sci-fi novels and gear. Also, if you scroll down and click on McSciFi you increase your odds of winning. See? It is too good to know me.

That seems to be enough for now. Until next week, stay safe, sane, and get vaxxed. Oh, yeah, wear a mask. I have a couple of friends who caught “breakthrough COVID” and they aren’t happy about it. One had to cancel his participation in a national tour. So he gets to lose money and lay around in a hospital.

That’s nowhere near as fun as it sounds.

Fist off, welcome to all the nice people who’ve joined up by taking part in the national book contest run by C. L. Cannon. One lucky winner will take home Dune by Frank Herbert, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill, and A Pale Light in the Black by K. B. Wagers, plus a Fallout board game, Mandalorian and Grogu Funko Pop, Starfleet keychain, Battlestar Galactica FRAK sticker, Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy coffee mug, and Jayne Firefly beanie! You can increase your chances by scrolling down and following McSciFi on various social media sites.

Speaking of fun, a couple months back a lovely lady named Sabrina Zaremba decided to take some excellent boudoir pictures holding Legends Parallel and Hybrid Zero. After some discussion it was agreed that Leslie Tejlor, the artist for Legends Parallel, would use her voluminous pictographic library as source material and create a drawing of her. He did that, she loved it, and here we are.

While she hasn’t started a trend of any sort, hope does spring eternal, we all admire her enthusiasm and hope you do too.

More below.

Just in case you missed the long, erudite, reviews from experts, all of whom are wonderful, good looking, and smell nice, I thought it might be fun to share what fans think of McSciFi’s literary offerings.

SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY

Winner of the Best SciFi Novel of 2020 on the Critters Reader’s Poll.
* – A nonstop thrill ride
* – Fascinating and terrifying
* – The best damn thing I’ve ever read
* – The Desert Eagle seems like overkill for a close shot, but I have no complaints
* – I’m buying popcorn now for when this hits the big screen

The Brittle Riders Series or its Omnibus Edition

* – Some of the best world building I’ve ever encountered
* – It sympathetically manages to bridge the gap between faith and technology
* – McCormick packs more in twelve words than others do in twelve paragraphs
* – Fuck McCormick, he made me cry when a cockroach died
* – When I hit book three I surrendered. I had no clue what was going to happen, but I needed to find out

Goptri of the Mists: Kitaab Ek

* – There’s a horny squid and nukes. What more could I ask for?
* – I never considered giving my spouse a year’s worth of meat for our anniversary
* – Okay, wow, did not see this villain coming
* – Relentless and riveting
* – He’s always been LGBTQIA+ friendly, but this subtly raises the bar and I, for one, am thrilled

If you feel you may have missed a newsletter, don’t panic, all you have to do is click, and bookmark, THIS HANDY LINK and browse to you heart’s content.

Until next week, stay safe, sane, and inside. Also, wear a mask and get vaxxed.

A couple of weeks ago someone went to all the time and trouble to have my email blasts listed as spam. This is not as easy to do as you might think. Yeah, you can block an email address from sullying your delicate senses, but actually banning someone from the internet takes time, money, and effort. And, even so, they didn’t succeed. Sure, I was inconvenienced, and some people didn’t get their weekly doses of McSciFi until they’d weeded through the glorious offers for Russian brides, bitcoin investments, and Medicare enhancements, I was still there floating amongst the flotsam and jetsam. I know this since some people were kind enough to let me know it had been worth the effort to slog through the mush.

So, I set to work with CONTABO, the nice people who own the VPS I lease for bulk emails, and we were able to counter every complaint, actually upgrade my security, and return McSciFi to the halcyon realms of not spam.

The good news is, this wasn’t personal. They hit over a hundred accounts. The bad news is, people suck.

The fun part is, should they try this again, I’ll find out who they are. My guess is they’re done now.

More below.

Just in case you missed the long, erudite, reviews from experts, all of whom are wonderful, good looking, and smell nice, I thought it might be fun to share what fans think of McSciFi’s literary offerings.

SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGYWinner of the Best SciFi Novel of 2020 on the Critters Reader’s Poll.
* – A nonstop thrill ride
* – Fascinating and terrifying
* – The best damn thing I’ve ever read
* – The Desert Eagle seems like overkill for a close shot, but I have no complaints
* – I’m buying popcorn now for when this hits the big screen

The Brittle Riders Series or its Omnibus Edition* – Some of the best world building I’ve ever encountered
* – It sympathetically manages to bridge the gap between faith and technology
* – McCormick packs more in twelve words than others do in twelve paragraphs
* – Fuck McCormick, he made me cry when a cockroach died
* – When I hit book three I surrendered. I had no clue what was going to happen, but I needed to find out

Goptri of the Mists: Kitaab Ek* – There’s a horny squid and nukes. What more could I ask for?
* – I never considered giving my spouse a year’s worth of meat for our anniversary
* – Okay, wow, did not see this villain coming
* – Relentless and riveting
* – He’s always been LGBTQIA+ friendly, but this subtly raises the bar and I, for one, am thrilled

If you feel you may have missed a newsletter, don’t panic, all you have to do is click, and bookmark, THIS HANDY LINK and browse to you heart’s content.

More below.

I’ve talked before about the upcoming Marcie’s Marvels. And copies have left the printer and are headed this way. The thing is, I don’t owns this title, Marcie’s family does.

A woman named Elizabeth Gerald contacted me and told me the story she wanted to tell. It was tough to hear. Even tougher to write. Her teenage daughter, Marcie, had taken her life after being bullied and abused incessantly. However, out of that tragedy, she wanted to share something positive for other girls facing similar dilemmas.

After some back and forth, I drafted the first script. The hero would be a super-powered young girl named Marcie. She would scour her city looking for girls being harassed or abused and rescue them. She would also, and always, let them know none of this was their fault.

The story, unlike much of my other work, is aimed squarely at teenage girls. It will, despite the darker themes we’ll be exploring, have humor and hope in every issue.

All that being said, while I can’t sell you a copy, I can give you one. Next week I will announce a contest so a couple of lucky humans can hold one and enjoy it.

I warned you that knowing me had benefits.

Thanks to the Delta Variant I’m turning down any convention appearances until spring of 2022. Since cons are my main source of income I do not do this lightly. I haven’t pimped my happy ass in public since December of 2019. I can honestly say these decisions hurt me more than you, but I will not risk my family’s well being to sell a few books.

Until next week stay sane, safe, and socially distance like the raging introvert you need to be.

Welcome to all the people who’ve joined up by taking part in the national book contest run by C. L. Cannon. One lucky winner will take home Dune by Frank Herbert, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill, and A Pale Light in the Black by K. B. Wagers, plus a Fallout board game, Mandalorian and Grogu Funko Pop, Starfleet keychain, Battlestar Galactica FRAK sticker, Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy coffee mug, and Jayne Firefly beanie! You can increase your chances by scrolling down and following McSciFi on various social media sites.

There’s no such thing as too much McSciFi.

More below

While I’m not giving any of my stuff away for the promotion, I do have many ways for you to buy it. I’ll have more comic book news next week so, for now, I’ll stick to mad pimping my novels.

Instead of the long, erudite, reviews from experts, all of whom are wonderful, good looking, and smell nice, I thought it might be fun to share what fans think.

SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY

Winner of the Best SciFi Novel of 2020 on the Critters Reader’s Poll.
* – A nonstop thrill ride
* – Fascinating and terrifying
* – The best damn thing I’ve ever read
* – The Desert Eagle seems like overkill for a close shot, but I have no complaints
* – I’m buying popcorn now for when this hits the big screen

The Brittle Riders Series or its Omnibus Edition

* – Some of the best world building I’ve ever encountered
* – It sympathetically manages to bridge the gap between faith and technology
* – McCormick packs more in twelve words than others do in twelve paragraphs
* – Fuck McCormick, he made me cry when a cockroach died
* – When I hit book three I surrendered. I had no clue what was going to happen, but I needed to find out

Goptri of the Mists: Kitaab Ek

* – There’s a horny squid and nukes. What more could I ask for?
* – I never considered giving my spouse a year’s worth of meat for our anniversary
* – Okay, wow, did not see this villain coming
* – Relentless and riveting
* – He’s always been LGBTQIA+ friendly, but this subtly raises the bar and I, for one, am thrilled

If you feel you may have missed a newsletter, don’t panic, all you have to do is click, and bookmark, THIS HANDY LINK and browse to you heart’s content.

I have also started ordering more merch again in anticipation of appearing at cons in 2022. Make sure to check in on MY MERCH PAGE to see what’s in stock. The reason I’m ordering so early is due to the fact that the pandemic has disrupted a lot of supply chains and simple stuff, like paper, is harder to get. Since I’m a writer paper’s kind of important.

At the very bottom of today’s missive you can find a set of reviews done an incredibly smart, if always snarky, young lady who does not rue my existence.

Until next week I ask that you get vaxxed and stay safe, sane, and inside. If you must venture out, wear a mask. The CDC has all the latest, scientifically tested, reasons you should do so. Should the science change, for any reason, they’ll make adjustments. Just remember to keep yourself alive. I’ve grown fond of you.

Well, the Free Comic Book Day promotion went better than expected. Not only did existing subscribers take advantage of it but I had forty-eight new people sign up for the newsletter as well. And just in time too. There’s some fun stuff happening.

First, and foremost, I’m part of a national book contest run by C. L. Cannon where one lucky winner will take home Dune by Frank Herbert, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill, and A Pale Light in the Black by K. B. Wagers, plus a Fallout board game, Mandalorian and Grogu Funko Pop, Starfleet keychain, Battlestar Galactica FRAK sticker, Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy coffee mug, and Jayne Firefly beanie! It’s free to enter and you can increase your chances by scrolling down and following McSciFi on various social media sites.

That is truly a sci-fi lover’s dream haul.

More below

A quick reminder that you can CLICK HERE to get autographed copies of my work. Supplies are limited due to the fact I’m not doing cons until it’s safe to do so and there’s only so much room in my apartment.

Sadly, due to the Delta variant raging around the country, even cons that are happening are limiting crowd sizes, and so on, making it doubtful I’d make a profit.

Sure, it’s fun to meet new people, but I like to eat too.,

Next week I’ll get into all the cool promotional stuff. Marcie’s Marvels is headed to the printer and there are some new things happening that will, hopefully, make strangers want to buy my books. Until then, stay safe, sane, and inside.