Good Men and Monsters

AFTER THE NEBULA AND HUGO, THE PROMETHEUS Award is one of the oldest and most enduring fan-based awards in Science Fiction. Established in 1979, the award has been presented annually since 1982 at the World Science Fiction Convention. Nominees must dramatize the conflict between individuals and coercive governments, champion human rights, promote personal and economic liberty, explore a free future, or critique the tragic consequences of abuse of power, especially by the State. Sarah Hoyt’s “Darkship Thieves” won the 2011 Prometheus Award in Reno, and “A Few Good Men,” the third novel in this series, has been short-listed for the 2014 Hugo in London.

On the dystopian Earth of this novel, the ruling party—inaptly known as The Good Men—are killing millions with carefully engineered “natural” disasters. Homosexuality is a crime. The son of the Good Man of Olympic Seacity is barely holding onto his sanity after…

Writing: A Career Or Your Hobby?

            I write full-time, as anyone reading this blog will know. I have been for the last two years, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I can think of no better job than being my own boss, creating something from scratch each day and then having to do most (if not all) of the work to make money doing it.

            For years I wrote between work schedules, kids, marriages and divorces and a hundred other things. I wrote sporadically and I wrote random stories and have a ton of unfinished and/or vague ideas on hard drives, thumb drives, floppy discs and a dead Brother word processor. I wrote when I could and I just sat down and wrote something with no real goal in mind and no real focus.

            Until two years ago, when it was sink or swim. I…

Oh, horrors!  I’m saying this up front to give you the option to ignore/delete this post right now—or devour it, depending on your taste.

Reading on? Okay, here we go.

Harvey Click is the only one of John L. Monk’s awesome indies that I have not been able to read. Well, I did read the opening chapters of Demon Frenzy, which Click says is mild in comparison to The Bad Box. But I’m squeamish, the kind of person who hides in the lobby in a theatre or leaves the TV room when a movie gets too intense.

So to do justice to this fine indie author, I’m telling you what other people have said about his work.

“Extraordinarily talented writer,” said blogger and book reviewer Carol Kean, who confessed she had to skim some of the most horrific descriptions in Demon Frenzy. And remember, this…

I have a bone to pick with Harvey Click.

DISCLAIMER: I did not have to read this book. I do not owe any author a review of this book. I don’t know Harvey Click from Twitter.  I do know him from Adam, because his name and author bio are right here at amazon.

Here’s another thing: I don’t even like horror stories or movies. And another thing: dozens of authors have sent me books in hopes of scoring a review, and most get buried deep in my Kindle. So how did this book rise to the top of my queue without any pleading or nudging from anyone?

“Demon Frenzy” popped up in the Free Today list from Kindle.  The cover is grotesque: 

I wouldn’t even have read the synopsis, but my peripheral vision and speed-reading skills are so phenomenal,*a sister in search of her lost brother* (Ding! Ding! Ding!) caught fire…

One of the best characteristics of humanity is our desire and ability to create. Another is our willingness to share. Think of that the next time you wonder what the world is coming to.

Every day I’m blessed by the ideas and products of creative people–actors and artists, carpenters, cooks, engineers, mechanics, musicians, scientists, video producers, writers (to name only a few). And though the Internet is used for some terrible stuff, so much that’s good is freely shared via this medium.

Authors are my particular interest in the creative spectrum, especially authors who are doing it all themselves and doing it well. This post continues my investigation of John L. Monk’s “awesome indies.” The subject for today: P. T. Hylton, author of Regulation 19 (at this date 99 Amazon customer reviews averaging 4.5) and the newly-released A Place Without Shadows (If you hurry, you could be the first to review!)

Like so many indie writers, P…

Yep, I’m in another great box set with some great authors. I’ve been very lucky to have been part of three of them with author Mark Tufo so far… and hoping we do many more in the future together. But wait… there’s more than just Mark and I to peruse… 

First, the latest one… and only 99 cents!

HALLOWED HORROR

The supernatural comes to life in this limited edition box set. Featuring some of the best names in horror working with some amazing new talent, this collection is full of terror and suspense.

This set includes 10 paranormal stories of ghosts, demons, vampires, shifters, and witches. Grab your copy today. Any paranormal occult fan will love the creatures crawling within Hallowed Horror.

The Spirit Clearing – Mark Tufo
All the Little Children – Christine Sutton
Fangs in Vain – Scott Nicholson
The Unsaintly – Lisa Vasquez
Generation Evil – Eric…

The first “awesome” indie writer John L Monk discovered was Lindy Moone, but I found her first. Among all authors I’ve met in real and online life, I judge Lindy as the most talented and most fearless.

Currently Lindy has set aside writing the sequel to her novel Hyperlink from Hell in order to edit, format and illustrate For Whom the Bell Trolls, which she calls “a charity antrollogy” with contributions from 24 indie authors. Of these writers she says “Some of the authors are well-known. Some are just not well, not well at all. Some are hiding under their beds, or possibly bridges. (Some should be.)”

Did you get that? Editing, formatting, and illustrating–for charity. Plus Lindy selected the contributors, cajoled, critiqued, kept them laughing, and held them together to the finish.

Net proceeds from the sale of this book will benefit Equality Now, an international charity that works…

Joy ride, or freaky, creepy carnival ride: come along.

Daniel Jenkins repeatedly returns to earth in human form to atone for his sins and deliver some good old-fashioned, oh, so gratifying, vigilante justice. Fans of Kick (The Jenkins Cycle Book 1) know Dan committed suicide while in college, bleeding all over the bedding of the girl who’d jilted him. Horrors! What in the world could entice me to spend a whole novel in the point of view of a thoughtless, self-pitying loser like Dan? Does the writer even live who could interest me in this guy’s miserable hereafter? Yes, yes, and yes again.

.    Fool’s Ride (The Jenkins Cycle Book 2)

Alas, poor Dan. He comprehends the magnitude of his stupid act of suicide. His guilt is so stupendous, he somehow finds himself entering the body of a living human man. What happens to the guy’s soul while Dan…