Grace Bridges

I just have to blog about this so that I can find it again in future. Did you know that the stars actually sing? Their sounds are eerie and individual, depending on size, brightness, pulse rate and more.

This site can tell you more: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060809_spheres.htm

In the box to the side, you can download the sounds of particular stars, and the final download is a symphony built from the tones of various ones. Amazing stuff.

Here is just one video with some more.

Found some more really cool things lately.

I've got a story in an anthology that launches today!! Not just any anthology... it's a collection from the Underground world created by Frank Creed in his novels. He generously invited other authors to play in it, and this book is the result. My tale takes his characters Legacy and Calamity Kid and dumps them into a New Zealand adventure where they must dig up an artifact to help their cause.

Below is a transcript of a recent discussion between several contributing authors. To find out more, go to the book's page at http://thewriterscafe.com/books/underground_rising .

Greg Mitchell: As part of our festivities for the new Biblical Cyberpunk release, Underground Rising: Takes from the Underground, I held a roundtable discussion with series creator and editor Frank Creed, and three other (including myself) contributors to this groundbreaking anthology! First off, let’s just go around the room and introduce ourselves. I’m, of course, Greg Mitchell, author of “Ex-Communicator”, the first story up in the anthology.

Frank Creed: I’m Frank Creed. I wrote and co-wrote several contributions to Underground Rising: Tales from the Underground.

Steve Rice: I’m Steve Rice, proudly pseudonym-free for ages. I also wrote “Bear Feat” for the anthology.

Timothy Hicks: I’m Tim Hicks from western Kentucky. I co-wrote “The Sandman Cometh”, a prequel story from the Flashpoint timeline.

Greg: And Grace Bridges! Representing our ladies tonight.

Grace Bridges: Hello from New Zealand where it is currently tomorrow afternoon! “Underground Undersea” is my contribution.

Greg: Frank, how did the idea for the anthology come about? Correct me if I’m wrong, but is this the first Christian Fiction anthology where other authors have come in and added stories to an author’s pre-existing series?

Frank: It’s the first of which I know, but surely it’s been done before. The idea came from the Underground’s origin, back in a cyberpunk series called Shadowrun.

Greg: Yes, Shadowrun! Many a fond memory.

Frank: Many authors wrote that series of books and I wanted to see what it would be like for other Christian artists to share in the Underground setting. The Underground is like Shadowrun but without magic or fantasy races.

Greg: Street samurais and deckers all around! Was it hard assembling so many different authors with their own voices under the Underground umbrella?

Frank: Not really, the contributions really stood on their own merits. Nothing felt forced from the creative standpoint.

Greg: What’s it like to see the finished product? I know, just on my end, I felt an enormous sense of pride from the end results. …Good Godly pride, naturally :p

Frank: It’s the end of years’ worth of effort, so there’s a sense of relief! But from a qualitative perspective, these really are some great stories that I’m sure will entertain readers of Christian cyberpunk.

Greg: Here’s a question for everyone: Do you think it’s possible to jump into this anthology with little to no background knowledge of the Underground novels?

Steve: Not if you use established characters.

Grace: As a reader? Sure. As a writer, nope. Either way, it’s very immersive.

Steve: The major problem is the voice. It’s very distinctive, like noir.

Tim: Not too easy. Knowing the storyline helped work out how the story tied back to the books.

Frank: I think it is possible. There’re plenty of examples of showing the technology with a brief explanation of what it is.

Grace: I return to the Underground when I need my imagination provoked for whatever. Some of you know that Flashpoint caused me to write a novel.

[Frank adds a smile here]

Greg: Wow, I didn’t know that Grace. What’s the story behind that?

Grace: The night I read Flashpoint, it fired up my imagination so bad. I had this dream… Cyberpunky, but that was all it had in common. I had to write it down. It became Legendary Space Pilgrims.

Greg: Frank, you corrupted...er, inspired young minds! That’s got to make you feel good, sir.

Frank: It really does. There have been many events that have come from writing Flashpoint, and inspiring Grace was one of those.

Grace: Actually [my novel] Faith Awakened came out at the same time as Flashpoint, almost to the day.

Greg: Okay, so now we know Grace was familiar with Flashpoint going in--I have to admit, Frank had to give me a crash course before I wrote my story (though now I’ve read both books and am all caught up :)). How familiar were the rest of you with this series before coming on board?

Tim: I enjoyed Flashpoint and wondered about how the world got into that predicament. I asked Frank about a nickname after Flashpoint and why it wasn’t recognized by the One World Order. Frank told me that was answered in his next book. Both books made me think, “What if?” Grace’s Faith Awakened and Flashpoint. That’s where my story idea came from. I wondered about the history before the story. Kind of like Paul Harvey’s, “The Rest of The Story.”

Grace: You’ve read Faith? Oooh :)

Tim: Yes, I read an ebook version. It was a pretty neat idea.

Steve: I had read Flashpoint (and Faith Awakened, for that matter), as well as writing a few virtual reality stories (“The Story Machine” and “Virtual Messiah”). And I had discussed things with Frank. He still hasn’t gone to the cops, so that’s a good sign.

Greg: Steve, your story “Bear Feat” actually stars Calamity Kid and e-girl, the heroes from the main books--was that awkward coming into those characters that were already pretty well-defined in their voices?

Steve: Not really. I’m a mimic anyway. The fact they were well-defined simplified matters. It was integrating them with my type of story and character that was tricky.

Greg: Well I thought you did great. Two continuity questions that are bugging me. Frank, how many sisters does Tinker have?

Frank: For now, Tinker only has two sisters. We'll have to leave that one open to creativity, though!

Greg: And, Grace, when does your story take place on the Underground timeline? You’ve got Calamity Kid and Legacy, right? (For those who don’t know, Legacy is captured somewhere in Book One…)

Grace: Yes. This actually occurs way down the track in what could be Book 4.

Greg: Wow!

Grace: So it’s after a bunch of drastic stuff has gone on. I have another story set then, too.

Greg: Not in the anthology, though.

Grace: No.

Greg: Ah, you tease us then.

Grace: All in good time, eh, Frank? :P

Frank: Indeed! I’m still writing Devil’s Hit List: Book Three of the Underground. Book Four will be co-written by Grace.

Greg: Whoa, big announcement!

Grace: Old news? It’s been settled for 3 years that I know of ;)

Tim: Cool! :D When can we pre-order?

Greg: More importantly, is Big Hoss Dupree [from “Ex-Communicator”] in it... oh wait, that’s not very important at all :)

Frank: You heard it here first! Pre-orders in a couple years. I write slowly. : )

Grace: So do I, and I got some other stuff on the fire at the moment.

Tim: Quality takes longer than quantity :)

Frank: Everyone will like Hoss, by the way, Greg.

Greg: I hope so! Tim, we talked about your story “The Sandman Cometh” being a prequel to the main series--was that tough to talk Frank into?

Tim: I hoped Frank would take a chance on my story. I wondered how the equipment in Flashpoint came about. What about the Sandmen before they had all the spiffy gadgets?

Greg: I’m glad he did. It was a neat peek into the past. Frank, in the “About the Author” in the back of Book Two: War of Attrition, it talks about “The Last Newspaper”. Now that’s the same story in the anthology correct? You wrote that thing back in 1983? How long have you had all of this in your head, man?!

Frank: The original version of “The Last Newspaper” was written back in about 1982, but that story was lost through time--I no longer have a copy of it. The version of “The Last Newspaper” that appears in Underground Rising was rewritten last year to fit into the Underground setting. It was not originally an Underground story. This stuff has only been in my head for about twenty years. : )

Greg: Oh, is that all? Well, I guess it’s a start :) I have to say, I read through the anthology for the first time the other day and was really impressed with it. Even though there are all of these different authors, working in their own little corners of the globe, the stories fit together quite naturally to tell a story of the Church in persecution. It was actually really inspiring, I thought.

Frank: I’m so pleased with the end result. I guess you could say “proud”.

Greg: I’ll hit Grace with this one first, since she’s our resident small press (she’s the woman behind Splashdown Books)--Do you see Christian Fiction making a turn, getting away from the predictable and exploring more fertile imaginative ground?

Grace: I certainly hope so! I have a number of very interesting submissions in my pile right now. Especially of a sort that mashes up the genres. I love that stuff!

Greg: Steve, do you think something like the “Biblical Cyberpunk” genre will be able to spill over into the “mainstream” Christian Fiction market, or do you think it, in a sense, belongs underground? The wild untamed, and all of that?

Steve: Spills are always possible. All these clumsy people, you know. I suspect that the mainstream will only do unusual and genre-bending work to copy the secular media. So the “underground” will likely remain so unless/until there’s a breakout story that becomes a major movie.

Greg: And perhaps that’s a larger problem that many within the “Christian Fiction” market see—a tendency to follow the trends, rather than set them. But I think Underground Rising is trendsetting stuff, no doubt, and I hope people catch on to it. I see a lot of naysayers of mainstream Christian fiction--and I wonder, if the anthology did go “mainstream” in popularity, would that somehow take away from its coolness factor in the eyes of the naysayers? You know there’s always that garage band that gets a Billboard Top 100 hit and everyone accuses them of “selling out” :p

Frank: I do hope the Underground gets the chance to “sell out”! It would mean a great deal to me if our work reached that kind of exposure.

Greg: Grace, what are your thoughts? Do some things belong on the fringe--not for lack of quality, mind you, but just because some people won’t touch “mainstream”, no matter how pure-grade awesome it is?

Grace: I don’t subscribe to that at all. Yes, some things are weird, but weird is becoming ever more mainstream. The weirder the better, even. And those who won’t touch it for whatever reason--they’re missing out.

Greg: I agree. I think that anyone--whether they “get” cyberpunk or not--can be really encouraged by this book. A) It’s refreshing to see the level of talent and B) it’s talking about things people can relate to—the loss of freedom and how we fight to hold on—it just happens to be set in the future.

Tim: The Underground world makes the point that everything matters to The Boss (as God is known in the Underground books), and he is in control. That’s why I liked the series. It made me think.

Greg: Frank, fans get a special treat at the end of the anthology--You’ve got a sneak peak at Book 3! What’s in store for the next installment, Devil’s Hit List?

Frank: In War of Attrition: Book Two of the Underground, the heroes lose their HQ because the Ash Megacorp is turning it into a Rehab Ward, to produce something called “Virtual-e”, which is a virtual plague. In Devil’s Hit List, the saints battle production of virtual-e.

Greg: And how far are you into the writing process on that one, O Slow Writer?

Frank: It’s about halfway done. I hope to have a release date around August 2012.

Greg: So, what’s next for everyone? What projects are you guys working on?

Steve: I’m working on a few projects, but I’ve become increasingly skeptical of “Christian” fiction. It’s usually no such thing. That’s why I largely stopped doing reviews. But I’ll probably publish online now and then. Evolutionists excuse the lack of transitional forms by “punctuated equilibrium,” which posits occasional change at the margins of genetic society. I think that’s how Christian writing will have to work for the foreseeable future.

Grace: I’m barreling towards the end of Godspeed, the sequel to Faith Awakened. It stands at 47,000 words out of a projected 60k, and I’m deep into the tangle of virtual reality once again. All going well, it should be out late next year. I’m also very excited about the Avenir Eclectia project, where Frank and Greg are participants. There will be an anthology for that next year, too.

Frank: Good news.

Greg: Tim, what are you cooking up?

Tim: Thanks, I’m working on a supernatural story about a medieval piece of stained glass that shows a person’s true spirit. Forces don’t want things known. But the killer needs to be found.

Frank: How about you, Greg?

Greg: Lots of different stuff, but most immediately, the second book in my The Coming Evil Trilogy comes out in February. It’s entitled Enemies of the Cross and is chock full of drooling monsters. Frank, what say you? Might there be an Underground Rising 2 in the future?

Frank: Perhaps. It depends on how Underground Rising sells. If there’s a demand, there must be a sequel!

[To this, Tim gives a thumbs-up]

Greg: So, I open this up to you guys, here at the last. Anything you want to ask each other?

Frank: Greg, do you have any other Dupree stories in mind?

Greg: Ha ha, not at present. But give me about fifteen minutes and I bet I could come up with something ;) That was a pretty easy character to write! He wrote himself, practically.

Tim: What about a cross-over story between story worlds? Underground meets Faith Awakened?

Frank: Grace’s time setting is ahead of mine.

Grace: Mine is in 2079.

Frank: We would need a Tardis, no?

Grace: Well, in fact I have a very enhanced character in Godspeed... Frank, we should talk.

Frank: Oh, Grace is already on this!

Greg: Closing thoughts?

Frank: Underground Rising has taken at least three years to compile--I want to thank everyone for their patience as this has come together.

Greg: Thanks for the opportunity!

Tim: Yes, thanks Frank. It was nice meeting everyone here tonight.

Grace: Yup. Awesome!!

Steve: It was good to be around Frank and Grace again, and to meet the rest.

Greg: Thanks for participating everybody.

Frank: Cool--thanks for moderating this thing!

Greg: Well, folks, that’s all we got. We hope you were entertained, enlightened, and inspired to go out and buy this book! Go! Go now! Quick!

Thanks to everyone who hung out in the chat and thank you all for reading :)

No sooner do I get a little bit on top of my to-do list than I am bursting with new ideas and plans. Perhaps you saw my shared post over at Chila's blog; if not, head over and check it out - Pub Talk: two publishers meet in a fictional locale to talk indie.

Virtual glue is a term that's come up in my conversations quite a bit lately, in connection with creating a full book manuscript out of 26 different story files and I think about ten edit files, too. To say nothing of the contributor pages which have to be filled in with author photos and bios and book blurbs and cover images and links and ISBNs. I have often felt like I'm all gummed up with virtual glue all over my hands from all the copy-pasting.

I can't type very well today. I keep on making silly mistakes and having to fix them. This is a problem when my work efficiency depends on fast and accurate typing as the meaning flows into my eyes, through the translation matrix and out my fingers. I spend enough thought on the translating as it is, without the typing being messed up. And no, you do not want to know how many times I hit backspace in this paragraph.

It's 8.30 PM and I've had all three meals of the day, been to the beach and shopping, made ebooks, chatted a little online, worked on a story that's due this weekend, and generally enjoyed myself. Now we get down to the real work. I'd like to polish off a couple of thousand words of translation tonight if I can, knock the remaining total down to 11500 or so. Yes, tonight.

Partly against my better judgement, I have just accepted a translation job of over 13,000 words. Due June 5th. Heck, what can I say, I need the cash, and it's definitely more than doable. Don't let me push it all to the last day or two this time, or I will almost certainly be dead on the 6th.

What's the bet I'll get more done alongside it than I would have without? Ebook formatting and upload, a book launch party, critiquing, finishing a serial episode for Digital Dragon, reading 17 books, reading submissions, organising the Avenir project, preparing two anthologies, and hopefully a little exercise while revisiting Season Two of Doctor Who. All that plus the builders hammering around in my basement and a flatmate moving out on the weekend, not necessarily conducive to getting lots done.

I must be nuts.

When I see my friends online, that little green dot, so tantalising, my finger itches to click it. We could be changing the world right now if we talked! If only I didn't have this other work to do. And the day's so beautiful. I should go out for a walk, gain some refreshment from the sea air. Again, the work stops me. And I want to talk - always, always talk - but I don't want to bother anyone, get in the way, or discover I'm in a mood that doesn't benefit you in the exchange. So I leave you alone, for now, but mark my words...the time will come.

Well, I finally did it - culled some of the best photos from my travelling years, and put them all in one place. Theoretically I'm all caught up now - except for any NZ-themed shows that might still be in the offing. Anyway, here it is - a bunch of different countries, but largely Germany, which was my home base for seven years. At the end there are links to other, shorter themed shows. Enjoy!



The soundtrack is "Stepping Stones in Time" - so appropriate for these ancient places, and also for a decade of memories - once again provided by the talented Mike Rogers, and you can find the whole album over at http://michaellrogers.virb.com/magnetica.

Yep, there it is. I'm a bad blogger. So often I don't bother writing anything down, even though I know fine well it would make a good blog. There are reasons for this, sure - one being that I believe I only have a certain amount of inspiration for a given day and if I use it on a blog, I can't use it on fiction. This has proven true on occasion, but I surely don't write fiction every day so there are some left over for blogging.

Anyway, there is plenty going on in this little ol' corner of the world. Our new flatmate has been here just over a week and is settling in well - we're glad to have him. The cat is back to her old self after a nasty tooth extraction. I have a lot of work on this week, of the paying kind - which is nice, even if it's rather too much for my liking. It's likely to be 20 hours of work in the one week which is quite unusual for me.

Worked a bit on a short story yesterday. It is progressing, if slowly. I suspect the slowness is because it is one of my first attempts at actual fantasy (as opposed to sci-fi) - though I do have a sci-fi twist in it for sure. It's just not my first choice of genre and it's proving difficult to get into the groove.

In other writing, I suppose I should be thinking about the next episode of Comet Born, as Walt reminded me yesterday. The last one isn't published yet, but I guess that shouldn't stop me. The project continues to be an adventure in non-planning, which is a little scary for my Snowflaking self. Okay, a lot scary. But so far, very fun, and you can read all the published episodes from the Comet Born index.

Summer is coming on quite nicely indeed. If it's this hot in November, what'll it be like in February? Yesterday our church held a fun run at Takapuna beach to fundraise for the youth group. Two of the guys ran the full 10 kilometres dressed in Santa suits and beards. I got some great video of that event, so look out for that when I've put it all together.

My friend C.S. Lakin has posted a wonderful blog about writer's wordcount and why it doesn't matter. It is a refreshing view in a time when many authors are just all about the numbers. Doing a small amount of good work is just as valuable. Go read that post.

So there we go. Not such a bad show after all. I have now put the "write new blog post" page link into my Morning Coffee so perhaps I won't forget for quite so long the next time around.  :)

So I was offline for nearly two whole days, enjoying my weekend, and arrive back to find myself tagged umpteen ways to Timbuktu with this author meme thing that was already floating around last week. I've read the contributions and the reasonings and the plea for elucidation rather than just spouting off names. Okay, let's do this properly.

[Fabulous place, Timbuktu, by the way. Here's a picture - that's me on the right:]

I'm scared stiff. Not a circumstance that happens very often, but this is one of them. You see, next week I'm about to take a trip into the milieu of my past life, reconnecting with a bunch of people I used to know from worship camps. It's a different camp (www.kiwisong.co.nz), but in the same spirit, and many of the same folks will be there. I don't particularly want to learn about worship - been there, done that, suffered the abuse - but my creative mind remembers all too well that my best writing is done in church, and what better way to give myself a jildy than to spend all week at a camp? In a lovely remote coastal location no less?

The thing I'm really scared about is that most if not all of these old friends are of the highly prophetic type. Yes, I know that's a good thing. A real good thing in fact. But that means there's a very good chance that God might speak to me. He and I have observed silence for so long that I know I'll be a little awkward, even if he isn't. He might see fit to give me clues about just what it is that is still broken inside of me after severe spiritual abuse as a worship leader. There might be tears and healing. Or there might not. I'm trying not to set any expectations, because I could be setting myself up for disappointment. Then again, I can't expect to show up in this state in such a spiritually charged atmosphere and have nothing happen.

I will be meeting some of the very people who once prophesied I would go to Germany. Now, for sure they're not responsible for the abuse that happened while I was there. Not even God is responsible for that, actually. Still, it'll be weird telling them what a disaster it turned out to be (Did you miss that story? Part 1 Part 2).

I guess I'm also scared that someone will tell me what I'm doing wrong, as many others have done over the years. Get over it, they said. You have to worship whether you feel like it or not. Well, folks, I'm sorry. My worship fuse is blown, and it's going to take more than "getting over it" to be able to even sing in church again. Sure, I've found other ways to express my joie de vivre, such as it is. But writing a story is much harder than writing a song, let me tell you.

Which brings me to a problem: all this terror is crippling my ability to write. I'm on a deadline; need to write at least one story today, and get it critiqued, edited and submitted by the end of the week. Yesterday all I did was rearrange my room and my office area. Didn't even tidy up first. With the result that the mess is just elsewhere now. Mountains of clothes by the bed. An overflowing in-tray of paperwork to file. Every seat (well, 4 out of 5) piled high with random stuff. A sink full of dishes, a stinky cat litterbox. No doubt all this mess is just an external sign of the chaos within. And I've never been able to write amidst a mess.

Each night I tell myself I won't turn on the computer in the morning until I've tidied up. But then I have to have it on to play music while I'm tidying - and the music does help my composure, thank the Lord for Mike, composer extraordinaire. So I end up checking my mail and everything anyway, and the room is not tidy, and I do not write.

Haven't had any human contact for 48 hours, except online; that's likely to change today, though I'd rather stay a hermit. Can you hear me tearing my hair out? I have a long list of stuff to finish this week, and zero ability to get started on it. Creative work requires a good frame of mind, and that I do not have right now.

So, I'm sorry about the gut-spilling here, but if you weren't put off by the title, it's your own problem, and I'd like to call you friend. Will God speak to me next week through old (or new) friends? I cannot say. All I know is that probably, nothing will be the same.

The Lost Genre Guild is a group of Christian writers with a penchant for the weird and wonderful. Here on the front page we aggregate news content from around the Web, while the other pages offer more information about us, our members and their books. We're glad you stopped by!

At the New Authors' Fellowship, Ren Black has kicked off the Renegade Project, where YOU the reader get to choose how the story goes on. Comment to participate:
http://newauthors.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/renegade-project-1/

Brandon Barr gives another sneak peek at his upcoming novel After the Cross:
http://christiansciencefiction.blogspot.com/2011/01/after-cross-sneak-peek-part-2.html

Author C.S. Lakin has a new website:
http://www.cslakin.com/

Robert Treskillard reviews Sword in the Stars by Wayne Thomas Batson:
http://www.epictales.org/blog/robertblog.php/2011/01/01/title-6

Maurice Broaddus gives us the rundown of all his short stories for sale at Angry Robot:
http://mauricebroaddus.com/?p=2611

Janalyn Voigt interviews James Rubart:
http://bookreaderscentral.blogspot.com/2011/01/meet-and-greet-james-l-rubart.html

Marcher Lord Press has acquired Oxygen and The Fifth Man by Randy Ingermanson and John Olson - more at TitleTrakk:
http://titletrakkbooknews.blogspot.com/2011/01/marcher-lord-press-acquires-oxygen.html

Yellow30 Sci-Fi has posted its list of the decade's best 25 small-press titles:
http://yellow30scifi.wordpress.com/2010/12/27/the-top-25-books/

James L. Rubart is the guest of honour at this month's Where The Map Ends interview:
http://www.wherethemapends.com/Interviews/current_interview.htm

Residential Aliens ezine, edited by LGG member Lyn Perry, is nominated in the Preditors & Editors poll - go vote here:
http://www.critters.org/predpoll/fictionzine.shtml

Kat Heckenbach has posted the latest in her series on fantasy art:
http://kat-findingangel.blogspot.com/2011/01/inordinate-fondness-for-beetles.html

Janalyn Voigt talks about appearing on Clash of the Titles:
http://kdawnbyrd.blogspot.com/2010/12/clash-of-titles-janalyn-voigt-giveaway.html

And for writers: an exhaustive list of questions to ask yourself about your story - great for getting it unstuck:
http://thescriptlab.com/the-formula/story/development/26-story-questionnaire

This just in from Rick Copple:
Can you believe it? I’ve written enough short stories and flash fictions over the past five years to fill a full novel-length book! And so what did I do? I made a book, naturally.

Introducing Ethereal Worlds, an anthology of 23 space-opera-style science fiction and fantasy stories written and appearing in magazines between 2006 and 2010. Two of the stories have never appeared anywhere before, and one is set to come out in ResAliens around the beginning of 2011.

More info at http://blog.rlcopple.com/?p=302


Terri Main has created a new webpage for her novel Dark Side of the Moon, complete with a moon map and much more:
http://www.darksideofthemoonnovel.com/

Check out the new Spirit Blade blog from Paeter Frandsen:
http://spiritblade.blogspot.com/

I was looking around for more news items to fill up a post and then I realised there's quite a lot, ahem, about me. Kinda embarrassing, but I'm glad to have my friends at NAF and Splashdown. Yesterday, Diane Graham pulled a sort of virtual "this is your life" on me at http://newauthors.wordpress.com/2010/12/28/a-little-more-grace/, and today brought more of the same plus a review of one of my novels: http://newauthors.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/anvil-review-faith-awakened-by-grace-bridges/ - Both links have two pages to look at AND you have the chance to win a bundle of Splashdown books all at once, so get over there.

The NAFsters didn't stop there, though. Keven Newsome reviewed Alpha Redemption by P.A. Baines at http://newauthors.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/an-unexpected-review/

Mike Duran has started an intriguing discussion on the apparent dichotomy of theology and speculation:
http://mikeduran.com/?p=10873

He's also been interviewed about his upcoming book, The Resurrection, at I Smell Sheep.
http://ismellsheep.blogspot.com/2010/12/interview-with-author-mike-duran_20.html

Here's a podcast interview with Jeremy Bishop on his debut zombie apocalypse novel Torment:
http://freedomtrainonline.com/?p=1231

R.L. Copple's new short story Dragon Stew is now available from Smashwords for $0.99:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/34373

Digital Dragon Magazine has created new landing pages for its two current serials, so you can easily catch up and follow along:
The North Star by Bryan Thomas Schmidt
Comet Born by Grace Bridges

Jennifer Hartz is running a contest to win copies of her upcoming book Future Saviour: Conception
http://jenniferhartz.com/2010/12/21/christmas-giveaway-contest/

News of the day!! Marcher Lord Press is going to reprint Sharon Hinck's Sword of Lyric trilogy: The Restorer and its sequels. With Kathy Tyers already on board at MLP, this is definitely another huge step - congratulations to all concerned!

Jaime Wright interviews Jim Rubart, author of Rooms:
http://thejaimereports.blogspot.com/2010/12/interview-with-james-rubart-author-of.html

The 2010 Pluto Award Winner has been announced:
http://yellow30scifi.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/2010-pluto-award-winner/

A guest post by C.S. Lakin at Speculative Faith, concerning fairy tales:
http://www.speculativefaith.com/2010/12/guest-blog-c-s-lakin-part-3/

A new review of the new edition of Sue Dent's Never Ceese:
http://christianscifiandfantasyreview.webs.com/

Greg Mitchell is posting a new short story to go with his storyworld The Coming Evil - part one is here (see his blog's main page for the others, also already posted):
http://thecomingevil.blogspot.com/2010/12/coming-evil-holiday-spirit-part-one.html

Jeremy Robinson is a guest on the Dead Robots Society podcast at
http://deadrobotssociety.com/2010/12/16/episode-156-chatting-with-jeremy-robinson/
(warning: strong language in the first part) Jeremy comes in at around 14:00 and talks about his inspiring journey as a writer through self-publishing and independent publishing through to the mainstream. He talks a lot about marketing, and he's making a living from his writing so we'd do well to heed him.

Karina Fabian announced a new website tie-in to her latest fiction project:
http://fabianspace.blogspot.com/2010/12/zombie-death-extreme-website-is-up.html
The site itself, Zombie Death Extreme, is here:
http://www.zombiedeathextreme.com/

This week's updates from Laser & Sword magazine:

Fred Warren has a story published in the new WWC magazine Other Sheep, which definitely looks worth checking out. More details here:
http://frederation.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/story-published-pilgrimage-in-other-sheep/

A.M. Roelke scored an interview about her upcoming release, The Space Station Murders:
http://sameenassphere.wordpress.com/guest-author-blogs/a-m-roelke-2/

Jane Lebak's short space story A Rock for Christmas is now online:
http://bit.ly/glNNM9

Peculiar People are looking for submissions of a very specific nature for their collaborative Orphan Plane project, where children are sent to begin a new life in space. Open till January 9th. Details here:
http://www.peculiarpeoplebooks.com/orphan-plane.htm

The CSFF Blog Tour now has a page on Facebook:
http://on.fb.me/hn3LQv

John Otte discusses the latest movie adaptation of Voyage of the Dawn Treader:
http://leastread.blogspot.com/2010/12/voyage-of-dawn-treader.html

And here's a new review of A Star Curiously Singing by Kerry Nietz:
http://bit.ly/gm4nEa

Bryan Thomas Schmidt is posting excerpts from his upcoming space opera, The Worker Prince - said to recreate a Star Wars type feel. Here are the first two:
http://bryanthomasschmidt.blogspot.com/2010/09/this-is-first-chapter-of-my-forthcoming.html
http://bryanthomasschmidt.blogspot.com/2010/12/novel-excerpt-worker-prince.html

Millard Jones is giving away a copy of Eternity's Edge by Bryan Davis. Go here to enter:
http://onehundredelectricians.blogspot.com/2010/12/giveaway_07.html

New short stories online:
Spaced Out by R.L. Copple
http://skaggsworld.com/fwg/2010/12/04/spaced-out/
El Nino: A Christmas Mystery with Carolyn Masters, by Terri Main
http://bit.ly/fPWx4Q
The Fairy Princess and the Troll, by Brandon Barr
http://bit.ly/emFdY6

From the Blogosphere:
At Speculative Faith: E. Stephen Burnett shares Lacy's story of how Lord of the Rings opened her spiritual eyes:
http://bit.ly/fBOAq2

P.A. Baines is interviewed by Lena Nelson Dooley, with a chance to win his book:
http://bit.ly/i2PIEm

Kat Heckenbach started a blog series on art she's doing for speculative fiction:
http://bit.ly/geMI35

Excuse the numbering mixup. Blogger assured me last week that there were already 563 posts on here, but it seems that was not the case! But it is now. Anyway, this post is all new. Lots of interviews lately!

Interview with P.A. Baines at Where The Map Ends:
http://www.wherethemapends.com/Interviews/current_interview.htm

Interview with Nick Giannaras at Teen Word Factory:
http://www.teenwordfactory.com/2010/12/personal-interview-with-scififantasy.html

Interview with R.L. Copple at Walking on Water:
http://katiehines.blogspot.com/2010/12/fantasy-ebook-author-r-l-copple.html

Interview with Grace Bridges yours truly at Roseanna White's blog:
http://roseannamwhite.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-friend-grace-interview-giveaway.html

Review of the print edition of Residential Aliens, issue 4:
http://guyscanread.squarespace.com/show/2010/12/1/resaliens-4-like-a-church-social.html

Review of The God Hater by Bill Myers at TitleTrakk.com:
http://www.titletrakk.com/book-reviews/god-hater-review-myers.htm

New release: Chase the Shadows by Brian Reaves (Kindle only):
http://brianreaves.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-new-book-is-finally-out.html

Karina Fabian rounds up two reviews of Infinite Space, Infinite God II:
http://fabianspace.blogspot.com/2010/12/havent-had-lot-of-reviews-yet-on-isig.html

The first review for Frank Creed's new release, War of Attrition, has been posted at: http://www.amazon.com/War-Attrition-Frank-Creed/dp/1934284068/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290826112&sr=1-3

Karina Fabian talks about her stories in Infinite Space, Infinite God II:

http://fabianspace.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-stories-in-infinite-space-infinite.html
And here's a book review of the same from Fred Warren.

Also: don't miss the video trailer for Karina's other new book, Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8798Iyubocw 

Check out this video interview of Marcher Lord Press author Marc Schooley, hosted by Cathi-Lyn Dyck:
http://scitascienda.com/2010/11/26/marc-schooley-video-interview/

Sarah Sawyer is doing a giveaway of The Charlatan's Boy by Jonathan Rogers.

Some stuff I forgot first time round.

The November edition of Digital Dragon Magazine appeared this week - head over there for your monthoy dose of cool stories. Yep, there's one of mine in there too :P also the North Star serial by Bryan Thomas Schmidt and a bunch of other great stuff.
http://www.digitaldragonmagazine.net/

The Christmas Booksigning Bash is on at the Christian Review of Books until December 7th. A number of LGG members have books there under the Speculative category:
http://bit.ly/gIFfLw

Guest blog by R.J Anderson at Speculative Faith, on being published as a Christian in the mainstream:
http://www.speculativefaith.com/2010/11/guest-blog-r-j-anderson/

From Paeter Frandsen:
This coming Saturday (Nov. 20th) I will be hosting a free live chat from 6-9pm (Mountain Standard Time) and listening to the special edition of "Spirit Blade" with whoever else has a copy!

Specifics are coming soon! Keep your eye on: http://www.spiritblade.net/chat

for up to date info on the event.

On Saturday, I'll give everyone a chance to log on at spiritiblade.net/chat (it will be really easy) and we'll all synchronize our audio at about 6:15 and then again after completing disc 1 (or the halfway point for you mp3 users).

If you haven't grabbed your copy of "Spirit Blade: Special Edition" yet, now is the time! I've never done anything like this before and I can't wait to hang out and interact with you, live!

I hope to see you there!

-Paeter Frandsen

Note: You can buy the MP3s for $10 US at http://www.spiritblade.net/ Don't leave it to the last minute as this is 2.5 hours of audio to download!

Did anyone notice our little absence here? I was just wondering, because not one person has asked about it. I had to take a break due to publishing commitments, but now when considering starting up again, I have to ask myself, did anyone actually miss us? Sure it's been fun to put this blog together the last few years, but I was hoping to connect writers and readers in an effective manner. Have we been doing that? Have you found new authors or books by reading our updates?

So if you have been a regular reader here and would like to see us go on, please leave a comment. That's all. Just a quick "I'm here" will do. Thanks.

Guildie Chris Solaas has been interviewed at Examiner.com about the writing life:
http://www.examiner.com/christian-writing-in-memphis/the-unburied-talents-of-chris-solaas-1

This week's update from Laser & Sword ezine:

Kia Ora!

Splashdown Books is ready to dive right into the deep end in 2012. This promises to be one of our most exciting swims yet and we are glad you've decided to join us. The water looks fine and the sun is shining bright. Take off your shoes and stay a while.

To start this year's swim we have Diane M Graham readying from the high-dive.

Open your heart and mind to the simplicity and complexity of a name.
I know only my name. Beyond that is confusion, a void where fantasy and reality swirl together. Fairies, Giants, Elves, Dwarves, ancient Keepers, and...Dragons?

A dark soul threatens the Five Kingdoms, but I am powerless to stand against him, overwhelmed by phantom memories, broken and lost.

Somehow, I must live. I must find my purpose. There are friends to love and battles to fight.

I know my name. Perhaps that is enough.

I am Ocilla.
This is my story.

A note from Di: A writer’s life is often said to be a lonely life. But any Christian writer knows this isn’t so. God walks with us from the time He plants the seed of inspiration, through the countless hours of writing, rewriting,editing and then sometimes rewriting again. He sends helpers. We tend to never feel our work is fully complete. Another sweep, just one more time to make sure all the T’s are crossed and all the I’s are dotted. But there comes a time when He tells us it is time to show our work to the world. He holds our hand while we walk to the edgeof the gaping chasm known as publication and He tells us to jump.

Gulp!

You turn right and left and see all the many Saints He sentto help you and you are emboldened and filled with hope. On faith, and faith alone,you jump.

So today, I stand at that chasm and look at all those thathave been sent to help me lined for miles in each direction. I may soar. I mayfloat to the bottom. But no matter what, He is with me.

I jump.

I Am Ocilla is available for purchase at Amazon, Kindle Store, Barnes & Noble, Nook (coming soon), Book Depository (coming soon), and Smashwords. You can just click over to Splashdown Bookshop for more information. We have a wonderful sale going on we will tell you about below.

Also, if you would like to hear the prologue read by Diane, you may do so HERE on youtube.

The wonderful music for Diane's audio recording was provided by friend of Splashdown Books Eleon. For more of his excellent music, you can find his page on youtube right HERE.

Ryan Grabow gives us a double-backflip with a wonderful book trailer for CAFFEINE:

"Supernatural: above, beyond, in excess of nature. If the meaning of life cannot be found in nature, then I must determine if the answer lies beyond it."

Caffeine will also take part in our special sale we will tell you about below, but not just yet.

Next we have a the long awaited Sparrow-dive, similiar to a swan-dive but more awesome, from Caprice Hokstad. The e-book will be available on March 1st, with the print copy coming two short weeks later.

What should be a season of rejoicing over Duke Vahn’s newly-recovered son is overshadowed by fear of an uncertain future. Vahn’s brother, King Arx, expands the war with neighboring Ganluc, while enemies at home seek to shatter the Rebono dynasty forever. Strained relations between royal twins harden into cold suspicion and treasonous accusations while a deadly plague sweeps across the land.


As the royal bloodline is torn asunder, two races, the Elva and Itzi, discover that only together can they stop the plague and restore their unraveling kingdom.


Blood and Brine: the exciting conclusion to the Ascendancy Trilogy.

A little teaser for my upcoming release.... "Caprice is truly a master world builder. This was the firstbook in her series that I read, but within a few chapters I felt like I’d beenreading in that universe my whole life. Now that I finished I’m going back toget the first two in the series!" ~ Tim Abrose , Managing Editor, DigitalDragon Magazine

Avenir has its own music. Yes, you read right and the world you have grown to love can now be swirled with the wonderful musical talent of Eleon.

Michael L. Rogers has created a soundtrack to accompany the online multi-author shared world microfiction site Avenir Eclectia. Hear the songs, read the stories. Published in association with Splashdown Books.
Available now at Amazon in cd and mp3

And please remember you can have Avenir Eclectia delivered to you kindle for just $.99 cents each month.

Also, something very exciting is in the works which we can't tell you anything about yet, but watch this space!

Now, what you have all been waiting for: To celebrate I Am Ocilla's launch, her ebook is on sale at 4.99 for one week only. Our Kindle store is here: http://astore.amazon.com/splasbooks-20 and Ocilla is HERE so you may take advantage of this super cool deal.

But wait! There is so much more. In addition, the Splashdown team has rallied and several more are adding to the party by selling their e-books at a discounted price.

Also for $4.99.
-Alpha Redemption by P.A. Baines
-Finding Angel by Kat Heckenbach
-Faith Awakened and Legendary Space Pilgrims by Grace Bridges

For just $2.99/ You read right...$2.99.

-CAFFEINE by Ryan Grabow

-The Duke's Handmaid and Nor Iron Bars a Cage by Caprice Hokstad. These are the first two in the trilogy and a great chance to get ready for her third.
- The Crystal Portal by Travis Perry & Mike Lynch.
- Tales of the Dim Knight by Adam & Andrea Graham

- Odd Little Miracles by Fred Warren.
- Aquasynthesis by the Splashdown Team.

Please note: if you want a format other than Kindle for any of the titles on sale, just let us know and we'll send you a voucher for Smashwords where all types of files are available, including PDF for computer reading, Epub for Nook, and many more.

Don't go anywhere yet. Tucked over in the corner, behind the seaweed, Keven Newsome, Diane M Graham and Caprice Hokstad have been up to no good. Seems they have been betting in the most ridiculous ways imaginable. All in good spirit, though. Keven and Diane have a plot bet going in which the loser will have to post a video on youtube, dancing, singing and being silly. You can see the details HERE. And Caprice stuck her foot in her mouth...Diane happily helped her cram it down a little more by holding her to it. You can read about how Caprice will channel her inner Disney right HERE. No one can ever say Splashdown Books is a boring place to work. Stay tuned for updates and a chance for all of you to join in on the fun.

As all of you have read, we are busy, busy splashing around these parts. There is never a dull moment. Can't wait until next month when we can tell you more about skirted men and Turtles.

~The Splashdown Team

**This issue was written by a Crazy-Hair Vaulter**

Here it is, folks - the comprehensive guide with everything you need to know.

Angel doesn’t remember her magical heritage…but it remembers her.

Magic and science collide when she embarks on a journey to her true home, and to herself.

Angel lives with a loving foster family, but dreams of a land that exists only in the pages of a fantasy novel. Until she meets Gregor, whose magic Talent saves her life and revives lost memories.

She follows Gregor to her homeland…a world unlike any she has imagined, where she travels a path of self-discovery that leads directly to her role in an ancient Prophecy…and to the madman who set her fate in motion.

Angel doesn’t remember her magical heritage…but it remembers her.

Magic and science collide when she embarks on a journey to her true home, and to herself.

Angel lives with a loving foster family, but dreams of a land that exists only in the pages of a fantasy novel. Until she meets Gregor, whose magic Talent saves her life and revives lost memories.

Angel follows Gregor to her homeland…a world unlike any she has imagined, where she travels a path of self-discovery that leads directly to her role in an ancient Prophecy…and to the madman who set her fate in motion.

Gizile follows her mysterious teacher, Tok, to contemplate a series of strange and mystical visions that appear upon the ice of an ocean pool: Astonishing tales of technology and transcendence, aliens and elves, space and time, dragons and

demons, prophecies and scriptures, humor and horror, the gifted and the enslaved, virtual and supernatural reality, insanity and inspiration. Dive into the creations of the Splashdown wordsmiths. Cross the borders into novel worlds you love already, and taste their delights if you are new to Splashdown's universe.

And Yeshua said, "His ears will be a sign to you."
A time-travelling warrior elf on a manhunt for an evil genius. A state-of-the-art robot from New Los Angeles. And a carpenter's son from first-century Israel. Entering the Portal, they join forces with a princess of the Sapphire Monarchy to defy their power-mad adversary.
Available at http://www.splashdownbooks.com/crystalportal.html

Splashdown Darkwater
Counting down!

Have you seen the Darkwater preview book trailer? If not, be sure to catch it at http://www.youtube.com/user/splashdownbooks. The full length trailer - complete with the big reveal of the title and author to kick off our paranormal line - is due for release in under two weeks! The book itself will appear on June 1.

The Splashdown Darkwater main site with its own teaser is here:
http://darkwater.splashdownbooks.com

Avenir Eclectia
Adventures in Microfiction

The Avenir Eclectia project has gotten off to a great start, with a steady flow of contributors adding to the story. Already there's a great bunch of new characters to follow on the space station and the inhospitable planet it orbits - hunters, smugglers, historians, miners, wizards, children, and more. Sign up to receive these bite-sized stories by email: a minute to read, a day to digest. Head on over to http://www.avenireclectia.com and dive into a new world!

New SF Author Contracted
Ryan Grabow with Caffeine

In 2179, a gamer is trapped by an unusual artificial intelligence, a virus looking for the meaning of its own existence.
We're thrilled to announce that Ryan has joined our team! Science fiction fans, get ready for this mind-blowing tale that will chase you through multiple virtual realities and leave you with a new angle on life. Look out for his book appearing later in the year.
Facebook page for Caffeine: http://on.fb.me/gDtCVL

That's it for this time - watch out for the big Darkwater announcement real soon!

Till next time,

Grace

http://www.splashdownbooks.com
http://darkwater.splashdownbooks.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/splashdownbooks
http://www.facebook.com/splashdownbooks

Kia ora and welcome to the Splashdown news for March! You'll notice it's coming some time after the beginning of the month, and there's a VERY exciting reason for this which you'll find as you read on...but first comes our new release for this month:

Authors Adam and Andrea Graham will be available to talk about their novel, Tales of the Dim Knight, on several speculative fiction book review blogs on dates ranging throughout the month of April.

Tales of the Dim Knight is a Superhero Fantasy that pays tribute to the superheroes many adults will remember from childhood while parodying the genre’s tropes and gaffes. Mild-mannered janitor and superhero fanboy Dave Johnson gets all his wishes at once when a symbiotic alien enhances all his strengths, giving him a super-imagination able to mold reality to his vision. Follow his zany adventures as he fights crime and corruption while trying to keep his family together and avoid being sued for copyright infringement.

“A truly original premise, Tales of a Dim Knight is a light-hearted escape into the world of superheroes and villains with a thoughtful twist as to what matters most in life,” says Jill Williamson, the Christy award-winning author of By Darkness Hid.

Adam Graham is a paid political columnist for Pajamasmedia.com. He also has short stories published in the anthology Light at the Edge of Darkness, and in the Laser & Sword e-zine. He is host of the the Old Time Superman Radio Show among several other podcasts, including the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio. Mr. Graham holds a general studies Associate of Arts degree from Flathead Valley Community College with a concentration in Journalism.

Tales of the Dim Knight is available at Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com. The first chapter is available for free at: www.dimknight.com

3/20 and 3/27 David James http://newauthors.wordpress.com/

4/15 Chawna Schroeder http://chawnaschroeder.com

4/22 Frank Creed http://afrankreview.blogspot.com

4/28/ Beckie Burnham http://rbclibrary.wordpress.com

#

Please direct all media inquiries to grahams@dimknight.com

In the United States, it's National Read an Ebook Week from March 6-March 12 and with the help of Smashwords, Splashdown Books will help you celebrate. All of our Ebooks bought off the Smashwords Site are 75% off or 50% off. (Just enter the coupon code: RAE75 or RAE50 at Checkout.)

Our books:


$6.99 Ebooks, currently on sale for $1.75:

Legendary Space Pilgrims by Grace Bridges

Alpha Redemption by P.A. Baines

$5.99 Ebooks, currently on sale for $1.50:

Faith Awakened by Grace Bridges

The Muse by Fred Warren

$4.99 books, currently on sale for $2.50:

The Duke's Handmaid by Caprice Hokstad
Nor Iron Bars a Cage by Caprice Hokstad

$4.95 Ebook currently on sale for $1.24

Tales of the Dim Knight

Also my digital short, "Your Average Ordinary Alien" is available for free using code RAE100. This week is a great opportunity to stock up on your ebook reading material. You can get all 7 of these books for $12.74,

Remember the sale ends March 12th.

By Adam and Andrea Graham

Frankly, the appropriateness of Tales of the Dim Knight for children depends on the individual child as well as the standards of the parent. The intended audience is the young at heart, as the novel pays humorous tribute to superheroes the authors watched and read about when they were children.

In retrospect, we do see the appeal to kids. Dim Knight is a funny story with a lot action and adventure. So, while our book wasn't written for children, it can be read by teens with parental guidance.

For many parents, this disclosure may prove unnecessary. If Tales of the Dim Knight were a movie, I’d rate it PG-13. In fact, in terms of language and sexual content, the book is cleaner than most PG movies. However, others may have different convictions. The movie, Pamela's Prayer extolled the virtues of chastity before marriage to the point that the heroine didn't kiss a man until the day she was married. One would think no one would complain about a movie like that not being clean enough. However, A reviewer wrote on Amazon:

based on the good reviews that I read on Amazon and on what friends

told me, I thought that this movie would be good viewing for my

family. was I wrong! the whole movie is about kissing, about guys

trying to kiss girls, and about girls not sure if they should kiss or

not and on and on. it started fine, but ten minutes in I knew that it

was not appropriate for my family, but my wife said 'no no no' and

made me keep it on, and I hoped that it would get better. but it just

got worse.

what a disaster! wouldn't you know it, as soon as the

movie is over, my kids start asking 'how do you kiss,' 'why do you

kiss' and on and on. pretty soon, they were running around the house

pretending to kiss everything - the animals, the pets, each other.

While I don't think there's any chance of Tales of the Dim Knight prompting your child to kiss your dog, I do want to be sensitive to varying parental standards. My goal is to empower parents with the information they need to make an informed decision for their children based on what they think is best.

Hello, blog. Long time no see. Well, I'm sorry about that. How about we try starting over? Really, I think we can make this work. You see, there's lots of cool stuff going on behind the scenes here at Splashdown that I think folks would like to look into. And I've never told anyone about most of it! Well, the team knows bits and pieces of it for sure, but it's not like it's a secret or anything. Most of it, anyway.

There is something that is a secret, and that is the list with the authors and manuscripts I am about to contract for next year! It all came together really quickly in the end - just a few weeks back I had nothing at all in the pipelines, but now there are a total of eight or nine manuscripts from five authors on the table. Three of them are even science fiction, my personal favourite genre, even though I do love a good fantasy as much as anyone else. Can't write one for peanuts though, as you'll know if you read my personal blog yesterday.

In any case you can expect a number of announcements on that front in time to come.

So what else is up? Tales of the Dim Knight by Adam and Andrea Graham started shipping yesterday right on time - phew. It was a little hairy there for a day or two. I am going to be working on its video trailer this week, beginning with the music - I always have to have the music first. This is different from other trailers I've done because I'm trying to create the soundtrack myself. One attempt is already behind me, but it was decided that it wasn't superhero-y enough, even if it might be a passable piece of music. You can hear it here for now if you want to, though it will be shifting when I rename it - because the new piece will then be the "real" Powerhouse theme song.

So, nuff said for now, eh. Back to the "day job" for me...

Int.: As a Superhero afficianado, could you tell us what superhero has the coolest theme music?

Dave: That's pretty easy. Superman.

Int.: Any particular version?

Dave: Every version, whether it was a cartoon, a TV show or a movie, Superman had great themes. Very exciting and stirring. I also love the 1960s Batman Theme and fight music. I used to like the Danny Elfman Batman music from Batman with Michael Keaton, but Willy Wonka ruined that.

Int.: Why?

Dave: Well Derrick wanted to See Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which Elfman scored almost the same way as he did Batman. I was expecting the Joker to appear at any moment in that movie. Now, when I see that Batman series, I end up expecting Oompa Loompas to jump out, so I can't even enjoy those.

Int.: You don't like oompa loompas?

Dave: Not in a Batman movie. Maybe if there was an Oompa Loompa Superhero villain.

Int.: Like maybe the riddler as an Oompa Loompa. "Oompa Loompa Dupedy Doo, Batman, I've got another riddle for you."

Dave: Well something like that anyway.

Int: Beyond the music ruined by Danny Elfman, is there any supehero theme you don't like?

Dave: Sure from the 1966-67 Iron Man TV show. That's too cheesy, even for me.

Int: I didn't know that was possible. What about your own theme music?

Dave: My theme music? I'd have to have a TV show first.

Int: You know like when some basebally players come to the plate, they have music playing, like We Will Rock You.

Dave: You expect me to fly into battle, playing, We Will Rock You.

Int: You mean you've not thought of it?

Dave: Not that specifically, I did ask about a theme for the website. The lawyers say I can't have theme music that's been published because the artists can sue. They said I could use public domain music for a theme, but the only thing I've come up with is World War I fight music. Imagine flying into battle with that.

Int.: I see the challenge. Maybe, you should consider some giveaways.

Dave: That's a thought.

Int: Let's talk about it next week. E-mail your questions for Dave to askasuperhero@laserandsword.com. Then follow his story every Tuesday at Laser and Sword Magazine. Tales of the Dim Knight is set for release November 22nd, but you can sample the first four chapters for free in our ebook.

Jeremy does not disappoint! Sci-fi action: check! Freaky monsters: check! Gritty characters: check! This one is a whole lot of fun, a crazy, sometimes silly but never boring ride through the solar system and the plains and oceans of the moon Europa. I'm pretty sure it'll keep you smiling till you get to the end. Some of the twists and surprises were a little unrealistic but hey, this is a thoroughly ridiculous tale (sentient cucumber monster plants? Come on!) so I don't think it detracts. A gem of the SF monster genre.

Note: I read the 2010 edition, which has since been improved upon.