Ghost of the Dawnlands: A Tale of the Skadegamutc (Waters)

Ghost of the Dawnlands: A Tale of the Skadegamutc
by Robert E. Waters, J.W. Harp (Illustrator) (2025)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This book was a free Advanced Reader Copy from Library Thing. I'm encouraged (but not required) to leave reviews in exchange for the free books.

I left the following review on the Library Thing website:

A Skadegamutc is a "ghost-witch" from Wabanaki mythology. In 1988, a sorceror from the Penobscot tribe defied death to become a ball of light. The creature takes the form of a sort of vampire/zombie to feed, and that's how it appeared when Joe Littlecloud and Horus Ruth of the VPA (Violent Paranormal Activity) department of the FBI corenered it, and almost killed it. But it played with the men's memories long enough to injure Ruth and then escape.

Littlecloud realizes that he needs to call Chimalis Burton, a FBI-VPA agent in Colorado who has a special, cermonial knife. Burton is currently on adminstrative leave while the FBI investigates the killings of federal agents while she pursued a different cryptid in Alaska, but she's cleared to assist Littlecloud in Maine.

And then the hunt is on, taking them through Maine and New Brunswick, to hunt down and corner the ghost-witch, all the while hampered by bad information being fed to them by an agent who is under the influence of the skadegamutc.

There were a few twists that I didn't expect, along with mentions of previous cases that I assume are in earlier books that I'll have to look for, ending with a satisfying conclusion.

I enjoyed this book.

---

My first impression was that Littlecloud and Ruth were characters from a previous book and that Burton was a character from a different book, and that this was an ultimate crossover. The descriptions online only mention Burton, so this is her book, even though she's the last major character to be introduced.

Spoiler-y stuff: the book is also an ending for some characters as well as the ceremonial knife, which may or may not be repaired in the future.

I did wonder how they were going to kill it when it could mess with their minds the way that it did. They had to get it at a weak moment, of course. I just didn't want for something that didn't work before to work now, because the timing was better. Also, the knife gets removed from the equation, even though it's the main reason that Burton was brought in.

One comment, which I probably should relate to eSpec, is that FBI-VPA is never defined in the book itself. I had to Google it.

Since it's only a novella, it was a pretty quick read.

I now own seven of these books -- 1 paper, 6 electronic -- but I've only read the last two. At least, the paperback is signed.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

Fantastic Tales of Steampunk (Lyman)

Fantastic Tales of Steampunk
by Jeffrey Lyman (2025)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This book was a free Advanced Reader Copy from Library Thing. I'm encouraged (but not required) to leave reviews in exchange for the free books.

Also of note: I have been published by eSpec Books, which also published this book. Final note: I've had a copy of "The Troll King" for a couple of years, having earned it as a bonus story for some eSpec Kickstarter event. I hadn't read it yet mostly because of its size -- I've been reading all those stories in older of size in my computer folder directory.

I left the following review on the Library Thing website:

Fantastic Tales of Steampunk has five great stories. The stories range wide from creating bridges to other places to ships locked in ice and wary of sea monsters to a photographer taking photos for a police investigation aboard a dirigible that flew through the Harrow.

My favorites were "The Troll King" and "The Ring of Hours and Seconds" . The Troll King is protected by steampunk armor and has an army of similarly suited ogres. Forty-eight young men of the kingdoms must survive three challenges against ogres taking place on land, in the air, and underwater. Few are expected to survive, but ogres can be beaten. The question becomes, can the Troll King be beaten as well?

The Ring of Hours and Seconds is owned by a necromancer and must be stolen by Toten to pay off his girl's gambling debts. The necromancer makes a counter-offer, asking Toten to take on a different challenge, which could clear the debt if successful, or possibly kill him.

A nice, varied collection of stories showing what steampunk can do. Great for readers new to steampunk.

Other notes:

The first story with the bridges was a little confusing to me at first, but it picked up. The Troll King was definitely the winner with its Hunger Games vibes -- I left that out of the LT review on purpose. The arctic story was a nice change of scenery. I can't think of two many stories set in a similar location. I didn't follow the Camera story as well, but there are ghost in the blimp remaining from the Harrow, which in itself is an interesting concept.

The necromancer story has a great setup with airships taking people to different skyscrapers.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

Mount Misery (Chambers)

Mount Misery
Systema Paradoxa #28
by James Chambers (2026)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This book was a free Advanced Reader Copy from Library Thing. I'm encouraged (but not required) to leave reviews in exchange for the free books.

Also of note: I have been published by eSpec Books, which also published this book.

Systema Paradoxa is a series of Cryptid books, each with a new take on a different monster. I own about a half-dozen (one is a signed printed book and the rest are ebooks), and this is the first one I've read. Each book stands alone, and there's a series of writers. This book did reference previous encounters by the main characters, but the previous books, whichever ones they were, were not required reading.

I left the following review on the Library Thing website:

Anyone who has ever driven on Long Island, particularly at night, will get weird feelings that strange things are happening around them. This tale brings that to life, adding Mothman, Men in Black and a mystery needing to be unraveled.

Ben Keep and Annetta Maikels know that reality isn't what it appears to be. They investigate the paranormal and find it difficult to turn down a request for help, especially when the paranormal come asking for help in their own unusual way.

It's a fun ride, much more fund than actually driving along the Southern State or Ocean Parkway.

This book, which is part of a series of Cryptid tales, is a standalone story. Some references are made to earlier stories, but you don't need to read those first.

---

More of a breakdown of the stories, which doesn't belong on Library Thing:

Actually, I don't have much to add, so I'll start with something from eSpec:

Cryptid investigators, Ben Keep and Annetta Maikels, left "normal" behind a long time ago. They've peeked behind the curtains of existence, glimpsed beneath the weft and weave of accepted reality.

Ben and Annetta investigate the paranormal, especially when they come asking for help. There are references to past cases, and I imagine that these deal with previous entries written by Chambers for this series. These didn't bother me, I took them in stride. Then there was a call from a character who'd previously disappeared. He's warning Ben about this case. I don't know who that is and I had no attachment to him even though he should've been important. He was important to Ben.

The only other thing that stood out was that large portions of the text were in transcript format, as Ben and Annetta were interviewing witnesses. Scenes like this are great for TV, but I'm less fond of them in print. It makes it feel like I'm reading a script.

I enjoyed this novella. I have more in this series to read.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

No Man's Land (McPhail)

No Man's Land
edited by Mike McPhail (2025)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This book was a free Advanced Reader Copy from Library Thing. I'm encouraged (but not required) to leave reviews in exchange for the free books.

Also of note: I have been published by eSpec Books, which also published this book.

If this wasn't an ARC, it might've stayed on my electronic TBR pile for a while because I haven't read a lot of military science fiction. I have read novels by certain authors, and I have read stories that appeared in anthologies where military scifi wasn't the overall theme.

This isn't my first M SF anthology, but it's the first one I finished. Not that I didn't like the previous one, but anthologies are easy to put aside when a book club book comes along.

I left the following review on the Library Thing website:

The title "No Man's Land" refers to both the military aspect of the book as well as the fact that the protagonists of all the stories are female. This is the fourth book in the Defending the Future series, but it's not a shared universe. All the stories stand alone. The stories take place in a near future with more realistic science.

There are a dozen stories in this anthology. Some of them take place on battlefields in the middle of war zones while other have dangers in more unexpected places. There are ambushes, traitors, set-ups, double-crosses, and even training exercises that get real, with the stories turning faster than the military equipment they're piloting.

If I were to pick a couple of favorites, I'd start with "Godzilla Warfare" by Maria V. Snyder where Sgt. Val Harris's mission to defuse a bomb on a colony planet that Earth is at war with becomes more than it seems. In "Live Fire" by Deborah Teramis Christian, Simikan Amisano has been cybernetically synched with her weapon and with the techs of her tactical weapons crew becomes the human interface of the ship's armament -- but danger can still come from within.

You don't need to have read the previous books to enjoy this one. However, after reading it, you might want to go back for the other volumes in the series.

---

More of a breakdown of the stories, which doesn't belong on Library Thing:

I did want to get more into each individual story, but it's been a couple of weeks now since I read the book and started this post. The first story was the ambush for a goal that was deemed more important than the individual lives of the surviving soldiers, and a good place to start the anthology. Set the tone. The double-cross bomb defusing story was well done and as mentioned above, a favorite.

A couple of clunkers, for me, included the traitor on board sabotaging the ship with the POV character running down all the suspects including the robot and I knew I'd be disappointed in the ending if I'd guessed correctly, which I had. Another one had the sole male character who could best be described as ignorant and worst as misogynistic who seemed to be a living straw man argument or someone channeling a time several hundred years in the past. Except that the ladies seemed to think this was somewhat typical behavior. Anyway, for me, the story got lost in the commentary on human nature.

I may edit this as the week progresses, but I wanted to get this post up already because I have a manga and two audiobooks that need posting.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

The Crown of Zeus (Norris)

The Crown of Zeus
Christine Norris (2008)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a bonus book from a recent Kickstarter campaign. Note: my book, A Bucket Full of Moonlight was one of the books in the Kickstarter as was Norris's A Curse of Time and Vengeance.

I've read a lot of bonus stories. It was nice to read a full book for a change.

Since is was a special Kickstarter edition, I didn't get the pretty cover shown above. Also, I don't remember if my version mentioned the Library of Athena or that it was a series. (Maybe it wasn't back then?)

Megan and her dad move to England for his job. She hates the idea of leaving everything behind and having to start over and make new friends in a new school in a new country.

Then she winds up staying in a mansion, the Parthenon, that the company her father works for owns. It comes with a butler and maid as well as its own ghost stories. Megan hears about these stories at school. Next thing, she's having a sleepover with three classmates. The four girls want to hold a seance but end up going on an adventure that finds a secret library hidden beneath the mansion with steps leading down from behind a statue of Athena. Among the shelves, Megan finds a book titled The Crown of Zeus and the four girls are sucked inside of it.

Now they have to follow the clues and solve the puzzles to find the Crown of Zeus to get out of the book or they'll be stuck in there forever or killed trying.

The puzzles are familiar, and while there's no kraken released, Medusa needs to be beheaded and her head needs to turn another monster to stone. Nothing so esoteric that a teenage girl with an interest in Greek mythology can't figure out.

The four girls work together, save each others' lives and become best friends. And, spoiler, they get out with the crown. And then we learn more about Sir Gregory, the archeologist and student of magic.

The book was a little slow-paced but that didn't stop me from enjoying it. I'm not even the target demographic. I also proudly showed off to Christine Norris that I was reading her book when we were at an eSpec Books launch party at Philcon (Cherry Hill, NJ) last month.

So Good Reads is telling me that this is #1 in a series. Given the library in the basement, it seems natural that many more books could follow. Obviously, I'm going to have to check those out, too.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Tequila Sheila and Other Tall Tales (Lucci)

Tequila Sheila and Other Tall Tales
by Jessica Lucci (2021)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a book from a recent Kickstarter. It's not labeled "Kickstarter edition" but this ebook has a plain blue cover, not the one pictured above (which is quite nice). Also my copy is 85 pages on Kindle (keeping in mind, I fiddle with the font size) but Good Reads says it's 102 pages. In any case, I enjoyed the book.

The main story is about Cleo Westwind, lover of a woman named Tequlia Sheila, who starts by transporting pigs across the river, but has to dump them overboard when a police submarine rises out of the water. Realizing that she's in trouble and will be responsible for the cost of the lost pigs, Cleo runs off. Later on, Cleo brings down a bear with her pistol as the same time that Zonta, a Lakota hunter, attacked it with a spin-bow. She's befriended by the Lakota, stays with them for a while before going on her way. She learns that there's a reward for the wild boars running around the county, so she starts tracking them, but not so quickly, because she wants to stay gainfully employed for a while. Tragedy happens. Cleo gets revenges, but has to flee again. And then there's more betrayal.

A fun novella with some steampunk elements. I'm enjoying reading more steampunk because at some point, I'm going to have to try writing some.

The second half of the book is comprised of shorter stories. "Instellar Games" is about space Olympics and dragons. "Watch Your Back" is a cautionary flash tale. "Sugar Skull" is labeled "Chapter 4" for some reason, but I guess it's the fourth story in the book and the tag might've been a mistake. It starts with a dog licking her face and I'm not sure where it went after that. "Mary Baker Eddy" was a fun one about restoring old phones to their original state and working order. There's a problem though because there seems to be a phone missing, and they have to find it to make it work. There's a little bit of a Twilight Zone ending to this one, which it didn't need, but gives it a little more oomph. Finally, "Prince Charming" takes place six years into the pandemic (and at the time it was written, I'm sure it seemed like it might last that long) where a female representative of a sticker company goes to a Hollywood hotel and winds up having an encounter with Prince Harry, along with some rude woman.

A fun, quick read.

Notes: The Good Reads page states that this book was published by Indie Woods. Again, I received it as a bonus book from an eSpec Books Kickstarter. This particularly Kickstarter included my book, A Bucket Full of Moonlight.

A Cry of Hounds (Ackley-McPhail, ed)

A Cry of Hounds
by Danielle Ackley-McPhail (2024)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

A Cry of Hounds was a Kickstarter book, published by eSpec Books and edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, who also edited my book, In A Flash 2020 and the upcoming A Bucket Full of Moonlight.

A quick check of the Internet says that the paperback hasn't been released yet. However, this book was created in conjunction with the Tell-Tale Steampunk Festival, which took place a couple of months ago.

The stories in this volume are steampunk or have a steampunk feel to them. And while they are not Sherlock Holmes stories, they are meant to evoke Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And, of course, they needed to have a dog in them. That dog could be Cerberus, a giant puppy, a construct, or any mythological creature. And the fact that they don't repeat is a testament to the editor. (Note: I mean it -- I'm not kissing up.)

A couple of the stories feel like they are the "continuing adventures" of the characters contained within, but Keith R. A. DeCandido fooled me by using other Doyle characters and setting this adventure immediately after the events of one that Doyle published a century ago. (And I only know this because I was at a reading at the eSpec Book Launch party at Heliosphere, in Piscataway, NJ.)

The stories include "The Curse of the Baskervilles" by Arthur Conan Doyle (an excerpt from the novel "The Hound of the Baskervilles"), "The Night of the Howling Wind", by Ef Deal, "The Adventure of the Exploding Airship" by John L. French, "A Grecian Pawse" by Doc Coleman, "The Vampire of Rannoch Moor", by David Lee Summers, "Amber Waves of Bane" by Dana Fraedrich, "Weighed and Measured" by Bill Bodden, "Progenitor" by Keith R.A. DeCandido, "Ember Eyes" by Jessica Lucci, "The Houndstooth Affair" by Aaron Rosenberg, "A Glimpse of Death" by James Chambers, "They Who Have Lost Their Way" by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and "Sherlock Holmes and the Stonyhurst Terror" by Christopher D. Abbott.

This is one of those times when I wish I'd been on the ball about recording my reading. I finished this book back in May, but with the end of school and real life events, this blog (and my others) took a back seat.

To highlight a few of them: Ef Deal sets the stage with "The Night of the Howling Wind" which takes place in Ireland during a historic windstorm (really, it happened) and involves werewolves and murder. "The Exploding Airship" is a "Hope and Gracie mystery" dealing with an automated plane that exploded over the banks of the Thames (bonus points for naming the airships Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace.) "The Houndstooth Affair" takes place in New York City, specifically involving the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a clockwork songbird built by Cartier. And "Sherlock Holmes and the Stonyhurst Terror" unravels the mystery of a Yeth Hound, which given that this story employed Holmes and Watson, you knew that it would have a rational explanation but you still had to wonder what it was.

An enjoyable read. Recommended. Again, for anyone who stumbled upon this blog -- it isn't private, but I don't actively publicize it -- I've written for eSpec Books and I've participated in many of their Kickstarter campaigns, so I own a lot of their books (and bonus stories), and they are a large part of my digital TBR pile.

Yeti Left Home (Rosenburg)

Yeti Left Home
by Aaron Rosenberg (2023)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was an ebook I purchased in a Kickstarter from eSpec Books, which also published my book In A Flash 2020. As a supporter of this book, my name appears in a list in the closing pages.

As silly as it sounds, many of these Kickstarter books go into the electronic TBR pile. I have a directory of them on my hard drive. Between my book club selections, holiday reading (whichever holiday) and older books already in my Kindle app, I sometimes go back and upload stories and books, usually starting with the shortest, looking for some quick reads. (This means I read more short stories, but then I read more authors, too.)

Happily, Yeti Left Home is from this year, so I'm not too far behind with this one.

First, side note, I told Danielle (Ackley McPhail, of eSpec Books) at a convention that the sequel should be called "Yeti Persisted". She laughed but it's not going to happen.

The story: Wylie Kang is an unassuming Yeti who desires nothing more than his isolated cabin in Embarass, Minnesota, with his reclining chair, his big screen TV and a cold breeze coming in through the window. He pays for this by catching and selling fish in town. One night, Wylie starts having dreams about running though the woods and attacking campers. He wakes up with leaves and twigs in his fur and hands, and no way of explaining it. Worse, he hears that campers were actually killed.

And, worst, a Hunter is looking for him. Hunters trap cryptids like him.

Wylie packs his chair and TV into his pickup and flees his cabin to lay low for a while. He drives all the way to Minneapolis and finds a motel, paying cash out of a coffee tin. He has a drivers license but little else.

While walking around the city, he gets pickpocketed, but the culprit is caught by a Red Cap who recognizes Wylie as something special. This fellow, Knox, takes Wylie under his wing, so to speak, and gets him settled into an apartment that will be cheaper in the long run than the motel, even if he's only staying in the city for a week. The apartment is owned by another supernatural being, and Knox introduces him to more.

Of particular interest are Brea, the Ogress, who is keeping an eye on Wylie to make sure that he isn't any trouble, and Sinead, a Banshee who tended to keep to herself before meeting Wylie. Brea suggests Wylie go to docks to look for work, and Sinead gives him directions.

Once at the docks, Wylie is immediately popular after preventing an accident that might've led to a bad injury, and because he's great at the job of lifting and hauling, even though it exhausted even a yeti like him, but in a good way. He's also popular because he puts an end to the shakedown from a protection racket. His coworkers are so grateful that they give him the heads up that there's a woman looking for him.

Note that his coworkers don't know what he is. They just think he's a big, hairy guy who can lift a lot.

He's finally caught by the Hunter but tells her that he'll find the actual killer, and the "scooby" gang is off to work.

As one can imagine, the Yeti didn't leave home. He's found one.

A quick, enjoyable read with a lot of cool characters all getting along.

The Fox's Fire (McPhail)

The Fox's Fire:
And Other Fantastic Tales
Danielle Ackley-McPhail (2021)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This is another eSpec Books book, of which I have many, thanks to a number of Kickstarters and lots of bonuses and freebies.

Note: Danielle Ackley-McPhail was the editor of my collection, In A Flash 2020, and one of the editors of Devilish & Divine, which contains three of my stories. And, finally, my name appears in the back of the book along with the names of other kickstarter contributors who helped make this book happen.

I read this a couple of books ago, so forgive me if some thoughts have already fled.

There are eight stories contained within: The Fox's Fire, The Promise of Death, The Devil in the Details, A Moment Out of Time, Forever and a Day, Crossroads and Curses, Mis En Place, and Mama Bear. They cover a wide expanse of fantasy.

Favorites include the title story, which finds a Japanese kitsune encountering Native Americans; Mis En Place, about a restaurant where everything is in its place; and Mama Bear, which is a tale of the Wild Hunt.

An enjoyable book, which I wish I hadn't waited so long to write up. Unfortunately, the real world intrudes and blogs take a backseat.

Beyond the Waterfall Door (Cooper)

Beyond the Waterfall Door: Stories from the High Hills by Brenda Cooper (2015)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I got this one in an eSpec Books Kickstarter campaign. It's been in the electronic TBR pile for a while.

Previously, according to a quick blog search, I've read Brenda Cooper's novel Post and two short stories, "The Street of All Designs" and "Trainer of Whales". (Both short stories were bonus stories from other kickstarters.)

This book is a collection of six short stories, most of which were previously published. There were (according to the intro) some modifications for the sake of the narrative. It still felt a little disjointed.

The first story opens with a boy named Jack who lives in the High Hills, which is a world similar to ours, but it has magic and is less advanced technologically. We are introduced to Jack as he is driving horses. He spots two oddly dressed girls and follows them. They crossed through a rock wall. He emerges behind a waterfall at an Arts festival in Laguna Beach, CA, which occupies the same place as the High Hills in a different dimension. Jack becomes "The Handyman's Apprentice", and will figure into all of the stories to come in some way.

The doorway operates only when the waterfall is operating, which is only during the summer when the festival is running. (There is an exception for the Halloween festival ("All Hallows in the High Hills") that happens one year.) Only a person of a certain mindset is able to get through although it seems that a person can be helped through if Jack or someone else is holding them.

The second story, "Singing Backup" starts a little weird. Not only is Jack not the narrator or focal character, but the woman who is is not one of the two from the previous story. This isn't a problem, but it was a little jarring to the narrative. Again, these are separate stories that were collected into one volume. Jack has gotten older, and is involved with one of the singers at the festival. Someone else from the High Hills is there often as well, checking out the other singer. Jack and the woman are a couple, but the festival is coming to an end, and Jack will be returning to the High Hills, and she will be off to college. Such is life as people have to grow up and move on.

The stories were all enjoyable, although the final story "The Back of the Drum", which is the longest of the bunch and the only new story, is more serious and a much heavier story. I almost wish that there were one more story, even a short one, to end on a lighter note. It could've even wrapped around to the first story in some way, or introduced a new "Jack" for some future volume that may or may not ever be written.

Short verson: I enjoyed this book.

The Literary Handyman: More Tips from the Handyman (Ackley-McPhail)

The Literary Handyman: More Tips from the Handyman by Danielle Ackley-McPhail (2021)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

Why would a published author need more tips on writing? Honestly, I don't remember if I got this one free in a Kickstarter campaign, or if I bought it extra. But the advice is worth the price.

Disclaimer: Danielle Ackley-McPhail is the editor of my book In A Flash 2020 and is the publisher of eSpec Books, which published my book.

Amsuing anecdote: This past weekend, I was at Philcon in Cherry Hill, NJ (across the river from Philadelphia). I did show her that I was reading her book. It had been in my kindle app for a while. While I was there, I mentioned a story of mine that a mutual acquaitance had read as the assistant editor of a magazine. She sent me an email saying she liked it and was passing it to the editor for review. In the end, unfortunately, the editor didn't agree, and I didn't make the cut. But I when I discovered that she (the one who liked it) was at a con, I introduced myself and thanked her for the kind words. She actually seemed to remember the story from a comment she'd made. (That had been six months earlier, at least.) Anyway, Danielle told me to send her the story. They (that is, eSpec) is planning their next anthology, whatever it may be. When I got home from the weekend trip, I did just that.

The next day, I'm reading about shooting yourself in the foot by not doing everything you can to help yourself and your manuscript, and to not give the editor an excuse to reject your manuscript without reading it. (They get a lot, and sometimes they're overwhelmed.) One of her pet peeves were when authors leave out the personal information on the top of the first page. Sometimes authors she's friends with and has worked with before are guilty of this, too, not just newbies.

When I got home from work, I updated the file to include that information, and resent it. I later realized that I don't know if I included page numbers or not. I usually don't. I think I turned them off when one editor mentioned it in their guideines, and I don't think I ever put them back on again. It's something that was obvious when I was typing manuscripts, as opposed to using a word processor.

Anyway, rookie mistakes like this are good reasons to reason "how to" books occasionally, just to make sure you're still doing what you should be doing.

Ackley-McPhail includes numerous examples of what she's talking about, both from her own works and new entries created for this text.

A great guide. I reccomend both editions.

She also has one for book publishing, but I'm not "there" yet. And I would really only be interested in electronic publishing, not print copies, first because print would take even more of an investment, and I would more likely be aiming for the Kindle Unlimited audience if I went that way.

Super City Cops #1: Avenging Amethyst (DeCandido)

Super City Cops #1: Avenging Amethyst, Keith R. A. DeCandido (2016)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was another bonus Kickerstarter Edition, but the book is from 2016. It's a short novel of roughly 100 pages, but it was a quick read.

The first thing I was curious about was if the "Avenging" in the title was an adjective or a verb, but it's a little of both, I think. (And an allusion to The Avengers, perhaps?)

It takes place in Super City, a city with a lot of costumed heroes and villains running around, and quite a few names get dropped. But it's the story of the regular cops who deal with them, so it deconstructs the hero mythos a little.

The story jumps around between a pair of cops, a pair of detectives, and a cop who's been sidelined because of an accident and works in the evidence room because he doesn't want to go out on disability and be an ex-cop just yet.

Amethyst (a guy, by the way, unlike the tween in the old DC Comics comic), a flying hero who's been around for 25 years, falls from the sky, landing dead on a roof. Was he killed, or did the fall kill him? And why does the guy look like he's under 30?

Detectives Kristin Milewski ("Mi-love-ski") and Jorge Alvarado investigate. Also of interest are two police officers who are newly paired Officer Paul Fiorello and Officer Trevor Baptiste who keep running into costumed people. Fiorello seems to have abilities that he isn't aware of. Finally, there's Sean O'Malley, the guy on disability, who has the dumb luck of attracting the Amethyst gem out of the evidence lock-up where it lodges into his chest. His disability is no longer an issue, but he's also the new Amethyst.

The detectives catch the villain, but his lawyer argues for his release. For one thing, Amethyst is obviously alive. (Now, there's a new Old Glory, so why couldn't there be a new hero. After all, there is a body in the morgue.)

Everything works out, except for Sean. The Amethyst crystal has its downsides, which he'll probably learn about later in the series. There are three books (that I know of), and I have all three from the same Kickstarter event.

It was a quick read and enjoyable. If I had one quibble, it was the jumping back and forth with the chapters. A chapter with O'Malley ends when something happens outside. We switch to the detectives going to meet a CI. The chapter ends in the middle of an attack by the villain with the next chapter back to Amethyst at the moment we left. When that gets resolved, we're back with the detectives at the exact moment we left. I'm guessing there were two long chapters that needed to be broken up in a way that created tension.

Also, there's a little too much with the deconstructing of the supers mythos. As presented, I'd find it hard to believe that such a world could sustain itself, unless it did a better job in the past and the times have just changed. But there have obviously been supers for at least 25 years, so you'd think some of the legal issues and ramifications would've been worked out already.

Not that any of that will stop me from reading the next book. Soon.

A Bushel and a Peck of eSpec Stories

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I've particpated in a bunch of Kickstarters over the past few years. As a result, I wind up with not only a bunch of books to read, but bonus stories and gaming pdfs as nice little extras. These get sorted into folders on my hard drive. So I decided to knock off a few of them while I'm between books.

Since my last foray in reading short stories was a A Bushel of eSpec Stories, and before that a Peck of eSpec, this one is a "bushel and a peck", mostly because there isn't a bigger unit to use. Actually, I've been selecting them mostly by file size, starting with the shortest, so there will likely be fewer entries by the time I post it. Once again, this batch should all be from eSpec Books bonuses and stretch goals, unless something else sneaks in.

I sorted the directory by size, smallest to largest, although there are epub, mobi and pdf files all in the same place. In the order that I read them:

• Slow and Steady by John L. French was a special Kickstarter reward (2012). This was a shorter story that must've gotten lost in the shuffle. It should have been read sooner. Captain Emma Wilder is in command of the final flight of the Galapagos as it brings a colony to a new world. She might stay there or take a shuttle back. The ship's name comes from its overall tortoise appearance (complete with the ability for the smaller section to withdraw into the larger one). They are chased by pirates in a rather hare-like vessel which will overtake them. Wilder must come up with a plan to win this race. John L. French is editor of the anthology Devilish & Divine, which I will also appear in, when it is published.

• Time Factor by Michael A. Black was a special Kickstarter reward (date?). The story is reminiscent of "A Sound of Thunder" and Timeline in that there is a time portal, but it goes back to the cretaceous period. Doc Riley is a combat medic who is being sent into the field for a rescue operation. The people needing to be rescued are in New Mexico but are also 65 million years in the past. The portal to get them will be closing. He goes back with two soldiers (Marines?) named Wilson and Coyle to effect a rescue without getten eaten by prehistoric beasts or changing the past. Something will change because a dinosaur skeleton appears in the crater than hadn't been there before. The story is told in "real time" in the past, with flashbacks to present-day inserted, which is interesting to think about. A good read. Michael A. Black will appear in the anthology Devilish & Divine, which I will also appear in,when it is published.

• Comfort Zones by Christopher L. Bennett was a special Kickstarter reward (date?). The story opens on Hayakawa City, Mars, 2142.
  I don't know why I didn't make any notes on this story.

• Of Metal Men and Scralett Thread and Dancing with the Sunrise by Ken Scholes (date?). The story originally appeared in Realms of Fantasy. There is a note from Brenda Cooper about Ken Scholes and selecting this story (I assume for an anthology). Lord Rudolfo of the Ninefold Forest Houses, General of the Wandering Army is brought a metallic man found in the ruins of a city-state by his Gypsy Scouts. The metal man initially talks backwards, but Rudolfo figures this out quickly. He questions it about the destruction of the Knowledgable City of Windwir and the death of so many of the Androfrancine Order. The metal man, given the name Isaak, says that a spell on a parchment, the Seven Cacophonic Death, from the ancient Wizard Xhum Y'zir was the cause, and that he, the metal man, must have initiated it. Rudolpho comes to believe that Sethbert, leader of another army was the cause. Sethbert had many metal men in his possession, along with a consort Lady Jim Li Tam of House Li Tam, who prefers Rudolpho's company. Rudolpho knows that Sethbert needs to answer for this.

  I enjoyed this story but it seemed like a piece of a longer work. We learn what happened before the start of the story, but what happens after is only hinted at.

• The Inner Light by John L. French, Kickstarter Reward edition (????). John L. French is the editor of an upcoming angels & devils anthology that I will be included in. This story takes place in Bethlehem on the night of the birth of Jesus from the perspective of the angel, Nika, who was sent to watch over Maryam during childbirth. Started rereading this, realized that I'd read it before, probably in a different document format. But it was short so I read it again because I was already eating and I didn't want to look for something else. Good story.
• Joy to the World by John L. French, Special eSpec Kickstarter Reward edition (????). A "Simon Tombs" story. I was unaware who Simon Tombs was, but he's magical. The story starts a couple days before Christmas at Sebastian's in Baltimore, a place where people who don't have other people can spend for the holidays. Simon is there when he gets a message from someone who glides across the floor unseen by everyone else to rendevous at the top of the Empire State Building. It's there that he meets an angel named Nika. (It did not immediately dawn on me that the angel in the last French story I read, see above, was also named Nika.) Santa Claus is missing and they need to find him before it's too late. He's known to be around NYC at this time of year. Can they find him before the Spirit of Christmas rejoins the Essence?
• Every Second of Every Day by John Chambers, Kickstarter Reward edition (????). Another reread, but from much farther back. I knew it seemed familiar but didn't place the anthology until the name "Henderson" popped up. This story was included in the anthology The Society for the Preservation of CJ Henderson (Ackley-McPhail & Schauer, ed). Henry Lin is the descendant of the great poet Gao Chi Lin. He's also a young man, and an overeager author with his too many boxes of his first book, The Mercurial Hearts of the Stars on his way to his first science-ficition convention, against his mother's wishes. (She'd rather he became a lawyer or a computer programmer.) It seems as if the Universe is against him, which driving down the New Jersey Turnpike or navigating their infamous jug handles (right to go left) would do to any same mind. After a miserable weekend, the Monkey King appears to him to tell him to pack it in (literally, he helps pack). That's when Henderson steps up (though accurately described physically, he doesn't get named as the actual C.J. Henderson, but you just know). Note that you don't have to be aware of who Henderson was in real life or have read anything of his to follow this story. That's an added bonus. Henderson, having written about the Monkey King and extended the King's lengends, has the ability to see what others might miss. He sets both of them straight about who gets to decide what is best for whom. Things pick up a little after that. John Chambers will appear in the anthology Devilish & Divine, which I will also appear in, when it is published.

**** 2022 ****

• Blankets by Jeff Young, Kickstarter Reward edition (????). Military sci-fi. I need to read more of it so it'll be less confusing to me. (Or maybe I should watch more movies?) Also, the more I read of it, the better chance I'll have at writing something more than 500 words. Anyway ... I don't know if these are existing characters from an existing universe. It seems like they should be familiar to the reader. It's far future, and Earth has colonized other worlds. Trips take years, but it appears messages can be sent quicker. The story is divided between a drop team putting down a rebellion, and finding dead people who didn't die of exposure, and a Transcript of a Committee Hearing into the Sylvan Seven Atrocities between Senator Wellheim and Gemeral Pressman. Even though they are interspliced, the hearings take place after the fact. (Yeah, I couldn't write committee hearings, either, if I wanted to.) The general carried out the mission he was supposed to even with the funds, equipment or backing. To explain the title "Blankets" would be a spoiler for anyone stumbling across this page. An interesting story. I do have other military sci-fi (from eSpec, mostly) in my TBR pile, both ebook and paper.
• Parole by Ty Drago, Kickstarter Reward edition (????). Robert O'Malley is a prisoner who stares at gray walls and never sees outside. He doesn't know if there even is an outside. He's brought into a room before the Parole Board, which consists of a female Chairperson, who speaks in a clipped, profession tone, and two disinterested gentlemen, who don't appear to speak at all. She has O'Malley recount the details behind his six murder counts (four first, two second degree). O'Malley is also concerned about his only friend, a fellow inmate named Burt Pinkerton. People in this prison are tortured, put back together again, and totured some more. The Warden is brought in for questioning, and threatens to tear both inmates about. The Chairperson grants O'Malley parole, but O'Malley wants it to go to Pinkerton. That is not allowed and he cannot protest it, but Pinkerton will get an immediate parole review and will be removed from the Warden's charge. Then there's a final twist which seems to come from left field, but you can see Drago setting it up. A quick read, and an enjoyable story.
• Paintbox by Lisanne Norman, Special eSpec Books Kickstarter edition (????). Anne, Heather and Glen are artists on a field trip, staying at a hostel, going out along the city and the beaches to paint. They mention stories of the Culzean Castle ghosts. Later Anne (and the others) meet Cassandra, who tries to paint but she is not skilled at it. Anne and Cassandra become friendly over the week even though Cassandra's brother thinks that the students should avoid his sister. She isn't well. She shows Anne stones she paint that change the nature of the rock in an odd way that Anne can't explain. Anne wants to know more about this. And this becomes one big ghost story. I enjoyed it. There's a mention of a pub in Kirkoswald, which I "googled" and found to be in Cumbria, England. I wasn't exactly sure where the story took place. Somehow I had France in my head, but I don't see where I got that idea.
• House Hunting by Keith R. A. DeCandido, Special eSpec Books Kickstarter edition (????). Glenn and Brandy are looking for a house, and Glenn hates all of them. This is mostly because he is 6'7" and the two of them plan are buying a house for the rest of their lives, so they both have to like it. After several tries, the agent shows them something that's perfect for them that's under market value. It has electrical issues because it's so old. And electricians when they hear the address don't want to go there. And then strange stuff happens that makes perfect sense for a short story, if this case, everything seems to be shrinking and Glenn is hitting his head a lot. Humorously tragic ending followed by a postscript that the author (Keith) has known Glenn and Brandy for decades, and he wrote them into this story. So I'm curious is Glenn is actually 6'7" because that opens a world of possibilities for friendship story writing. Anways ... I didn't know what I'd be getting with an innocuous title like "House Hunting". After the first couple, I thought it might turn into "Haunted House Hunting". It wasn't haunting, but it wasn't alright.
  This story slipped through -- it's one of the shorter ones and should've been read sooner. But it's a good story to end this "bushel" of eSpec with.

This will likely be the last group of eSpec Books stories bundled together into one post. The stories I have remaining to read are getting bigger and bigger, and short probably merit they're own entries. As it is, the next three books to read are all in a series, so depending upon their actual length and how long it takes to read them, they may get one or three blog entries.

A Bushel of eSpec stories

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I've particpated in a bunch of Kickstarters over the past few years. As a result, I wind up with not only a bunch of books to read, but bonus stories and gaming pdfs as nice little extras. These get sorted into folders on my hard drive. So I decided to knock off a few of them while I'm between books.

Since my last foray in reading short stories was a "peck" of eSpec, I'll call this one a "bushel", but don't expect four times as many stories, or even four times the length. It'll be until whenever I stop and post it. The batch should all be from eSpec Books bonuses and stretch goals, unless something else sneaks in.

In order that I read them:

Feeding the Mouth that Bites Us by L. Jagi Lamplighter was originally published in Dreams of Decadnece (date?). No spoiler, that mouth belongs to a vampire. The story is told from the perspective of Hannah, the lovestruck victim who despite giving up only a cup of blood every other week to her lover Ambrose, has lost all of her energy of the past year. While out walking by Central Park, she encounters a group of nuns handing out flyers. She reads it later to discover that they have a clinic that specializes in the very collection of symptons which Hannah suffers from and which no doctor has been able to diagnose. This leads her to the Order of St. George's Clinic, where she's finally able to breathe freely, and where she learns more about the nature of vampires. A fun read.

The Wedding Night: a Death and the Crone vignette by Megan Mackie. It's porn. Maybe the kind you'd find on HBO or Netflix, as opposed to other outlets, but that's what I found myself reading. It's literally the wedding night of the subtitular couple, and you're a witness to all the action. There's no plot, or as my editor might point out, no conflict. I assume these two characters, and perhaps this scene itself, were plucked from other works. I haven't read any Mackie that I recall (and this I would recall). Both characters are old and have been married before, but both have a youthfulness about them.

Seeing Red by Danielle Ackley-McPhail was originally published in In All Their Glory (2010). Samantha is a faerie who freezes when you sees the color red, particularly red caps. "Redcaps" are a type of malevolent, murderous goblin found in Border folklore, and they want to murder her. To overcome her hesitation, she organizes a game of capture the flag, using red banners, but soon she has to confront her fears head on.

The Fiber of Being by Jodie Lynn Nye was originally published in Heaven and Hell (2002). Jasper is dead, and Michael and Gabriel given him lessons on being an angel. Raphael shows up at one point, too. The Fiber of being is that piece of humanity that Jasper retains that angels do not have. It's what will allow people to rise higher than angels, who are as they were created. It takes Jasper a while to get the hang of it. (Nye cowrote The Death of Sleep with Anne McCaffrey, which I read quite a while ago.)

Alien Invasion of Earth by Keith R. A. DcCandido, Special eSpec Books Kickstarter Reward Edition (date?). Dr. Phillips P. Phillips, PhD meets with General Blunt at the Pentagon to discuss an unnatural object in space heading toward Earth. What follows is 7 pages of farce or satire, except those are usually funny. (Note: humor is subjective.) It isn't until the middle of the story that we learn that the story takes place during the Eisenhower Administration, which "explains" the use of the word "Negro" earlier. It also become alternate history very soon after this point. Phillips might seem progressive by having a black (Negro) and a female graduate student working for him, who he insists be brought along with him to assist him, but he berates them and treats them poorly to the point of being annoyed that they involved the gerneral about the UFO without telling him (even though they got him to sign the letter they sent). The general later mistakes the two of them (Lamont Johnson and Maria Chen) for an errand boy and a secretary, because, you know, it's the 50s. The one thing that is universal about the story is the higher-ups getting credit (and rewarded) for work of their underlings. I had an Assistant Principal who was quite smugly proud of himself at the bonus he got from his department doing more work.

On Rocky Ground by L. Jagi Lamplighter was originally published in Bad-Ass Faeries (2006). It starts This story is dedicated to the Freeman Children. It features the Prospero brothers, Erasmus and Mephisto, as they scale Monte Musine in the Italian Alps, along with Mab Boreas, who is an Aerie One. (I don't know what the Prospero brothers are, but they've lived a long time.) They are lugging ground giant bones and salamander poo as a payment to the Oreads, who are feminine rock-type creatures. They run into problems with a grumpy gnome. Hilarity ensues.

Reflections of Amontillado by Ty Drago was a special eSpec Kickstarter Rewards edition (????). It starts With respectful apologies to the master. The narrator is Antonio Santino Argestelli Fortunato, a merchant and a student of no art but business, who happens to love wine. He is married to the Lady Fortunato, who doesn't appear in the story. The tale takes place in northern Italy, where he is approached at a carnival by Monstresor, whom in the opening of the story was refer to as a friend and a foul murderer. Monstresor is the last of a family of wine makers as swamp has overtaken his lands and spoiled his vintage, forcing him to sell off land and let go of his servants. He lures Fortunato there with the promise of an Amontillado (which I had no idea what that was, other than a wine of no particular note). From there it plays out like Poe, in a tale I was first exposed to in a Bradbury story, similarly in a House of Ghosts comic (or another series of that ilk), and even in an episode of Dark Shadows. However, this tale doesn't end there.

A Brief Battle for the Throne by Jeffrey Lyman was originally published in Bad-Ass Faeries: In All Their Glory (2011). The story starts in London, 1850, when Lord Broggon of the Hobgoblin Tribe tries to go through the Door to Fairie but something is blocking it. The building the Door had been attached to has been demolished and the Door should just attach itself to the new structure. Unfortunately, the new building is the King's Cross station for the new iron rails being laid along the ley lines in England. They are blocked off from King Oberon. What to do? A Council meeting of hobgobins, elves, ogres, pixies and others try to come up with a solution. Instead, the tribes end up taking sides and a ninety-year war commences.

Undine the Boardwalk by Keith R.A. DeCandido was originally published in It's Elemental (2013). I don't get the pun of the title, if it's supposed to a play on "Under the Boardwalk". The story is set in Key West, mostly at Mayor Fred's Saloon, where a band named 1812 plays. The main character is named Cassie, who we find about about a quarter of the way through the story that she is a "Disir", a fate goddess, and sometimes referred to as a "Dis". She learned this from the king of the Norse gods, and previously had to stop Loki. So this is a series story. Only a couple of people know about Cassie's background. One is Bobbi, a member of 1812, and Rance, an FBI special agent. Jana, a friend of Bobbi's since childhood, and a friend of Cassie's since she moved there, doesn't know. Jana is also in the band. Jana has a new love in her life named Russ and everyone seems to love this guy, except Cassie, Bobbi and the old curmudgeonly Larry. Cassie doesn't know know why she doesn't like him, but she doesn't, and that's good enough for Bobbi. (There's also a crack about Russ having two middle initials -- so "pretentious".) By day, Cassie is a diver at Seaclipse.

Rance runs a background check and finds that Russ lives on a boat with his mother, so Rance, Cassie and Bobbi take a trip. The boat has "rusalka" etched on the prow. Looking that up, I found that a "rusalka" is a Slavic water elemental, usually malicious. Cassie can see its ugly true form through its glamour while the other two see an older woman who can still pull off a bikini look. Russ, however, looks human, so they figure that his father (who wasn't listed on his birth certificate) is also human. The mother, who goes by the hman name Anne, is horrified that her son is going to marry a human because it will only end in tragedy for both of them, and she speaks from experience. So they have to break up the couple, and get Jana out from under Russ's spell before it's too late. And then we find out more about Russ's parentage.

Tag Team Match with Hell by Patrick Thomas, C. J. Henderson, and John L. French. Kickstarter Rewards edition (????). It is listed as A DMA Casefile, which stands for Department of Mystic Affairs. The copyrights and trademarks list Murphy's Lore and "Bullfinche's Pub" gets a shout-out in the first paragraph. Bianca Jones is listed as a trademark of John L. French; she appeared in the story "Cold Iron", which I read recently. I don't recall reading any story including Lai Won, by C. J. Henderson. This is more of a CW crossover (not of "Crisis" propotions) than the Avengers getting together. Lai Won is a "psychometrist", which is mentioned often, but I wasn't exactly sure what that meant. (I was on the train, so I didn't have a dictionary available. It turns out that it's a real thing, someone who administers psychological tests. Yeah, that's not what she does.)

The story leaves NYC quickly (no Bullfinche) and heads down to Baltimore, which is Jones's home turf. Jones had worked with Agent Karver once before but not his partner Maddi Cobb, or Lai Wan. Wan has called in a marker because of something horrible that she experienced when she accidentally touched a DVD. From there is gets disturbing in subject matter as it involves a demon granting a bunch of people eternal youth 50 years ago, and they end up as children. They make money by making black-maret pornography. It's enough to make everyone sick, including the reader, which is, I guess, the point. On the cosmic reading balance scale, this tips the story so heavily that no amount of light-hearted banter is going to lift it back up again. (And the banter between Karver and Cobb seemed a bit forced, but it was also tossed out there for the benefit of the two other occupants in the car.)

I was only familiar with Bianca Jones before this story, and she had the least to do with it, even though it took place in Baltimore. Maybe that's why they decided to set it in Baltimore.

Vein Glory by Christopher L. Bennet, Kickstarter Reward edition (????). Not surprisingly, it's a vampire story. Vincent Shahan wakes up after a couple centuries in cryo-suspension, having been misplaced during the upheavals in the past. This is understandble. His doctor, Dr. Corazon Lee, is a vampire, and is most of the population. That's a little less understandable. Advancements have led vampires to suffer fewer ill effects and not require fresh human blood. The only cure for disease is vampirism and medical research has come to a halt. But there's more than meets the eye with Shahan

The Inner Light by John L. French, Kickstarter Reward edition (????). John L. French is the editor of an upcoming angels & devils anthology that I will be included in. This story takes place in Bethlehem on the night of the birth of Jesus from the perspective of the angel, Nika, who was sent to watch over Maryam during childbirth. Nika faces off against five of the Fallen. Any doubts are met with a voice reminding her to "TRUST YOUR INNER LIGHT."

A Peck of eSpec Stories

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I've particpated in a bunch of Kickstarters over the past few years. As a result, I wind up with not only a bunch of books to read, but bonus stories and gaming pdfs as nice little extras. These get sorted into folders on my hard drive. So I decided to knock off a few of them while I'm between books.

How many is a "peck" of stories? However many it is that I decide will fit into this post. The batch should all be from eSpec Books bonuses and stretch goals. Update: I gave a "peck" is 12 in this particular instance, but these were mostly the shorter stories.

In order that I read them:

Cold Iron by John L. French was originally published in Here There Be Monsters (2006), which is a Bianca Jones collection. The story begins in Tir no nOg, home of Tuatha de Danann, and quickly moves to Baltimore, and Morgan's Rare Books and Collectibles. There's been a baby swap between our world and Faerie. Bianca Jones is a detective with the Baltimore Police Department, also known as the Watch. When magical means reach a dead end, Bianca puts the BPD resources to work. The differences in the flow of time don't help much.

The Case of the Cursed Weenie by John L. French was originally published in Hellfire Lounge 2 (date?), and is another Bianca Jones story. This tale begins with the statement: The story you are about to read is somewaht true, and could have only happened in Baltimore. A riff on the Dragnet opening? I assume the true part of the story is the fact that no matter whatever else goes down in Baltimore, if some puts lawn chairs in the street to hold a spot, you respect the lawn chairs. Gregory Tanner is new to town and isn't aware of the rule, and when he can't find parking amidst the massive amounts of snow, he takes a space that was reserved with lawn chairs. He gets a warning that the spot belongs to Miss Solomon, who practices witchcraft. Soon after there's a confrontation between the two, and when Tanner refuses to apologize, Solomon curses him. The titular curse refers to neither dachshund nor frankfurter. It's what you think. However, the story isn't played for laughs. Bianca Jones and her crew, which appears to be comprised of people from other stories, are on the case.

Endgame by Patrick Thomas is "a tale of Terrorbelle" and was originally published in Bad-Ass Faeries (2006). I've read Patrick Thomas before in other anthologies, plus his first Murphy's Lore book. I hadn't heard of Terrorbelle before. Thomas takes the "badass" theme to heart with a villain named Badass who has ... what it says on the tin. It's humorous in its own way, but not the humor I go looking for. Terrorbelle is another bad-ass faerie, but only in toughness. And both faeries are described as having hourglass figures with emphasis on where most of the sand is. This one takes place on the streets of Manhattan.

Henkin's Last Lies by James Chambers was originally published in Bad Cop, No Donut (date?). It opens with Detective Gary Henkin giving someone bad news about a case, and he has to lie to do it. Dennis Brancusi is a writer with a nose for racketeering and rooting out crooked cops, and who saw his parents and pregnant sister blown up in by a bomb that was intended for him. They both knew who was responsible for it, a man named Bruno with a nice hideaway overlooking Long Island Sound. My favorite of this batch so far, but also the first non-fantasy story in the bunch.

The Street of All Designs by Brenda Cooper was originally published in Cracking the Sky (date?). There's a brief introduction to the story that mentions "Fremont", which I assume is a reference to Cooper's other works, which I haven't read yet. The story is set on a strange planet called Silver's Home. Bryan and Alicia are walking around the city talking in the strange sites. They are brought by a woman named Induan to the Street of All Designs, which is a like a shopping mall for body mods like wings, extra arms, a camera in the back of your head. Bryan doesn't know what kind of mod he wants as he can't picture himself afterward. By the way, wings are a bad idea. The flyers never seem to be happy.

The Piece at the Fulcrum by Jeff Young was originally published in Realms and then Tales of Indiscretion Special Edition 2: Diversiforms (dates?). Dom Perival and the pregnant Jyn are playing chess. Jyn is a mistress of M'Lord Chanden and looks to Dom Perival for protecting, and bastard heirs tend not to live long, and she wants to keep the baby safe. Aside from teaching chess, Dom Perival tells her a parable before taking his leave. She's been secretive about the pregnancy until the time is right and she can plan to escape. Until that tell, she does her best to collect gold, even though it isn't enough. When Chanden discovers the situation, he isn't happy. I missed the foreshadowing of whatever catalyst set events in motion during the endgame. That said, I still enjoyed the story. (And I might reread the beginning later to find what I missed.) (Okay, I think I got it.)

Child of the Wood by Jeff Young, Special eSpec Books Kickstarter Rewards Edition (date?). Once there was an 8-year-old boy named Jeremy who wanted to be special, so he bizzarely decided to cut off his pinky with garden shears and bury it in the woods. When he woke up in the hospital, it was too late to reattach it, and he couldn't remember where he'd buried it anyway. He and his family move away. In the wood itself, there were only two houses, one owned by widowed Mrs. Hollerbush and other by the nosy Miss Rive (who owns telescopes to spy on people). One night, a dirty, naked boy wanders into Mrs. Hollerbush's home. And it's a bit of a fairy tale from there, but it gets a little Grimm.

Sunday in the Park with Spot by Keith R. A. DeCandido, Special eSpec Books Kickstarter Rewards Edition (date?). This is the tale of two humans, Bob and Sue, who live in a magical place called Riverdate, the Bronx, New York, and is told as a bedtime story between two beings that are neither human nor from the Bronx. Bob and Sue take care of a cat named Mittens, who is a Chaos Wrangler, and a dog named Spot, who is thick as a stump because dogs are even less smart than humans. Humans aren't capable of noticing that when a cat is scratching an itch and dancing around, it is really tracing a sigil, which is important for wrangling chaos. Mittens sometimes sneaks out to give instructions to other animals. However, Bob is taking Spot to the park, a grassland where dogs are free to run about, so Mittens trusts Spot with a mission, giving explicit details so he can't muck it up. Or can he? He is a dog after all. (Funny, I type "god" the first three attempts.) Cute tale. I liked it, and not just because my "Dog Listener" story has simple-minded dogs running around a park. I didn't think to add a cat to my story -- I probably could've gotten another thousand words out of that!

Towfish Blues by John A. Pitts, originally appeared in Talebones Magazine (2008). A dirigible in a lightning storm flying low over the water. What could go wrong? When they do, making EVA repairs can be tricky. A survey team, the low bidders on a contract, are gathering data on a new planet. The storm causes difficulties, and the captain and crew cause some more. The survey people need the money as they are low on funds. Marta, who suffers from migraines, leads the team consisting of Mitch, Robert, Susan and Steve. There's an intro by Brenda Cooper.

Trainer of Whales by Brenda Cooper, originally appeared in The Future We Wish We Had (date?). Kitha is an deep-sea kelp farmer for Downbelow Dome, which gets supplies delivered by blue whale. After an earthquake, the dome is in trouble become a large metal structure fell across three of the dome's six air scrubbers. Communication has been cut off. She's too far to swim back on the remaining air in her tank, so she swims to the break station with her shift-mate Jai. No one is getting in or out of the Dome, as it is reserving all resources. They travel to the dome using a motorized bed used for medical transport. Once there, they encounter a small pod of whales, which have been trained to make deliveries. The problem is that there is no one to remove their harnesses, so they are swimming about the Dome. Using a translation device, Kitha must bond with one of the whales to get them assist in freeing the scrubbers from the debris, before they swim away.
Fun little story.

Damned Inspiration by Hildy Siverman, originally published in Bad-Ass Faeries (2010). A member of the Tuatha De Danann, missing her wings, serves as a muse to a poet in New Orleans, Gabriel Lanier, who writes songs of the sidhe. Time passes (weeks or months), and the faery encounters Gabriel again at a coffee shop in the French Quarter. He chants the tale, but it's now gone terribly wrong, even though the audience enjoys it. Gabriel has been corrupted by a member of the Unseelie Court, who promises him fame but is sucking his life of its energy. He is fine with this arrangement. The narrator is not. (Okay, if there's a name in here, I missed it. Quickly skimming the text isn't helping me.)

Faerie Ring Blues by James Chambers, originally published in In All Their Glory (2011). Rollin' Joe Linnet works six steel strings like no mortal should be able to, and Gorge, exiled from the Faerie Kingdoms, knows it. And what sounds wonderful to mortals is grating to faerie who knows what those songs should sound like when played properly on proper enchanted instruments, by an enchanted person, in an enchanted world. He wants to know the source of Rollin' Joe's abilities. He made a pact with Nick, the Devil, or at least someone or something pretending to be. Gorge and his human companion and soulmate Delilah go off in search of it and find an faerie ring and an old acquaintance, Rade. A showdown ensues.

The Literary Handyman: Tips on Writing From Someone Who's Been There (Ackley-McPhail)

The Literary Handyman: Tips on Writing From Someone Who's Been There by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, with introduction by Ty Drago (2011)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

Why would a published author need tips on writing? Like sharpening the tools in your toolbox, honing one skills is an ongoing process.

The Literary Handyman (besides being a woman) provides bite-sized tips for the craft of writing, as well as the business end. And while no book is going to guarantee sales, I did review the sections on good dialogue right before I submitted a piece that was accepted for publication.

The middle of the book is filled with writing prompts, with plenty of space to jot down your thougths and ideas... unless you're like me and can't write in a book even if it was made for that purpose. But I can use a journal or a blog because I love my writing prompts.

Soft-cover book, first in a series. I have a digital copy of one of the later books. I picked this up at a Book Release event (for a different book) at HeliosphereNY a couple years ago, purchased directly from the author.

Full-disclosure: Danielle Ackley-McPhail is not only a writer, but an edior and a publisher. Moreover, she is my editor and publisher for In A Flash 2020, and In A Flash 2016 before that.

If We Had Known (McPhail, ed)

If We Had Known, Mike McPhail, ed (2017)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

First book of the year. (Okay, so I started it last year.) And look at the cool cover!

If We Had Known is a collection of cautionary tales of the future: what we might find out there, and what may happen to us right here. My fear going in was that it would be a collection of depressing stories, like those episodes of The Twilight Zone where that final twist just kills you. Thankfully, that isn't the case. They aren't all cheery, either, to be sure, but humanity doesn't get wiped out over and over from mistakes made because we didn't know.

The book starts off with an essay on having a necessary enemy, which turns into a fictional account before it's over, that goes through the space race and the Cold War, and pondering should we lie about an alien invasion coming, if only to get us off the planet? The greatest threat to humanity may be never leaving our planet's surface.

It's the next two stories that really get the book rolling: "The Steady Drone of Silence" by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and "The Last Man on Earth" by Jody Lynn Nye. The former is a military sci-fi rescue/recovery mission to uncover what went wrong, where we learn that science and the military may have different end goals for any discovery or new technology. If the latter, the cumulative effect of genetic manipulation over generations may eventually reach an evolutionary dead end. (Those shouldn't be spoilers -- they're really starting points.)

Note: Danielle Ackley-McPhail is the Publisher of eSpec Books, which published this anthology, and also the spouse of the editor. Neither of those facts were the reason her story is included. Jody Lynn Nye is listed elsewhere in this blog for co-writing The Death of Sleep.

Most of the stories deal with encounters with alien races or cultures when either we go out there, or they come to us (or our colonies).

The final entry, "The Third Heaven" by Robert Greenberger, was more of a character piece than a story, but I enjoyed it, and thought it ended the book well. It was mostly a conversation between the ship's AI and a religious scientist. During the long boring months in space transit, the main character starts questioning her religious beliefs and looks to the AI for guidance. It doesn't speak down or mock in any way, which I appreciated.

There is a follow-up book, with a similar looking cover, that I have to purchase before the month is out.

The Society for the Preservation of CJ Henderson (Ackley-McPhail & Schauer, ed)

The Society for the Preservation of CJ Henderson Danielle Ackley-McPhail & Greg Schauer, ed (2014)

Disclosure: I've met CJ Henderson. I would have to say I knew of him, more than that I knew him. He was a fixture at a science fiction convention I'd gone to almost every year for over two decades. I can't say how much I'd actually talked to him in that time, but he was a person you could talk to, whether in the Dealers Room during the day or the Con Suite in the evening.

I can also add that in 2014, I was in his house with many other people, but he was only there in spirit. When CJ died in 2014, family and friends held an "Afterlife Launch Party" in his honor. The family had hoped for a large turnout, but many that he knew from the convention circuit lived anywhere in the tristate area as well as up and down the Eastern seaboard (and elsewhere, too, but those were the ones likeliest to make it). I also learned that he lived about a 15 minute walk from my house. So I made the trip, and met a lot of familiar faces, and a few not-so-familiar. I discovered a couple days after that I'd met a favorite artist of mine without knowing it was him. But I digress.

This anthology was put together when CJ was ill. He had even seen most (if not all) of it but didn't get to see it published. Shame on me for waiting three years to finish it, but I have a habit of putting down anthologies in the middle (because I can), reading something else that came along, and then getting back to the first book. (In my defense, Danielle, if you're reading this, some of those books were other eSpecbooks!)

The anthology includes stories by John L. French, Jean Rabe, Patrick Thomas, David Boop, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Jeff Young, Leona Wisoker Robert M. Price, Leona Wisoker, and James Chambers, and CJ's presence is felt in all of them. Stories are inspired by his works or his mythos and feature either a character based on one of his or a character based him CJ himself. (He appears in one story as himself, in another as a bard who is the son of Hender, etc.). All of pleasant to read -- with one exception. The foreword for one story included a warning that Henderson himself would've found the story disturbing, and warns the reader might wish to skip that one. I prefer to avoid disturbing things -- I have enough trouble sleeping -- so I skipped over that one.

Hard to pick a favorite, but I might possibly pick the lead-off story just for setting the tone for the rest of the book. But a later story hits home the theme of perseverance, particularly if you want to be a writer. If I didn't want to be a writer, I might not be writing these reviews. I'm not always sure whom I'm writing this reviews for: myself or the wandering web surfer? Never count out the flying monkeys.

Enjoyable anthology, possibly disturbing.

Post (Cooper)

Post, Brenda Copper, 2016

The story is set in the Pacific Northwest after society breaks down, but through disease and natural disasters, not war and bombs as in a typical post-apocalyptic novel. People now live in small communities, growing their own food, hidden for their survival. Walking the roads could be dangerous. Sage, the girl at the center of the story, likes to go outside. She's quick, so she can escape any travelers she encounters, but her constant outings put the Garden in jeopardy, and she's told that the next time she leaves, she won't be allowed back in.

This is actually fine by her, because she wants to go. She wants to see a big city. And she has seen an airplane, so she knows that there must be something. So Sage is sent to Portland, to find what the world is like now.

Sage runs into some trouble on the road and is rescued by a man from another community. She is allowed to stay the night, but in the morning, she is sent off with another girl, Monday, who is given the same job: find if the world has recovered.

They get there, after some missteps, and mistrust, and get involved in an uprising as Portland is in the middle of a power struggle. Sage does find the plane and the pilot.

(There would be more here had I written this entry a few months ago.)

I enjoyed the book. I liked the character development. The kids weren't whiny -- something that bugs me when I read, essentially, young adult novels. (I know I may not be the target audience, but really!) If I had one problem with it, it was too short. It needed another chapter, or an epilogue, just for a little more closure. Yes, I wanted to know what happens next, though not necessarily a sequel.

Actually, I wouldn't mind a sequel set in this world, but I'd want another story, not just "and then this happened".

I got this book from its Kickstarter campaign.

Statistics: ebook, fiction, post-apocalyptic, short

The Side of Good (Ackley-McPhail, ed)

The Side of Good, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, ed., 2015

First off, this is a bit of a cheat for me, because this is only half of a book. The printed edition of The Side of Good is actually a flip book: if you flip it, you will find The Side of Evil. If you order the ebook, you will get two downloads, each with its own cover (as seen above).

As the names might suggest, this pair of books are anthologies filled with stories of Super Heroes and Super Villains. I get the Heroes precedence and read their tales first.

Editor Danielle Ackley-McPhail has assembled seven stories by Gail Z. Martin and Larry N. Martin, Bryan J. L. Glass, John L. French, Walt Ciechanowski, Kathleen O'Shea David, Robert Greenberger, and James Chambers.

The stories range from the non-powered to the super-powered to the oddly-powered (is it really a superpower?). They not only deal with their heroics but how their actions impact their own lives and the ones around them. And when does it get to be too much?

If I had to pick a favorite, I might go with "Making a Difference", by Robert Greenberger, which reads like an old indie-comic low-powered hero on a motorcycle story, emphasis on old. "Ghost Wolf" by Gail Z. Martin and Larry N. Martin, would come a close second. For fans of Kathleen David, if you're expecting puppets to play a role in her story, you won't be disappointed.

You won't be disappointed with The Side of Good unless you're, say, Lex Luthor. In that case, flip the book over.

* * *

Current reads:

• ebooks: mostly short story anthologies, flipping back and forth, The Side of Evil or The Weird Wild West
• hardcover (for commuting w/o an ereader): Once Upon a Time (she said)
• manga: started getting One-Piece books from the library. Number 11 has been "in transit" for over a week now.
• in the pool: old paperbacks and sci-fi mags that I don't mind if they get a little wet and won't cry over if they fall in. Right now, an old issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from 1987

Reminder: for anyone stumbling across this site. These entries aren't really meant to be reviews. I mostly write them for myself because I have a tendency to forget about some of the books I've read -- either about the characters or plot of a book, or sometimes even the book itself. But writing summaries is boring, especially for anthologies, and some of my friends actually like reading this blog, so I'm trying to make it more enjoyable to read, which is all I can ask in a book.