AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – EF DEAL

After a while, author events begin to meld and blur until it all feels like one looong weekend. Faces intermix and details get jumbled. All of this to say, I have no idea where or when I first met Ef Deal, the next author in our Spotlight. It was an author event. That much I remember. Nothing else really matters save for the fact that she trusted us with her debut novel, Esprit de Corpse, a very fun romp through the French countryside and the well-worn streets of Paris. I like to call this book French Provincial Steampunk. It is the third and final book we are funding through Fantastic Novels over on Kickstarter. Ef confides in me that she has the next four books already written. I think it is safe to say that this is one prolific lady and we can expect great things. Fortunately, without long to wait!

Ef is not a complete newcomer to the publishing realm, she has several stories to her credit published in various magazines over the years, including one in Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, which garnered her an honorable mention in that year’s Best Of anthology edited by Garner Dozois.

Unfortunately, as this is her first novel, I do not have a montage of covers to post here. I fully expect I will not be able to say that for long! I can tell you with full confidence that she has integrated well into the eSpec family, not only as an author but as a valued member of the team.

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Ef Deal is a new voice in the genre of speculative steampunk with her debut novel, Esprit de Corpse, but she is not new to publishing. Her short fiction has appeared in various magazines and ezines over the years. Her short story “Czesko,” published in the March 2006 F&SF, was given honorable mention in Gardner Dozois’ Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, which gave both her and Gardner great delight. They laughed and laughed and sipped Scotch (not cognac, alas) over the last line.

Despite her preoccupation with old-school drum and bugle corps ~ playing, composing, arranging, and teaching ~ Ef Deal can usually be found at the keyboard of her computer rather than her piano. She is Assistant Fiction Editor at Abyss & Apex magazine and edits videos for the YouTube channel Strong Women ~ Strange Worlds Quick Reads.

Esprit de Corpse from eSpec Books is the first of a series featuring the brilliant 19th-century sisters, the Twins of Bellesfées Jacqueline and Angélique. Hard science blends with the paranormal as they challenge the supernatural invasion of France in 1843.

When she’s not lost in her imagination, Ef Deal can be found in historic Haddonfield, NJ, in a once-haunted Victorian with her husband and two chows. She is an associate member of SFWA and an affiliate member of HWA.

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AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – AARON ROSENBERG

The next in our Spotlight series, in conjunction with our current Kickstarter campaign for Fantastic Novels, is author Aaron Rosenberg. If I’m not mistaken, I first met Aaron at one Farpoint or another. We didn’t get to chat much at first because we were both veteran dealers at that point manning our respective tables. Aaron is one of the masterminds behind Crazy8 Press, which just celebrated their tenth anniversary.

Aaron is a veteran author of both media tie-in and gaming content, having won several awards for his work. He is also prolific in his original fiction, novels, nonfiction, children’s fiction, short stories, and articles. Franchises he has written for are Star Trek, Shadowrun, Eureka, World of Warcraft, and Stargate Atlantis, among others.

Aaron joined the eSpec list of authors in 2015 with a story in The Side of Evil, and he has continued to delight us ever since. Below is a growing list of the titles he has written or contributed to for eSpec Books. Yeti Left Home, the novel we are currently funding, is the first in a planned series of cryptid-in-the-city novels, and I can assure you it is like nothing you have seen before!

 

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Aaron Rosenberg is the author of the best-selling DuckBob SF comedy series, the Relicant Chronicles epic fantasy series, the Dread Remora space-opera series, and—with David Niall Wilson—the O.C.L.T. occult thriller series. Aaron’s tie-in work contains novels for Star Trek, Warhammer, World of WarCraft, Stargate: Atlantis, Shadowrun, Eureka, Mutants & Masterminds, and more. He has written children’s books (including the original series STEM Squad and Pete and Penny’s Pizza Puzzles, the award-winning Bandslam: The Junior Novel, and the #1 best-selling 42: The Jackie Robinson Story), educational books on a variety of topics, and over seventy roleplaying games (such as the original games Asylum, Spookshow, and Chosen, work for White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Flight, Pinnacle, and many others, and both the Origins Award-winning Gamemastering Secrets and the Gold ENnie-winning Lure of the Lich Lord). He is the co-creator of the ReDeus series, and a founding member of Crazy 8 Press. Aaron lives in New York with his family. You can follow him online at gryphonrose.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/gryphonrose, and on Twitter @gryphonrose.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – TY DRAGO

These interviews are related to our GHOST AND GHOULS AND OTHER CREEPY THINGS campaign. For those just joining us, we are crowdfunding three projects on Kickstarter and also taking some time to introduce you to our participating authors, some of whom are new to eSpec. The campaign has launched! Check it out to see how we’re doing, and what awesome rewards are left to be had!

eSpec Books interviews Ty Drago, author of the novel Rags.

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eSB: This is a unique book and somewhat difficult to define cleanly. How would you classify Rags, and why?

TD: It’s a fair question. On its surface, Rags is horror. There’s plenty of blood and plenty of scares. But on a deeper level, it’s a twisted coming-of-age tale. There’s a subtext of teenage empowerment and burgeoning power that smack of an origin story as well.

eSB: Without spoilers, how did you come up with the idea for the novel?

TD: I’m a Jersey Boy, born and raised. I grew up visiting the Jersey Shore, including Atlantic City. I remember Steel Pier. I saw the diving horse and walked in many of the places that Abby does in the book. In a lot of respects, Atlantic City today is a ghost of its former glory. There’s a sadness to the place that, when I visit, always calls out to me. I often find it a city of desperation and forced smiles as less and less of it returns with each passing year.

Strolling at night on the boardwalk, with the ocean roaring in the darkness and the casinos rising like monoliths against the sky, one can easily imagine a dark avenger moving through the shadows, looking for… what? Some shred of the once-glorious past of “America’s Playground?” A fading memory of music and laughter that isn’t accompanied by the bells and curses of the gambling floor?

Anyway, that’s more or less how Rags was born.

eSB: Your main protagonist is Abby, a teenage girl, what about the story inspired you to write from a perspective so different than your own? What challenges did you face in capturing the authentic feel you managed?

TD: There’s the old adage of “write what you know.” And I agree, to a point. More and more, however, I find myself asking, “But where’s the fun in that?”

Why did I write a novel told from the perspective of an orphaned sixteen-year-old girl from the streets? I guess because I wanted to see if I could. Pushing your own boundaries is, or should be, what art is all about. I poured everything I could into making Abby as authentic as possible. It wasn’t always easy. Since I had pretty much zero personal experience to draw on, I had to instead look to articles and novels about inner city life, especially works written in the early 1980s. Abby and her foster family were born from what I found there.

eSB: Do you foresee writing more stories with this character or in this world? Whichever your answer, why?

TD: Rags is a stand-alone book. That said, it has the “hook” for a sequel in it. But don’t ask me what such a sequel would look like. Should I ever find myself in a position to consider writing one, the story would have to be much more than simply “The Further Adventures of Rags.” I would need to find a new and (hopefully) unexpected way to sharpen my avenger’s edge, if you’ll pardon the pun.

eSB: Rags felt very much like a superhero origin story to me. Was that intentional and is there a reason behind the choices that lead to that?

TD: As I said earlier, I think Rags is definitely an origin story, of a sort. But I don’t think “superhero” applies. Rags is a creature of violence, too dark a character to even qualify as an anti-hero, at least as the term is typically understood. I wanted to avoid “redeeming” Rags. Instead, I tried to use him to explore the darkness inherent in all of us. No spoilers, though!

eSB: The novel takes place in Atlantic City, in the early 1980’s, how much of your personal experience did you draw on to recreate such an iconic city, and how much was research?

TD: When I’d resolved myself to telling this story, I went to the Atlantic City Library. There, I partnered with a librarian and, for some hours, the two of us poured over old newspapers and magazines. There’s surprisingly little documentation from the period just prior to the blaze that destroyed Steel Pier in December of 1982. What I’ve written is cobbled together from old brochures, tourist maps of the pier, and from forgotten articles in forgotten publications.

eSB: Have you ever incorporated aspects of your own experiences in your fiction? Tell us about it.

TD: I don’t know about “experiences.” Frankly, if some of the “experiences” in my novels had happened to me personally… well, that would be pretty awful!

That said, I do pay homage to people in my life. For example, in the Undertakers Series, the female lead, Helene Boettcher, is named after my wife. And some of the kids are named for children I grew up with. In Dragons, my SF novel that came out last year, Andy is named for my son and Kim and Shelton are named for my daughter and son-in-law. In the new one I’m writing, the heroine is named after a dear friend.

eSB: What haunts you as an author?

TD: These days? Pretty much nothing. But for a long time, I dealt with the angst of having to keep a day job and still pursue my true calling. It’s an old song in the writing world: you can’t make a living writing, but you don’t want to make a living doing anything else!

But, now that I’m retired and writing full-time, I guess you could say I’ve finally overcome that hurtle. I feels good, and I pay back whatever fates have given me this opportunity by being as prolific as I possibly can.

eSB: You are also the author of the Undertakers series, about kids killing zombies.  What drew you to appreciate the horror genre? What inspired you to write in it?

TD: Horror’s fun. It’s as simple as that. Of all the arts, writing is the most intimate; every “performance” is entirely one-on-one, author and reader. That intimacy allows for an emersion on the reader’s part that the author, if he or she is worth their salt, takes full advantage of. I like to creep out my reader, present them with a dark and grim scenario and then pull them along with me through that scenario, showing them a little more, page by page, as the tension builds. Doing so is both my responsibility and my privilege in this covenant with my reader.

eSB: Other than horror, what other genres do you write in? Tell us something about your other works and what makes those genres different from writing horror.

TD: Horror isn’t all I write by any means. A science fiction novel of mine, Dragons, was released by the good folks at eSpec Books in 2021. There’s also Torq (2018) and Phobos, way back in 2004. I’m currently finishing up a new novel that’s set in the very near future. More on that later. And I’ve authored two historical novels. One, called The Franklin Affair (2001), was my first published novel. The other, The New Americans, should be coming out in 2022, I think.

eSB: What is your least favorite aspect of being an author, and why?

TD: LOL! Okay, here’s the truth of that. My “First Read” is my wife, Helene. It’s been this way for decades. I write a novel, make it as perfect and clean as I can, and then give to her to edit. She usually gets the third or fourth revision. Then she proceeds to pick it apart, challenging anything from word choices, to characters, to entire themes. She’s ruthless and thorough. Yet, after she’s done, the final book is always stronger for her efforts—”forged in fire,” you might say.

Still, every time I hand her a story, a part of me shrivels up inside…

eSB: Could you tell us about one of your most amusing experiences promoting your books?

TD: I used to guest speak at a lot of middle schools while promoting the Undertakers. Overall, I visited nearly a hundred of them in six states from Maine to Kentucky, and gave talks on writing, ran workshops, and did Q&As in front of a total of about 60,000 kids between the ages of 9 and 13. Some of the questions and comments I got were nothing short of hilarious. One girl at a school library booksigning made the loud comment that “You’re so relatable!” Another boy told me he wanted me to add a water cannon to an Undertakers story and give him full credit for the idea, with photo. Yet another penned a truly disturbing piece of flash fiction for a workshop: “Three starving men boarded a boat to cross a lake. When they reached the other side, there were only two of them, but they were full!”

eSB: What is one thing you would share that would surprise your readers?

TD: My younger fanbase is frequently stunned when they find out how old I am. I’ll be sixty-two in 2022, which makes me even older than their parents! It came up dozens of times at those aforementioned school visits and, whenever I revealed my age, a shocked murmur would travel through my audience that always tickled me.

eSB: What are some of your other works readers can look for?

TD: There’s a plan in the works to release my historical novel, The New Americans, sometime in late 2022. This is a “family saga” that’s based on a series of cassette tapes that my father made right before his death in 1992. The story is loosely based on my grandfather’s life as a Sicilian immigrant struggling to assimilate in 1915 America.

AND I’m excited to report that my newest novel, Checkmate, is just about ready for prime time (I’m dating myself with that metaphor). This is a near-future retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel. It tells the story of a gender-fluid vigilante who uses disguise, guile, and plain old chutzpah to expose corrupt politicians, all told from the perspective of the young journalist assigned to investigate this person’s crusade.

eSB: As a horror author, where do you find support for your writing?

TD: I recently joined the Horror Writers Association and have been slowly immersing myself in that organization and its community. It’s one of the most supportive and passionate writers groups I’ve ever come across.

On a broader note, however, most of my support as a writer comes from my wife, Helene. She’s believed in my efforts from the beginning, and has devoted her time, her emotional energy, and her considerable intellect to help get me to where I am. I’ve dedicated more than one book to her and named one of my heroines after her. These are all worthy gestures, but insufficient to truly express the depth of my love and gratitude. It’s no exaggeration to say that you would not be reading these words if not for her.

eSB: What advice would you give aspiring horror writers?

TD: Follow the Five Rules of Writing! What are they, you ask? Well, they are this: 1) Write; 2) Finish what you write; 3) Edit what you write; 4) Submit what you write for publication; and 5) Go write something else.

Do that, over and over, without giving up—and you’ll get there, regardless of the genre.

eSB: What projects of your own do you have coming up?

TD: Well, I’ve started working on an audiobook of Dragons, read by Yours Truly. And Helene and I are planning a new season to our podcast “Legacy.” This one will focus on the efforts to publish and publicize The New Americans.

eSB: How can readers find out more about you?

TD: I’m all over social media. You can also email me at tydrago@live.com. I love it when people reach out!

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Ty Drago is a full-time writer and the author of ten published novels, including his five-book Undertakers series, the first of which has been optioned for a feature film. Torq, a dystopian YA superhero adventure, was released by Swallow’s End Publishing in 2018. Add to these one novelette, myriad short stories and articles, and appearances in two anthologies. He’s also the founder, publisher, and managing editor of ALLEGORY (www.allegoryezine.com), a highly successful online magazine that, for more than twenty years, has features speculative fiction by new and established authors worldwide.

Ty’s currently just completed The New Americans, a work of historical fiction and a collaborative effort with his father, who passed away in 1992. If that last sentence leaves you with questions, check out his podcast, “Legacy: The Novel Writing Experience,” to get the whole story.

He lives in New Jersey with his wife Helene, plus one cat and one dog.

Learn more about Ty Drago:

Website  *  GoodReads  *  Amazon  *  BookBub

Follow Ty Drago on social media:

Twitter  *  Facebook  *  Instagram  *  TikTok  *  YouTube

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – ROBERT MASTERSON

These interviews are related to our GHOST AND GHOULS AND OTHER CREEPY THINGS campaign. For those just joining us, we are crowdfunding three projects on Kickstarter and also taking some time to introduce you to our participating authors, some of whom are new to eSpec. The campaign has launched! Check it out to see how we’re doing, and what awesome rewards are left to be had!

eSpec Books interviews Robert Masterson, contributor to Even in the Grave, edited by James Chambers and Carol Gyzander.

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eSB: Even in the Grave is a collection of ghost stories, without spoilers, can you tell us a bit about your story and how you came up with the idea?

RM: The Spanish conquest of the New World destroyed cultures and created an empire of torment. The ghosts within this vortex of anguish call out for vengeance…

eSB: What was the greatest challenge you had coming up with an idea that would stand out among the other submissions?

RM: I wanted to describe the curse of conquest, that the European entities that have come to exist on these continents have all been, quite literally, built upon ancient native graveyards.

eSB: Is your story a part of a greater universe stemming from other stories you have written, or does it stand alone? Whichever your answer, can you tell us about what makes that universe unique?

RM: No, this story stands alone in history.

eSB: Do you foresee writing more stories with this character or in this world? Whichever your answer, why?

RM: No. Everybody dies at the end.

eSB: Okay, first off the top of your head, who is your favorite ghost and why?

RM: There is an old Japanese ghost story called “The Boy Who Drew Cats.” In a haunted monastery, the titular cats save the boy from demons.

eSB: Have you ever incorporated aspects of your own experiences in your fiction? Tell us about it.

RM: Yes. Of course. Everyone does. How could it be any other way?

eSB: What haunts you as an author?

RM: The inability of language to convey meaning.

eSB: What drew you to appreciate the horror genre? What inspired you to write in it?

RM: Horror allows us to sprint right to the heart of any matter and peels back all protective layers.

eSB: Other than horror, what genres do you write in? Tell us something about your other works and what makes those genres different from writing horror.

RM: I’ve dabbled…

eSB: What is your least favorite aspect of being an author, and why?

RM: Actually, sitting down to write is a pain in the ass.

eSB: What are some of your other works readers can look for?

RM: Sharper Than She Ever Imagined (Hecate Press)

            Artificial Rats & Electric Cats (Camber Press)

eSB: As a horror author, where do you find support for your writing?

RM: My local chapter of the Horror Writers Association.

eSB: What advice would you give aspiring horror writers?

RM: Read more than you write.

eSB: What projects of your own do you have coming up?

RM: A novel about the Scottish cannibal Sawney Beane.

eSB: How can readers find out more about you?

RM: Just ask…

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Robert Masterson is an English Professor at CUNY-BMCC in Manhattan. His publication record stretches back to the 1970s. His first real job while still in high school in Los Alamos, New Mexico, was in a print shop and, in some form or another, he has worked in the literary arts as a printer, writer, editor, teacher, and investigative reporter ever since. Masterson’s work as a student, a professor, and a reporter has taken him all over the United States, Japan (to seek out and interview writers and artists who’d survived the atomic bombing in 1945), China (to study Chinese and work as an English Instructor at Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, PRC), Ukraine (for a visit to the Chernobyl reactor and a 6-week tour of pediatric hospitals to observe the long term health effects of catastrophic radiation exposure), to India (for literary conferences and presentations), and inside maximum-security penal institutions in Colorado, New Mexico, and New York to lead creative writing workshops. His is the author of Trial by Water, Garnish Trouble, and Artificial Rats & Electric Cats.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – ROBERT P. OTTONE

The next in our series of GHOSTS AND GHOULS AND OTHER CREEPY THINGS interviews. For those just joining us, we are crowdfunding three projects on Kickstarter and also taking some time to introduce you to our participating authors, some of whom are new to eSpec. The campaign launches February 1, but you can check it out today and click to be notified!

Today’s interview is with Robert P. Ottone, contributor to Even in the Grave, edited by James Chambers and Carol Gyzander.

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eSB: Even in the Grave is a collection of ghost stories, without spoilers, can you tell us a bit about your story and how you came up with the idea?

RO: Long Island has always had a history of ghost stories, and one of those is the concept of the “lady in the lake,” which is supposedly the spirit of a First Nations princess who claims the life of one young man every year. I wanted to play with this idea of a haunted lake, or a lake with a haunted history, and so, there you go.

eSB: What was the greatest challenge you had coming up with an idea that would stand out among the other submissions?

RO: I think being rooted in Long Island folklore, something I’ve studied my entire life hopefully set me apart from the others.

eSB: Is your story a part of a greater universe stemming from other stories you have written, or does it stand alone? Whichever your answer, can you tell us about what makes that universe unique?

RO: Everything I write takes part in what is more or less a larger literary universe, past, present, or future. The universe I’m trying to craft is one where you could live your entire life and never have anything spooky happen, or, if you’re lucky (or unlucky) enough to stumble across the impossible, it’s a relatively seismic thing. What I try to do is mingle the absurd with the plausible, and I hope that translates.

eSB: Do you foresee writing more stories with this character or in this world? Whichever your answer, why?

RO: Definitely in this world. I may revisit the plot as a mention in another story, or the location, maybe even a couple of the characters, but I have no immediate plans to do so.

eSB: Okay, first off the top of your head, who is your favorite ghost and why?

RO: The Headless Horseman. There’s something about a spectral nightmare on horseback with no head and a jack o’lantern that gets me going.

eSB: Do you believe in ghosts, and why? Is there an experience in your life you can share with us that strengthened that belief?

RO: To quote M. Night Shyamalan, “I believe in believing.” I would never be so reductive as to say there’s no such thing, and I’ve had some interesting things happen. I would say that when my wife and I stayed at the Stanley Hotel (aka: the place that inspired The Shining), things happened that I have a hard time rationalizing.

eSB: Have you ever incorporated aspects of your own experiences in your fiction? Tell us about it.

RO: For sure. Losing my dad a few years back has been something I’ve revisited a few times in my writing. Using that heartache I feel every day to exorcise the demons has been cathartic, but also, there are lines of dialogue I’ve cherry picked from decades of friendships, moments with my wife that I’ve swiped and fictionalized, etc. Characters very loosely based on people in my life.

eSB: What haunts you as an author?

RO: The desire to get better and to grow. I am constantly thinking about it. I’m always thinking about writing, whether I’m doing it or not. I want to just keep growing and keep working my butt off to get to the next level, and then work harder to get to the level after that.

eSB: What drew you to appreciate the horror genre? What inspired you to write in it?

RO: I grew up with horror. Every day is Halloween in my heart, all other holidays are for children. My parents raised me on a steady diet of horror, and I have yet to waver in my love for it. I’m inspired by the stories and books I read, the folklore I study, and the myths of old that are present in our everyday lives.

eSB: Other than horror, what genres do you write in? Tell us something about your other works and what makes those genres different from writing horror.

RO: I’ve dabbled in science fiction, and have enjoyed it. I really enjoy YA, because I think the notion of pushing the boundaries of what “kids” are meant to be reading is exciting. There are YA novels that are complete massacres and have sex scenes that are pretty cringey, so, I think living in that YA space and introducing speculative elements into that is exciting. That said, my first YA novel, The Triangle, is due for release in 2022 and it’s the first in a trilogy of dystopian-horror.

eSB: What is your least favorite aspect of being an author, and why?

RO: Not having enough time to write. I have a normal job like everyone else and it sucks. I’d love to be able to coast on book deals and whatnot, and focus solely on my craft and writing the next thing, but that’s not feasible, especially here on Long Island. That normal nine-to-five gig is the bread and butter.

eSB: Could you tell us about one of your most amusing experiences promoting your books?

RO: I did a library event where literally one person logged in online. It was meant to be a “writing horror” class that I put together an entire presentation on and worked out all the nitty gritty, then, one person showed up besides the librarian hosting the event, so, I pivoted and turned it into a question-and-answer session where I read some of my work in between chatting with the very kind lady who attended.

eSB: What is one thing you would share that would surprise your readers?

RO: I’ve only read one fiction book by Stephen King and it was Thinner. Unsurprisingly, it was awesome and I loved it.

eSB: What are some of your other works readers can look for?

RO: Readers can pick up my two collections Her Infernal Name & Other Nightmares, along with People: A Horror Anthology About Love, Loss, Life & Things That Go Bump in the Night wherever fine books are sold. You can also find me in a variety of anthologies such as Unburied, Hookman & Friends, In the Shadow of the Horns and many others. Also, keep on the lookout for The Triangle, the first part in my YA trilogy, courtesy of Raven Tale Publishing.

eSB: As a horror author, where do you find support for your writing?

RO: I’m very fortunate to have the Horror Writers Association to provide networking opportunities, which have been valuable. Also, I’ve cultivated a nice group of folks I interact with on Twitter, Instagram, and online who all support writing and one-another. Finding your tribe is the second hardest part when it comes to writing, beyond finding the time to actually do the writing.

eSB: What advice would you give aspiring horror writers?

RO: If you can work a job that requires as little as possible from you in terms of brainpower and time commitment while offering you a livable wage, then take that job and use your free time to write. Avoid social media unless you have something funny to say or something to promote.

eSB: What projects of your own do you have coming up?

RO: My debut YA horror-dystopian novel The Triangle is due out this year from Raven Tale Publishing, so I’m stoked about that. I’m also currently shopping around a third collection of short stories that’s ready to go.

eSB: How can readers find out more about you?

RO: Follow me on Instagram, folks. You can follow me on Twitter, but Instagram is still fun, so, follow me there. Head over to SpookyHousePress.com and sign up for my mailing list. I literally never send anything out unless my small press has a new release or if we have a monster sale going on. Say hi!

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Robert P. Ottone is an author, teacher, and cigar enthusiast from East Islip, NY. He delights in the creepy. He can be found online at SpookyHousePress.com, or on Twitter & Instagram. His collections Her Infernal Name & Other Nightmares and People: A Horror Anthology about Love, Loss, Life & Things That Go Bump in the Night are available now wherever books are sold.

Learn more about Robert P. Ottone:

Website  *  GoodReads  *  Amazon  *  BookBub

Follow Robert P. Ottone on social media:

Twitter  *  Facebook  *  Instagram

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – TEEL JAMES GLENN

You may or may not have heard that we have a new project coming up on Kickstarter, GHOSTS AND GHOULS AND OTHER CREEPY THINGS. We are funding a number of horror/dark fantasy titles and since many of the authors involved are new to eSpec, we wanted to be sure to introduce them to you. The campaign launches February 1, but you can check it out today and click to be notified!

Today’s interview is with Teel James Glenn, contributor to Even in the Grave, edited by James Chambers and Carol Gyzander.

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eSB: Even in the Grave is a collection of ghost stories. Without spoilers, can you tell us a bit about your story and how you came up with the idea?

TJG: I’ve long been a student of slight-of-hand and theatrical conjuring, as well as the Spiritualist movements, so it seemed a natural to write a ghost tale that intersected a bebunker and some real psychic phenomena.

eSB: What was the greatest challenge you had coming up with an idea that would stand out among the other submissions?

TJG: I didn’t give that much thought, only looking to create a story that would stand on its own, but was grounded in real rituals and real séances. And give it a twist….

eSB: Is your story a part of a greater universe stemming from other stories you have written, or does it stand alone? Whichever your answer, can you tell us about what makes that universe unique?

TJG: Sexton Darque, the main character, has his genesis in this tale, but I have also written a follow-up story where I deal with the aftermath of war on the world. I am very interested in the effects of mass death on humanity.

eSB: Do you foresee writing more stories with this character or in this world? Whichever your answer, why?

TJG: I think I will, but I have no more in mind at the moment.

eSB: Okay, first off the top of your head, who is your favorite ghost and why?

TJG: King Hamlet. I think he is a very interesting character—an unreliable narrator that has never really been explored—I hope to do so someday.

eSB: Do you believe in ghosts, and why? Is there an experience in your life you can share with us that strengthened that belief?

TJG: Yes. I don’t know what form, but I do believe in energy survival- laws of physics and all that, so I think it is denying evidence to say there is nothing after. I‘ve attended a number of séances and tried to be honest about that in this and other ghost stories I’ve written.

eSB: What haunts you as an author?

TJG: Two things: not having enough time and the corollary, having too many ideas I want to get to.

eSB: What drew you to appreciate the horror genre? What inspired you to write in it?

TJG: Humans in conflict and the suspense inherent in that is, to me, heightened in the horror world more than any other genre, though really horror/suspense is an aspect in many other genres.

eSB: Other than horror, what genres do you write in? Tell us something about your other works and what makes those genres different from writing horror.

TJG:  I write Sword and Sorcery, Fantasy, Mystery, Westerns, Thrillers and to a much lesser extent, Science Fiction. I actually don’t see any difference, since I always start with characters and it is just how I put them in jeopardy  and the final effect I want the reader to feel that changes things.

eSB: What is your least favorite aspect of being an author, and why?

TJG: Poverty and lack of groupies. The first because it means I can’t buy more books when I want to (darn needing food), and second because I don’t have anyone to carry me on their shoulders.

eSB: What is one thing you would share that would surprise your readers?

TJG: I write poetry regularly and used to have people set me on fire, hit me with cars, and throw me down stairs for a living.

eSB: What are some of your other works readers can look for?

TJG: Dragonthroat is the first novel in a sword and sorcery/horror series that just premiered from Airship27 Productions.

Semper Occultus is a collection of occult detective tales from Pro Se Productions.

 eSB: What advice would you give aspiring horror writers?

TJG: Believe in what you do. Don’t try to copy anyone or any trend—and write to your heart, write what you want to read. Always be ready to listen to constructive critique—but never listen to naysayers.

eSB: What projects of your own do you have coming up?

TJG: The Cowboy and the Conqueror, sequel to my Award-winning pulp horror novel A Cowboy in Carpathia, will be coming out early in 2022 from Pro Se Productions.

 Deadly Shadows, second book in the Jon Shadows thriller series will be out in Spring of 2022 from Airship27 Productions.

The first of my period weird husband and wife mystery series Callback for a Corpse will be out by summer from Bold Venture Press.

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Teel James Glenn’s poetry and short stories have been printed in over two hundred magazines including Weird Tales, Mystery Weekly, Pulp Adventures, Space & Time, Mad, Cirsova, Silverblade, and Sherlock Holmes Mystery.

His novel A Cowboy in Carpathia: A Bob Howard Adventure won best novel 2021 in the Pulp Factory Award. He is also the winner of the 2012 Pulp Ark Award for Best Author. He has written or contributed to over thirty publications, including Them’s Fighting Words, Gaslight Occurences, The Traveler’s Tale, and Deadline Zombies, among many others.

Teel is a member of the New York chapter of the Horror Writers Association, the Historical Novel Society, Mystery Writers of America, and the International Tyanne Riders Association.

He also has had a long career as a performer, teacher, and stunt expert.

Learn more about Teel James Glenn on the following sites: 

Website  *  GoodReads  *  Amazon

Follow Teel James Glenn on social media:

Facebook *  Twitter

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – PATRICK THOMAS

eSpec’s Patrick Thomas was featured over on Morgan Hazelwood’s site, where he answers a few questions and talks about his work, including his recently released Systema Paradoxa novel, Cryptid Fight Club: https://morganhazelwood.com/2021/11/09/author-spotlight-patrick-thomas/. Enjoy!

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – JENNIFER PURCELL ROSENBERG

eSpec Books interviews Jennifer Purcell Rosenberg, contributor to the anthology Horns and Halos edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which is currently funding on Kickstarter.

eSB: Please tell us a little something about your story.

JR: An angel enters the Internet to try and make people happier, only to find there are evil forces at work online.

eSB: Angels and Devils are a common theme in fiction. How did you make yours stand out? How much of a challenge was it?

JR: I took the concept of high-tech, with an angel traveling through the digital world.

eSB: Is your story based on particular lore or legend, or did you take the broad concept and run with it?

JR: It’s a broadened concept of a guardian angel.

eSB: Is this your first time writing for a themed anthology, or have you done so before? What draws you to such projects?

JR: I’ve written for several themed anthologies. I enjoy the experience of creating characters and stories that match a theme, and seeing what adventures they will have.

eSB: What devilish thing have you done as an author?

JR: I have definitely based unpleasant characters on real people a few times.

eSB: What angelic thing have you done as an author?

JR: Told editors I know about other authors I know who were seeking a project.

eSB: Could you tell us about one of your most amusing experiences promoting your books?

JR: The children’s book I wrote was once read during a sermon about kindness, and there was a surge in sales afterward.

eSB: What is one thing you would share that would surprise your readers?

JR: The first thing I was observed saying as a baby was “beautiful sunflower.”

eSB: What are some of your other works readers can look for?

JR: My children’s book is called Alligator’s Friends. I also have stories in several anthologies, including Thrilling Adventure Yarns and Bad Ass Moms.

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Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg wrote her first story in the form of a children’s book for her 3rd grade G&T teacher. She’s been hooked on writing ever since. She wrote and illustrated the book Alligator’s Friends, which is about a socially awkward reptile trying to make new pals in the animal world. Her short story credits include “The Power of Five” from the 2018 Brave New Girls anthology Tales of Heroines Who Hack, “Waking Things” from the Crazy 8 Press anthology They Keep Killing Glenn, “Night Path” from The Nature of Cities, Tales of Silver Green, and “Evening Sonnet” in Nisaba Journal 4, and “Outsider” in Thrilling Adventure Yarns, among others. Jenifer has also written for online publications, and for the tabletop RPG industry.

When she isn’t writing, Jenifer keeps busy with excessive volunteering, organizing charitable events, teaching paint classes, getting involved with Pride events, and learning new languages. Her garden is outfitted with a miniature fairy village that she has carefully cultivated. She also makes wine with her friends, loves to cook, and has bee gaming since she was wee. Jenifer lives in the wonderful city of New York with her family. She is thrilled to be a part of this project and plans to write more paranormal fiction in the future.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – MICHELLE D. SONNIER – REDUX

eSpec Books interviews Michelle D. Sonnier, contributor to the anthology Horns and Halos edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which is currently funding on Kickstarter.

eSB: Please tell us a little something about your story.

MDS: My story features the archangel Chamuel (pronounced SHAM-u-el). He is the angel of finding lost things, from mundane items to lost people and animals to your inner self and your purpose in life. Chamuel helps you find anything and everything. In my story, Chamuel notices a huge increase in lost item requests and he starts to look into why. He finds out that the Fae have been stealing or moving small items to trigger the prayers to him, but why?

eSB: What inspired this story?

MDS: I can confidently say, this one is all my mom’s fault. My mom was a diehard Roman Catholic and whenever she couldn’t find something she would pray to St. Anthony. A frequent memory of my childhood was my mother walking around the house muttering, “Dear St. Anthony please come around, I’ve lost my <whatever> and it cannot be found.” It was usually her purse or her keys. It happened so often that we (her kids) would tease her that every time she started praying St. Anthony would roll his eyes and say, “Again??” Mom took the teasing well.

So, when I was trying to think of an angel story my thoughts naturally strayed to my mother, because she loved angels and truly believed. Then the St. Anthony story popped into my head because that was just so MOM. But it needed to be a story about an angel, not a saint. After a little research, I found Chamuel and the gears started turning.

eSB: Angels and Devils are a common theme in fiction. How did you make yours stand out? How much of a challenge was it?

MDS: Coming up with this story was hard for me. Angels are supposed to be all goodness and light, which can get, well, a little boring. In addition, one of the things I love to explore in my work is shades of gray. None of my other characters are all good or all bad, but angels are all good. I spent weeks wracking my brain trying to think of a way to write something interesting about an angel that hadn’t been done to death already. My mother’s St. Anthony prayer led me to Chamuel but then I still had the problem of what did he need to find and how could I bring in characters that are neither all good nor all bad, which is one of my hallmarks. Then it came to me to bring in the Fae and everything worked out rather quickly from there.

eSB: Is your story based on particular lore or legend, or did you take the broad concept and run with it?

MDS: My story is very particular to Chamuel. It wouldn’t work with any other angel but him. The whole plot depends on who he is and what he does.

eSB: Is your story set in an existing universe or fresh and new for this collection?

MDS: This story is based in a universe I’ve been taking notes for and writing in for a few years now, but it hasn’t seen the light of day yet. It’s not quite ready. It’s mostly the world we know, but it is urban fantasy so the supernatural exists and fantastic things happen.

eSB: Are your characters here ones that you plan to revisit?

MDS: I don’t think Chamuel will reappear in any of my other pieces, but I do think some of the minor Fae that appear in this story will pop up again.

eSB: Is this your first time writing for a themed anthology, or have you done so before? What draws you to such projects?

MDS: I’ve written for themed anthologies before, and I love doing it. It’s a great writing exercise to take an idea with restrictions and think, “how can I make this work with my style? How do I fit my story into this shape and stay true to me?” Earlier in my career sometimes I would have trouble with writer’s block, so I would trawl anthology calls on Ralan and Duotrope to see what would spark my imagination. I might make the deadline and actually submit to the anthology or I might not, but I got inspired and wrote a new story so I won in the end anyway.

eSB: What are some of your other works readers can look for?

MDS: I’m doing a lot of work in my Clockwork Witch universe right now. I’m wrapping up book 2 of a 7-book arc, and I’m itching to get going on book 3. There are some really interesting new characters I can’t wait to play with. And as I work on the mainline novels, I’ve got a running list of other spin-off ideas I’d love to work on. Every time I dive back in I see more corners of that world that I want to explore.

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Michelle D. Sonnier writes dark urban fantasy, steampunk, and anything else that lets her combine the weird and the fantastic in unexpected ways. She even writes horror, although it took her a long time to admit that since she prefers the existential scare over blood and gore. She’s published short stories in a variety of print and online venues, and has upcoming projects with eSpec Books and Otter Libris. You can find her on Facebook (Michelle D. Sonnier, The Writer). She lives in Maryland with her husband, son, and a variable number of cats. The Clockwork Witch is her first full-length novel.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – RUSS COLCHAMIRO

eSpec Books interviews Russ Colchamiro, contributor to the anthology Horns and Halos edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which is currently funding on Kickstarter.

eSB: Please tell us a little something about your story.

RC: My story, Irradia’s Gauntlet, takes place in a bar called Mila’s. It’s neutral territory between Heaven and Hell. An angel, Irradia, and a demon, Darius, are both there for personal reasons, and while they await their fates, challenge each other to a few games of pool. Only, instead of wagering money, they wager grains of their souls, although their true intentions become clearer as the story progresses. The Hustler and its sequel, The Color of Money, are some of my favorite movies. The chance to write a pool hall-themed story was too good to pass up.

eSB: Angels and Devils are a common theme in fiction. How did you make yours stand out? How much of a challenge was it?

RC: Since angels and demons are such powerful creatures I wanted my characters essentially trapped in a confined space, where every move they made had to be considered carefully. For me it was about an angel and a demon taunting each other as a means of probing what they believed in, and why, and if their beliefs would hold up under scrutiny and pressure.

eSB: Is your story based on particular lore or legend, or did you take the broad concept and run with it?

RC: I’m a huge fan of the Hellblazer comic books, which heavily influenced my approach to Irradia’s Gauntlet. I was only interested in a story in which the main characters are constantly tempted—or are tempting others—to break the rules. I was after bad that feels good, and all that comes with it.

eSB: Is your story set in an existing universe or fresh and new for this collection?

RC: Irradia’s Gauntlet is an original story with its own rules and characters.

eSB: Are your characters here ones that you plan to revisit?

RC: I’d certainly be up for revisiting this world again. There’s still so much good fun to be had being bad.

eSB: Is this your first time writing for a themed anthology, or have you done so before? What draws you to such projects?

RC: I’ve written for—and served as editor for—several themed anthologies. I like playing in a sandbox with other writers because it’s a chance to dive into other worlds, have some fun, and then move onto the next. Writing novels is a longer process, in seclusion. Anthologies are a great way to mix it up a bit and collaborate with other great writers and editors.

eSB: What devilish thing have you done as an author?

RC: It would be a sin to tell.  

eSB: What is one thing you would share that would surprise your readers?

RC: Even though I sometimes write in darker worlds I tend to be more of an optimist. I have never written a dystopian story, nor do I intend to. For me, it’s about writing mysteries, whether it’s mystery genre or not. I like the path of exploration, surprise, and fun.

eSB: What projects of your own do you have coming up?

RC: My new novel, Crackle and Fire, is the first in a series starring Angela Hardwicke, my hardboiled intergalactic private eye. A cross between Doctor Who, Blade Runner, and Philip Marlowe, Hardwicke is enlisted by a galactic accountant to find an intern with stolen corporate files but winds up embroiled in a deadly game of lies, intrigue, and murder.

eSB: How can readers find out more about you?

RC: You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and my Website

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Read an excerpt of Irradia’s Gauntlet here.

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Russ Colchamiro is the author of the rollicking time travel/space adventure, Crossline, the SF/F backpacking comedy series Finders Keepers: The Definitive Edition, Genius de Milo, and Astropalooza, editor of the SF mystery anthology Love, Murder & Mayhem, and co-author of the noir anthology Murder in Montague Falls, all with Crazy 8 Press.

His newest novel, Crackle and Fire, the first in a new scifi mystery series featuring his intergalactic private eye, Angela Hardwicke, launched in September 2020. He has also contributed short stories to more than a dozen anthologies.

Russ lives in New Jersey with his wife, two ninjas, and crazy dog Simon, who may in fact be an alien himself.

For more on and Russ’s books, you can visit www.russcolchamiro.com, follow him on Twitter @AuthorDudeRuss, and ‘like’ his Facebook author page.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – TY DRAGO

eSpec Books interviews Ty Drago, author of the YA science fiction novel  Dragons, which is currently funding on Kickstarter.

eSB: Dragons has a very unique premise. Would you mind sharing a bit about it with us?

 TD: I’ve always felt an admittedly goofy affinity with dragons. After all, my last name is simply Italian for “dragon.” But the giant scaly lizard thing’s been thoroughly explored, and often brilliantly, by authors from Tolkien to McCaffrey. So, when I decided to set out to write my own “dragon” story, I started by looking for a wholly different approach. I settled on the idea that dragons aren’t giant monsters. Instead, they’re people, homo sapien draconus, whose existence has been embellished and twisted over the millennia due to humanity’s fear and awe. Dragons, you see, have power.

In Dragons, the titular characters don’t “breathe fire.” Instead, they’re able to generate incredible amounts of thermal energy, so much so that, if one of them is killed by violence, often this energy escapes in a cataclysmic eruption that can wipe out an entire city. It’s a terrible responsibility that these gentle people live with every day, and they deal with it by hiding themselves away amidst the mass of unknowing humanity, living quiet lives in quiet communities, never drawing attention, and never revealing what they are and what they can do.

Similarly, over the centuries, the governments of the world have (mostly) resolved to leave this tiny, scattered, subspecies in peace. They’re simply too dangerous to be used. That is, until they aren’t. Throughout human history, there have always been those who believe they can control that which would better be left alone. And its from this hubris Dragons and its hero, Andy Draco, were born.

eSB: Is this meant to be a stand-alone novel, or do you envision more books in this universe in the future (no pun intended)?

TD: It’s a stand-alone, but with the hooks for a sequel should that opportunity present itself. As a working writer, I don’t like to “close doors” from a storytelling standpoint. You can never know for certain what’s going to really resonate with your readers, and so I see no reason why Andy’s story can’t continue.

eSB: You are a veteran novelist of both science fiction and horror, how does this book differ from the others you have written?

TD: Dragons is an adventure tale, one filled with twists and turns. But, at its heart, it’s about the loss of innocence, and how one young Dragon must reinvent himself when everything he loves is ripped away. It’s also the first YA I’ve written in which – well – sex happens, just “fade-to-black” moments, of course. But still, you won’t find that in Torq or The Undertakers!

eSB: What challenges do you face as an author straddling not only genres, but demographics?

TD: It’s all about voice. It took me years, literally, to find the correct voice when writing for middle grade versus young adult versus adult. All three offer their own unique challenges and nailing down your narrative style for each is really the key to connecting with your readership. That’s the most valuable advice I could offer to any novice writer. The voice is ALL!

eSB: If there is one thing you would do differently in your writing career, what would that be and why?

TD: If I had it over again, I’ve have started sending out simultaneous submissions far sooner than I did. For years, I submitted to one editor at a time and, with the response times running into months, you can grow old and die waiting to make your first sale. Yes, I know some editors/agents frown on simultaneous submissions – but folks, you’re trying to sell a book here, and you don’t have all day.  So, in this instance and this instance only (at least in the publishing business), I find it better to ask forgiveness than permission. If you have a finished story, polished to a mirror’s shine, then determine the right markets for it and then hit them all at once. Then, while you’re waiting, go write something else.  That’s the job.

eSB: You’re not just a novelist, but a publisher in your own right. Can you tell us something about Allegory Magazine?

TD: I started Allegory as “Peridot Books” back in 1998.  Since then, it’s grown to be one of the “grand old ladies of the internet.” Over the past two decades, we’ve published hundreds of short stories by new and established authors from around the world and I’m fiercely proud of the work we’ve done and continue to do. We accept no commercial advertising and are an entirely volunteer organization. Our donations-based business model covers our expenses (IP and domain fees, author payments, etc), but that’s it. With us, it isn’t about profit, it’s about the writing. So, if you write solid SF, fantasy, or horror, check us out at http://www.allegoryezine.com.

eSB: If there was one dream project you could work on what would it be?

TD: I just finished it. It’s called The New Americans and it’s a collaboration with my father, who passed away from cancer in 1992. Before he died, he left behind a series of cassette tapes on which he’d outlined a novel based on my grandfather’s experiences as a Sicilian immigrant who came to America as a boy in 1915. It took me almost thirty years to work up the will and the courage to tackle this story and it’s been the most challenging project of my life. But it’s done now and being marketed around. Incredible, really. If anyone wants to know more, they can check out my podcast “Legacy: The Novel Writing Experience.” It’s kind of a novel-writing tutorial, told through the lens of my father’s tapes and my efforts to turn them into a book. It’s available wherever podcasts can be found.

eSB: Could you tell us about one of your most amusing or joyous experiences promoting your books?

TD: Back when The Undertakers series was in full swing, I used to visit a lot of middle schools. I mean, a lot. To date, I’ve been to more than seventy of them in six states from Maine to Kentucky, and I’ve spoken in front of something over 60,000 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders. At one of these events, just before being invited to begin my talk, they sat me down in the front row of their auditorium and performed for me a play based on the first Undertakers book. I sat there watching these kids in humble astonishment and I’d be lying if I said there weren’t tears in my eyes. To this day, it’s the single most gratifying experience I’ve had as a writer.

eSB: What is one thing you would share that would surprise your readers?

TD: Three of the four main characters in Dragons are named for my children!

eSB: What are some of your other works readers can look for?

TD: Check out Torq. It’s a dystopian YA superhero novel that came out in 2018. Torq was published through Swallow’s End Press and you can find it on Amazon. I’m also in the process of turning it into an audiobook podcast! Then, of course, there’s the five-book Undertakers series, which has been optioned for the big screen!  

eSB: How can readers find out more about you?

TD: I blog, though not as often as I should. But feel free to visit me at tydrago.com. And please, if you do, leave a comment and say hello. It’s nice when people do that.

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Ty Drago is a full-time writer and the author of eight published novels, including his five-book Undertakers series, the first of which has been optioned for a feature film. Torq, a dystopian YA superhero adventure, was released by Swallow’s End Publishing in 2018. Add to these one novelette, myriad short stories and articles, and appearances in two anthologies. He’s also the founder, publisher, and managing editor of ALLEGORY, a highly successful online magazine that, for more than twenty years, has features speculative fiction by new and established authors worldwide.

Ty’s currently just completed The New Americans, a work of historical fiction and a collaborative effort with his father, who passed away in 1992. If that last sentence leaves you with questions, check out his podcast, “Legacy: The Novel Writing Experience,” to get the whole story.

He lives in New Jersey with his wife Helene, plus one cat and one dog.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – KEITH R.A. DeCANDIDO

eSpec Books interviews Keith R.A. DeCandido, contributor to the anthology Horns and Halos edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which is currently funding on Kickstarter.

eSB: Please tell us a little something of your story.

KRAD: “Unguarded” is part of a bunch of urban fantasy stories I’ve been doing that take place in New York City and that focus on Coursers, who are supernatural hunters-for-hire. If you need a unicorn wrangled, if you need someone to guard werewolves on the night of the full moon, if you need to find out why weird, unexplainable stuff is happening, then you hire a Courser.

The Courser in this story is Yolanda Rodriguez, a former volleyball coach and physical education teacher who has been a Courser ever since her husband’s leg was chewed off by a Wendigo. One of her daughters has a friend who is suffering from extreme bad luck. That friend is Muslim, and it turns out that the four hafazhah who are in charge of keeping him safe until his appointed time are being blocked from fulfilling their purpose. Yolanda has to figure out how and why.

eSB: Angels and Devils are a common theme in fiction. How did you make yours stand out? How much of a challenge was it?

KRAD: Well, mainly I wanted to do something different from the way angels have been done in fiction, whether the old trope of angels as ethereal paragons or the more recent trend (seen in places like the Sandman comics and on the TV show Supernatural) of portraying them as arrogant snots. I also wanted to do something other than Christian angels.

I found myself really compelled by the notion of hafazhah: in Islamic tradition, everyone has four angels that protect them—one stands in front, one stands behind, and the other two take over after half the day is over. I really love the idea of angels that work in shifts…

eSB: Is your story based on particular lore or legend, or did you take the broad concept and run with it?

KRAD: Nothing specific, just the general notion of how the hafazhah work.

eSB: Is your story set in an existing universe or fresh and new for this collection?

KRAD: As I said above, it’s part of a larger urban fantasy setting I’ve been working in. Thus far it includes the novel A Furnace Sealed (which focuses on another Courser, Bram Gold), with a forthcoming sequel tentatively titled Feat of Clay, and also the short stories “Under the King’s Bridge” (another Bram story that appeared in the anthology Liar Liar and my short-story collection Without a License) and “Materfamilias” (the story that introduced Yolanda, which was in the recent Bad Ass Moms anthology).

eSB: Are your characters here ones that you plan to revisit?

KRAD: Oh heck yeah. I love Yolanda and her family—both her teenage daughters help her out—and I’m eager to write more about her. In fact, I plan to have her play a role in Feat of Clay…

eSB: What devilish thing have you done as an author?

KRAD: I love sneaking in obscure references that only some of the readers get. In my first Star Trek novel, Diplomatic Implausibility, I referenced a planet called Koosbane, named after the alien world that Kermit the Frog used to report from on Sesame Street. My first Supernatural novel had a reference to Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden novels, and one of the sidebars I wrote for the new Star Trek Adventures Klingon Empire Core Rulebook has a Supernatural reference.

eSB: What angelic thing have you done as an author?

KRAD: I always try very hard to pay it forward and help out other authors wherever possible. One of the most toxic notions is that authors are in competition with each other, which is ridiculous and counterproductive. That’s why writers organizations like the Science-fiction & Fantasy Writers of America and the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers are so important, and also why I joined the Liars Club a decade ago, and why I love being part of Bard’s Tower. Authors should help each other.

eSB: What are some of your other works readers can look for?

KRAD: Also from you fine folks at eSpec is my “Precinct” series of fantasy police procedurals, which are cop stories in an epic fantasy setting. Thus far, there are five novels—Dragon Precinct, Unicorn Precinct, Goblin Precinct, Gryphon Precinct, and Mermaid Precinct—and one short story collection—Tales from Dragon Precinct—with two more novels and one more short story collection (at least) on the way.

I’ve written a cycle of urban fantasy stories set in Key West, Florida, some of which are in Ragnarok and Roll: Tales of Cassie Zukav, Weirdness Magnet, and the others of which can be found in various anthologies, collections, and webzines, including Buzzy Mag, Out of Tune, A Baker’s Dozen of Magic, TV Gods: Summer Programming, Without a License, and Unearthed.

Plus, I’ve written a ton of media tie-ins in more than thirty different licensed universes, including TV shows (Star Trek, Supernatural, Doctor Who, Farscape), movies (Alien, Cars, Kung Fu Panda, Resident Evil), comic books (Spider-Man, Thor, X-Men, Hulk), and games (Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Command & Conquer).

eSB: What projects of your own do you have coming up?

KRAD: I’ve got two collaborative novels out this year, one from eSpec, one from WordFire Press. The former is To Hell and Regroup, written with David Sherman, which is the third book in David’s “18th Race” trilogy of military science fiction novels. I edited the first two books in the trilogy, and when David found he couldn’t finish the third book for health reasons, he asked me to work with him on it. I’m quite proud of the work I did, and I think David’s fans will be happy with the conclusion.

The latter is Animal, which I wrote with Munish K. Batra, MD. It’s a thriller about a serial killer who targets people who harm animals. It’s a departure from my usual, and very much a horror book as much as a thriller—it’s kind of Dexter if it was created by PETA.

eSB: How can readers find out more about you?

KRAD: Best bet is to follow the various links on my web site at DeCandido.net, which takes you to my blog, my various social media places, and so on.

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Keith R.A. DeCandido has been an author, editor, critic, TV personality, martial artist, museum curator, Census worker, musician, sportswriter, and podcaster over the course of the last three decades. He’s best known for his fiction writing, with more than 50 novels, around a hundred works of short fiction, and a mess of comic books. He’s written fiction in more than thirty different licensed universes, based on TV shows (Star Trek, Supernatural, Doctor Who, Farscape), movies (Alien, Cars, Kung Fu Panda, Resident Evil), comic books (Spider-Man, Thor, X-Men, Hulk), and games (Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, Command & Conquer, StarCraft), and also in his own original universes, including fantastical police procedurals set in the fictional cities of Cliff’s End (Dragon Precinct and its sequels) and Super City (the Super City Cops novels and novellas) and urban fantasy tales set in the somewhat real locales of New York (the Bram Gold Adventures) and Key West (tales of Cassie Zukav, weirdness magnet). Recent and upcoming work includes the Alien novel Isolation (based on both the movie series and the videogame), the collaborative novels Animal (with Munish K. Batra, MD) and To Hell and Regroup (with David Sherman), the next books in his ongoing series, Phoenix Precinct and Feat of Clay, the graphic novels Icraus and Jellinek (with Gregory A. Wilson and Áthila Fabbio), and short stories in the anthologies Across the Universe: Tales of Alternative Beatles, Bad Ass Moms, Footprints in the Stars, Thrilling Adventure Yarns, Pangaea Book 3: Redemption, and Brave New Girls: Adventures of Gals & Gizmos). Keith has also been writing about pop culture for the award-winning webzine Tor.com since 2011, has been an editor of thirty years’ standing (though he usually does it sitting down), is a third-degree black belt in karate, plays percussion professionally, and probably some other stuff he can’t remember due to the lack of sleep. Find out less at his hilariously primitive web site at DeCandido.net

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AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – MICHAEL A. BLACK

eSpec Books interviews Michael A. Black, contributor to the anthology Horns and Halos edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which is currently funding on Kickstarter.

eSB: Please tell us a little something of your story.

MAB: I’ve always been fascinated by the similarities between disparate cultures, and there are a lot those between Christianity and Native American mythology. American Indians have more of an affinity with nature and tend to see things along an interrelated continuum. My late friend, David Walks-as-Bear, used to tell me how the various animals and plants were all signs and prognosticators of various conditions and situations to come. He was one of the smartest guys I’ve ever known. I tried to include some of that sense of wisdom and Indian mysticism in my story, “Seven Ravens.”

eSB: Angels and Devils are a common theme in fiction. How did you make yours stand out? How much of a challenge was it?

MAB: The challenge for me  is always to try and write a story that will engage and entertain the reader. I try to do this every time out. Fashioning a story around a certain theme is sometimes difficult, but I tried to use it as a starting point. The next step is figuring out the plot and putting in some interesting characters.

eSB: Is your story based on a particular lore or legend, or did you take the broad concept and run with it?

MAB: I’ve been writing a lot about Native American culture lately because I’ve been doing so many westerns. When the opportunity to write a horror story involving angels and devils came up, I had a vast amount of material to look at regarding Indian folklore. I chose one particular legend about a terrible monster that was based in tribal lore from the Ojibwa and other tribes that were prevalent in the Midwest. Like all legends, each retelling enhances it a little, so my version included some extrapolation.

eSB: Is your story set in an existing universe or fresh and new for this collection?

MAB: My story is set in our universe during present times. Naturally, the subject matter dictates that it tiptoes along the thin tightrope between literary reality and the universe of the unknown.

eSB: Are your characters here ones that you plan to revisit?

MAB: Well, I hadn’t planned on revisiting them, but if the opportunity arises, I’d be glad to bring them and the monster back for round two.

eSB: Is this your first time writing for a themed anthology, or have you done so before? What draws you to such projects?

MAB: This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve been in numerous themed anthologies. What appeals to me about doing them is my goal to be published in as many different genres as possible. I’ve always believed that each genre offers a unique opportunity to reach different readers, and, hopefully, they’ll look up some of my other work if they like this one. Regardless, I’ve always believed that good writing is good writing, regardless of the type or genre, so I give it my best each time out.

eSB: What devilish thing have you done as an author?

MAB: I’m usually pretty well behaved during my author appearances, although I do try to be entertaining. I once held a board in front of me and broke it with a karate blow, if that counts. Another time I sang a song as part of a reading. I’m sure some people in the audience thought that the devil made me do it.

eSB: What angelic thing have you done as an author?

MAB: I’ve donated several stories to anthologies where the proceeds go to charity or worthy organizations. Like St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, for one. One police procedural story I wrote for an anthology donated all the proceeds to the National Police Memorial in Washington DC. I have two friends whose names are on that wall due to being killed in the line of duty. So I’m sure there are two angels looking down on that one.

eSB: Could you tell us about one of your most amusing experiences promoting your books?

MAB: I was a featured speaker at an out of state conference once in Colorado. I arrived and saw that my books weren’t there. I contacted the book seller, who assured me he’d have them there, and he said they were on the way. I made the best of it, doing my panels and speaking engagement. I even won second place in this extensive mystery trivia contest, narrowly losing to a pair of librarians. Well, needless to say, after drumming up all that interest, my books never arrived. I flew back home to Chicago only to find an email from the book seller saying my books had arrived and asking if I wished to purchase any before he sent the returns back.

eSB: What is one thing you would share that would surprise your readers?

MAB: I’m an animal lover, but this is common knowledge to anyone who knows me personally. One of the most dangerous calls I had when I was on the police department  was rescuing a kitten from a tree. Well, it was more like a full grown cat. The day before it had been chased pretty high up a huge tree by some animal, and the little girl and her mother were down at the base crying. A retired  fireman lived in the area and brought over a ladder and extended it upward. As soon as I arrived, he said, “I was going to try to climb up there, but since you’re here…” I didn’t mention to him that it seemed more Firemanish that Police-like to be climbing a ladder, but I ventured up anyway. The cat was originally about thirty feet up in the crux of this tall maple, but as the ladder was placed against the trunk, the animal scampered up to the next crux, which was about forty-five feet above the ground. I slowly ascended the ladder, hoping that the cat would somehow know I was rescuing it and not venture higher. Did I mention that I never was fond of heights? Well, I made it up to the top of the ladder and reached out, trying to make soft mewing sounds. The cat hissed a bit, but I grabbed it by the scruff to prevent it from moving and held it against my chest. It immediately dug all twenty claws into the material, and I managed a slow descent. When I got to the bottom the little girl was ecstatic to get her pet back. Before handing the cat back to its owner, I admonished the animal that it had eight lives left, and to use them wisely. I also advised the mother to try keeping the kitty inside so I wouldn’t have to climb any more ladders. I then looked up at just how high I’d climbed and realized it must have been close to sixty feet. Of course, the height seems to taller every time I tell this tale, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I used to get called any time there was a call involving an unusual animal. I rescued countless raccoons trapped in dumpsters, an opossum for a lady’s bathroom one night, brought a red-tailed hawk to a bird sanctuary, and even relocated a stray deer that had become trapped in an auto junk yard. One time when I was working on the police department one of my guys called me and said he had a “situation.” Apparently there was a very large snake crawling about in the parking lot of a strip mall near a liquor store. My guy said it was no ordinary snake and had to be someone’s pet. I went over as saw the reptile was indeed pretty long and unusual. It wasn’t enormous, but it was about four feet in length. Snakes are for the most part non-aggressive, but this one was surrounded by a crowd and a bit agitated. I instructed one of my guys to get a large paper bag from the liquor store, and then I grabbed the snake by the tail and held it at arm’s length until he returned. I then tried to place the snake into the bag, but that proved harder than it looked. Finally, I had two officers hold the bag open with their batons and while I guided the creature into the bag. After the critter was secured, it calmed down a bit and I was able to call a herpetologist to take charge of the snake.

eSB: What are some of your other works readers can look for?

MAB: Well, I’m  currently working on a new series involving modern-day bounty hunters called the Trackdown series. The protagonist is an ex-army ranger who served time for a war crime he didn’t commit. Now he’s out to try and clear his name. It should be coming out in October 2020 if all goes as planned. In the meantime, I’m writing the Gunslinger western series under the name AW Hart, who’s a bestselling author. My latest two in that series are Gunslinger: Killer’s Brand, and Gunslinger: Killer’s Ghost. The latter has a mystery element to it so I’m particularly proud of that one. I also do the Executioner series under the name Don Pendleton. My latest one in that series is Cold Fury, which takes place in Alaska and Canada.

eSB: What projects of your own do you have coming up?

MAB: As I said, the Trackdown series is the next one coming out under my own name. Each title will have Trackdown as the header, then a subsequent title. For instance, the first two books in the series are slated to be Trackdown: Devil’s Dance, and Trackdown: Devil’s Fancy. I’m really excited about this one.

eSB: How can readers find out more about you?

MAB: My website was hijacked by pirates (no kidding) but I’ve got an author’s page on Amazon, and my bio and books are listed on Crossroadpress.com and Wolfpack Publishing.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – MICHELLE D. SONNIER

eSpec Books interviews Michelle D. Sonnier, author of An Unceasing Hunger, the sequel to The Clockwork Witch, which is currently funding on Kickstarter.

eSB: It has been a while since we looked at the Clockwork Witch universe, can you give us a little recap to bring readers up to speed?

MS: In the first book, we have Arabella, who is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. Her mother thought she would be the fulfillment of the great Cagliostro Prophecy, but year after year, Arabella showed no magical talent at all and she became the embarrassment of the family. That is until she saw a machine. At that point, Arabella’s magic did blossom but rather than being nature-based magic it was technomancy. She fought to be accepted and endured The Trials so she could be recognized as a full witch by the English Council of Witches, with all the benefits and responsibilities thereof. But Arabella isn’t safe yet…. There are people who want her dead because they think she is an abomination.

eSB: How long after the first book ended does An Unceasing Hunger takes place?

MS: An Unceasing Hunger picks up three days after The Clockwork Witch ends. We’re still in the thick of it and Arabella is still in danger, even if she doesn’t realize how much danger.

eSB: What is the biggest change for your character, Arabella? What change has been fostered by the first book that will carry over to the second?

MS: The biggest change for Arabella so far is finding her backbone. She’s been so downtrodden for so long, constantly told what a disappointment she is, so it was hard for her at first to defend herself or even raise her voice. But now she has to figure out how to stand up for herself or risk becoming someone else’s very powerful puppet. In the new book, I’ve been very excited to see how moving out into the world and discovering new people and places changes Arabella. Her mother kept her very sheltered and she really has no idea about how a lot of things in the world work. Arabella is in for a lot of shocks.

eSB: Do we see a change in fortune for Arabella, or has the development of her unique power caused more conflict for her to resolve? If so, please give us an idea what pitfalls lay ahead of her.

MS: Arabella is still growing into her powers, still figuring out what she can do. So, that’s one major pitfall. She has no map to guide her, no curriculum laid out for her to know where she is in her own development. A fire witch has generations of witches before her who have explored the bounds of that power and what it can and can’t do. Arabella doesn’t have that. Also, Arabella is going to be on the run for a long time. There are witches who think she’s an abomination, and Westerfeld is still out there and he still has an axe to grind with Arabella. He’s also linked himself up with a shadowy group steeped in anti-witch sentiment called the Ilhexerai. Many of these people want her dead, and some of them want her subdued and under their control so they can use her power. She needs to stay at least one step ahead of a lot of different people if she wants to maintain her freedom and her life.

eSB: Are you working on any other projects in this universe that you would like to share with us?

MS: Oh yes! I have so many more stories to tell in the universe. Arabella’s arc alone will be seven books. If you remember the gold bands she removed from the grand clock in the first book – each one of those is another novel. I know what the central theme is for each upcoming book, but I only have serious plotting done through Book 3, and I have some exciting thoughts about Book 4. I don’t like to hem myself in with too much detail too early, because I learn so much about my characters as I write them and I want there to be room for the story to grow organically.

And then I’d like to follow Arabella’s daughter (yes, she’s coming at some point) when she becomes old enough for an adventure of her own. I imagine her heading into the less-developed area of the world now known as northern Mexico and the southwestern US. She’s searching for new ways of doing magic and she becomes a bit of a “spell slinger” in the wild, wild west.

And then there are the stories of the less central characters in the mainline books – There are twelve Houses in the English Witches Council alone, and each House is full of interesting women. I think I’d also like to write more about Guardian witches and how they are selected and trained. And then there’s the Ancient Sidhe Wars…. But that’s a bit down the line. I need to finish Arabella’s arc first!

eSB: You have a prequel novella set in this same universe, Death’s Embrace. Could you share a bit about that with us?

MS: Macaria’s story started as a simple character sketch for a major secondary character appearing in Book 3 of Arabella’s arc. But she just kept talking to me, and I kept writing. It was so interesting for me to investigate a different part of this world and learn new things about the wider back story. The Witches Councils throughout this world are not monolithic. They each have their own traditions and ways of doing things. But they do have some things in common, like keeping strict control over any woman with magical power.

eSB: Do you have plans for more adventures featuring Macaria?

MS: Indeed I do… Macaria will get pulled into the hunt for a dangerous wild, unbound witch. She still needs to figure out nyxies and how to deal with them. She’s going to fall in love and have a daughter of her own, even though that’s highly discouraged by the Polish Witches Council. Every member of the Council holds her breath until they can bind Macaria’s daughter and assure themselves that she hasn’t been taken by madness, which is a significant risk with daughters of death witches. And she’ll need to be ready to appear in Book 3 of Arabella’s arc, much older and wiser, to help Arabella deal with the Ilhexerai and whispers of dangerous dream magic.

eSB: Could you tell us about one of your most amusing or joyous experiences promoting your books?

MS: I think one of the most satisfying moments I’ve had so far was at Balticon right after we released The Clockwork Witch. I saw one of the security staff who was stationed at the Dealer’s Room and she was reading The Clockwork Witch. She looked absolutely engrossed in the book like she was really enjoying it. Another wonderful moment was when a book club chose me for their monthly read, and they asked me if I’d come to the meeting where they were discussing The Clockwork Witch. To hear right from them how much they enjoyed it was a real thrill, especially the one gentleman who said he usually doesn’t like this genre but he liked my book. It’s one of the best feelings in the world when someone enjoys your work. That’s all I want to do really, is to tell interesting stories that people enjoy.

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Read an excerpt from An Unceasing Hunger

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Michelle D. Sonnier writes dark urban fantasy, steampunk, and anything else that lets her combine the weird and the fantastic in unexpected ways. She even writes horror, although it took her a long time to admit that since she prefers the existential scare over blood and gore. She’s published short stories in a variety of print and online venues and has upcoming projects with eSpec Books and Otter Libris. You can find her on Facebook (Michelle D. Sonnier, The Writer) or at http://www.michelledsonnier.com. She lives in Maryland with her husband, son, and a variable number of cats. The Clockwork Witch is her first full-length novel.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – JOHN L. FRENCH

eSpec Books interviews John L. French, contributor to the anthology Horns and Halos edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which is currently funding on Kickstarter.

eSB: Please tell us a little something of your story.

JLF: The story is called “Let’s Make a Deal” and it is set in Clancy’s Pour house, a bar in Baltimore. One night a stranger in black walks into the bar and offers to provide its patrons with whatever they desire – for a price of course. And the bigger the ask, the higher the price.

eSB: Is your story based on a particular lore or legend, or did you take the broad concept and run with it?

JLF: I took a much-used concept and added what I thought was a unique twist to it.

eSB: Is your story set in an existing universe or fresh and new for this collection?

JLF: It is the second story set in Clancy’s Pour House, the first of which made its debut in The Santa Heist and other Christmas Stories. A character in “Let’s Make a Deal also has ties to my Simon Tombs series.

eSB: Are your characters here ones that you plan to revisit?

JLF: Definitely. I’ve already used one of the characters in two other stories and hope to use them again.

eSB: Is this your first time writing for a themed anthology, or have you done so before? What draws you to such projects?

JLF: No, I’ve written for and edited several themed anthologies, both for eSpec Books and other publishers. The draw of themed books for me as a writer is that it gives me a starting point. It also challenges me to do something different with a well-known theme.

eSB: What devilish thing have you done as an author?

JLF:  If we’re talking “devilish” as meaning “impish” I like to sneak in Easter eggs such as references to TV shows, movies, and cartoons. If we’re talking “devilish” as in dark and evil, I’ve had my villains kill pets and children. (Don’t worry, folks, they were punished.)

eSB: What angelic thing have you done as an author?

JLF: Most of my books have a theme of redemption, either the main character’s or someone else’s

eSB: Could you tell us about one of your most amusing experiences promoting your books?

JLF: Not so much “amusing” but surprising. My novel The DEVIL OF HARBOR CITY is done in the pulp style, “Devil” being the nickname of the cop who is the lead character. The character’s tag line is “Ready to pay for your sins?” When signing books I will sometimes inscribe it then write “Always pay for your sins.” One day someone who bought this book, on reading the inscription, came back to me and said, “I just stole a lot of money from my sister and now I’ll pay it back.” It’s not often you’re the hand of Fate.

eSB: What is one thing you would share that would surprise your readers?

JLF: As a CSI for the Baltimore PD I have helped catch serial killers. That, and I was a character in three Batman comics.

eSB: What are some of your other works readers can look for?

JLF: My most recent books are THE SANTA HEIST, written with Patrick Thomas (Bold Venture Press) and THE MAGIC OF SIMON TOMBS (Padwolf Publishing). The latter is my tribute to Leslie Charteris’s The Saint and features both angels and demons.

eSB: What projects of your own do you have coming up?

JLF: One of my first books was PAST SINS, stories about a CSI who becomes a private eye. The sequel, MORTAL SINS, will (hopefully) be published early 2021. I’m am also involved in Patrick Thomas’s AGENTS OF THE ABYSS series which features a variety of classic monsters. My contributions will be “Baker Street Abyss” stories as well as a retelling of the story of Victor Frankenstein and his creation. It will focus on how monsters are made (and redeemed).

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JOHN L. FRENCH is a retired crime scene supervisor with forty years’ experience. He has seen more than his share of murders, shootings, and serious assaults. As a break from the realities of his job, he started writing science fiction, pulp, horror, fantasy, and, of course, crime fiction.

John’s first story “Past Sins” was published in Hardboiled Magazine and was cited as one of the best Hardboiled stories of 1993. More crime fiction followed, appearing in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, the Fading Shadows magazines, and in collections by Barnes and Noble. Association with writers like James Chambers and the late, great C.J. Henderson led him to try horror fiction and to a still-growing fascination with zombies and other undead things. His first horror story “The Right Solution” appeared in Marietta Publishing’s Lin Carter’s Anton Zarnak. Other horror stories followed in anthologies such as The Dead Walk and Dark Furies, both published by Die Monster Die books. It was in Dark Furies that his character Bianca Jones made her literary debut in “21 Doors,” a story based on an old Baltimore legend and a creepy game his daughter used to play with her friends.

John’s first book was The Devil of Harbor City, a novel done in the old pulp style. Past Sins and Here There Be Monsters followed. John was also a consulting editor for Chelsea House’s Criminal Investigation series. His other books include The Assassins’ Ball (written with Patrick Thomas), Souls on Fire, The Nightmare Strikes, Monsters Among Us, The Last Redhead, the Magic of Simon Tombs, and The Santa Heist (written with Patrick Thomas). John is the editor of To Hell in a Fast Car, Mermaids 13, C. J. Henderson’s Challenge of the Unknown, Camelot 13 (with Patrick Thomas), and (with Greg Schauer) With Great Power …

You can find John on Facebook or you can email him at jfrenchfam@aol.com.