This week’s offerings are all Guest Author videos with a fantasy theme harkening to myth and legend for inspiration. We hope you’ll enjoy them all. If you are interested in the books, they can be purchased via the links provided.
If you are an author and would like to participate in one of these series, please visit the eSpec Books Author Reading Series Facebook page for details.
The eSpec Guest Author Reading Series
Danielle Ackley-McPhail reading her short story “The Devil in the Details” from the anthology Heroes of the Realm, published by Realm Makers Media.
About the Book
One Need not Be a Hero to Make Heroic Choices.
When villainy strikes, when harm threatens, when nature takes its brutal unsympathetic course, true heroes take their stand in an instant, without thought, and chose to act on the side of good, despite risk. Not because of glory, or for reward, but because it is right.
Of course, some who are hailed as heroes are nothing of the sort,
and what we perceive as villainy is at times simply misunderstanding.
It takes a brave soul to seek out the difference.
Realmscapes: Heroes of the Realm… With stories by Kathy Tyers, L. Jagi Lamplighter, James Chambers, Steve Rzasa, Gabrielle Pollack, Wayne Thomas Batson, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Paul Regnier, Kerry Nietz, Teisha J. Priest, and Jeffrey Lyman.
Mary Fan reading and excerpt from “The Firedragon’s Hunt,” from her collection A Girl Called Firedragon, published by Crazy8 Press.
About the Book
Teen monster slayer Aurelia “the Firedragon” Sun has been training since she could walk to do one thing: gank supernaturals. Almost a hundred years ago, the Lord of the Underworld unleashed countless beasts upon the earth, and it’s up to fighters like her to defend what’s left of humanity. But under the Triumvirate—a totalitarian regime built from the ashes of the United States—she’ll always be considered a second-class citizen for being born without magic, no matter how great her combat skills. Meanwhile, a secret rebellion is brewing, one whose beliefs in freedom and equality mirror her own.
A Girl Called Firedragon is an illustrated collection of short works that follow Aurelia’s journey from government-trained cadet to underground revolutionary. Stories included are: The Firedragon, Firedragon Rising, The Firedragon’s Hunt, The Firedragon Strikes
This compendium follows Aurelia’s standalone adventures prior to the events of Flynn Nightsider and the Edge of Evil, the first novel in the Flynn Nightsider series.
Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg reading an excerpt from her story “Hellbeans” from the recently released anthology Bad Ass Moms, edited by Mary Fan and published by Crazy8 Press.
About the Book
To celebrate bad-ass moms everywhere, Crazy 8 Press has assembled a fantastic line-up of authors to create stories spanning numerous genres, including sci-fi, contemporary, historical, and fantasy. Since moms and badassery come in infinite forms, the authors were given only one criteria: that their story be about a bad-ass mother or mother figure, whatever that meant to them.
From grandmas to new moms, biological moms to adoptive moms to mom figures, this collection features a fantastic range of stories. A human mom on the PTA of a school for supernatural kids. A new mom who adopts two babies with special powers. A hard-boiled detective who stumbles upon a mystery while looking for childcare. A grandma who fights back against an unsavory mayoral candidate. A witch who battles dark magic while wrangling her kids. An artificial intelligence who nurtures delinquent boys sent to her care. And much, much more.
STORIES BY: Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Derek Tyler Attico, TE Bakutis, Russ Colchamiro, Paige Daniels, Kathleen O’Shea David, Peter David, Keith RA DeCandido, Mary Fan, Michael Jan Friedman, Robert Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, Heather E Hutsell, Kris Katzen, Paul Kupperberg, Karissa Laurel, TJ Perkins, Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg, Aaron Rosenberg, Joanna Schnurman, Hildy Silverman, and Denise Sutton.
eSpec Books 