Do we have a treat for you this week! Two of our readings are sneak peeks at upcoming books! The third is about biker faeries! How could you go wrong? 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 Books Author Reading Series
Christopher L. Bennett reading an excerpt of his upcoming novel, Arachne’s Exile.
What a Tangled Web…
When the colony starship Arachne unwittingly destroyed a deep-space habitat of the Chirrn, her crew committed themselves to a lifetime of penance to repay their debt. But a brutal act of vengeance has now forced them into exile in a distant part of the galaxy.
Drawn into a cosmic conspiracy spanning millennia, the colonists learn that the Chirrn’s ancient choices have exacted a terrible toll on human history. Now, their only way to win true freedom may be to carry out a perilous theft aboard an extraordinary megastructure orbiting a neutron star.
Will Arachne and her crew pull off the heist of the millennium? Or are they being manipulated into committing a far more awful crime… one for which all humanity could pay the price?
About the Author
Christopher L. Bennett is a lifelong resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, with a B.S. in Physics and a B.A. in History from the University of Cincinnati. A fan of science and science fiction since age five, he has spent the past two decades selling original short fiction to magazines such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact (home of his “Hub” series of comedy adventures), BuzzyMag, and Galaxy’s Edge. Since 2003, he has been one of Pocket Books’ most prolific and popular authors of Star Trek tie-in fiction, including the epic Next Generation prequel The Buried Age, the Enterprise — Rise of the Federation series, and the Original Series prequel The Captain’s Oath. He has also written two Marvel Comics novels, X-Men: Watchers on the Walls and Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder. His original novel Only Superhuman, perhaps the first hard science fiction superhero novel, was voted Library Journal’s SF/Fantasy Debut of the Month for October 2012. He has three collections reprinting his original short fiction, Among the Wild Cybers: Tales Beyond the Superhuman from eSpec Books (containing an original Only Superhuman prequel novelette) and Hub Space: Tales from the Greater Galaxy and Crimes of the Hub from Mystique Press.
Megan Mackie and Frank Sjodin reading an excerpt from Megan’s short story “A Krampusnacht Carol” from the upcoming anthology, Horns & Halos, edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail and John L. French.
About the Author
Megan Mackie is a writer, actor, and playwright. She started her writing career as an indie author and had such smashing success in her first year with her inaugural book The Finder of the Lucky Devil, that she made the transition to traditional publishing. She has become a personality at many cons, recognizable by her iconic leather hat and engaging smile. She has recently joined Bard’s Tower, a mobile con bookstore, and has sold her books next to great authors such as Peter David, Melinda Snodgrass, Dan Wells, Claudia Gray, John Jackson Miller, and Jim Butcher, to name a few. She has written four novels including: The Finder of the Lucky Devil, The Saint of Liars, Death and the Crone, and Saint Code: Lost all of which will be re-releasing through eSpec Books.
She is also a contributing writer in the role-playing game Legendlore soon to be published by Onyx Path Publishing. Outside of writing she likes to play games: board games, RPGs, and video games. She has a regular Pathfinder group who is working their way through Rapanthuk. She lives in Chicago with her husband and children, dog, three cats, and her mother in the apartment upstairs.
About the Voice
Actor Frank R Sjodin has performed at and built sets for various theatres across the Chicago area, most notably as a clown and puppeteer. As a voice actor, he is best known for the role of Andrew Snidge in the online serial radio production Our Fair City, which ran for eight seasons. Though he technically is employed game-mastering escape rooms, he is spending most of the pandemic game mastering role-playing games virtually and occasionally writing.
Danielle Ackley-McPhail reading an excerpt from her biker faerie novel, The Halfling’s Court: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale.
Get Your Bad-Ass On!
The rumble of a Harley…
The gleam of black leather…
The shine of polished chrome…
The freedom of the open road….
Motorcycles meet magic and mayhem as Lance Cosain, the halfling leader of The Wild Hunt MC, protects his turf and his people from attacks ordered by Dair na Scath, the high king of the fae.
Holding his own against rogue fae, redcaps, and pissed-off road gremlins, all Lance wants to do is settle down with his lady. Instead, he goes toe-to-toe with the high king’s champion over an ancient dagger and his claim to the throne.
Who will triumph? The king of the road or the king of the realm?
Either way, the Hunt is on!
About the Author
Award-winning author, editor, and publisher Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for longer than she cares to admit. In 2014 she joined forces with husband Mike McPhail and friend Greg Schauer to form her own publishing house, eSpec Books (www.especbooks.com).
Her published works include six novels, Yesterday’s Dreams, Tomorrow’s Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court, The Redcaps’ Queen, and Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, written with Day Al-Mohamed. She is also the author of the solo collections Eternal Wanderings, A Legacy of Stars, Consigned to the Sea, Flash in the Can, Transcendence, Between Darkness and Light, and the non-fiction writers’ guides The Literary Handyman and LH: Build-A-Book Workshop.
She is the senior editor of the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, Gaslight & Grimm, Side of Good/Side of Evil, After Punk, and Footprints in the Stars. Her short stories are included in numerous other anthologies and collections.
In addition to her literary acclaim, she crafts and sells original costume horns under the moniker The Hornie Lady Custom Costume Horns, and homemade flavor-infused candied ginger under the brand of Ginger KICK! at literary conventions, on commission, and wholesale.
Danielle lives in New Jersey with husband and fellow writer, Mike McPhail and one extremely spoiled cat. To learn more about her work, visit http://www.sidhenadaire.com or http://www.especbooks.
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Reblogged this on Christopher L. Bennett: Written Worlds and commented:
The newest entry in the eSpec Books Author Reading Series includes me reading an excerpt from the prologue to ARACHNE’S EXILE (beware spoilers for ARACHNE’S CRIME).
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