The time is upon us! We have been doing ChessieCon for years… since before it was ChessieCon, in fact. Last year I was invited as Guest of Honor, but sadly the event was forced to go virtual again because they lost their hotel and did not have sufficient time to secure another one.
This year they are at the Hunt Valley (formerly the Marriot, currently, I believe, Delta… but I could be wrong. This hotel has more identities than Sybil, but tell someone you’re going to be at the Hunt Valley, and they will know exactly where you mean!) In any case, I am invited back again this year as Guest of Honor, and I am so excited about the line-up they have scheduled. We will, of course, have a space in the dealer’s room where I can be found when I am not on panels or committed to other official things. Here is my schedule for the weekend:
Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Friday
5pm – Salon F
Danielle Ackley-McPhail Reading
7:30pm – Salon D
Basics of Crowdfunding
Saturday
10 am – Valley Room
Mass Signing
11:30 am – Salon C
Bug-Eyed Monsters and Other Alien Menaces
S/FF literature is rife with all sorts of threats to humanity. From literal Bug-Eyed monsters that want to harvest your organs to ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ and “The Thing”, to benign-seeming aliens that want to control your mind. How might actual extraterrestrial threats manifest themselves?
4 pm – Salon C
Alien Cultures vs Human Cultures
Aliens have often been portrayed as humanoid-sorts of beings, particularly in visual media. But what sort of cultural differences might come about if an alien weren’t at all humanoid?
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm Con Suite
The eSpec Book Launch Party – Come help us celebrate our 2022 new releases, including Daire’s Devils and The Play of Light by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, The Clockwork Solution by Michelle D. Sonnier, Esprit de Corpse by Ef Deal, Chessie At Bay by John L. French, and the anthology Devilish & Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail
We will have author readings, goodie bags, books, and a prize raffle
Sunday
10 am – (wherever they are)
Kaffeeklatsch
11 am – Salon D
Stand-Alone Books vs Series, Salon D, Sunday 1100
So, you’ve written a story. It’s complete, it’s coherent, it has an interesting plot, believable world-building, engaging characters, all that good stuff. But has your story come to an actual end? If this part of the story is over, is there a need or room for another part of the story? In other words, does it need a sequel, a prequel, or a somehow related different story?
Mike McPhail
Dealers Room – Mike is taking a pass on programming this weekend to help cover the dealer’s table while I am off doing Guest of Honor stuff.
eSpec Books Fantastic Novels is in the final hours and I am holding my breath waiting to see exactly how many of those remaining rewards we unlock. If you haven’t already, please consider clicking the link and checking out the campaign. The more we raise, the more we can compensate the authors for their work, and the better we can make the books.
You’ve met all of our talents at least briefly, and Ef and Aaron in more depth, but now we delve deeper into the frenetic personality that is Keith R.A. DeCandido, the man with so many different voices in his head that I can’t even count how many books he has released anymore, or how many series he dabbles in. And you know what, all of them are delightful! You may already know this, but it bears saying, Keith is one talented writer! Here is what he has to say about Phoenix Precinct and other works he is currently working on.
eSpec Books interviews Keith R.A. DeCandido, author of The Precinct series of fantasy police procedurals, among many, many other things.
eSB: You have been writing in your Precinct universe for some time. Six novels and who knows how many stories. But my questions is, where did you get the idea for such a unique mash-up?
KRAD: The series is a mashup of two of my favorite sub-genres. I’ve been a fan of cop stories going back to my youth watching Barney Miller and Hill Street Blues, and I’ve been a fan of epic fantasy since being given J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Earthsea Trilogy as young child. I’d also had the characters of Torin ban Wyvald and Danthres Tresyllione bouncing around in my head for years—both were RPG characters I played in my twenties. I struggled for years to find a story worthy of the two of them, and I finally hit upon making them detectives.
eSB: Other than your main characters, do you have any favorites among those reoccurring, and why?
KRAD: Aleta lothLathna was just supposed to be a guest star in a single story, “Catch and Release” in Tales from Dragon Precinct. I was rather caught off guard to realize that she was going to pretty much force herself to become a major supporting character.
eSB: You have mentioned that there really is no room for expansion in your fantasy police force, no more precincts to focus on, but does that mean the tale is done after the final planned novel, Manticore Precinct? What hope can you give those who have fallen in love with these flatfeets?
KRAD: Oh, there are more stories to be told. I already have a notion in mind for the next book after Manticore Precinct. I’ll have to change the title style for the series, but that’s okay…
eSB: Law enforcement of one manner or another seems to be a reoccurring theme in your original fiction. Is there a reason for this, or is it just that they are fun to write? But if so, why do you find them enjoyable/inspiring?
KRAD: I mentioned above that I loved Barney Miller and Hill Street Blues as a kid, and some of my other favorite TV shows are The Wire, Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and The Shield. There’s something about the process of solving a crime that fascinates me, as well as the politics and bureaucracy that come with having a police force. Plus I absolutely love writing interrogation scenes. My favorite part of every Precinct novel to date has been the interrogation scenes…
eSB: You have a diverse cast among your characters, with a wide range of socio-economic groups and typical challenges and conflicts found in an urban setting, which is unavoidable with any police procedural. How do you approach them to put a fresh spin?
KRAD: Honestly, one of the advantages of working in an urban setting, whether it’s Cliff’s End or New York City, is that there are tons of stories to tell precisely because there are so many types of people of different races, classes, religions, desires, jobs, etc. It’s an infinite storytelling well to dip into.
eSB: What makes Phoenix Precinct different from the other cases encountered by the Cliff’s End Guard?
KRAD: One of the things I put into Mermaid Precinct to set Phoenix Precinct up was to have a population influx of refugees from Barlin, which suffered a major fire that displaced a chunk of its population. While the difficulties in integrating the refugees into Cliff’s End was a subplot in Mermaid, it’s front and center in Phoenix, and is inspired by anti-immigrant sentiment that you’ve seen throughout history, from ancient Greeks referring to non-Greeks as “barbarians” to the way Italian, Irish, and Asian immigrants were treated in this country when they first got here (it’s not widely discussed, but the biggest single mass lynching in American history wasn’t of African-Americans, but of Italians in New Orleans in 1891) to recent poor treatments of American immigrants who are Muslim or who come from Latin America.
eSB: Could you tell us about one of your most amusing experiences promoting your books?
KRAD: When my 2006 Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel Blackout came out, I was asked by a local NYC band, the Randy Bandits, to do a joint promotion/concert thing with them. I promoted the novel, they sang a couple of songs from the Buffy musical episode as part of their set, and we even did a dramatic reading of a scene from the novel. It was probably the most bizarre book event I’ve ever done, but I sold a bunch of books, so that was cool. I also sat in with the Bandits on percussion on a couple of songs.
eSB: What is one thing you would share that would surprise your readers?
KRAD: Well, I’m a fourth-degree black belt in karate, which probably won’t surprise all my readers, as I talk about it a lot. Of course, a lot of the people I encounter in my karate teaching and training would be very surprised to learn that I’m an award-winning author of SF/fantasy/horror, so there’s that…
eSB: What are some of your other works readers can look for?
KRAD: I have three other original series running. One is an urban fantasy set in New York that features monster hunters called Coursers. There’s one novel, A Furnace Sealed, with Book 2, Feat of Clay, due out next year, one novella, the Systema Paradoxa book All-the-Way House, and short stories in Liar Liar, Bad Ass Moms, and Devilish and Divine. One is a cycle of urban fantasy short stories set in Key West that involve rock music, SCUBA diving, Norse gods, folklore, and beer drinking, the first batch of which were in the collection Ragnarok and Roll: Tales of Cassie Zukav, Weirdness Magnet, and more of which will be out next year in Ragnarok and a Hard Place: More Tales of Cassie Zukav, Weirdness Magnet. And I’ve written one novel (The Case of the Claw), three novellas (Avenging Amethyst, Undercover Blues, Secret Identities), and three short stories (in With Great Power, The Side of Good/The Side of Evil, and Tales of Capes and Cowls) in the Super City Cops series, about cops in a city filled with superheroes—doing for superheroes what the Precinct books do for fantasy.
2022 has also been The Year Of The Short Story for me: I’ve got tons of stories out this year, in Phenomenons: Every Human Creature, Three Time Travelers Walk Into…, The Fans are Buried Tales, Zorro’s Exploits, Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2022, The Eye of Argon and the Further Adventures of Grignr, Ludlow Charlington’s Doghouse, and the aforementioned Tales of Capes and Cowls.
eSB: What other projects of your own do you have coming up?
KRAD: Besides the ones I mentioned above, I’ve got a Resident Evil comic book debuting in October. This is the official prequel to the Netflix animated series Infinite Darkness, and it’s titled The Beginning; it’s got phenomenal art by Carmelo Zagaria. I’ve got stories coming in Joe Ledger: Unbreakable and Phenomenons: Season of Darkness. And of course, there will be Manticore Precinct. Plus I’ve got some other stuff in development…
eSB: How can readers find out more about you?
KRAD: Click on the links below….
Keith R.A. DeCandido is a white male in his early fifties, approximately two hundred pounds. He was last seen in the wilds of the Bronx, New York City, though he is often sighted in other locales. Usually, he is armed with a laptop computer, which some have classified as a deadly weapon. Through use of this laptop, he has inflicted more than fifty novels, as well as an indeterminate number of comic books, nonfiction, novellas, and works of short fiction on an unsuspecting reading public. Many of these are set in the milieus of television shows, games, movies, and comic books, among them Star Trek, Alien, Cars, ResidentEvil, Doctor Who, Supernatural, World of Warcraft, Marvel Comics, and many more.
We have received information confirming that more stories involving Danthres, Torin, and the city-state of Cliff’s End can be found in the novels Dragon Precinct, Unicorn Precinct, Goblin Precinct, Gryphon Precinct, Tales from Dragon Precinct, and the forthcoming Manticore Precinct and More Tales from Dragon Precinct. His other recent crimes against humanity include an urban fantasy series taking place in DeCandido’s native Bronx (A Furnace Sealed and the forthcoming Feat of Clay, with more threatened); the urban fantasy short story collection Ragnarok and a Hard Place: More Tales of Cassie Zukav, Weirdness Magnet; the Systema Paradoxa novella All-the-Way House; the graphic novel prequel to the Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness TV series, The Beginning; short stories in the anthologies Devilish and Divine, Three Time Travelers Walk Into…, The Fans are Buried Tales, and in the Phenomenons and Thrilling Adventure Yarns series; and nonfiction about pop culture for Tor.com, the Subterranean Blue Grotto, Outside In, and Gold Archive series, and on his own Patreon. Among his known associates are collaborators in his crimes against humanity: Dr. Munish K. Batra (the serial-killer thriller Animal), David Sherman (the military SF novel To Hell and Regroup), and Gregory A. Wilson (the award-winning graphic novel Icarus).
If you see DeCandido, do not approach him, but call for backup immediately. He is often seen in the company of a suspicious-looking woman who goes by the street name of “Wrenn,” as well as several as-yet-unidentified cats. A full dossier can be found at DeCandido.net
So very excited to be getting back to this convention this year. I miss mingling among my fan/family in a familiar and comfortable environment. A lot of fond memories at the Hunt Valley hotel. Really looking forward to celebrating new book releases along with many new-to-SH titles that released over the 2-year hiatus.
Gone to Ground (Systema Paradoxa Volume 2) by Aaron Rosenberg
All-The-Way House (Systema Paradoxa Volume 4) by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Found Footage (Systema Paradoxa Volume 11) by Mary Fan
The Play of Light (Systema Paradoxa Volume 12) by Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Daire’s Devils by Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Devilish & Divine (edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, with stories by Keith R.A. DeCandido, Russ Colchamiro, Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg, Hildy Silverman, Danielle Ackley-McPhail and others.)
For those of you joining us for Shore Leave 2022 this year, below are our panel schedules. Outside of those times, please do come looking for us in the dealer’s room!
We are going light on the horns this year, but heavy on the books and the ginger!
Sorry for the delay in sharing these officially, I was putting in a lot of hours at work.
We are very much looking forward to seeing those of you who will also be at Heliosphere in Piscataway, NJ this weekend. This is our first forey back into in-person events and we couldn’t be more excited! Please do look us up either in the dealer’s room or at one of the following panels if you don’t spy us kicking around the con. We can’t wait to reconnect!
To note the highlights of the weekend, I will have a reading on Saturday at 3:15pm in the library, which I am sharing with David Walton. And in a slightly less recognizable form than pre-‘Rona, we will be holding an eSpec Book Launch with many authors in attendance, including Amy Grech, Gordon Linzner, Teel James Glenn, Robert Ottone, John P. Collins, Jonathan Lees, Marc Abbott, Christopher J. Burke, Hildy Silverman, and Keith R.A. DeCandido, celebrating all the orphan books that grew up in isolation, most particularly Even In The Grave, edited by James Chambers and Carol Gyzander, and Devilish & Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail.
Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Friday 5:15 pm-6:20 pm Salon A/B (Dealers) Books-n-Brews: Danielle Ackley-McPhail and Bjorn Hasseler (you are welcome to have your own table or join forces, if the two of you wish)
Saturday 2:00 pm-3:05 pm Salon C Villains and Dark Stories
Saturday 3:15 pm-4:20 pm Library Readings with Danielle Ackley-McPhail and David Walton
Saturday 8:00 pm-9:59 pm Salon C
Espec Book Launch / EVEN IN THE GRAVE anthology group reading
Saturday 10:00 pm-10:59 pm Salon C The Care And Feeding of Psychological Horror
Sunday 1:00 pm-2:10 pm Salon D Build-a-Book Workshop
Mike McPhail
Saturday 11:30 am-12:45 pm Salon A/B
Books-n-Brews: Alex Shvartsman and Mike McPhail (You are welcome to have your own table, or join forces if both of you would like that.)
Saturday 8:00 pm-9:59 pm Salon C Espec Book Launch / EVEN IN THE GRAVE anthology group reading
Sunday 10:00 am-11:15 am Salon CJudging a book by its cover
Sunday 2:20 pm-3:30 pm Salon C The Relationship between Sci-Fi and Occult / Speculative Interests
Once again, there are going to be a lot of videos in this one. Many, but not all, are from the #GhostsAndGhoulsAndOtherCreepyThings campaign, which ended on the third, but these books can also be pre-ordered from the eSpec store.
Because most of these are from the anthology Even in the Grave, edited by James Chambers and Carol Gyzander, I’m going to put the book description here, rather than repeat it with each video:
“In death – no! even in the grave all is not lost.” –Edgar Allan Poe
Wandering souls! Restless spirits! The vengeful dead! Those who die with unfinished business haunt the living and make their presence known from the world beyond:
A scientist’s invention opens a window onto a terrible afterlife. *A New York City apartment holds the secrets of the dead.
A grandmother sends text messages from the grave. *A samurai returns to his devastated home for a final showdown with his past.
A forgotten TV game show haunts a man with a dark secret.
A tapping from behind classroom walls leads to a horrible discovery.
The specter of a prehistoric beast returns to a modern-day ranch.
And the one seeing eye knows all—including what you did.
Haunted from the other side, these stories roam from modern cities to the shadowed moors to feudal Japan to the jungles of Central America, each providing a spine-chilling glimpse into the shadows not even death can restrain. Do you dare open these pages and peer into the darkness they reveal?
Stories by Marc L. Abbott, Meghan Arcuri, Oliver Baer, Alp Beck, Allan Burd, John P. Collins, Randee Dawn, Trevor Firetog, Caroline Flarity, Patrick Freivald, Teel James Glenn, Amy Grech, April Grey, Jonathan Lees, Gordon Linzner, Robert Masterson, Robert P. Ottone, Rick Poldark, Lou Rera, and Steven Van Patten.
Hope you enjoy!
The eSpec Books Author Reading Series
Lou Rera reading an excerpt from “The Spectacles” from the upcoming EVEN IN THE GRAVE, edited by James Chambers and Carol Gyzander, available for pre-order on the eSpec store.
About the Author
Lou Rera writes horror, supernatural crime and subjects that delve into the darker side of humanity. He is the author of SIGN, a supernatural thriller of deception and murder. His collection titled, AWAKE: Tales of Terror, features 13 stories of horror, supernatural crime, and murder. He is a professional designer, media producer, writer, and musician. He is an experienced music producer, working in studios in Western New York and Los Angeles.
He is a member of the Horror Writers Association, New York Chapter, Just Buffalo Literary Center, and IMDB. His short stories have appeared in the Canadian anthologies, Group Hex Vol 1, and Vol 2. His collection of flash fiction: There are no doors on a cocoon, is a caustic look at the seedier side of existence. His flash fiction has won awards in Art Voice Magazine. His flash fiction and short story work have been published in Queen City Flash, The Writer’s Eye, Twisted Dreams and The Flash Fiction Magazine. Lou writes occasional reviews for Horror Novel Reviews.
Lou holds an M.A.H. in Information Design from the University at Buffalo. He lives in New York State with his wife MaryRuth, a personal chef, and their wire-hair fox terrier.
Robert P. Ottone reading an excerpt from “After Trevor Vanished” from the upcoming EVEN IN THE GRAVE, edited by James Chambers and Carol Gyzander, available for pre-order on the eSpec store.
About the Author
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 (@RobertOttone). 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.
Oliver Baer reading an excerpt from “Insubstantials” from the upcoming EVEN IN THE GRAVE, edited by James Chambers and Carol Gyzander, available for pre-order on the eSpec store.
About the Author
Oliver Baer was the editor of Cthulhu Sex Magazine and Two Backed Books. His epistolary novel, Letters to the Editor of Cthulhu Sex Magazine, was published in October 2019. His short stories have appeared in April Grey’s anthologies as well as others. His essays have been on blogs as well as books. His poetry has appeared in Goodreads Best Poems 2020, Paper Teller Diorama, Hell’s Mall: Sinister Shops, Cursed Items, and Maddening Crowds, Birds Fall Silent in the Mechanical Sea, Cthulhu Sex Magazine, Horror Between the Sheets, Horror Writers Association Poetry Showcase Vol. II and other publications. His book of poetry and photographs, Baer Soul, came out in 2011. His CD of poetry set to music, Gathering Souls, which came out in 2013, spawned the show A Conclave of Baer. The band Lucky Witch and the Righteous Ghost, released an EP, Dreams in the Witch House, that is inspired both by HP Lovecraft and his poems. He has appeared as an indescribable horror from the depths, sometimes with a lightsaber, and his likeness has appeared on tv and film while his voice has been heard on internet radio as well as a podcast or two. There have also been various artistic renditions created of him. He is visible using the virtual spectrum of social media by following him on Twitter https://twitter.com/obaer and/or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/obaer3 Much of his work can be found at http://tentacularity.wordpress.com.
Michelle D. Sonnier reading an excerpt from her story “As Ye See, So Shall Ye Find” from Devilish & Divine, edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail and John L. French.
Hell Bound or Heaven Sent?
Some of us will never know until it’s too late.
From an infernal fiend reduced to baking cookies to distract a small child, to a pastor’s kid rescued from a fall from grace by an unlikely pair, and every iteration in between, Devilish & Divine explores the spectrum of mankind’s encounters with beings of power beyond our comprehension.
Are you ready to explore otherworldly hosts—both heavenly and otherwise? With stories by James Chambers, John L. French, Robert E. Waters, Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg, Christopher J. Burke, Michelle D. Sonnier, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Russ Colchamiro, Michael A. Black, Patrick Thomas, Hildy Silverman, and John G. Hartness
About the Author
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 is the author of The Clockwork Witch and Death’s Embrace and has published short stories in a variety of print and online venues. 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.
James Chambers reading an excerpt from his novella The Eyes of the Dead, volume 4 of his celebrated Corpse Fauna series, which can be pre-ordered on the eSpec store.
About the Author
James Chambers is an award-winning author of horror, crime, fantasy, and science fiction. He wrote the Bram Stoker Award®-winning graphic novel, Kolchak the Night Stalker: The Forgotten Lore of Edgar Allan Poe. Publisher’s Weekly described The Engines of Sacrifice, his collection of four Lovecraftian-inspired novellas published by Dark Regions Press as “…chillingly evocative…” in a starred review. His story, “A Song Left Behind in the Aztakea Hills,” was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award.
He has authored the short story collection Resurrection House and several novellas, including The Dead Bear Witness and Tears of Blood, in the Corpse Fauna novella series. He also wrote the illustrated story collection, The Midnight Hour: Saint Lawn Hill and Other Tales, created in collaboration with artist Jason Whitley.
His short stories have been published in the anthologies The Avenger: Roaring Heart of the Crucible, Bad-Ass Faeries, Bad-Ass Faeries 2: Just Plain Bad, Bad-Ass Faeries 3: In All Their Glory, Bad Cop No Donut, The Best of Bad-Ass Faeries, The Best of Defending the Future, Breach the Hull, By Other Means, Chiral Mad 2, Chiral Mad 4, Dance Like A Monkey, Dark Hallows II: Tales from the Witching Hour, Deep Cuts, The Domino Lady: Sex as a Weapon, Dragon’s Lure, Fantastic Futures 13, Gaslight and Grimm, The Green Hornet Chronicles, Hardboiled Cthulhu, Hear Them Roar, In An Iron Cage, Kolchak the Night Stalker: Passages of the Macabre, Man and Machine, Mermaids 13, No Longer Dreams, Qualia Nous, Shadows Over Main Street (1 and 2), The Side of Good/The Side of Evil, The Society for the Preservation of CJ Henderson, So It Begins, The Spider: Extreme Prejudice, To Hell in a Fast Car, Truth or Dare, TV Gods, Walrus Tales, Weird Trails, and With Great Power; the chapbook Mooncat Jack; and the magazines Bare Bone, Cthulhu Sex, and Allen K’s Inhuman. He has also written numerous comic books including Leonard Nimoy’s Primortals, the critically acclaimed “The Revenant” in Shadow House, The Midnight Hour with Jason Whitley, and the award-winning original graphic novel, Kolchak the Night Stalker: The Forgotten Lore of Edgar Allan Poe.
He is a member and trustee of the Horror Writers Association, and recipient of the 2012 Richard Laymon Award and the 2016 Silver Hammer Award. He lives in New York. Visit his website: http://www.jameschambersonline.com.
The eSpec Guest Author Reading Series
Gordon Linzner reads an excerpt of his flash fiction “St. Ives Surprise”, from the anthology Lost Lore and Legend, edited by David Green.
About the Author
Gordon Linzner is the founder and former editor of Space and Time Magazine, as well as the author of three published novels (The Troupe, The Oni, and The Spy Who Drank Blood) and dozens of short stories in F&SF, Twilight Zone, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, and numerous other magazines and anthologies, most recently Corporate Cthulhu, Baker Street Irregulars II, Release the Virgins! and the forthcoming The Mountains of Madness Revealed. He is a lifetime member of SFWA, a licensed New York City tour guide and lifelong resident of that city, edits, cat-sits, and leads the Saboteur Tiger Blues Band, among other distractions.
Just sharing a link to an exclusive interview with John L. French over on Paul Semel‘s blog. Paul hold exclusive interviews for newly released titles, this time Devilish & Divine, which John co-edited along with Danielle Ackley-McPhail. Enjoy!
Hell Bound or Heaven Sent?
Some of us will never know until it’s too late.
From an infernal fiend reduced to baking cookies to distract a small child, to a pastor’s kid rescued from a fall from grace by an unlikely pair, and every iteration in between, Devilish & Divine explores the spectrum of mankind’s encounters with beings of power beyond our comprehension.
Are you ready to explore otherworldly hosts—both heavenly and otherwise?
With stories by
James Chambers, John L. French, Robert E. Waters, Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg, Christopher J. Burke, Michelle D. Sonnier, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Russ Colchamiro, Michael A. Black, Patrick Thomas, Hildy Silverman, and John G. Hartness
Almost caught up… a little sad to say. That means I haven’t posted a view in a while. Time to do a few myself now that I have some new content to read. Anyway, here are a few more author readings for you to enjoy!
eSpec Books Author Reading Series
As these readings are all from the anthology Devilish & Divine, I’m posting the book description first:
Hell Bound or Heaven Sent?
Some of us will never know until it’s too late. From an infernal fiend reduced to baking cookies to comfort a small child, to a pastor’s kid rescued from a fall from grace by an unlikely pair, and every iteration in between, Devilish & Divine explores the spectrum of mankind’s encounters with beings of power beyond our comprehension.
Are you ready to explore otherworldly hosts—both heavenly and otherwise? With stories by James Chambers, John L. French, Robert E. Waters, Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg, Christopher J. Burke, Michelle D. Sonnier, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Russ Colchamiro, Michael A. Black, Patrick Thomas, Hildy Silverman, and John G. Hartness
Russ Colchamiro reading an excerpt from his story “Irradia’s Gauntlet”, featured in Devilish & Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and published by NeoParadoxa (an imprint of eSpec Books).
About the Author
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 http://www.russcolchamiro.com, follow him on Twitter @AuthorDudeRuss, and ‘like’ his Facebook author page http://www.facebook.com/RussColchamiroAuthor.
Robert E. Waters reading an excerpt from his story “A Bluebird from Aspen”, featured in Devilish & Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and published by NeoParadoxa (an imprint of eSpec Books).
About the Author
Robert E Waters is a technical writer by trade, but has been a science fiction/fantasy fan all his life. He’s worked in the computer and board gaming industry since 1994 as designer, producer, and writer. In the late 90’s, he tried his hand at writing fiction, and since 2003, has sold over 7 novels and 80 stories to various on-line and print magazines and anthologies, including the Grantville Gazette, Eric Flint’s online magazine dedicated to publishing stories set in the 1632/Ring of Fire Alternate History series. Robert’s first 1632/Ring of Fire novel, 1636: Calabar’s War, (co-authored with Charles E Gannon), was recently published by Baen Books. Robert has also co-written several 1632 stories, including the Persistence of Dreams (Ring of Fire Press), with Meriah L Crawford, and The Monster Society, with Eric S Brown. Robert is the author of The Mask Cycle, a Baroque fantasy series which includes the novels The Masks of Mirada and The Thief of Cragsport (Ring of Fire Press). For e-Spec Books, Robert has written several stories which have appeared in the widely popular military science fiction anthology series, Defending the Future. All seven of his stories which appeared in the series were recently collected into one volume titled Devil Dancers. Robert currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife Beth, their son Jason, and their two precocious little cats, Snow and Ashe.
John L. French reading an excerpt from his story “Let’s Make a Deal”, featured in Devilish & Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and published by NeoParadoxa (an imprint of eSpec Books).
About the Author
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 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 him at jfrenchfam@aol.com.
A second installment of videos I forgot to post about. My apologies to both the authors and our followers. There will be a few more of these.
Please do Like and Subscribe when you on the playlist enjoying the following videos.
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
These are both from the anthology Devilish & Divine, so I’m posting the book description first:
Hell Bound or Heaven Sent?
Some of us will never know until it’s too late. From an infernal fiend reduced to baking cookies to comfort a small child, to a pastor’s kid rescued from a fall from grace by an unlikely pair, and every iteration in between, Devilish & Divine explores the spectrum of mankind’s encounters with beings of power beyond our comprehension.
Are you ready to explore otherworldly hosts—both heavenly and otherwise?
With stories by James Chambers, John L. French, Robert E. Waters, Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg, Christopher J. Burke, Michelle D. Sonnier, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Russ Colchamiro, Michael A. Black, Patrick Thomas, Hildy Silverman, and John G. Hartness
Keith R.A. DeCandido reading a second excerpt from his story “Unguarded”, featured in Devilish & Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and published by NeoParadoxa (an imprint of eSpec Books). https://amzn.to/3hDeRhO (this is an Amazon Associate link.)
About the Author
Keith R.A. DeCandido has written several other tales of Coursers (or Slayers) and their work keeping the world safe from supernatural threats, including the novels A Furnace Sealed and the forthcoming Feat of Clay (both from WordFire Press) and the short stories “Under the King’s Bridge” in Liar Liar (Mendacity Press), “Materfamilias” in Bad Ass Moms (Crazy 8 Press), and “Unguarded” in Devilish and Divine (eSpec Books). His other work includes media tie-in fiction in more than thirty different licensed universes from Alien to Zorro, as well as fiction in his own worlds, including fantastical police procedurals in the fictional cities of Cliff’s End and Super City, as well as urban fantasy tales in the somewhat real locales of Key West and New York City. He also writes pop-culture commentary, primarily for the award-winning site Tor.com, but also for various books and magazines. Recent and upcoming work includes the novels Phoenix Precinct (the next in his series of police procedurals in an epic fantasy setting, from eSpec Books), Animal (a thriller written with Dr. Munish K. Batra, from WordFire), To Hell and Regroup (a military science fiction novel written with David Sherman, from eSpec Books), and the aforementioned Feat of Clay; short stories in the anthologies Pangaea Book 3: Redemption (Crazy 8), Footprints in the Stars (eSpec), Across the Universe: Tales of Alternative Beatles (Fantastic Books), and Turning the Tied (a charity anthology from the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers); and new graphic novels from TokyoPop in the world of Resident Evil, tying into the Netflix animated series Infinite Darkness. Keith is also a third-degree black belt in karate (he both teaches and trains), a professional musician (currently percussionist for the parody band Boogie Knights), an editor of many years’ standing (though he usually does it sitting down), and probably some other stuff he can’t recall due to the lack of sleep. Find out less at his website at DeCandido.net.
James Chambers reading an excerpt from his story “Far From the Knowing Place”, featured in Devilish & Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and published by NeoParadoxa (an imprint of eSpec Books). https://amzn.to/3hDeRhO (this is an Amazon Associate link.)
About the Author James Chambers is an award-winning author of horror, crime, fantasy, and science fiction. He wrote the Bram Stoker Award®-winning graphic novel, Kolchak the Night Stalker: The Forgotten Lore of Edgar Allan Poe. Publisher’s Weekly described The Engines of Sacrifice, his collection of four Lovecraftian-inspired novellas published by Dark Regions Press as “…chillingly evocative…” in a starred review. His story, “A Song Left Behind in the Aztakea Hills,” was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. He has authored the short story collection Resurrection House and several novellas, including The Dead Bear Witness and Tears of Blood, in the Corpse Fauna novella series. He also wrote the illustrated story collection, The Midnight Hour: Saint Lawn Hill and Other Tales, created in collaboration with artist Jason Whitley. His short stories have been published in the anthologies The Avenger: Roaring Heart of the Crucible, Bad-Ass Faeries, Bad-Ass Faeries 2: Just Plain Bad, Bad-Ass Faeries 3: In All Their Glory, Bad Cop No Donut, The Best of Bad-Ass Faeries, The Best of Defending the Future, Breach the Hull, By Other Means, Chiral Mad 2, Chiral Mad 4, Dance Like A Monkey, Dark Hallows II: Tales from the Witching Hour, Deep Cuts, The Domino Lady: Sex as a Weapon, Dragon’s Lure, Fantastic Futures 13, Gaslight and Grimm, The Green Hornet Chronicles, Hardboiled Cthulhu, Hear Them Roar, In An Iron Cage, Kolchak the Night Stalker: Passages of the Macabre, Man and Machine, Mermaids 13, No Longer Dreams, Qualia Nous, Shadows Over Main Street (1 and 2), The Side of Good/The Side of Evil, The Society for the Preservation of CJ Henderson, So It Begins, The Spider: Extreme Prejudice, To Hell in a Fast Car, Truth or Dare, TV Gods, Walrus Tales, Weird Trails, and With Great Power; the chapbook Mooncat Jack; and the magazines Bare Bone, Cthulhu Sex, and Allen K’s Inhuman. He has also written numerous comic books including Leonard Nimoy’s Primortals, the critically acclaimed “The Revenant” in Shadow House, The Midnight Hour with Jason Whitley, and the award-winning original graphic novel, Kolchak the Night Stalker: The Forgotten Lore of Edgar Allan Poe. He is a member and trustee of the Horror Writers Association, and recipient of the 2012 Richard Laymon Award and the 2016 Silver Hammer Award. He lives in New York. Visit his website: http://www.jameschambersonline.com.
The eSpec Guest Author Reading Series
Sherri Cook Woolsey reading an excerpt from her short story “Mustangs and Colts” from Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2021, edited by Robert Greenberger and published by Crazy8 Press. https://amzn.to/3pK3Z3P (this is an Amazon Associate link.)
You asked for more pulp? You got it! Thrilling Adventure Yarns has returned! Crazy 8 Press once again treats you to an array of stories in the classic pulp style, replete with action and adventure, chills and thrills, mystery and romance, and much more! Delight in the return of favorites Cannon Belle and Molly Maloy! Exult in glimpses of such classics as Sherlock Holmes! And cheer at exploits from all-new characters! Pulp is back— and better than ever! Enthuse to stories by Michael A. Burstein, Russ Colchamiro, Greg Cox, Paige Daniels, Lester Dent, Mary Fan, Kelli Fitzpatrick, Michael Jan Friedman, Robert Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, Heather E. Hutsell, Paul Kupperberg, Karissa Laurel, William Leisner, Jonathan Maberry, David Mack, Ron Marz, Danielle Ackley McPhail, Stuart Moore, Will Murray, Jody Lynn Nye, Scott Pearson, Aaron Rosenberg, Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore, Richard C. White, and Sheri Cook Woosley! Be enchanted with illustrations by June Brigman, Kerry Callen, Gary Carbon, Mike Collins, Daerick Gross, Matt Haley, Karl Kesel, Peter Krause, Luke McDonell, Ron Randall, Dan Schkade, Bart Sears, Daniele Sera, Jeff Weigel, and Mark Wheatley!
About the Author
Sherri Cook Woosley holds a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Maryland with a focus on comparative mythology. Her short fiction has recently been published in Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2021, DreamForge Magazine, and Abyss & Apex. Her debut novel, WALKING THROUGH FIRE, was long-listed for both the Booknest Debut Novel award and Baltimore’s Best 2019 and 2020 in the novel category. She lives north of Baltimore with her family – currently a husband, four teenagers, and a cast of rescue animals. Website: http://www.tasteofsherri.com Twitter: @SherriWoosley Instagram: Sherri.Woosley
Will McDermott reading a second excerpt of his novel Soulless Fury, a part of the Necromunda series, by Black Library https://amzn.to/3cVnALq (this is an Amazon Associate link.)
No one knows murder like Mad Donna. Where she goes, death follows – she is a force of nature, leaving devastated settlements and shell casings in her wake. But even Necromunda has its limits for senseless, unsanctioned violence. Scrutinator Primus Servalen, armed with the personal seal of Lord Helmawr – to which no request can be denied and no door barred – is dispatched to bring the misbegotten scion of House Ulanti to justice, but first she has to track her down… and how do you find one murderer in amongst the bloodshed of the Underhive?
About the Author
Will McDermott turned an early love of mystery, fantasy, and games into a career. He has published eight novels and sixteen short stories, and helped create innumerous worlds, characters, and stories for card, board, and video games. His fiction is often set in gaming universes, including Magic: The Gathering, Warhammer 40K, and Mage Wars. He is known for bringing larger-than-life characters alive on the page, including Warhammer’s Kal Jerico and Mad D’onne, Magic’s Balthor the Stout, and the Night Stalker’s Carl Kolchak (who can be found in the pages of Will’s upcoming Night Stalker novel, Strangled By Death, coming in March 2021). Find out more at willmcdermott.com. Follow him on Instagram at @w_mcdermott.
It has been a while since I have posted one of these YouTube recaps. Delighted to share four readings from our upcoming anthology, Devilish & Divine (click the link to pre-order), an anthology about angels and devils, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail.
This has been a productive weekend! I present to you the shiny new cover for Devilish & Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail. Previously Horns & Halos, this anthology features both hellish and heavenly hosts, and was so much fun to work on. We hope you enjoy it!
Hell Bound or Heaven Sent?
Some of us will never know until it’s too late.
From an infernal fiend reduced to baking cookies to comfort a small child, to a pastor’s kid rescued from a fall from grace by an unlikely pair, and every iteration in between, Devilish & Divine explores the spectrum of mankind’s encounters with beings of power beyond our comprehension.
Are you ready to explore otherworldly hosts—both heavenly and otherwise?
With stories by
James Chambers John L. French Robert E. Waters Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg Christopher J. Burke Michelle D. Sonnier Danielle Ackley-McPhail Keith R.A. DeCandido Russ Colchamiro Michael A. Black Patrick Thomas Hildy Silverman
and John G. Hartness
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 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 him at jfrenchfam@aol.com.
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 seven novels, Yesterday’s Dreams, Tomorrow’s Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court, The Redcaps’ Queen, Daire’s Devils, 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, The Fox’s Fire, The Kindly One, and the non-fiction writers’ guides The Literary Handyman, More Tips from the 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 four extremely spoiled cats.
The time is upon us! We have been doing ChessieCon for years… since before it was ChessieCon, in fact. Last year I was invited as Guest of Honor, but sadly the event was forced to go virtual again because they lost their hotel and did not have sufficient time to secure another one. 
KRAD: Aleta lothLathna was just supposed to be a guest star in a single story, “Catch and Release” in Tales from Dragon Precinct. I was rather caught off guard to realize that she was going to pretty much force herself to become a major supporting character.
KRAD: One of the things I put into Mermaid Precinct to set Phoenix Precinct up was to have a population influx of refugees from Barlin, which suffered a major fire that displaced a chunk of its population. While the difficulties in integrating the refugees into Cliff’s End was a subplot in Mermaid, it’s front and center in Phoenix, and is inspired by anti-immigrant sentiment that you’ve seen throughout history, from ancient Greeks referring to non-Greeks as “barbarians” to the way Italian, Irish, and Asian immigrants were treated in this country when they first got here (it’s not widely discussed, but the biggest single mass lynching in American history wasn’t of African-Americans, but of Italians in New Orleans in 1891) to recent poor treatments of American immigrants who are Muslim or who come from Latin America.
KRAD: I have three other original series running. One is an urban fantasy set in New York that features monster hunters called Coursers. There’s one novel, A Furnace Sealed, with Book 2, Feat of Clay, due out next year, one novella, the Systema Paradoxa book All-the-Way House, and short stories in Liar Liar, Bad Ass Moms, and Devilish and Divine
. One is a cycle of urban fantasy short stories set in Key West that involve rock music, SCUBA diving, Norse gods, folklore, and beer drinking, the first batch of which were in the collection Ragnarok and Roll: Tales of Cassie Zukav, Weirdness Magnet, and more of which will be out next year in Ragnarok and a Hard Place: More Tales of Cassie Zukav, Weirdness Magnet. And I’ve written one novel (The Case of the Claw), three novellas (Avenging Amethyst, Undercover Blues, Secret Identities), and three short stories (in With Great Power, The Side of Good/The Side of Evil, and Tales of Capes and Cowls) in the Super City Cops series, about cops in a city filled with superheroes—doing for superheroes what the Precinct books do for fantasy.
To note the highlights of the weekend, I will have a reading on Saturday at 3:15pm in the library, which I am sharing with David Walton. And in a slightly less recognizable form than pre-‘Rona, we will be holding an eSpec Book Launch with many authors in attendance, including Amy Grech, Gordon Linzner, Teel James Glenn, Robert Ottone, John P. Collins, Jonathan Lees, Marc Abbott, Christopher J. Burke, Hildy Silverman, and Keith R.A. DeCandido, celebrating all the orphan books that grew up in isolation, most particularly Even In The Grave, edited by James Chambers and Carol Gyzander, and Devilish & Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail.
eSpec Books 