Sisters of Wind and Flame by Jennifer Ellision

Sub Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Release Date: June 30, 2014

ABOUT Sisters of Wind and Flame:

A short Threats of Sky and Sea prequel—
Once, Lady Katerine was simply Ekaterina. Once, she was not a countess, but a girl who cleaned fireplaces. And once, she had a sister...

~ Excerpt ~

After passing sixteen summers, I know not to expect that life will promise me any more.

The city’s watchmen thunder past me, clouds of dirt billowing behind them. Tiny grains fly into my eyes and I blink at their intrusion, but I’m accustomed to it by now.

The watchmen have slapped red onto the back of a man who struggles to keep his feet beneath him, wrists bound by ropes strung to the steeds’ saddles. The horses won’t slow for him if he fails to keep up.

Others in the market avert their eyes, knowing the man’s trespasses. Knowing his fate. The red he wears tells us all we need to know. He’s spilled the blood of another. Taken a life.

But I don’t look away. My sore eyes stay locked on the man’s stumbling path until long after his steps lose the battle. In the distance, his figure sails over the dirt and rocks like a limp rag doll until he disappears into the dust, the clouds swallowing him whole. I can’t summon pity for the man—or his victim.

The only promise life fulfills is its end.

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Jennifer Ellision spent a great deal of her childhood staying up past her bedtime with a book and a flashlight. When she couldn’t find the stories she wanted to read, she started writing them. She loves words, has a soft spot for fanfiction, and is a master of the fangirl flail. She resides in South Florida with her family, where she lives in fear of temperatures below 60 Fahrenheit.

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Eleanor by Jason Gurley

Sub Genre: Magical Realism, Time Travel

Release Date: June 27th 2014

ABOUT Eleanor:

Time is a river.

1985. The death of Eleanor's twin sister tears her family apart. Her father blames her mother for the accident. When Eleanor's mother looks at her, she sees only the daughter she lost. Their wounded family crumbles under the weight of their shared grief.

1993. Eleanor is fourteen years old when it happens for the first time... when she walks through an ordinary door at school and finds herself in another world. It happens again and again, but it's only a curiosity until that day at the cliffs. The day when Eleanor dives... and something rips her out of time itself.

And on the other side, someone is waiting for her.

Eleanor is the novel Jason Gurley has been writing for thirteen years. Some things take a very long time to come together. The best things, usually.

~ Excerpt ~

The Keeper rocks in a handmade chair on her porch. Another black cigarette rests between her fingers, lit and burning toward her knuckles. She has been thinking of building a new cabin, not a replacement for this one, but a second one, at the northernmost end of the valley, so that she has a place to rest her feet during her long walks. The valley stretches for miles, and she often is too worn out from the journey to make it back to this home.

A dash of cigarette ash falls onto her burlap pants and she brushes it away.

She can see her shadow approaching across the field, the low afternoon mist parting around it. It moves stealthily, as if it is playing a game with her, but the keeper is never fooled. The shadow moves closer and closer until it slips on the porch and reattaches itself to her feet.

"You're back," the keeper says. "What did you find?"

Her shadow does not speak, but she can feel its memories pass into her, icy cold. She takes them into herself, absorbing them into her own collection of thoughts. She reviews them quietly, eyes closed, and nods to herself. She sees the gash in the treelike from the shadow's vantage point, as if a wrecking ball has dropped into the middle of her forest. She sees the lumbering clouds, the rich wet soil. She sees everything her shadow saw, and—

The shadow found the intruder.

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Jason Gurley is the author of The Man Who Ended the World, Eleanor, and the bestselling novel Greatfall, among other books and short stories. His work has appeared in a number of anthologies, including John Joseph Adams’s Help Fund My Robot Army!!! He lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest.

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S. Elliott Brandis Talks About How He Writes

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1. What are you working on?

I just published my debut novel, Irradiated. It's a dark post-apocalyptic novel set in Brisbane, Australia. Now, I'm working hard on the sequel, Degenerated. I have recently finished the first draft, and am now in the process of tweaking and refining. I'm quite a slow, deliberate writer so my first draft tends to be the bulk of the work. Degenerated is set five-years after the events of Irradiated. In my series, the environment has degraded severely and the sun's radiation has the power to mutate the genes of our children. Thousands of people live underground, in a road tunnel that runs under the Brisbane River. Irradiated focuses on the struggles of two sisters, one of them irradiated, living outside of the tunnel, scavenging to survive. With Degenerated, I wanted to explore life in the tunnels, so I've introduced a new character, Flynn, who lives in their depths. Flynn is a closet-irradiated, living with abilities he doesn't know how to explain, and in a world where difference means death. It also sees the return of Pearl from Irradiated, and her quest for a better life amongst all the wildness.

2. How does your work differ from others in its genre?

I'd define my main sub-genre as 'post-apocalyptic fiction'. When I sat down to write in this genre, I asked myself a number of questions.

• Will the fall of society be fast or slow?
• How do you think it's most likely to happen?
• If it's slow, will people in the future even know what happened?
• In Australia, is it reasonable to expect that the post-apocalyptic landscape will be filled with cars and guns?

The result? A gritty, low-technology post-apocalyptic novel. Environmental degradation has worn down the city, leaving most of it inhospitable. No petrol, no guns, no easily won resources. There is no focus on what happened. When you're struggling to survive, only the now matters. Welcome to Australia. I am also proud to feature two sisters as my protagonists. Science fiction is historically quite chauvinistic, and we've seen over the past couple of years that sexist ideas still exist. I wanted to write two characters that refused to be the victim. They're strong, gritty, and goddamn bad-ass. We should refuse to accept stereotypes, and open up fiction to the stories of all. The love the two sisters have for each other ties the whole story together, and provides a counterpoint for the harsh realities of the world. I also focus heavily on the words that I use. I want to write intelligent, literary fiction. It's all too easy to look down on us as mere 'genre' writers, but I think the best literary fiction has always been Speculative Fiction. Slaughterhouse-Five, Oryx and Crake, The Road, and now Wool. Writing style matters, and I strive to make my novels the best they can be.

3. Why do you write what you do?

I write the stories that I want to write, and the stories that I'd want to read. When I write a character, I have a few rules:

• Everybody has reasons for doing the things they do. The more extreme their actions, the more compelling the reasons.
• Nobody sees themselves as the villain. If they act in ways that we see as 'bad', that's only because their motivations compel them to. Everybody is the hero of their own story.
• But, there are no real heroes. Everybody makes mistakes and has weaknesses. Even the best of us sometimes do bad things, no matter how much we strive not to. The greater the pressure, the more we err. Fortunately, to err is human.

In this way, I want to create complex and interesting characters. I find my 'villains' as interesting as the protagonists. In fact, my favourite character in Irradiated is the worst of them all. So why do I write what I write? Because it's the type of fiction I think needs to be written. Readers are incredibly smart. We don't need easy answers, simple characters, and clear-cut Hollywood story lines. Readers deserve better than that.

4. How does your writing process work?

This is quite a simple question. I wake up at 5:15 in the morning, before the sun. I make a coffee, and sit down on the couch with my laptop. Then, I write. I'm a real person. I work a full-time job, live with my partner, and do all the things that us real people have to do. Waking early gives me the space and time I need to write my stories. Doing it every day gives me the structure I need to follow them through. My morning brain is uninhibited, creative, and a little bit twisted. All in all, it works quite well.
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S. Elliot Brandis on Amazon

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The Girl Who Believed in Fairy Tales by Heidi Garrett

Sub Genre: Magical Realism

Release Date: June 17, 2014

ABOUT The Girl Who Believed in Fairy Tales:

Author Heidi Garrett has written a lyrical collection of short stories woven with the threads of three very poignant fairy tales that pull this literary tapestry together to create a shimmering picture of love and acceptance.

THE GIRL WHO WATCHED FOR ELVES desperately needs to find her elf—it’s her only hope for happiness and, ultimately, survival.

THE GIRL WHO DREAMED OF RED SHOES is slowly dying inside until she learns that nothing is right until it’s the right fit—and in vivid, living color.

Lastly, THE GIRL WHO COULDN’T SING has to step out into her dream or she’s going to die with her song hidden inside her heart.

Anyone who misses these tales, will miss the experience—no, transformation of a lifetime. It’s time for everyone to get their real on!

~ Excerpt ~

“I’m going to sing ‘The Little Drummer Boy’,” she announced.

She thought she detected a nod from Carol and an encouraging smile from Bill.

Heather shifted her feet, angled the neck of her guitar, and played her best D chord. The first line out of her mouth was mystical—it often was as she sang out full warm tones from her lower register. Chills chased her spine, and invisible vibrations awakened the empty hall. Unfortunately, her performance didn’t ascend with her climb up the vocal ladder. By the third “pa rum pum pum pum” things scratched, and by the fourth, they squeaked. From there, everything rolled downhill with astonishing speed—each measure gathering strength for the final collision like the Abominable Snowman turning somersaults down the Alps.

A person more sympathetic to their audience might have cut the song short, but not Heather. Her powerful imagination stepped in, winging her off to some higher plane where she heard something very different than what Carol and Bill heard.

By the time she’d sung her last note and played her last chord, her heart was ablaze. She interpreted Carol’s and Bill’s stunned silence as admiration. Under the circumstances, who but she would have persevered?

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Heidi Garrett is the author of the contemporary fairy tale novella collection, Once Upon a Time Today. In these stand-alone retellings of popular and obscure fairy tales, adult characters navigate the deep woods of the modern landscape to find their Happily Ever Afters.

She's also the author of the Daughter of Light series, a fantasy about a young half-faerie, half-mortal searching for her place in the Whole. Heidi's latest project is a collaboration with B. J. Limpin. They're cooking up a yummy paranormal romance!

Signup for Heidi's newsletter for discounts on all new releases!

Heidi was born in Texas, and in an attempt to reside in as many cities in that state as she could, made it to Houston, Lubbock, Austin, and El Paso. She now lives in Eastern Washington state with her husband, their two cats, her laptop, and her Kindle.

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Elle Chambers Talks About How She Writes

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1. What am I working on?

I have several things going at the moment. First, I need to finish one final story for a new short collection (Grindhouse, release TBD) I’ve been working on since November (!). All three stories in Grindhouse are very different from anything I’ve ever written. For starters, they’re more violent. They also have a ton of graphic language and explicit sex – it’s like a 1970s B movie in print. Or a Tarantino film. Same diff.

Then I’m getting back to my roots with an erotic horror novella. I’ll be tackling a second zombie novella, and of course, I’m always trying to craft the best pieces I can for my Dark Tales series. eVolume Three needs to be released soon and I kind of want to mine classic horror tropes again since eVolume Two was more thriller/suspense.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I like to think my work is different, but maybe it’s not – maybe it’s incredibly derivative. I’ve been heavily influenced by film and television, oddly enough more so than books. Maybe a lot of what I put in print is something Carpenter or Craven or Argento have already done. I don’t know; I haven’t seen every film they, or their peers, have made. But I know I take inspiration from them, as do many of my peers, so I can’t claim to be a special snowflake in that regard.

I would also say my stories are darkly humorous, but again, that’s not unique to me. Stephen King does dark humor better than just about anybody. He’s the first author I can remember reading so of course some of his style would rub off on me.

When I read this back, I’m like, “Damn – I’m not original at all.” This realization would probably bother me if I didn’t know there are only something, like, seven plots in literature and they’ve all been done before. Hell, even Shakespeare cribbed things from writers who came before him.

So maybe the point isn’t to try and be original. Maybe the point is to give audiences tropes they’re familiar with, but do it in such a way that it feels fresh and new. Context is everything. If you tweak and twist a trope enough, it becomes something else entirely. Throw in interesting, vivid characters, sparkling dialogue, and a killer hook and ending, then voila! You’ll have a kickass story that nobody else has (assuming you can tell a good story to begin with). I think I do a decent job of this. I’m always striving to improve my craft, though, always pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and always trying new things.

For instance, I never thought I’d write about zombies. I love zombies as much as the next person, but I thought, “God, that’s so played. How many ways can you tell a post-apocalyptic zombie story?” Turns out, there are an endless number of ways to do it, some of which have been brilliant. Others…not so much. Still, I knew I couldn’t do it. If I was going to write about zombies, I had to do it on a more intimate level. So I wrote a novella called Good Eats and took the zombie myth back to its Haitian roots. There’s no virus, no survival camps, no bullets to the brain. It’s all hoodoo and dark magic. I wanted to write a novel about grief and loss; how those two things can drive seemingly rational people to do unspeakable things in the name of love – and the devastating consequences that occur once those wheels are set in motion.

Like most things I write, most people either love Good Eats or hate it. Some folks thought it was just “eh.” I’d never written a novella before so I thought I did a decent job of it my first time around. Plus, I love the story. It resonates with me; it’s one of the few things I’ve written where I’ve been physically moved while pounding out a scene. And the rising action all the way through to the denouement was wicked fun times.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I’ve said it once before, but it bears repeating: I love to be afraid. It’s perverse, I know, but facing Big Bads in fiction and coming through it (relatively) unscathed makes me feel I can do anything in real life. I like to think there are others who feel that way too, so I write for them as well.

4. How does my writing process work?

Okay, this is the part where things will probably be nonsensical (note: you were all warned at the top this was coming).

I don’t have a process per se. If I did, it would probably look something like this:

- turn on laptop

- stare at blank screen and flashing cursor on white page for twenty minutes

- stare at the ceiling and count how many cracks are in the old plaster

- stare out the window at all of the fancy rich people going in and out of the private club across the street from my apartment

- wish I drove an Audi or Jaguar like those fancy rich people

- go back to staring at my blank laptop screen until I go cross-eyed

- slam the laptop shut and turn on old Buffy episodes and wish I could write anything half as inventive and witty

- two hours later, weep because I’ve made zero progress on my WIP

See? This is why I dread questions like this because that’s legitimately how my actual “process” works. At some point, I’ll get hit with enough inspiration/energy/luck/whatever to get off my lazy ass and put words to page, but for the most part, the above is how I spend my evenings when I’m supposed to be writing.

Hey – maybe if I am dead, I can be reanimated as a more efficient, more disciplined version of me?!

Ah, who am I kidding? I’d come back even slower, and more brain dead, than I already am.
Original Post

Elle Chambers writes dark and erotic fiction. She currently lives in the Midwest where nothing of note happens. The mundane setting of her life inspires her (sometimes disturbing) work.

Elle Chambers on Amazon

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Stars and Other Monsters by Phronk

Sub Genre: Urban Fantay/Horror

Release Date: June 12, 2014

ABOUT Stars and Other Monsters:

Stan Lightfoot is the perfect paparazzo. His dog, Bloody, can track down anybody, anywhere, which comes in handy whenever a celebrity involved in a juicy scandal tries to avoid public attention. He’s about to get the perfect picture—a real privacy-invading winner—when he runs into a vampire who ruins his life.

From the dark and vulgar mind of Phronk—author of Baboon Fart Story—splashes a neo-vampire trip through nightmare America, full of mind-numbing romantic comedies, a Wal-Mart in every town, celebrities, and other soulless monstrosities.

When the vampire reveals a movie star crush of her own, Stan finds a way to keep her from eating him. Helping a murderer screw a movie star wasn’t exactly what Stan had in mind when he got into photography, but it’ll buy him a few days. Can he find a way to escape a creature with god-like power before she reaches her destination?

Probably not.

~ Excerpt ~

He paused outside his apartment. He could hear Bloody sniffing at the other side of the door. “It’s kind of a mess in there.”

“Oh!” she said. “Oh, no worries, hun. I can’t very well judge you; you’ve already outed me as a crazy ninny who obsesses over a celebrity.”

“Guess we’re not so different then. Hey thanks for telling me all that, even though you already knew, you know, what I do for a living.”

He got out his keys. His hands were shaking. He hadn’t been with a woman in a long time, and she seemed to be—what? Flirting? He couldn’t really be sure what was going on in her head.

She smiled at him. He pushed his glasses up on his nose, tried to smile back, then turned to unlock the door. It took a few tries to get the trembling key in the lock. “You know, I wasn’t sure what to make of you at first,” he babbled. “Kinda thought you might even be, you know, dangerous.”

“Oh, honey,” she said, her breath on his neck. “Dangerous doesn’t even begin to describe me.”

He turned his head. Those eyes, those lips, they were inches from his.

Suddenly, she tossed her purse halfway down the hallway.

“Why did you—” he began.

“It’s Michael Kors. Don’t want to get blood on it.”

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Phronk wrote Stars and Other Monsters.

Phronk writes a lot of odd things, actually. He wrote a PhD dissertation about the psychology of horror films. He gets paid to write about technology and abuse words like “synergy,” “leverage,” and “utilize.” Buy enough of his novels and he’ll stop inflicting that on the world.

Phronk also wrote Baboon Fart Story, an experiment in publishing. Here is some nice stuff that famous people sarcastically said about Baboon Fart Story:

“Its artistry in the face of ‘normality’ is awe-inspiring.” — Alan Baxter

“Arguably the highest achievement of humanity. […] A bot could not have done a better job!” — John Scalzi

“Let’s just say I like the idea of self-publishing even less now.” — Adam Christopher

“A master of modern Dadaism.” — Daniel Abraham

Phronk is also the creator of Putting Weird Things in Coffee, which is a blog about putting weird things in coffee.

He has four nipples and doesn't care about fonts.

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Spectra's Gambit (Lost Tales of Power) by Vincent Trigili

Sub Genre: Space Opera

Release Date: June 13, 2013

ABOUT Spectra's Gambit:

An old ally of Grandmaster Vydor comes to him for help because an enemy, perhaps as old as the Empire itself, has turned its sights on his Cathratinairian race and means to wipe them out. Spectra and Dusty are sent to find and stop this new threat, while Spectra begins her plan to change the balance of power for the entire known multiverse. Dusty must decide to follow Spectra as she uses this mission of mercy for her own gain, or stand with the Wizards Kingdom, which could put him in direct opposition to his wife.

~ EXCERPT ~

As we approached the windows she asked, “What is it like out there?”

“Surely you have been out there?” I asked.

“Oh, of course. I have extensive training in operating in space, but it is always in my armor, so I am not really out there,” she said. “It’s like we take a bit of inside with us when we go.”

“Good thing, too. You might find it a bit chilly,” I said.

“Surely it’s not cold for you?” she asked.

“No, it's not,” I said as I leaned against the view port and looked out. “It's not cold, and it's not hot – it just is.”

“What if you get close to a star? Surely the radiance of heat from it would be something you felt?” she said.

“No, not really, at least not in the same way. I don’t know how to describe it,” I said and was quiet for a while. Then a thought struck me. “What does air feel like?”

“Air?” she asked.

“Yes, you are surrounded by air your entire life. What does it feel like?” I asked.

“It … well … I guess I don’t know,” she said.

“Neither do I know what space feels like. When you have been with something your whole life, you tend to filter it out.”

“Yeah, I guess so, but you travel from one to the other. Surely you notice a difference?”

“Yes, air is heavy, so very heavy,” I said quietly.

Before she could respond we heard an alarm go off, and she called out, “Come on!” and ran toward the sound. I followed after her, unwilling to let her run toward trouble alone. As we turned a corner we saw some big men yelling at Doctor Hawthorne and waving blasters in his face.

Saraphym clicked her helmet on and sent a call to the others for help but did not slow her charge.

“Back off!” she yelled.

The men looked up and saw her running toward them and laughed. “What are you going to do about it?”

I drew my blasters and said, “I think you better listen to her.”

I would have stopped there and found cover, but she launched into the air and flew impossibly far, right over Doctor Hawthorne’s head, and slammed into the leader. She spun off that blow and suddenly had a staff in her hands that I had not seen before. It swung and connected hard with the head of the second man, who collapsed.

I finally reached Doctor Hawthorne and sent him running. “Get help!”

Saraphym spun again after that blow and was now surrounded by attackers. They spread out, obviously respecting her staff. They had not fired their weapons yet and it concerned me how close we were to the airlock. A misfire could put a hole into the exterior, and that would be bad.

“Now, I suggest you get off the station and do not return,” she said. There was ice in her voice that I had never heard before.

I could not get a clear shot on any of them without risking hitting Saraphym, so I drew my swords and moved in, ready for the fight that I knew was coming.

The leader laughed, threw his gun down, and said, “I think you need to learn some manners, young lady.”

He just barely started to reach for her when Saraphym’s foot connected with the side of his unprotected head. There was a loud crack as she connected and he went down. The others looked in amazement as Saraphym completed her spin and said, “Anyone else need a lesson in the proper way to treat a lady?”

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Vincent, father and husband of nearly two decades, holds degrees in both Math and Computer Science. In addition, he has published an astronomy journal and anchored popular blogs, along with publishing numerous articles, poetry and other works.

He got his start in writing fiction as a small child, losing himself in the worlds he dreamed up in order to escape the doldrums of normal life. Now, using his formal education and extensive career experience, he excels in creating fictional worlds of depth and rich fantasy, while maintaining a foundation of reality based on science and technology.

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