Hyvilma (Kitra, Book 3) by Gideon Marcus

 

Release date: August 8, 2023

Subgenre: Space Opera 

 

About Hyvilma:

 

A damaged ship, a dying shipmate–can she save both?
 

Under attack! The flight back to Hyvilma should have been the easy part for the crew of the Majera–until a deadly ambush by pirates sends them reeling through hyperspace. Now getting to the planet in time is the only way Captain Kitra Yilmaz can save her dying friend.
 

But landing at Hyvilma may be impossible: war has broken out on the Frontier.
 

With illustrations by Hugo Finalist Lorelei Esther.

 

 Excerpt:

 

“What’s the easiest target?” Fareedh asked.

“Definitely the auxcon. Easier than the other two, anyway,” his brother said.

“So, what?” Peter asked. “We rush in, turn out the lights, and then free the prisoners?”

“Something like that, I guess,” Iskender said. “We’d need to split up.”

It hit me then just what we were talking about. A bare dozen of us, half of us civilians, the other half supply clerks and techs, were talking about taking on a band of armed killers. Worse still, we’d have to be killers, or at least prepared to be. I wasn’t Admiral Okafor or Captain Hornblower. I certainly wasn’t James Bond or The Mist.
I felt myself starting to tremble, and my vision blurred. The Faucon crew were black smudges, their talk meaningless echoes.

Something touched my hand, and I jerked back, as if shocked. Marta looked down at me, surprise and worry touching her green eyes.

“Kitra, I said, ‘Are you alright?’“

I was anything but alright. I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat was a desert.

Her hand gripped mine, her eyes softening. “I know. But we’ll make it. We have to.” She looked behind me, and I followed her gaze. To Pinky, now a legless hemisphere, just his “head” poking out of his suit. I licked my lips, staring at my oldest friend, and felt the fear retreat, just a little bit, pushed aside by the need to get him help.

I looked back at Marta, who gave me a little nod. I took a bracing breath, then cocked my head. Something had occurred to me. “Are you okay?” I asked.

She blinked. “I…sure. What do you mean?” she whispered back.

“You’re so va-t’en guerre, so pumped up.” I looked at the deck. “I know how you feel about the Empire. These people we’re going to face, they’re fighting the Empire.”

Marta’s expression went pensive. “It’s something I’m trying not to think too hard about. Right now, we hardly know anything about what’s going on. One recorded message isn’t enough to go on.”

She smiled softly and tilted up my chin with the fingers of her free hand. “Anyway, right now politics can hang. Nothing matters more than family.” The pressure on my hand became a hard squeeze, and Marta’s eyes were shining. Mine stung too, I realized.

 

Amazon | B&N | Apple | Bookshop.org | Journey Press 

 

About Gideon Marcus:

Serling-winning and five time Hugo Finalist science fiction author, Gideon has just finished Hyvilma, third book in the Kitra Saga, a YA space adventure series featuring themes of isolation, teamwork, and hope, and starring a queer protagonist of color.

His short fiction can be found in Dark Matter, Utopia, Simultaneous Times, and elsewhere. He is also the editor of the Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women anthology series, featuring some of the best works of science fiction’s Silver Age.

He is the founder of Journey Press, an independent publisher focused on unusual and diverse speculative fiction, and he also runs the award-winning time machine project, Galactic Journey. He is a professional space historian, member of the American Astronautical Society’s history committee, college professor, and frequent public speaker.

Gideon lives in San Diego County with his writer/editor wife and their Hugo-nominated artist daughter…along with a cat, a snake, and an immense library.

 

Galactic Journey | Twitter

 

 

Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for November 2022

It’s that time of the month again, time for “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of speculative fiction by indie and small press authors newly published this month, though some October books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Once again, we have new releases covering the whole broad spectrum of speculative fiction. This month, we have urban fantasy, epic fantasy, YA fantasy, fantasy mystery, paranormal mystery, paranormal romance, science fiction romance, space opera, military science fiction, YA science fiction, dystopian fiction, LitRPG, horror, demons, dwarves, ghosts, exorcists, Norse gods, aliens, cyborgs, space marines, climate change, haunted roads, haunted prisons, magical schools, Pandora's box, crime-busting witches, arsekicking grandmothers, veterinarians in space, and much more.

As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.

And now on to the books without further ado:

Pandora's Demon by Odette C. Bell:

Oh dear. Ruby Whittle’s already down on her luck. Soon, she’ll descend much further into something far worse. When she inherits Pandora’s box and finds out Hell’s real – and coming for her – she needs help. And only one demon can save her.
Blake is the Sixth Son of Satan, a man just as arrogant as he is handsome. When he spies Ruby, the half-breed, he plans to kill her. But when Ruby contracts him with one of his father’s rings, she binds them. Blake must now protect her. Through Heaven, through Hell, and through one of the greatest plots the universe has ever seen.

A dark force is rising, and though Blake really doesn’t like it, Ruby is the only half-breed who can help him defeat it. To do that, she’ll make him discover the beating organ between the junction of his fourth and fifth ribs. And by the end of this demonic tale, she’ll rip his heart right out and lay it as his feet. For when a demon falls in love, things get sticky.
…
Pandora’s Demon follows a prince and a half-breed battling to save the universe. If you crave your contemporary fantasies with action, humor, romance, and fun, grab Pandora’s Demon Book One today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.
Pandora’s Demon is the 2nd Sons of Satan series. A witty, action-packed, light romance world where Satan’s sons must find love, but only after it sticks a ring on their finger. If you like your urban fantasies packed full of charming smiles, arrogant demons, and sprinkles of romance, dive in today.

The Master of Puppets by Molly J. Bragg:

Jakari, an alien assassin, receives orders taking her to a primitive alien world. She expects the mission to be like any other. Get in, eliminate the target and get out again. Instead, when she arrives, she finds out that one of the leaders of the fascist Char Oram is there, seeking to turn the inhabitants into mindless soldiers that could tip the war in favor of the Char.

Hayami Takahashi follows a strange woman down a dark street and all she wants is to make sure the woman didn’t wind up as the next victim of a kidnapping ring working the streets of Dallas. Instead, she finds herself in the middle of a civil war between two factions of shape shifting cyborg aliens.

After Jakari saves Hayami from becoming a test subject in a Char lab, the two of them are working together to stop a war that’s been raging for nine thousand years.

Smoke and Hellfire by Kristen Brand:

Keep calm and call an exorcist.

Most people don’t believe in the supernatural—at least until a ghost starts making the walls in their house bleed. That’s when they call Bea Romo Reyes. She’s my best friend and roommate, and she works as a freelance exorcist and paranormal consultant. Meeting her plunged me into a supernatural world both wonderful and terrifying, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

But there’s something Bea’s not telling me, and her secret might be more dangerous than the demons she’s hired to exorcise.

Smoke and Hellfire contains four episodic, novelette-length stories:

The Scent of Brimstone
When my friend dies mysteriously and her house stinks of brimstone, I know a demon is to blame. And when it threatens my friend’s family, I do the only thing I can think of: I call a professional exorcist.

An Unfair Bargain
Bea and I investigate a missing woman who wandered into the forest at night like she was possessed. But the truth of what happened is—if possible—even worse than demonic possession, and we might not make it out of the forest alive.

Drowning, Drowning
A ghost tour in St. Augustine accidentally raises a vengeful spirit who starts picking off the tour group one by one. Can Bea banish the ghost in time to save the young tour guides from a watery grave?

The Corporate Job
I always knew corporations were evil, but this one takes it a step further when they summon a demon to increase their profit margins. With a possessed CFO chained up in the basement and Bea’s exorcism failing, the demon reveals a sinister secret that could change everything.

Marines Never Die by Jonathan P. Brazee and J.N. Chaney:

The war continues...and the body count rises.

With humanity joining the alliance to fight the Naxli invaders, the war should be turning in their favor.

Unfortunately, the enemy must not have gotten that memo.

Across the galaxy, the Naxli strive for total domination. To create a stronger resistance, Gunny Pelletier is sent to work with the various races, but he and his team soon discover that reaching common ground and coordinating military action is far more difficult than they’d imagined.

But the Naxli aren’t pausing to give the allied races time to work out the kinks, which means it's time for humanity to go at it alone once again. Bureaucracy must wait while Marines do what Marines do best.

Besides, humanity owes the Naxli a few paybacks, even if the rest of the allied races are not willing to join the mission.

Roadside Horrors by Cora Buhlert:

Roads are interstitial spaces, their only purpose to take you from one place to another.

In most cases, roads only connect two places in the real world. But occasionally, a road crosses the borderline into the unknown. That’s when things can come through, terrible things that lurk by the side of the road for the unwary traveller.

A car full of drunk teenagers on their way home from a festival encounter something terrible in the woods of Northwest Germany…

Nina delivers newspapers in the wee hours of the night and pays no attention to the pets that go missing in the neighbourhood… or the strange sounds echoing from the sewer grilles…

On a lonely country road in northern Spain, a truck driver encounters the ghosts of a terrible past…

So buckle up and get ready to meet the horrors that lurk by the side of the road. But be careful, because every encounter with them might be your last…

This is a collection of three tales of roadside horror of 9500 words altogether by Hugo winner Cora Buhlert.

Hammered by Lindsay Buroker:

Seattle native Matti Puletasi has the strength of a bear, the stamina of an ox, and a magical hammer inherited from her dwarven mother.

She’s happy renovating homes and occasionally thumping bad guys until she learns of a mysterious artifact hidden under the house she’s working on. Everybody from humans to orcs to werewolves wants it, and they’re willing to kill to get it. Things go from bad to worse when someone frames her for murder.

The only person interested in helping her is a haughty elf assassin from another realm. He’s handsome, powerful, and deadly, but he’s got an agenda of his own. She dare not trust him—or be attracted to him.

But if she can’t clear her name, the assassin will be the least of her worries.

Kill Spree by M.R. Forbes:

Ben used to dream about being famous. He didn’t expect to wind up infamous instead.

Now he’s stuck in the middle of the most grotesque contest in the galaxy, racing against time and some of the most dangerous and deranged psychopaths in the Spiral to rescue his crew from a bloody battle royale.

The clock is ticking. The leaderboard is reset. Millions are watching. There can be only one winner, and if he ever wants to see his best friend again…

It had better be him.

Digital Divinity by Rachel Ford:

A shadow hangs over Midgard. Malevolent forces stir in Asgard. Out of the chaos will rise… a grandmother?
Barbara Callaghan assumed she’d spend her retirement peacefully, playing bingo and babysitting her grandson. Not fighting giants and wrangling unruly gods.

But when she finds herself the victim of a digital scam, trapped as a barbarian brawler in a game world generated from old Earth mythologies, she knows she will either adapt or perish. And Barbara has never been a quitter.

To survive this harsh rendering of Midgard, Barbara must win the patronage of one of the Asgardian gods. With the help of her disloyal companion Carwyn, an elven NPC with more warrants out on him than coins in his purse, she seeks out Asgard.

She discovers a world in turmoil, with powerful gods at each other’s throats, rogue giants causing chaos at every turn, and dwarven craftsmen at war with one another.

A world that needs the practical, no-nonsense touch of a grandmother—and the occasional brute strength of a barbarian.

Eat, Drink and Be Witchy by Lily Harper Hart:

Life is going well for Hali Waverly. She owns her own tiki bar at one of St. Pete Beach’s premiere resorts and her life is settled for the first time in…well, a really long time. On top of that, a local private investigator she keeps crossing paths has decided it’s time to date, something that both thrills and terrifies her.

All of that changes when a body turns up on one of the resort’s balconies and the owner of the resort is passed out inside with no recollection of what happened. Police think Franklin Craven could’ve killed her. The only problem is the marks on her body could also be attributed to an animal…and maybe one of a supernatural variety.

Worried about his freedom, Franklin hires Gray to solve the case. That means Hali and Gray are going to be investigating together…again.
St. Pete is full of paranormals, but Gray and Hali are looking for one specific one, a murderer who has a clear goal, even if it’s one they can’t quite ascertain.

Sparks are about to fly, in more ways than one, and death is on the cocktail menu. Hali and Gray want a chance at a future. They have to get through the present to make it happen.

A Swift Kick to the Thorax by Mara Lynn Johnstone:

When space poachers release Earth animals on an alien world, threatening a fragile new alliance, they anger the wrong people. A veterinarian, an accountant, and a furious sign-language-fluent gorilla are coming for them.

Robin enjoys being one of the only humans around: an exotic outsider, strange and tall, with no shell and only two arms. Consulting for locals who want to keep Earth pets is a fine job. But when a swarm of rabbits invade town and humanity is blamed, everything unravels.

If Robin wants to save the alliance between two planets - and keep from getting sent home in disgrace - she has to prove that a powerful crime ring is behind the crisis. Luckily for her, she makes friends who are eager to help: from planetside, from the nearby space station, and recently escaped from the poacher's ship.

Those poachers may be bug aliens with an excellent range of vision, but they won't see this coming.

Lights, Camera, Witches by Amanda M. Lee:

Bay Winchester isn’t in the mood for trouble. It seems to continually find her, however, and this time it’s coming in the form of a television production crew.

Haunted Traditions has made a name for itself as the premiere reality television show catering to paranormal enthusiasts. Of course Hemlock Cove pops up on their radar. What they want most of all is an interview with Bay, the local newspaper owner and expert on all things Hemlock Cove, and a shot of magic happening in real time wouldn’t hurt either.

The woman in question is not having it.

When a body drops in an alley, it’s bad enough that the production crew is on site. What makes it worse is that the body is glowing … and there’s no hiding it. There’s no telling why it’s glowing either. It’s a mystery.

Bay and her husband Landon are convinced the body has something to do with a new meth gang that has taken over a chain of lake cabins on the outskirts of town. They just have to prove it.

Between dodging the television crew—who have taken up residence in The Overlook—and chasing a monster, the Winchesters have their hands full … and that’s not counting the family members who have decided they want to become television stars.

Bay is used to fighting evil. What she’s not used to is having to dodge potential exposure in the process.

The Winchesters are facing a battle. Now they just have to figure what side it’s coming from.

It’s a fight to the finish … and if the television crew catches them, it’s all over.

It’s lights, cameras, action in Hemlock Cove … and death may soon follow.

The Quarrygate Gambit by Marshall Ryan Maresca:

Mixing urban and high fantasy, the fourth Streets of Maradaine novel follows the crew of outlaws led by the Rynax brothers as they struggle to protect the city they love.

After having thwarted some of the forces responsible for ruining their lives, reformed thieves Asti and Verci Rynax and the rest of the Holver Alley Crew had mostly settled back into sedate lives as upright citizens of Maradaine. But when they are suddenly arrested in mysterious circumstances, they find themselves in Quarrygate Prison, which tests the limits of their cunning and skill. While Verci struggles to keep their friends alive and safe in the prison, Asti gets pulled into a mysterious scheme in the underbelly of the prison, teaming him up with some of the most dangerous people in Maradaine. The cracks in Asti’s tenuous sanity get torn open as he is thrown into a cat-and-mouse game with one of the city’s most infamous killers.

Meanwhile back in their neighborhood, Verci’s wife Raych is desperate to help him and Asti and get them home. When her attempts to go through proper channels fail, she accepts a ludicrous deal from the local crime boss: Verci and Asti’s freedom in exchange for her pulling off a daring, nigh-impossible heist that would challenge even seasoned thieves. Raych doesn’t know how a simple baker like her could hope to succeed at such a task, but she will use every trick and wild idea she has to help her family. None of the Rynaxes will rest until they are free from Quarrygate and together at home again, no matter the risk, no matter the cost.

Planetfall by Emily McCosh:

A rogue cyborg. A talking badger. A bounty job that goes incredibly wrong.

Aaron is perfectly content to chase bounties in his run-down little space ship, avoid human interaction at all cost, and lay low from the cyborg planet that created him. But when he and Bat—his half-robotic badger companion (who talks just a little too much)—chase their largest bounty ever, they run head-first into not only some dangerous criminals, but other cyborgs much stronger than them, and worst of all, a handful of humans who aren’t going anywhere.

Their job leads them first to Yayth, a backwater planet nearly as inhospitable as it is frigid. On a planet this abandoned, their target should be an easy find. Until a storm rolls in that freezes even the engines of starships. Aaron and Bat find themselves trapped not only with their bounty, but with some bystanders determined to get in the way, and something monstrous wanting to crack its way out of the ice.

Dream of Death City by P.J. Nwosu:

Chilling, dark fantasy with a heavy dose of Sherlock Holmes in this new series of twisty mysteries in fantasy worlds.

Pale moths haunt an icy frontier. Beneath the shadow of a drowned death god, a frozen body is unearthed from the snow.

Investigators arrive to a superstitious island to solve a brutal crime. Among them is a lowly slave desperate to prove her worth and a soldier with dark dreams. Neither are prepared for what they find.

Death City is a strange and violent frontier, and no one who survives comes back clean.
First though, Thora and Diem must survive.

Welcome to the Red Kingdom.

Severed Ties by Kris Ruhler:

A scientist filled with doubts. A four-year-old facing death. A momentous journey to save her.

For Belor, life in Cerulis City provides a myriad of comforts: endless food, a nice and warm home, and his dream job. He has life all planned out.

But when four-year-old Saya is about to be executed, Belor makes an irreversible decision that upheaves his entire life.
Soon, the pair find themselves on the run, fighting for survival. Saya is no ordinary four-year-old. She is a half-Aeterna, a race of beings banned from Cerulis City.

Will Belor be able to keep Saya alive?

Eldsprak Academy by Oskar Soderberg:

What do you get when you take a geomancer with a bone to pick, a secret aeromancer, and a healing hydromancer, and put them in a practice yard with a commoner ranger and a bunch of noble sons of Eldsprak Kingdom?

A group of individuals who all need to win The Academy Tournament for reasons of their own!

It’s up to Goslin to make them work together. If they’re to have any sort of chance at coming out on top, they’ll need to adapt and change. Can they start to pull in the same direction, or are they doomed to fall over each other in their eagerness to prove themselves on the field of battle?

How will they conquer The Tournament when one of their many opponents is Goslin’s own brother, the champion from last year’s tournament, and his hireling pyromancer who can send blasts of fire from the palm of his hand?

All the tyrannical gods may have been killed by The Heroes of old, but who cares about things like that when sword strikes sword and bursts of magic erupt in the streets of Fyrie, Eldsprak’s capital, where The Tournament is just starting?

Orphans of Canland by Daniel Vitale:

It's 2088, and the dust has settled on America, decades after an environmental collapse. The eco-totalitarian organization, WORLD, has reconfigured society with the intention of restoring nature. Twelve-year-old eternal optimist Tristan Weekes lives in what he believes must be paradise: Canland, an agrarian California desert-greening project. However, Tristan's life-defining medical condition, analgesia, prevents him from feeling physical pain, leaving his brain's stress centers unresponsive to everything from ego-blows to heatwaves.

Well-intended, curious, and wielding a stunning vocabulary, Tristan loves to listen to the subversive theories spouted by his older brother, Dylan, a drug-addicted satellite hacker. He also wants to prove his independence to his mother, Helena, a powerful population control-extremist. Meanwhile, all around him, the survivors of the environmental collapse are just working toward a better tomorrow. But when a slew of violent acts befalls Canland, Tristan must confront certain truths about the community he loves-including his family's secrets, his own involvement in the horrors enacted by WORLD, and the debts that are owed to the orphans of Canland.

In this work of literary fiction, set against the backdrop of a frighteningly plausible dystopia, Daniel Vitale explores the fate of our planet, the nature of family, and the duty of science, as Orphans of Canland asks: What does it mean to belong on Earth?

 

Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for June 2022

It’s that time of the month again, time for “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of speculative fiction by indie and small press authors newly published this month, though some May books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Once again, we have new releases covering the whole broad spectrum of speculative fiction. This month, we have urban fantasy, epic fantasy, YA fantasy, fantasy romance, paranormal romance, paranormal mystery, paranormal historical mystery, science fiction romance, space opera, military science fiction, YA science fiction, horror, non-fiction, wizards, dragons, fae, final girls, super soldiers, space marines, magical heists, crime-busting witches, haunted hotels and much more.

As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.

And now on to the books without further ado:

The Final Women by Pardeep Aujla:

The mass murdering Phantom of Haven Cove is dead. For the one who killed him, however, life has never been the same.

How do you return to normality after facing such a monster? How do you live when consumed by guilt, anger, fear, and denial? How do you connect with others when no one understands what you’ve been through?

But there are others. Final Girls of their own Haven Cove massacres. And now, thirty years later, they must all face a new question...

What do you do when the killer returns?

Entangled by Odette C. Bell:

Some are born with a plan. Some are born into someone else’s plan.

Bruce Tan is the best soldier the Coalition has seen in decades. With a cold, efficient will and a hardened fist, he forces his way through every obstacle.

But the universe has another plan for him. When an alien artifact entangles his body and mind with the weak, panic-prone Cadet Emma Hawk, he must learn a new way.

And quickly.

The Coalition’s enemies soon kidnap them, and Bruce and Emma are thrust head-first into a fight for the universe. They have two options: stay together, as close as two entangled particles – or break apart and take everyone else with them.

Shadow Scarred by Bruce Blake:

The Book of Shadow was found, but the quest continues…

Llyris Fildarae is still reeling with the news of her heritage imparted by an old man claiming to be the great mage Amnayel Prisma—doubtful, though he’s proven able to perform unusual wonders even a magik couldn’t. He cured a boy, yet now demands a stave to aid in healing a fallen knight.

The quest she and her companions embark on requires them to travel to the Obsidian Fields, a place no one has visited since time immemorial. Even Prisma himself—if that is who he is—cannot tell them what it may look like or what to expect once there.

What dangers will they face? Magic? Deadly curses? The undead again?

No one knows. Not even a Shadow Scarred.

First Kill by Jonathan P. Brazee and J.N. Chaney:

A routine reconnaissance mission. Find out where the enemy Mad Dogs are, and report back.

Simple.

But Tomiko Reiser is a staff sergeant, a combat Marine, and Marines don’t run from a fight. When her patrol spots the enemy, she realizes the opportunity is there, and she maneuvers closer for a better look.

Combat never goes as planned, and Tomiko might have bit off more than she could chew. Faced with a powerful foe and a sergeant she doesn’t trust, she might have made a fatal mistake.

Dive into this brand new short story from Staff Sergeant Tomiko Reiser's point of view from the Dragon Award nominated Sentenced to War series.

Gods of War by Jonathan P. Brazee and J.N. Chaney:

As the flames of the Human/Naxli war are fanned into a blaze, the Second Combined Assault Brigade is thrown into the conflict.

But with troopers from throughout humanity, including former enemies, Gunnery Sergeant Reverent Pelletier struggles to mold his platoon into an effective fighting force, all while butting heads with his Mad Dog commander.

Under water, in the vacuum of space, and leading local forces, the platoon puts their stamp on history. But there is a limit to any fighting force. Will and discipline alone can’t defeat overwhelming firepower. When faced with insurmountable odds, can Rev and his troopers survive, much less accomplish their mission?

Join Rev, Tomiko, Kelly, and the rest of the Marines and soldiers as they fight the Naxli aggression that threatens humankind’s very existence.

Magic Alias by Fatima Fayez:

What if the past two years of your life were a lie?

Yesterday, I believed I was the smartest witch at the supernatural agency. My magic and power made me their most effective agent, reclaiming stolen artifacts and tracking down dangerous rogues.

Today, I know the organization I work for is actually a front for a sprawling criminal network that threatens to upend the paranormal world. It only took a serial killer to break the news to me and turn my world upside down.

All this time, I believed the agency didn’t know about my dark secret but it turns out I was the mark all along. Now I have to figure out how deep I’m in.

Tomorrow, I’m taking them down.

I’m having a bad day and I have a feeling it’s about to get

By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga by Erica Friedman:

The Untold Story of Lesbian Love in Japanese Anime and Comics

"By Your Side is the complete Yuri resource I only ever dreamed could exist. Decades in the making, this glorious collection surveys, analyzes, and contextualizes Yuri with unparalleled detail and enthusiasm. Friedman graces readers with illuminating insights as they follow her through a century of the genre’s evolution and revolution. By sharing her extraordinary knowledge, she provides inquirers, scholars, and aficionados alike with a deeper appreciation and understanding of lesbian anime and manga while galvanizing them towards the next era of Yuri."

-Nicki Bauman, Yurimother

"The first in-depth study of Yuri in English."

-James Welker, Professor of Cross-Cultural and Japanese Studies, Kanagawa University

For a Few Witches More by Lily Harper Hart:

Casper Creek is a town in flux. Contractors are on the scene making plans for the new restaurant, owner Hannah Hickok is plotting ridiculous couple’s costumes for the Halloween party, and there’s a new demon in town.

Instead of coming after Hannah directly, the demon does an end-run around the witch and starts possessing the area children … and sending them into a frenzy. Through a fluke, Hannah manages to put an end to the first attack. Unfortunately, a wave of them are set to follow.

Hannah’s boyfriend Cooper Wyatt believes she can handle almost anything, but a threat against children puts her in a tough position … especially since the demon seems to be demanding something that’s impossible for Hannah to give him. He wants to be there for her, but this fight is one he’s not certain they can win.

Demons are nothing new for Hannah, but this one has a particular agenda, and nobody will survive if it comes to fruition. Because she has no other options, Hannah is forced to join forces with an enemy who can provide an exponential power boost. Will it be a mistake?

Hannah is determined to protect those she loves. This time, the foe might be too strong for her to defeat.

Wicked Graves by Lily Harper Hart:

Maddie Graves-Winters should be preparing for the biggest day of her life – she’s going to become a mother in three months after all – but that’s impossible without the right crib. That means an outing to nearby Shadow Lake with her husband Nick, which turns into a nightmare she wasn’t expecting when a local author is struck in the middle of the road and left for dead.

Ivy Morgan-Harker didn’t even know they had a famous author in town until she was already dead. When helping her husband Jack and his new partner search the dead woman’s house, she finds an entire wall of grievances, which seems to indicate the victim had more than one enemy.

When Maddie and Ivy cross paths, sparks fly … in a magical way. It isn’t long before the truth comes out and they join forces to solve a mystery.
Apparently, the author world is full of kooks, or at least that’s what the women manage to uncover. There are too many suspects and not enough motive. Still, they dig … but the answers they seek are elusive.

There’s a killer running around northern Lower Michigan, and Ivy and Maddie are determined to find out who it is … even if they put themselves in danger to uncover the truth. Their husbands, however frustrated, stand back to watch the show.

They say truth is stranger than fiction, and in this case, that truth will cast a pall over multiple lives.

Buckle up and enjoy the ride because some friendships are destined to become legendary. This is one of them.

Rune of Secrets by Kelly N. Jane:

She craves vengeance. He requires justice. Fate demands both.

Without enchanted powers and struck with a curse, Princess Rowena could not prevent her family’s murder or save herself from the fallout.

Vulnerable but determined, she dares to conquer her enemies and free her people. But secret deals force her into a betrothal, tempting her into a bold decision that could cost her life.

Rowena has nothing left but to avenge her family before she dies. Until the most terrifying, yet hauntingly handsome fae arrives, demanding she follows her destiny.

Rowena has the power to lead her people or destroy them.

Kwelengsen Dawn by David M. Kelly:

When you lose everything you love, the whole world becomes the enemy.

After his planet was invaded by ruthless Corporate forces, engineer Logan Twofeathers is trapped on Earth by the authorities, who are more afraid of starting a war than helping their people. He may be safe, but many others are still missing.

When security tries to arrest him on trumped-up charges, he must find his own way to return to Kwelengsen. His only option is to seek out someone from his past--a borderline psychotic, who might just be crazy enough to help.

Now, he must draw on all his strength and resilience as he undertakes a precarious and violent journey into the unknown, with enemies lurking in every shadow. The outlook is bleak, and all he has is his grit and sense of honor. Will that be enough?

The battle is over. But the war is about to begin.

Daggers and Destiny by Ryver Knight:

A strange stone. A pursuit for power. A new beginning.

An orphan with no job, no home, and no last name, sixteen-year-old Mala scrapes along day by day with her younger brother, Baz, in their small village.

But when she discovers a mysterious stone, her whole world comes crashing down.

Suddenly, she faces massive adversity, a quest for bloody revenge, and a power so great she fears it.

Will she find peace amidst the chaos?

Or is her world fated to burn?

The Haunted Hotel Hoopla by Amanda M. Lee:

Charlie Rhodes is struggling. She thought finding her family would fix everything. It hasn’t, and the threat that’s cast a long shadow over her life is only getting larger. Still, when an opportunity arises to go to Savannah – one of her bucket list cities – she jumps at the chance.

Savannah was made famous by ghosts, but five missing women – and the return of only one body – seems to point to a different sort of culprit. Whatever is going on, it’s weird … and it’s only getting weirder.

Charlie’s mind keeps wandering to the friend she lost, who keeps haunting her dreams, but her determination never wavers. That’s why she hits the ground hot and hard … and the answers that start unspooling do so at a fantastic rate.

There’s just one problem: Whatever evil is haunting Savannah, it’s more than ghosts. Actually, there might be two problems, because the ghosts in Savannah are multiplying exponentially and nobody knows if it’s tied to the missing women.

Charlie has enemies coming out of the woodwork, although the big one is elusive. The answers she seeks are close, and they might just be provided by an unlikely source. It will take all of them working together, every faction in town, to beat back a terrific foe.

Don’t skip to the end in this one, because the ultimate twist is about to descend. Prepare yourself because it’s going to be a heckuva ride.

More Modern Mythmakers: 25 Interviews with Horror and Science Fiction Writers and Filmmakers by Michael McCarty

More Modern Mythmakers features Horror, Science Fiction and Dark Fantasy’s most influential writers and filmmakers interviewed about the art and craft of their genres.

The 25 interviews include:
Steve Alten, Reggie Bannister, Terry Brooks, Charles de Lint, Dennis Etchison, John Everson, Alan Dean Foster, Ray Garton, Sephera Giron, Owl Goingback, Charles Grant, Nancy Holder, Paul Kane, Ronald Kelly, Joe Lansdale, Bentley Little, Jeff Long, Jonathan Maberry, Elizabeth Massie, Larry Niven, William Stout, Jeff Strand, Harry Turtledove, J.N. Williamson, Connie Willis

Foreword by Gerard Houarner
Afterword by Jeffrey Thomas

If you’re interested in books on writing, the horror genre, science fiction, famous authors, or even becoming a full time author, this book is a must-have.

More Modern Mythmakers is the sequel to 2015’s Modern Mythmakers by Michael McCarty, published by Crystal Lake Publishing.

Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.

An Unforgiving Desert by S.J. Pajonas:

A ship hijacked. An arrogant and handsome classmate. A relentless desert.

Skylar Kawabata is so close to having her Class Three pilot’s license, she can taste it. She’s worked two years in isolation to get to the final exam, and nothing is going to stop her now, not even Kalvin, the class pretty boy high flyer who can’t stop calling her Princess. She’s going to kill him if he calls her that one more time…

When their class ship is hijacked during the final exam, and Skylar and Kalvin are marooned in the desert, they’ll need more than patience and a supply of water to stay alive until rescue comes.

Will Skylar and Kalvin make it out of the unforgiving desert in one piece? Or will they kill each other before the desert kills them?

An Unforgiving Desert is the prequel novella to The Amagi science fiction romance series. If you like talented heroines, cocky, self-assured men, and a hot desert gamble, then you’ll devour S. J. Pajonas’s gutsy action-adventure. Be sure to read An Unexpected Debt after!

Shackles of Guilt by Kris Ruhler:

He’s the boy next door. She’s a princess. But when blood and war reach their doorstep, will they unite or be forever pushed apart?

Young and ambitious Earmon has climbed up the ladder in Levitor city to become the Queen’s topmost advisor. He seems to have everything he’s dreamt of but for one thing: Princess Zenithia’s love.

When he witnesses an intruder inside the city and decides to keep it quiet, he unwittingly unleashes a terrifying chain of events. His friend, Turak, has an episode that results in a fracture in Levitor’s shield, and the horde of Reavers prowling outside the city advances.

In a world of intrigue, blood, and war, Earmon must battle for survival against savages and beasts.

His hardest trial is yet to come, and he will have to face a choice no one should ever have to make: protect the life of the one he loves the most at the risk of losing his own.

In the end, will he be enough to save her and the city?

Stung by the Cobra by Aurora Springer:

Shan Zennia, Senior Curator of the Archives of Galactic Culture on Lumos, plays a dangerous double role as a researcher and a spy for Solarian Intelligence. She embarks on a new mission to observe the spring festival on Harappi, a planet recently conquered by the ambitious Emperor and now governed by his niece, Domina Allia.

Zennia finds unexpected mysteries on the planet, including the enigmatic Nagari. Once a victorious commander in the Emperor’s space fleet and nicknamed the Cobra, he was forced to abandon his military career when Allia claimed him as her consort. Her abusive treatment has driven him to the brink of madness.

Intrigued by the ex-commander and aware of his value as a source of information on the enemy, Zennia agrees to meet him during the festival of rebirth. Opposing forces clash at the height of the celebrations, catalyzing deadly violence. Can Nagari and Zennia survive the chaos and win a new and happier life?

Wilde Magic by Jenn Stark:

Off the grid and on the run since she was a teen, Sara Wilde has made a name for herself as an artifact hunter with an edge—finding the most magical treasures on the planet with the flip of a Tarot card.

But when she’s hired to steal a powerful fertility idol on the last night of Carnival, Sara discovers her rough-and-tumble skills are no match for the new, mysterious buyer she’s attracted. Rich, demanding, and sexy as sin, this Magician promises to be nothing but trouble. Yet, for what he’s willing to shell out for her services, Sara can afford the risk.

Or so she thinks.

As the danger—and the payoffs—mount, the power of Tarot leads Sara from the rollicking party of Rio de Janeiro to the grand historical cemeteries of Savannah, then on to the ostentatious museum halls of New York City. Meanwhile, the relentless Magician weaves an ever more seductive spell, hinting at a world she’s barely glimpsed.

To keep from getting burned by passion, power, or betrayal, Sara’s going to need some Wilde Magic.

The Ghostly Tower by A.F. Stewart:

Meet Heyward and Andersen, consulting detectives in a paranormal London you never imagined...

Elspeth Heyward has never met a puzzle she didn't want to solve, or an adventure she didn’t relish. Taking Sherlock Homes as her benchmark, she is determined to be the best detective and monster hunter in London.

Lars Andersen’s ambitions aren't nearly as demanding. He just wants to stay alive, out of trouble, and out of jail. But when your partner likes guns and dynamite, that could be a challenge. Can he survive his new employment?

The Case: Discover if a stone tower on their client's estate is haunted. It should be straightforward, but ghosts aren’t all they find. When they dig up a body, they also unearth a murder and a tangle of secrets. Secrets they’d better unravel quickly before someone else dies.

Alien Pursuit by James David Victor:

They held off the initial alien assault but humanity is far from safe as the full force of the alien invasion is unleashed on mankind.

The initial attack by the Vhast alien armada was repulsed, in large part by the heroic deeds of the Tin Man. Unfortunately, the jump gate back to Earth was destroyed and it's a long journey home for the small crew of the gigantic mining ship turned warship. They must get back to Earth to help save humanity, but an elite alien warship is determined to prevent that from happening. Can the crew of the Tin Man outsmart, and out fight, an elite alien warrior and return home or has the gigantic space mech met it's match?

Alien Pursuit is the second book in the Tin Man Space Opera Adventure. If you like fast-paced sci-fi adventures, make Tin Man your next epic space adventure.

Download Alien Pursuit and see if the giant space mech known as Tin Man can save humanity!

Women of Wonder by Danielle Williams:

Looking for magic-wielding women with brave hearts, amazing abilities, and a sense of humor? You've come to the right place.

Danielle Williams, fantasy fan extraordinaire and author of the inimitable sci-fi epic Steel City, Veiled Kingdom, brings together three of her favorite heroines in this special value collection that's sure to leave you smiling.

Women of Wonder contains the following stories:

The Capramancer Next Door - Down-to-earth mage Will Schafer has her hands full moving into a new house while keeping her mischievous herd of magical goats in line. Meeting handsome gardener Rickert Nash takes the sting out of moving...until his shadowy past comes roaring back to bite him in the butt. Now Will and the herd must step in to save their neighbor from getting mulched—but can a girl and her goats defeat a formidable hunter, or are they all about to buy the farm?

The Witching License - Mavis Burnsides is on her deathbed when her best friend brings her a Witching License. Now she's got magical powers—and one last night to make up for a lifetime of regrets. By turns sassy and touching, The Witching License is a gentle tale of regret, romance, and righting wrongs.

Debuts and Dragons - Though she's not much to look at, dragon Sellafield Terrormouth never worried about snagging a mate for herself. But now that her little sister is about to debut in dragon society, Sella's got one night to go from drab to fab. If she fails, she’ll lose her entire dowry—and quite possibly doom herself to eternal spinsterhood! Can this plain dragon get herself a date, or is her future about to go up in flames?

Escape doesn't have to cost big bucks!

 

Interview with Michael DeAngelo, author of D’Aprile’s Fools

 

Today it gives the Speculative Fiction Showcase great pleasure to interview Michael DeAngelo, author of D’Aprile’s Fools and creator of the Tellest Universe.

The world of Tellest first emerged in the year 2000. How did your idea develop into a detailed and complex world?

Thank you for your question.  It’s always nice to start at the beginning!  

I had a love for fantasy for quite a while, but my love for literature subsided a bit at the beginning of high school.  It wasn’t until the back half when I had just the right combination of all the sorts of things that I was interested in that coalesced and had me begin using my free time to start creating stories of my own.

It all started with a gifted book, a new computer game, and some free time after a math test.  I had only intended on creating a short biography about a character—for a game, mind you—and the story developed around that, creating a life of its own.  I feel like along the way I’ve been unearthing new secrets and unlocking new mysteries.  It’s easy for me to get attached to my characters as well, and I’m always thinking about how I can make them seem like the leading role in a story of their own, even if they were a bit player in someone else’s tale.

One of the important aspects of the Tellest verse is its collaborative aspect. You encourage other writers and artists to participate. What made you move from being a lone writer to setting up a collaborative multiverse?

Around the time that I started moving on from my original trilogy, I began working on novellas and novelettes.  I had wanted to try and learn how to write tighter prose, so I looked on creative writing subreddits.  It was there that I was able to meet up with likeminded storytellers, and I ended up offering up some money for contests.  I met one of my longest running collaborators nearly ten years ago through that, and he and I will often come together for a few stories every year.  The hope is that we can take things a step further, and we can eventually begin publishing feature-length novels for these other collaborators, but we’re taking baby steps for now.

I should mention that I’ve also lucked out by having people that are near and dear to me who have submitted their own stories that have been entertaining reads as well, and they’ve helped to shape the overall tapestry of the world in some great ways.

How does the process work? Do writers approach you or vice versa?

In the case of the people who I know in my day-to-day life, I’ll often see a spark in them that fits the kind of creative vibe that I’m going for.  Birds of a feather, and all that.  But oftentimes, when I’m collaborating with people from outside of my regional bubble, it’s because they’ve reached out to me for help with a promotion or an editorial review on one of their books.  Again, I’ll look for a prose style and similar story structures that feel like they would lend themselves to Tellest, and our friendship usually kicks off from there.

You have a website, fantasywritingprompts.com, meant to assist other authors find their way out of writer’s block and come up with ideas for new stories. This sounds like an excellent idea - what made you decide to create it and what role do you play?

So, when I was in high school, right around the time that I started conceptualizing what Tellest was, I had a creative writing course that I feel did wonders to get me started.  Every day we had a writing prompt, and I ended up stitching together a lot of those prompts into what became the first drafts for a lot of what helped Tellest get off the ground.  I figured if it was something that could work for me, it could likely work for others as well.

The first concept of the writing prompts existed briefly on the fantasy writing prompt subreddit.  That was where I met and brought on Aaron Canton, who has been one of our more prolific partners.  Eventually when I turned toward purchasing more art, we stopped that contest for a while.  I had always wanted to get back into offering those, and eventually decided to just dive straight into things and purchase the domain and create the site.

It's a lot of work, certainly more than I was prepared for.  I had planned to have daily prompts, with ideas, questions for writers to ask themselves, and challenges, but with all the other projects I work on, it just wasn’t meant to be at the time.  We’re back to doing weekly prompts, with monthly contests though.  We’ll likely do them seasonally, and the idea is that, between seasons, we’ll publish a volume of writing prompts into a book that can be purchased.

Tellest embraces different media, including a tabletop game, Quantum Quest, and a computer game called Quantum Quest: Merge Dungeon. Tell us something about these.

For better or worse, I have a lot of ambitions.  Some of it is just to scratch an itch or to sate my curiosity—can I create a tabletop game, am I able to put together a team to develop a video game?  Honestly it all comes from a place of trying to create something I love with a bit of a Tellest veneer.  

One of my friends and I had been talking about making a tabletop game for a while, and we had some good ideas, but they ended up hitting walls here and there.  I remember having the idea for Quantum Quest—which is sort of like if you took Monopoly and added a D&D sort of spin to it—when I was driving to one of my remote sites at the day job I worked at.  Something just clicked, and I thought I had everything all figured out, so I went and bought some index cards and spent a night putting together some mock-ups.  I took my best friend out to a dinner and started to throw all the index cards on the table, and tried to see if he enjoyed it, and by the end of it, I had an investor.  After getting my brother on board, we were ready to start moving forward.  Once we auditioned a few artists, we found the one that we’ve been working with ever since.  We’ve got an expansion that we’re ready to drop when the time is right, but COVID sort of knocked us off track a bit.

Merge Dungeon is an idle clicker that I’d really like to get on phones, but I still think it needs a bit of polish.  We’ve had people play it and they enjoy it, but I think mobile is where it could thrive, and to get that to work the right way, I think we would have to change a few things here and there.  We’ll be pivoting back to that when the time is right.

We’re planning on supporting both projects, and many more, in the months and years to come.

The artwork and design of the Tellest website and book covers is very striking. Who designed the art and the concepts?

I have an incredible roster of artists.  It’s not just one who brings all the Tellest art to life.  I’ve got artists who do work for me from all over the world, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa, the UK and of course the US.  My cover artist is an awesome collaborator from Italy named Leonardo Borazio.

The attempt is to achieve the same level of cohesion and consistency with the art as we do with the stories, and I think we’ve been able to nail that down well.

I post a new art piece on the Tellest site every Wednesday, and I currently have enough content to keep us going until midway through 2024.

When you launched a Kickstarter for Tellest in 2014, how did that work? What lessons have you learned from using that format and would you do it again?

Well, I’m certainly no Brandon Sanderson, that’s for sure!  But, for a relatively no-name author who especially then but even now is bad at self-marketing, I’ve been able to use Kickstarter to what I believe is a nice success.  I would advise anyone who wants to try and use Kickstarter to fund a fantasy project to ensure that people are aware of the project at the forefront, and to promote the project as liberally as they can.  It’s not easy, and especially toward the middle of the campaign period, things start to sag.  But so long as you have something you believe in, it’s worth doing, if for nothing else just to get the word out.  I’ll certainly be using Kickstarter again in the future, more than likely for the Quantum Quest expansion.

Tell us something about your latest book, D'Aprile's Fools, which came out on Oct 26, 2021. Does this book form part of a series or is it a standalone?

D’Aprile’s Fools is planned to be part of at least a trilogy.  Whenever I’m working on a story in Tellest these days, I’m trying to think of them as ongoing sagas, in addition to figuring out where they fit into the grander tapestry.  D’Aprile’s Fools started as an April Fool’s joke, and then, like most of my projects of that sort, things took off and expanded in the best way.  I was also able to loop in some characters from shorter stories, which helped to enrich the world that much more.  I’m already very excited for an opportunity to step back into the part of the world that these heroes call home, and to explore more about their trials and tribulations.

Talk to us about the protagonist of the series, Frederic D’Aprile, and his “fools”. Who is the wizard Bixby Alladocious?

I envision Frederic as this veteran warrior who has served his time, and he’s ready to hang things up.  War isn’t something that I imagine most people can suffer through forever, and Frederic has seen some dark parts of it.  He’s made the best out of it though as well, including meeting and marrying a woman that makes him feel whole.  When that’s threatened, it sets in motion what happens for the rest of the story.

In the country of Blacklehn, people with unusual abilities are, at best, ostracized.  At worst, they’re hunted down and captured or killed.  When we enter Blacklehn in D’Aprile’s Fools, the Ebon Hammer, a vile but powerful mercenary organization, has seized most of the heroes and champions of the land that have these abilities.  So, it’s up to Frederic, who has some history with training soldiers, to find these people who are decidedly not champions, and shape them up until they become champions.

Bixby Alladocious is just a blast.  He’s a character who was originally introduced in an April Fool’s joke long before the D’Aprile’s Fools crew, so some folks have been able to acclimate to the wizard, his interesting power, and the strange attitude he has because of it.  I had to play his power a little close to the chest just by the nature of this story, but I’m very excited to let him go a little bit crazy with his macabre gift in the sequel.  Once you open Pandora's Box, it’s difficult to close it up again!

What can you tell us about the Strain? 

The Strain is sort of like the magical equivalent of the X gene in the Marvel universe.  Because of some of the events of the past, magic permeates the atmosphere, and it can affect places and artifacts, and it can also bestow its gifts upon people.  A lot of the time, these people don’t have any magical background; they haven’t studied or apprenticed with a wizard or anything like that.  They inherit these blessings or curses and must learn how to live with them.  

At the end of the day, Tellest ends up feeling a lot like a universe about superheroes in high fantasy.  We have pyromancers, teleporters, heroes and villains with super strength, transformative powers—you name it.  And I still feel like we’re just scratching the surface with things.  I’m trying to tackle things with a bit of a slow build, but things are moving toward bigger events that require acts of real heroism to preserve the state of the world.

What type of fantasy world is Tellest? Is it a traditional fantasy world (and what does that mean?)

So, because Tellest is an Earth-sized world, there’s a lot that can vary from continent to continent.  The idea is that it’s supposed to be a bit more versatile than your normal high fantasy, but not to move too far into the future.  We’re a few years out from a black powder revolution where people who don’t have powers (beyond their brilliance) start to understand how to create firearms and cannons and the like.  But certainly, the world is supposed to feel like a melting pot of cultures.  It’s a society that looks like ours, on top of also having an array of fantasy races as well, that adds another layer of variety to the mix.

How do you see the world - and the series - developing?

Well, from an in-world perspective, we’re going to be shaking things up over the next few years.  Most notably, we’re going through a timeline shift that has been sort of made apparent in my blogs and in a few of the short stories, but with an upcoming book release, it’s really in your face that something is happening with the Tellest timeline.  The stories I’ve been releasing have been a bit more personal so that I could introduce characters and show what drives them, but we must up the ante a bit more as well.  We’re going to start to see stories that have greater threats with world-changing consequences.  In the longer term, we might even see other worlds.

On the creator side, we’re looking to continue expanding in new ways, and to improve the offerings that are already out there.  As much as I’d love to do it all myself, we need some other Tellest champions to help share their vision with the world as well.  We’ve begun work on a children’s book that is nearly a third of the way done, and a bit further out on the horizon I’ve been shaping ideas for the first Tellest comic as well.

Tellest is a massive universe, and while we’ve mostly only seen crossovers between short story characters and bigger novels, we’re drawing closer than ever to seeing the real potential of a world like this.  I liken the multiple series that I’m working on now as the Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America movies before they came together in the Avengers.  My Avengers is still a couple years out as I wrap up these multiple sets of trilogies, but the notes and the groundwork are beginning to come together.

How do you agree the rules for writing a shared world? Are there limits?

So, we’re working on a few things in the background that allow Tellest to almost live without rules in certain respects.  The time-traveling stories open a lot of doors for us, and an upcoming novelization of another project almost blows up the walls that the doors were standing in.  The goal is to make it so that parts of Tellest are wholly accessible to fans who want to create fan fictions in the world that could, in theory, be real in a different reality.

The main Tellest timeline that we’re working in right now is still more administrated.  If I’m going back to the Marvel analogies, I’m sort of like if Stan Lee and Kevin Feige were combined.  I’m still in the creation phase for a lot of these characters—and we have a huge and growing roster—but I’m also working with other creators who are eager to lend their voice and their talents to the world.  Oftentimes we have what I call “writer-ready” threads, but I’m always open to pitches as well.  Some of our best stories from Aaron Canton came without any real suggestions from me.  He just read the material that existed (going so far as to dive into the encyclopedia entries that I had on the Tellest site at the time), and we went on from there.  In fact, his work has already lent itself to that massive Avengers-level project we’re preparing.

Even though there are meant to be some creative freedoms, there needs to be cohesion and structure as well, so I work to facilitate that as best I can.  I’ll always send kind of like an intro packet to the official collaborative partners we work with, which includes a general concept of what the books are all about, together with some links to study material, as well as a style guide that is meant to be used to keep things feeling consistent, even as you read from authors with distinct voices.  And then of course we must make sure that the storylines themselves work with one another in effective ways.  You can’t have one tale contradict another, and especially if people are working or adventuring in the same cities or regions, you want to make sure that everything comes together in a nice, organic way.

Tell us about the Tellest Team...

At this point, it might even be worth it to call it an army!  I should start with those closest to the action.  My wife Rhianna is my muse, and without her, I think a lot of the stories would have lost their luster or would have felt completely different by the time I was done with them.  She’s also a storyteller within the universe, and I love every opportunity I can get to have her share her voice.  My good friend Nace is an editor for the Tellest universe, who helps me maintain the consistency in voice and style that I mentioned earlier.  He also creates his own stories in the Tellest tapestry, with a big one coming through soon that we’re very excited about.  My brother Matt and my best friend Kev are pseudo-consultants on a few of the characters that I developed, and I’m always happy to hear their ideas.  And we’ve got other helpers like an additional editor and social media team members.  And that’s all before we start to talk about other writers, artists, and voice work contributors.  We really could be here all day—the music would play to pull me off the stage, for sure. 

What are you planning to do next? Will there be more books to come from the Tellest universe?

There will certainly be more books.  This year I’m really trying to deliver a high number of releases.  During COVID, there were a lot of distractions, so for that first year, we didn’t have anything to really show for Tellest.  But 2021 was a return of sorts, and 2022 is supposed to be an even bigger restructuring and return to form.  We’re very close to a release for our second short story anthology, featuring 24 more stories in the Tellest universe.  I’m working on wrapping up the novelization for Quantum Quest, which is an interesting project indeed.  After that, the plan is to complete the first of the Tales of Tellest trilogies, with Wild Magic, the third book in the Ancestral Magic series.  If we still have time after that, there are other book projects I’d love to release this year, but as I mentioned earlier, I’m overzealous and ambitious—perhaps too much so!

On the non-prose side, we’ve got that kid’s book that we’re working on, which I hope we’ll be the first of many.  We’re also just waiting for the perfect time to drop the Quantum Quest standalone expansion.  We may do so with a Kickstarter just so that folks get the best price available, and the option to pick up some exclusive goodies that we think would be fun.

And that’s all just this year.  There’s a lot more to come, and with every year, I feel like the snowball keeps getting bigger.  I’m looking forward to a nice Tellest avalanche when we can muster that.

What are your favourite novels, movies and games? Who do you consider a major influence?

I think it’s difficult to ignore the experts and most popular fantasy storytellers.  J.K. Rowling built a huge world that is deep and rich and feels like it’s always existed alongside our own.  George Martin has shown that people can enjoy projects that are vast and follow sizable casts of characters.  And of course, Tolkien set in place the groundwork for everything to follow.  I love all these authors and their worlds, and they certainly have held some sway, but I think I would have to say I’m most influenced by R.A. Salvatore.  If it weren’t for his Drizzt novels, I don’t know that lightning would have struck the way it did to get me moving.

As for other media, as you can probably tell, I’m a huge fan of the Marvel universe.  I love how well they’ve been able to tell an ongoing story that seemed so out of reach when I was growing up.  It’s for that reason that I’m so into things like The Last Airbender and Dragon Prince as well, I’m sure.

I’m a nostalgic gamer.  While I love a lot of the new games that come out, I feel like there were certain charms to older games.  The Secret of Monkey Island was written so well and had perfect humor.  The Warcraft and Heroes of Might and Magic games have held some sway over me throughout the years.  But my favorite game of all time, I think, must be Final Fantasy VI.  It’s another one of those situations where it’s got this illustrious cast of characters, each with their own flavor and style, but who come together to tell a great story that feels cohesive.  It’s the perfect sort of thing to inspire a Tellest-style world.  And to top it off it’s got magnificent music that sticks with you forever!

Amazon

About Michael DeAngelo:

Michael DeAngelo is an author of young adult and new adult fantasy, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. D’Aprile’s Fools is the latest book in his Tellest universe, a growing brand of fantasy that brings heroes together from around the world, both within the fantasy, and outside of it. Michael’s love of fiction was ignited thanks to a gifted copy of The Thousand Orcs by R.A. Salvatore, and by games like Baldur’s Gate, Final Fantasy, and the Secret of Monkey Island. Michael is also very fond of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As the creator of Tellest, Michael not only creates dynamic stories featuring diverse casts of characters, but also helps other fantasy authors spread the word about their own stories and expanding worlds. He has also taken his love for fantasy several steps forward (and in different directions altogether). He has created a tabletop game, Quantum Quest, that leads back to Tellest, and subsequently spun off an idle computer game called Quantum Quest: Merge Dungeon. He also administers a fantasy writing prompt site meant to assist other authors in finding their way out of writer’s block and come up with ideas for new stories.
Michael has an associate degree in Journalism from Bucks County Community College, and while the truth is stranger than fiction, he prefers to play with the characters and events within his imagination.
Michael lives in a small suburb of Philadelphia with his wife—whom he is co authoring a children’s book with—and four fuzzy babies, all of whom join him on adventures in Tellest every Christmas.

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