Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for February 2023

Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month
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 February 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, portal fantasy, grimdark fantasy, sword and sorcery, fantasy mystery, paranormal mystery, paranormal romance, science fantasy, space opera, military science fiction, dystopian fiction, LitRPG, speculative poetry, starships, space marines, alien empresses, alien invasions, deadly plagues, crime-busting witches, granny gamers, highway angels and much more.

Don’t forget that Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month is also crossposted to the Speculative Fiction Showcase, a group blog run by Jessica Rydill and myself, which features new release spotlights, guest posts, interviews and link round-ups regarding all things speculative fiction several times per week.

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:

Collected Poems 1965-2020 by Michael ButterworthComplete Poems 1965-2020 by Michael Butterworth:

Across Michael Butterworth’s work, elements are reiterated but endlessly transfigured – hitchhiking girlfriends, elm trees, the moon, astronauts, the space race, collage artists, misophonia, marriage, divorce, beached whales, clifftops, the sea, the seasons, mental block, ale houses, the chemical laboratory, ambition, madness, pain, death and impermanence, silver birch trees, suicide, Zazen, riots, train seating indicators, camping, the Welfare State, crows and seagulls, the racist English and Canada geese… are some of his subjects. The subjects of destruction – war, the consumer society, ‘progress’, humanity’s inhumanity, the doings of men (and the necessity of a new woman), galactic war, drug wars, hunting – are never far away, hopefully countered by the tone of optimism found in his later poems inspired by Buddhist philosophy. The effect is at once familiar and yet profound, in language that has the confessional qualities and simplicity of early influences such as Sylvia Plath and the Beats, and the later influence of Zen poets such as Ry?kan. Occasionally the writing is startlingly radical – a reminder of the poet’s beginnings in the New Wave. A collection such as this one from Space Cowboy Books is overdue, and Complete Poems: 1965-2020 brings to more deserving attention a less heard voice in modern poetry.

Tale of the Uncrowned Kings by Steve DilksTale of the Uncrowned Kings by Steve Dilks:

Sorcery in Uhremon! It is a world of shadows and jewels, forbidden crypts and deathless gods.
A world where science vies for supremacy against blackest necromancy.
In these chaotic times, legends arise…
Erich Von Tormath, exiled prince turned freebooter and mercenary.
Zaran, thief and assassin.
Together, they dare plunder the sanctum of the most powerful necromancer in Uhremon.
Their prize? Gold and glory.
Should they fail… An unspeakable death!

War Head by M.R. ForbesWar Head by M.R. Forbes:

When Ben first bought his starship, he expected to spend the rest of his days joyriding through the universe with his best friend.

As the most wanted criminal in a galaxy that’s about to be crushed in the iron fist of an evil tyrant, it’s fair to say things haven’t gone according to plan. Caught up in the middle of a looming intergalactic conflict and rejected by both sides, there’s only one thing left for him to do.

Take the biggest risk of his life…

And prepare for war.

Divine Revivification by Rachel FordDivine Revivification by Rachel Ford:

The pen may be mightier than the sword, but can a lowly junior scribe really be the key to ending a war among the gods?
Retiree and barbarian fighter Barbara Callaghan is building an alliance capable of defeating Odin, king of the Norse gods. At least, she’s trying to. But as the local populations shy from the cause, and even Loki seems to forget about her, she realizes she’s missing something.

Or, someone.

Army veteran Caleb Dunn, meanwhile, didn’t expect his summer job to turn into a new life, and a quest to save humanity from vengeful gods. And yet, with the shadow of Odin’s wrath looming large in the North, that’s the mission.
Fair enough – except that Caleb was tricked into starting The Old Gods as a junior scribe, a glorified writer and tax collector with no martial skills. Now he’s stuck playing a build that taps into none of his strengths, and all of his weaknesses.

Caleb is the key she’s been missing. Unfortunately, he is a noob. Some rapid leveling is required, and the services of a barbarian brawler, to ensure he survives the process.

With Barbara’s brawn and Caleb’s brains, these two fish out of water just might build an alliance powerful enough to put an end to the chaos.

Terra by Chris FoxTerra by Chris Fox:

The Birthplace of Mankind Rediscovered

The Ganog have arrived. Their fleets are endless. Their will implacable. They cannot use magic, but that isn’t stopping them from wiping out mages.

Behind them lurks a worse foe, the Gorthians, those holding the Ganog’s leash. They have devoured countless galaxies, harvesting them over and over to create more monstrosities.

If we are to survive, then we need allies. We need powerful magic. I can find both if I’m able to locate Terra, the ancient birthplace of mankind. Assuming we get there first. If not?

Our galaxy burns just like all the others…

Live Like You Were Scrying by Lily Harper HartLive Like You Were Scrying by Lily Harper Hart:

The weather in Casper Creek has yet to turn and Hannah Hickok is determined to take advantage of her downtime to engage in a bit of romance with her fiancé Cooper Wyatt. Unfortunately for her, the world has other plans.

An eerie howl draws Hannah and Cooper to Main Street during a snowstorm, and what they find confuses them. There’s some sort of monster stalking the downtown area, and a woman has appeared out of nowhere in the creature’s wake only to collapse in front of them.

Before Hannah can call for help, the woman disappears, leaving a mystery and a monster hunt on the menu.

Casper Creek’s history is long and storied. This time, however, the trouble can be traced back to Hannah’s own family. It seems the woman who disappeared has ties to her grandmother…and Abigail doesn’t want to share the details with anybody, including her own family.

Frustrated, Hannah keeps digging, but what she finds is a mystery for the ages. It seems the stories she always heard, the ones about her late grandfather being a saint, might’ve been more fiction than reality. The truth of his past is about to collide with Hannah’s future.

And nobody will ever be the same again.

Shades by A.L. HawkeShades by A.L. Hawke:

They hunt angels on the highway.

Amanda’s road trip across the USA is a reward for graduating from college—and an opportunity to record her traveler podcast. On her drive, she gets the adventure she’s seeking after nearly being knocked off the highway. There she has a chance encounter with a shadowy man wearing shades.

Danger follows. A devil named Lilith directs her motorcycle gang to crash into Amanda’s car. The stranger in shades saves her. He calls her an angel, destined for ascension to heaven. That doesn’t sound so bad, until he explains that it means she’s going to die on this trip if she stays on the road.

Well, Amanda won’t disappoint her podcast fans. And as she drives in search of adventure, the devils won’t stop pursuing her. Not before they steer her into even more danger. There’s more trouble in store for her, all set as a trap to bring the man she’s falling in love with closer to damnation.

Content warning: This novel contains sexual scenes, adult situations, and profanity.

Tomorrowville by David T. IsaakTomorrowville by David T. Isaak:

“A cautionary tale of a cruel, authoritarian America of the future that’s leavened by barbed wit and irreverence.” — Kirkus Reviews

Gen-X computer hacker Toby is a classic American: impulsive, irreverent, intelligent, and inventive. And, after a silly accident in 2008, he can add “inanimate” to the list—because Toby is dead.

But only for a while. Eighty years later, medical science has advanced enough to bring Toby back to life.

Welcome to Southern California, 2088. The skies are clean, but the rich-poor social gulf has widened. The biggest industries are entertainment and the prison system. Taxes have been cut — because the main source of government revenue is the confiscation of property. Many new, designer recreational drugs are legal, and many other drugs are mandatory. And while the US leads the world in cosmetic surgery, in most technologies America lags far behind…

America has changed. Toby hasn’t. And in the collision between America 2008 and America 2088, Toby brings the system to its knees—just by being his freedom loving, problem solving self.

Read now and join Toby in Tomorrowville for love, sex, politics, and cyberspace—plus the occasional turbocharged wheelchair and robotic rat.

Ruby Road by B.R. KingsolverRuby Road by B.R. Kingsolver:

It had been thirteen years, but my heart skipped a beat. My brain was bursting with things I wanted to say—many of them contradictory—things I had thought I might say if I ever saw him again. So, I said nothing.

He pulled a leather bag out of an inside pocket of his cloak, opened the drawstrings, and turned it upside down over a display tray on the counter. A flood of rubies—smooth but uncut—poured out. “I need you. There’s probably a whole mountain full of them. But I can’t find the vein myself. Come with me, and we’ll split the take.”

What I had—what he wanted—was a talent for earth magic. I sifted them through my fingers. The quality was extraordinary, the feel of them electric as they touched my magic.

Freaky Crush by Amanda M. LeeFreaky Crush by Amanda M. Lee:

Poet Parker is living a new reality now that she knows what she is. Unfortunately for her, she still doesn’t know what she can do … and she doesn’t think she’s going to figure it out in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Since her uncle Sidney is in tow, Poet is hopeful for a quiet week. Little Rock has never been a hotbed of activity. Quiet isn’t what she gets, however.

What started as an irritation on the pedestrian bridge turns into a full-blown attack. It seems Little Rock has a seedy underbelly after all, and it’s something Poet was never expecting.

There’s a craven on the loose, a woman who can control actions and emotions … and she’s set her sights on Kade. The craven has a specific type, and Kade fits it to a tee. Unfortunately for him, the craven’s victims all end up dead.

Poet is determined to keep her loved ones safe, but it’s proving to be more difficult than she anticipated. With half her army vulnerable to the craven, Poet has to fight her own people, even as she desperately tries to protect them at the same time.

Poet’s new powers are necessary for the fight, but is she ready to embrace them? When the loas join the party and make things worse—because that’s what they do—things spiral.

It’s up to Poet to fix what’s been broken. That is if she can.

Hultichia by Marshall Ryan MarescaHultichia by Marshall Ryan Maresca:

A mysterious and disturbing summons brings Aurien Pemmick, an untested deacon of the Church of Druthal, across the border to a peculiar and disquieting kingdom: Kellirac.

Despite being in this antiquated and superstitious place, Pemmick is determined to root out the truth behind the summons. But Kellirac proves to be a place of dangers beyond the natural realm, especially since Pemmick arrives on the eve of Hultichia: a sacred night where the locals claim the dead will walk.

Vibrations by P.E. PadillaVibrations by P.E. Padilla:

To go back, he must go forward…

Sam Sharp has never been what people would call sociable. Affected profoundly by his father’s death when Sam was very young, he developed into a solitary and self-sufficient person. When he finds himself transported to Gythe, a world that is completely different from his home, yet strangely familiar, he is forced to seek help. Sam’s nature wars with his need to rely on the strangers he meets—a warrior, a scholar, a monk, and a telepathic creature—to help him find a way back to his own world.

When Sam finds that he has an affinity for the peculiar vibrational energy that exists in Gythe, he realizes it is his only chance for going home. But there is only one person who may have the knowledge to help him: the Gray Man, a tyrannical vibrational energy master with plans to rule the world. Can Sam trust others to aid him and to prepare him for the ultimate confrontation with the Gray Man, to learn the secrets of this mysterious adversary? If so, will he even be capable of using the vibrational energy himself to return home, or will he die in this strange new world?

The Secret Within by Sean Platt and David W. WrightThe Secret Within by Sean Platt and David W. Wright:

Delaney West, a tough-as-nails private investigator who’s not afraid to break the rules, operates out of an apartment she shares with her grumpy orange tabby named Pumpkin. Clients come to Delaney for her unique gifts — talents that helped her put away some of the city’s most dangerous criminals. But when Delaney takes on a case to find the missing Jay Sutherland — a 20-something playboy with a rap sheet and a penchant for beating women — Del realizes this case is much more than it seems.

With the help of her father, who’s suffering from Alzheimer’s, in a nursing home, Del discovers that the truth behind Jay’s disappearance is linked to a group called The Night Society. But they’re no ordinary villains. Anika, Jay’s girlfriend, is the only person who may know his whereabouts, but she harbors a dark secret that could pit Del against an enemy she hasn’t seen since her childhood.

As she delves deeper into this web of mystery and danger, can Del put aside her commitment issues long enough to save Jay and herself?

The Gus Ascendancy by Jake RavenhillThe Gus Ascendancy by Jack Ravenhhill:

Sympathizin’ with aliens makes about as much sense as government cheese.

When Gus and the other alien sympathizers are granted psionic powers as acolytes of the hive mind, Sam realizes something needs to change – and that something is him. So he gives in to Ronan’s personality, which was imprinted onto him as Ronan died, letting it take over entirely.

Ronan had none of Sam’s people-pleasing tendencies, so the imprint gives Sam a confidence boost. But it also makes him headstrong and foolhardy. He goads Gus into a hasty attack on the hive that results in Gus starting his own break-away faction: The Gus Ascendancy.

Before Sam’s consciousness is completely overwhelmed by Ronan’s personality, Journey finds a way to psionically scour most of Ronan’s imprint away. Sam has just enough confidence left to negotiate a compromise with Gus.

But can Gus be trusted when so much power is almost in his grasp?

Nemesis of Mars by Glynn StewartNemesis of Mars by Glynn Stewart:

A failed attempt on the Mage-Queen
An old friend from the gutter
An enemy that should be dead…

When a kidnapping attempt on the Mage-Queen of Mars is thwarted by luck, leaving thousands dead in its wake, Prince-Chancellor Damien Montgomery returns to field operations one more time. The evidence leads to one place: Tau Ceti.
In Tau Ceti, Mage-Commander Roslyn Chambers finds herself without a posting as her teaching tour ends. Before she can take any kind of vacation, an old friend from her pre-Navy days shows up claiming to have information about the attempt on the Queen.

Montgomery is the Mage-Queen’s adoptive father and right hand man. Chambers is one of her few true friends. Neither will let the blood of innocents go unpunished.

Neither believes the traitors called Nemesis are dead – but finding them may cost more than either of them can pay!

The Bridge to Magic by Alex ThornburyThe Bridge to Magic by Alex Thornbury:

The Blight. The end of Mankind. The Bridge that may be salvation or the final betrayal.

In this grimdark fantasy, Elika, an orphan on Terren’s streets, hates and fears the bridge that spans the great chasm to the Deadlands. Like everyone else, she clings to the hope that purging every lingering echo of magic from the world can stop the Blight.

Then she discovers that magic is hiding within her, and through her it seeks to enact the will of its own. Everything Elika knew about her past shatters, as long-buried secrets about her true birth emerge. Accused of being a mage, many doubt her loyalties. Her gang turns against her. The one man she thought she could trust and love, abandons her. Elika must soon decide: Either destroy the magic inside her or cross the bridge to her own uncertain end. But what awaits them in the Deadlands where the enemy of mankind roams wild? Her future or her end?

The Bridge to Magic is a story of a life between two deaths and an impossible choice to make. It is a story of finding hope, love and survival in a world where none seems possible.

Alien Empress by James David VictorAlien Empress by James David Victor:

Bringing humanity together to face a greater danger should be the easiest of tasks in a war that threatens to exterminate the human race. Or maybe not…

Holly and her team are facing enemies on all fronts, some alien and some not. Their only chance of defeating the Thaal is to cast aside their differences and fight for all of humanity. The only problem: the human factions hate each other as much as they hate the alien invaders. Can they defeat the alien Empress and save mankind?

Alien Empress is the ninth and final book in the Star Breaker series. If you like fast-paced space adventures with interesting characters who battle aliens, evil corporations, and space pirates, Holly Cropper and her team of Marines are ready to share their epic adventure with you.

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Indie Crime Fiction of the Month for February 2023


Welcome to the latest edition of “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of crime fiction by indie authors newly published this month, though some January 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.

Our new releases cover the broad spectrum of crime fiction. We have cozy mysteries, animal mysteries, historical mysteries, Roman mysteries, Victorian mysteries, Jazz Age mysteries, 1960s mysteries, paranormal mysteries, fantasy mysteries, crime thrillers, adventure thrillers, spy thrillers, historical thrillers, romantic suspense, police officers, FBI agents, amateur sleuths, spies, tabloid photographers, missing persons, serial killers, wrongfully accused suspects on the run, crime-busting witches, crime-busting socialites, crime-busting alchemists, crime-busting cats, murder and mayhem in London, Little Rock, Arkansas, Maine, the Florida Keys, Wales, Rio de Janeiro, Alexandria and much more.

Don’t forget that Indie Crime Fiction of the Month is also crossposted to the Indie Crime Scene, a group blog which features new release spotlights, guest posts, interviews and link round-ups regarding all things crime fiction several times per week.

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:

Murder With Method by Blythe Baker Murder With Method by Blythe Baker:

When an innocent man goes on the run from police, Sylvia finds herself harboring an accused murderer. Drawn into investigating the violent crime, her search for the truth leads her into the unfamiliar world of betting and horseracing.

As danger closes in around her, Sylvia will need all the help she can get. But new revelations about the past of her butler leave her doubting even the resourceful Miles can come to her rescue this time…

 

A Harmless Lie and a Dangerous Spy by Lori BondA Harmless Lie and a Dangerous Spy by Lori Bond:

A Runaway Victorian Bride. An Heir to a Duke. A Russian Spy. And a steamship bound for America…will two strangers be able to solve the mystery, catch a spy and stop a war, or will their growing romance cost them their lives?

Lady Caroline Stravers, only daughter of the Earl of Wickshire, does not want to marry the crude, older man her parents have chosen for her, so in the early hours of the morning she sneaks out of her fashionable London home to run away for Paris or America or perhaps Australia…

Jerry, Viscount St. David, has been sent to catch a Russian spy who stole plans for a new weapon. If he can keep the Russians from getting the plans, this could very well turn the tide of the Crimean War…

When the two run into each other at Paddington Station, a bargain is struck and Caroline agrees to help Jerry track down the spy in return for her ticket out to New York City.

The next day the two strangers, now partners, board a steamship bound for America to catch a spy. Wars, lives—and hearts—are on the line, but working in such close quarters leads both Caroline and Jerry to discover feelings neither expected. Will their new relationship lead to a stronger bond or jeopardize their mission and their lives?

Pernicious Woman by Beth ByersPernicious Woman by Beth Byers:

There’s nothing like a woman. Beautiful, saintly, clever, plain. It doesn’t necessarily matter. But a pernicious woman. One who spreads poison, who wrangles, who manipulates, who controls, who looms too large–that is a special kind of beast.

And she’s missing. When Smith and Beatrice go looking for her, they’re faced with the question of whether it isn’t better to fail. Maybe they don’t want to be good at their work. Maybe they don’t want to find her. Maybe they want to save those she torments rather than the missing woman.

Dead To Me by J.M. DalglieshDead To Me by J.M. Dalgliesh:

Let go of your past… or it will be the death of you…

When a man’s body is discovered crammed into the boot of an abandoned car in a remote location, DI Tom Janssen and his team must unpick his life to find out how he came to be there.

The victim was a local man, popular with some although hated by others, and he had a habit of making enemies, enemies that any sane man would seek to avoid. For once, the team do not struggle to find a suspect or a motive for his murder, but with several to choose from, how can they determine who delivered the killing blows? Those who despised the man are unrepentant and as the investigation develops there seems to be more going on than a simple act of vengeance. What did the deceased have to hide and who was so intent on keeping their own secrets that they were prepared to brutally kill to do so?

With a killer at large the public are restless, reassured only by the suggestion that the murder is an act perpetrated by figures within the criminal community against one of their own, but when a troubled teenage girl disappears fear takes hold in the small coastal town. The only potential witness is an eccentric homeless man who comes and goes as he pleases, often disappearing for months at a time. Who did he see? What does he know? Will he be the next to be silenced?

What looked like a simple revenge attack will turn into a race against time for Tom and his team as they try to protect the innocent and reveal the guilty… only no one knows with any certainty who belongs in which camp.

Rio Flash '62 by Andrew DeutschRio Flash ’62 by Andrew Deutsch:

Brazil. Rio De Janeiro. 1962. A time of dramatic political, social, and cultural clashes. Here, at the nexus of high society and low, style and street, pop music and passionate crime, a young tabloid photographer will do anything to get ahead – even protect a killer.

Beto Santera, raised on the struggling side of Rio, has just wrangled his first press photographer’s card. He has big dreams, small chances, and a chip on his shoulder. Beto is desperate to get ahead as a photographer but is scrambling to make ends meet.

His luck changes when he photos Sergio Fontes von Imperial, an outcast of a powerful Rio family, leaving the crime scene of a murdered popular Brazilian star. Beto makes a dark deal with Sergio, loses the negatives, and he gets access to the exclusive world of fashion, art, music, and nightlife. All the excitement Rio has to offer.

Then more killings occur. Beto is forced to make a choice, keep his career, or help catch the criminal.

A Mark of Imperfection by Rhys DylanA Mark of Imperfection by Rhys Dylan:

Know thine enemy …

Evan Warlow is a man with enemies. As a DCI in the Dyfed Powys force, that comes with the territory. But when two of his most vicious critics are abducted and turn up dead in a macabre tableau, tough questions need to be asked.

The uncomfortable answers lead Evan and the team back to his roots and an old case that has haunted him for years. The deaths in the forest have all the hallmarks of a dangerous killer with no fear of consequences. And when one of Evan’s fellow officers becomes the next target, it’s clear that the murderer isn’t finished yet.

There’s a coppery aroma of vendetta in the air. Unless Evan and the team can get to the root cause of the killer’s twisted anger, there will be more deaths. And guess who’s next on the list?

The Murders in the Mist by Elle GrayThe Murders in the Mist by Elle Gray:

It seems that supernatural forces have taken a hold of Storyville, Maine… and unfortunately for FBI Agent Cora Pratt, things in town are only getting stranger.

After being led on a cross-country pursuit of one of the most prolific serial killers either one of them had ever seen, FBI Agent Coraline Pratt and her partner, Nolan Rogers, found themselves at the end of the line: Storyville, Maine. And almost immediately, strange things that had nothing to do with the Postcard Killer began happening around Cora. But when a woman she was connected to ended up brutally murdered, it felt like forces were conspiring behind the scenes to keep her there.

Now, Cora is racing against time to find another murderer. As the case takes a series of twists and turns she never expected, she finds herself more mystified than ever before.

Mysterious figures in masks, unexplainable displays of power, disembodied music, spirits of little girls, and abduction victims returning years older than when they were taken.

All the killings aside, things just kept getting weirder, and the questions are mounting — with Cora finding herself in the center of it all.

It’s a race against something otherworldly and for Cora the answers to Storyville’s mysteries will have dire consequences, not just for her and the townspeople but possibly the world…

Live Like You Were Scrying by Lily Harper HartLive Like You Were Scrying by Lily Harper Hart:

The weather in Casper Creek has yet to turn and Hannah Hickok is determined to take advantage of her downtime to engage in a bit of romance with her fiancé Cooper Wyatt. Unfortunately for her, the world has other plans.

An eerie howl draws Hannah and Cooper to Main Street during a snowstorm, and what they find confuses them. There’s some sort of monster stalking the downtown area, and a woman has appeared out of nowhere in the creature’s wake only to collapse in front of them.

Before Hannah can call for help, the woman disappears, leaving a mystery and a monster hunt on the menu.

Casper Creek’s history is long and storied. This time, however, the trouble can be traced back to Hannah’s own family. It seems the woman who disappeared has ties to her grandmother…and Abigail doesn’t want to share the details with anybody, including her own family.

Frustrated, Hannah keeps digging, but what she finds is a mystery for the ages. It seems the stories she always heard, the ones about her late grandfather being a saint, might’ve been more fiction than reality. The truth of his past is about to collide with Hannah’s future.

And nobody will ever be the same again.

The Curious Case of Emily Lickenson by CeeCee JamesThe Curious Case of Emily Lickenson by CeeCee James:

Catnip and cadavers in the care home.

Cat blogger extraordinaire Emily Lickenson falls into a mystery when the head cook at the local care home unexpectedly dies.

As curious as a cat, Emily can’t resist investigating exactly what happened. She recruits her snoopy Aunt Mattie (who herself is half-convinced she used to be a spy) to hunt for clues in the midst of more red herrings than at a fish market..

The clever duo soon discover evidence of murder and a gaggle of suspects, a ditzy sous chef, grumpy cleaner who wanted the less than friendly chef sliced and diced.

Of course, Shakespeare, the cat is along for the ride, both sweet and sassy, and with nine lives!

In this quirky whodunnit you’ll find twists and turns, red herrings served with a slice of puzzle pie, and surprises that’ll have you turning the pages to find the killer before they find Emily. Perfect for those who love cozy animal mysteries with a pinch of humor, lots of clues, and a fun small town feel.

Freaky Crush by Amanda M. LeeFreaky Crush by Amanda M. Lee:

Poet Parker is living a new reality now that she knows what she is. Unfortunately for her, she still doesn’t know what she can do … and she doesn’t think she’s going to figure it out in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Since her uncle Sidney is in tow, Poet is hopeful for a quiet week. Little Rock has never been a hotbed of activity. Quiet isn’t what she gets, however.

What started as an irritation on the pedestrian bridge turns into a full-blown attack. It seems Little Rock has a seedy underbelly after all, and it’s something Poet was never expecting.

There’s a craven on the loose, a woman who can control actions and emotions … and she’s set her sights on Kade. The craven has a specific type, and Kade fits it to a tee. Unfortunately for him, the craven’s victims all end up dead.

Poet is determined to keep her loved ones safe, but it’s proving to be more difficult than she anticipated. With half her army vulnerable to the craven, Poet has to fight her own people, even as she desperately tries to protect them at the same time.

Poet’s new powers are necessary for the fight, but is she ready to embrace them? When the loas join the party and make things worse—because that’s what they do—things spiral.

It’s up to Poet to fix what’s been broken. That is if she can.

Hultichia by Marshall Ryan MarescaHultichia by Marshall Ryan Maresca:

A mysterious and disturbing summons brings Aurien Pemmick, an untested deacon of the Church of Druthal, across the border to a peculiar and disquieting kingdom: Kellirac.

Despite being in this antiquated and superstitious place, Pemmick is determined to root out the truth behind the summons. But Kellirac proves to be a place of dangers beyond the natural realm, especially since Pemmick arrives on the eve of Hultichia: a sacred night where the locals claim the dead will walk.

Fish On! by Wayne StinnettFish On! by Wayne Stinnett:

Jesse McDermitt is finally ready to retire. But life has other plans. While diving on a remote reef deep in the backcountry of the Florida Keys with his wife, son and two friends, he discovers of all things, a car.

Not just any car, but a 1928 Duesenberg Model J, the most powerful and stylish automobile of its time. The car was once owned by a Saudi prince who was attempting to develop Johnston Key in the heart of Turkey Basin before Henry Flagler even finished the rail line to Key West.

But that’s not all Jesse discovers and what he finds next will make him the target of one of his own. He’s been mentoring a young operative who then decides to go rogue and now it’s up to Jesse to find the man and, if need be, eliminate him before he can hurt anyone else.

Shadow's Force by Mary StoneShadow’s Force by Mary Stone:

Which is more dangerous…Mother or Human Nature?

Twelve hours earlier, Interim Sheriff Rebecca West was enjoying a casual lunchtime burger. Now she’s preparing for a hurricane headed straight for Shadow Island. While hauling sandbags and calming town officials, the last thing she needs is a stunned man stumbling into the sheriff’s department.

Covered in blood.

Clearly in shock, the man doesn’t know who he is and only mutters about needing help finding a mermaid. Is he distraught because he killed someone or because he witnessed a horrific event?

Rebecca needs to find out—and fast.

Fighting the torrential rain and wind, Rebecca discovers the victim, posed and decorated like a mermaid. Is the catatonic man the killer? Or is something more sinister at work?

With very little support, she has to work quickly before the island is completely cut off from the mainland and any evidence is destroyed by the natural disaster. It’s all hands on deck as Rebecca and the entire department scramble to prepare for a hurricane…and solve a murder.

The Deadliest Deceptions by June TropThe Deadliest Deceptions by June Trop:

Enter the world of first-century CE Roman Alexandria and participate in the perilous adventures of Miriam bat Isaac, budding alchemist and sleuth extraordinaire. Join her and her deputy Phoebe as they struggle to solve nine of their most baffling cases beginning with the locked-room murder of a sailor in which Miriam is baffled by not just who killed the sailor but how he could have died and how the killer could have entered and escaped from the room.

But be careful as you accompany them into the city’s malignant underbelly. Whether or not you can help them solve the crimes, your blood will flow faster as you escape to that world of adventure we all long for. Enjoy!

Posted in Books, Indie Crime Fiction of the Month | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre: “Held Hostage”

It’s time for another Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre photo story. The name “Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre” was coined by Kevin Beckett at the Whetstone Discord server. You can check out all the Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre Photo Stories here.

This story features not the usual Masters of the Universe Origins figures, but the larger Masterverse figures (there are several Masters of the Universe toylines, ranging from mini-figures to the seven-inch Masterverse figures).

I primarily collect the Origins figures, because they have the biggest selection of characters as well as as a lot of vehicles and accessories and because they look like an updated and improved version of the vintage toys from the 1980s. Besides, the size is just big enough that you can pose them and do photo stories with them, but small enough that they don’t take up too much space.

However, the larger Masterverse figures also have their advantages. They have more articulation and detail than the Origins figures and they also have characters and character variants that Origins doesn’t have. In particular, Masterverse has more female characters and they look really good. You can also frequently pick up the Masterverse figures at a reduced price, so a few have found their way into my collection.

And since I have Teela and He-Man as well as Skeletor (in his even more powerful Skelegod form) and Evil-Lyn (in her Sorceress outfit from Revelation), I could make a photo story with them. There’s also a somewhat different Twitter version here.

In the Eternian wilderness, at the outer perimeter:

He-Man and Teela are kissing.

“And you’re sure that you’ll be all right going on patrol all on your own?”

“Oh please, Adam. I’m a trained soldier, Captain of the Royal Guard and your bodyguard. Also, I can kick your arse anytime.”

“Not in this form. Unless I let you. And now kiss me again.”

SMOOCH!

He-Man and Teela are kissing.

“That was wonderful – as always. But now I’ve got to go. And so do you. Your father is waiting.”

“He can wait a bit longer. After all, he only wants me to stand decoratively next to the throne.”

“Well, you are very handsome.”

“I want to be more than just a decoration. But whenever I try to say something or make a suggestion, it’s always, ‘Adam, you don’t know anything about politics or about the burden of being king.’ And how am I supposed to learn, if Dad never lets me do anything?”

“One day, your Dad will come around and see you for who you really are. And now go or he’ll be angry.”

“Be careful out there, Teela. Skeletor has been stirring up trouble again of late. And he’s gotten a lot more powerful as well.”

“I’m always careful.”

“No, you’re not. You’re reckless and impulsive and then I have to rescue you.”

“Careful there. Or I will kick your arse – whether you’re powered up or not.”

“I’ll take you up on that offer… later. Or Dad will have my arse for being late again.”

***

Later, still in the Eternian wilderness:

Teela faces off against Evil-Lyn.“Well, what have we here? The Captain of the Royal Guard and He-Man’s sweetheart. And all alone, too. What a catch!”

“I don’t want to fight you, Lyn. Get out of my way and no one gets hurt.”

“Can’t do that, sorry. Lord Skeletor will be furious, if I don’t bring him a present. And you’ll do nicely.”

“Why are you still hanging out with Skeletor, Lyn? You know what he is, what he did. You don’t need him.”

Evil-Lyn disarms Teela“Well, your father made it very clear that he’s not interested. And arsehole or not, Skeletor needs me.”

ZAP!

“What?!”

“Foolish girl! Your steel is no match for my magic. And neither is your pitiful magic.”

“What are you talking about? I have no…”

“Stupid girl. You really have no idea, do you? And now come. Lord Skeletor is waiting.”

***

Later, at Snake Mountain:

Evil-Lyn takes the captured Teela to Skeletor.

“Oh, Lynnie, you’re back. And you brought me a present. Nicely tied up, too.”

“I aim to please, Lord Skeletor. Found her wandering along the outer perimeter.”

“Let me go, Skeletor, or…”

Skelegod harasses the captured Teela, while Evil-Lyn looks on.

“Or you’ll do what, Captain? You’re my prisoner now. Besides, it’s Skelegod or Lord Skeletor. Show some respect. Or I’ll rip your soul out of your body and snuff it out like I did with your loser Uncle Malcolm…”

“You monster! How could you hurt Uncle Malcolm?”

“He just wouldn’t shut up, ever. Ripping out his soul and snuffing it out finally did shut him up.”

“Fiend! When He-Man or my father hear of this, they’ll…”

“Oh, I’m sure they will. In fact, I’m counting on it. And if your boyfriend wants you back in one piece, he’ll have to surrender his Power Sword to me. As for your father, I’ve been wanting to kill him for a long time now. Or maybe I’ll give him to Lyn to play with first.”

“Oh, I’m sure Duncan and I will have so much fun together.”

“Leave my Dad alone, witch, or I swear I will…”

“So defiant, even in the face of death itself. Cute. We’ll see if you’re still that defiant, when I actually do kill you. And make no mistake, I will.”

Skelegod harasses Teela, while Evil-Lyn looks on.

The Masterverse Teela comes with an extra head with her hair unbound and down, so of course I put it to good use.

CLATTER!

“Lyn, take her headband and send it to He-Man along with a message demanding him to surrender his Power Sword to me or I’ll cut off her head. Or maybe I’ll flay her first or chop her into little pieces or…”

“Forget it, Skeletor. I’m not scared of you. And He-Man will never surrender to you.”

“We’ll see. Lyn, take her to the dungeon and throw her into a particularly uncomfortable cell.”

***

In the Eternian wilderness:

He-Man in the Eternian jungle.

The Eternian wilderness is portrayed by the trees and bushes I crocheted for the Raksura Colony Tree community art project at the 2019 Worldcon in Dublin.

“I should never have let Teela go on patrol alone. Screw Father and his stupid council meeting. If Skeletor has hurt her… No, I mustn’t even think of that. She’ll be fine and I’ll get her back. All right, no one’s watching, so let’s do this…”

He-Man in front of Castle Grayskull.

The classic shot of He-Man in front of Castle Grayskull. And yes, I’ve set up my Castle Grayskull by now. More photos will be coming soon.

“By the Power of Grayskull, I have the Power!”

***

Later, at Snake Mountain:

He-Man confronts Skelegod, while Evil-Lyn and the chained up Teela look on.

“Here I am, Skeletor, as you demanded. And now let Teela go.”

“He-Man, no! It’s a trap.”

“Bwahaha, of course it’s a trap. And besides, it’s Skelegod now or Lord Skeletor. And now hand over the Power Sword and maybe I’ll let you spend some quality time with your sweetheart in the dungeon, before I’ll kill you both.”

Skelegod threatens the chained up Teela in front of He-Man, while Evil-Lyn looks on.

“And now be a good boy and give me that sword or I’ll rip off her head. Or maybe I’ll torture her first. Or maybe I’ll rip out her soul and turn her into one of my Skelecons like I did with her supremely annoying Uncle Malcolm…”

“If you hurt her, Skeletor, if you as much as harm a single hair on her head, then I swear that I’ll end you.”

“Oh, tough talk. Where’s all that high and mighty ‘Every life is sacred’ sermonising, when I’m threatening the life of someone you care about? And now hand over the sword, boy.”

He-Man approaches Skelegod to hand over the Sword of Power in exchange for Teela.
“All right, Skeletor, you win.”

“Of course, I always win.”

“Here’s the sword. And now let Teela go.”

“He-Man, no!”

“Don’t worry, Teela, it’s going to be all right. Now!”

HACK! CLATTER!

He-Man hacks through the chains and frees Teela.
“Teela, catch!”

“No! I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you both.”

“You’re welcome to try, Skeletor.”

“Lyn, do something!”

He-Man and Teela fight back to back against Skelegod and Evil-Lyn.
“I’ll kill you for this, He-Man. First I’ll kill your sweetheart – slowly and while you watch – and then I’ll kill you!”

“Touch my family and my friends again and I swear I will end you, Skeletor.”

“It’s still Skelegod or Your Supreme Majesty!”

“Not so fast, girl.”

“Get out of my way, Lyn. Or better, ditch Skeletor and come with us. You don’t need to stay with him.”

“And spend the rest of my life in the Royal Dungeon? No thanks.”

He-Man and Teela escape, while Skeletor and Evil-Lyn fire magic blasts after them.
“Come on, Teela, time to go. Before reinforcements arrive.”

“No, they’re escaping. Lyn, do something!”

“And what?”

“Blast them, kill them, I don’t care.”

ZAP! CRACKLE! BOOM!

“You missed, Lyn!”

“You missed, too.”

“Did you even try to hit them?!”

“Of course, I tried. But He-Man deflected the bolt with that accursed sword of his and Teela is very athletic.”

“This can’t be happening. I’m thwarted… again. Get out of my sight, Lyn! And tell Beast-Man to summon the steeds.”

“Yes, Lord Skeletor.”

***

Later, in the Eternian wilderness:

He-Man kisses Teela.“I think they’ve finally given up pursuit. Praised be Zoar, you’re safe. Don’t you ever do that to me again.”

“Thank you for the rescue, my hero. And now kiss me.”

SMOOCH!

He-Man carries Teela.

“And now let’s go home!”

SWOOP.

“You can let me down, Adam. I’m fine. I can walk.”

“Are you sure? I’d better carry you back to the palace, so the royal physician can examine your ankle.”

“Adam, I’m fine, really. Especially when I’m in your arms.”

***

The bit with He-Man carrying Teela is a reference to the Filmation episode “The Problem with Power” (one of the best of that series), where He-Man picks up Teela to rescue her from an explosion and then simply doesn’t put her down again, but carries her all the way back to Eternos. It’s certainly one of the most romantic moments in the original cartoon, so I tried to recreate it. It doesn’t quite work, but it looks good enough. In general, the bigger Masterverse figures are good for both battle scenes and intimate/romantic scenes.

Fisto a.k.a. Malcolm really does get his soul ripped out of his body and snuffed out by Skeletor in the second half of Masters of the Universe Revelation in what is a genuinely shocking scene.

And that’s it for today, folks. I hope you enjoyed this Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre Photo Story, because there will be more.

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, I just bought some toys, took photos of them and wrote little scenes to go with those photos. All characters are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

 

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Semiprozine Spotlight: New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine

I have more Fanzine/Fancast Spotlights and Non-Fiction Spotlights lined up, but today I’m running another Semiprozine Spotlight, because the magazine in question is currently running a crowdfunding campaign and could use a boost.

Therefore, I am thrilled to feature New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine, who published an article of mine in their issue 0 and will publish more when their Kickstarter funds. So I’m happy to welcome Oliver Brackenbury, editor of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine, to my blog today:

A note for Hugo nominators, New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine is not yet eligible for the Best Semiprozine Hugo, because they’re on their first (well, zeroth) issue and the Hugo rules require a minimum of four. However, they’re still well worth your attention.

New Edge Sword and Sorcery #0

Tell us about your magazine.

New Edge Sword & Sorcery magazine debuted in the Fall of 2022, featuring original short stories and in-depth non-fiction, all paired with glorious B&W illustrations and a painted cover. That prototype “issue #0” is free in digital formats and sold at-cost on Amazon PoD in both soft and hardcover formats, making it very easy to try out before committing to our currently-running Kickstarter for issues #1&2.

New Edge Sword & Sorcery takes the genre’s virtues of its outsider protagonists, thrilling energy, wondrous weirdness, and a large body of classic tales, then alloys inclusivity, mutual creator support, a positive fan community, and enthusiastic promotion of new works into the mix.

Who are the people behind your magazine?

I’m the editor and main person behind the project, however it would be impossible for me to do this without the magnificent Nat Webb on Layout & Design, Jordan Douglas Smith as Copyeditor, Kevin Beckett handling social media, and Tania Morrison-Moxham on Transcription.

We’ve also benefitted from some very kind volunteers who’ve helped with promotional outreach, and from Gonzalo Baeza’s Spanish translation skills.

Why did you decide to start your magazine?

After having some very exciting discussions last Spring, on the Whetstone Tavern discord, about how to make the S&S scene larger and more inclusive, someone suggested to me that I try to express ideas from that discussion in an anthology. I decided I’d rather do a magazine, but only if there were others who wanted to work with me on it.

There were!

So I set about creating the magazine I wanted to see in the world, made with love for the classics and an inclusive, boundary-pushing approach to storytelling, a gorgeous vessel for high quality writing & art, that would be a delight for Sword & Sorcery fans as well as draw in people from outside the community.

What format do you use for your magazine (print zine, PDF zine, e-mail zine, online zine, podcast, etc…) and why did you choose this format?

We produce digital (ePub & PDF), softcover, and hardcover formats. Digital because that’s how some people prefer to read, and it’s more accessible, both financially and for those who use text-to-speech software.

Softcover is your classic magazine format, and the more affordable physical one. Hardcover is something for the great lovers of books as long-lasting, beautiful physical objects. As far as I know we’re the only S&S magazine currently offering hardcover issues of our publication, and I’ve been gratified to see they’re very popular!

Science fiction, fantasy and horror were born in the pulps and short fiction has long been the beating heart of the genre. However, the focus of attention is increasingly moving towards novels and series. So why do you think SFF short fiction is important and worthy of attention?

Funny enough I’ve just recorded a short video on this, which I plan to release as an update on our Kickstarter.

Short fiction is a lower stakes environment where authors can more easily experiment, so you may find some really wild stuff that’d be less likely to be explored in the much larger investment that is a novel or series. SFF short fiction is also a great place to check out new, or new-to-you, talent without blowing up your “to be read” pile

Furthermore, it’s a great way to sort of “try before you buy”. For example, in 2020 I read “The Second Death of Hunuvar” by Howard Andrew Jones, discovering both the author and the titular character. I went on to enjoy a few more Hanuvar stories in the pages of SFF magazines, and now that Baen has announced a five book Hunuvar series of collected tales, you better believe I know I want to get them! If I hadn’t been able to check out Jones’ work and his Hanuvar stories the way I had, I’d be a lot less sure about committing to, say, a hardcover pre-order.

Those who really enjoy series can still get their kicks through serialized characters in short SFF fiction, getting a comic book collector kinda thrill by tracking down which publications feature stories with your favorite protagonists or shared settings. Often the authors are careful to craft their tales so that new readers can leap in with any story, but those who read them all are rewarded with little easter eggs and signs of character progression.

Finally, depending on the publication, you may get to enjoy more art than you’ll see in almost any novel. This is certainly the case with New Edge Sword & Sorcery magazine, which pairs every story and some of its non-fiction with an original B&W illustration – with two illustrations per piece if we make our first Kickstarter stretch goal!

One big problem for SFF magazines is monetarization. Readers are happy to consume short fiction, but they’re often unwilling to pay for it. What are your strategies for financing your magazine and paying your writers and staff?

Well, first up is the Kickstarter itself. That will cover semi-pro rates, or better if we hit our pay raise stretch goals, for authors & artists, along with an honorarium for staff other than myself. Afterward we’ll have stock to sell, with the profits being invested back into growing the magazine to a place where contributors and staff can be better paid. Ideally we could even connect with a distributor to get the magazine in stores. But yes, crowdfunding will continue to be our pre-order model going forward.

As a Canuck I plan to look into publishing grants from the government as well. Things like a Patreon or merchandise I only want to do if I think of some truly compelling ideas – you can always tell when people throw those up just for the sake of it, which isn’t very appealing. I may do a poll with our readers, as I did to ultimately decide our Kickstarter’s first day backer exclusive would be a bookmark featuring exclusive, original art.

I really want to treat this like a business, as opposed to a hobby, because only as a business will it be sustainable in the long run. Doing that lets me devote more time to making the magazine awesome, paying and promoting more creators as I do so! Treating creators the way I prefer to be treated as a writer really is a great pleasure for me in this venture.

The format of fiction magazines has changed a lot in the past twenty years. Print magazines still exist, but are no longer as dominant. Online and PDF zines are now the dominant form of short fiction delivery and fiction podcasts are becoming ever more popular. So where do you think magazines will go next?

Honestly I think less about format changes and more about outreach. I’d love to see magazines connecting with schools to help get the newest generations into reading short fiction for pleasure, for example. We all know it’s limiting to only preach to the choir, but I think it’s all too easy to not go far enough, to not preach outside the parish, so to speak. Easy for me, the new guy, to say of course…but I do think “beyond SFF readers, or even regular readers in general” is where short fiction magazines should go.

Whether that involves free-giveaway ‘zines at schools, plugging into forms of social media not yet invented, or what…I dare not say.

Are there any other great magazines, podcasts, editors, stories, etc… you’d like to recommend?

Oh yes. Within the S&S realm I can quite happily recommend Tales from the Magician’s Skull (where I found Hanuvar & Howard Andrew Jones), Old Moon Quarterly, and Whetstone magazine.

Great S&S podcasts include Rogues in the House, The Cromcast, and, well, So I’m Writing a Novel… is my own creature, a mix of interviews and following me behind the scenes as I write a Sword & Sorcery novel. I’m also a big fan of The Appendix N Podcast, which has a broader remit.

There’s lots of authors and stories to recommend, so I’ll just focus on one I read recently that made me reach out to the author for the magazine – “RAKSHASA IN A POT” by Prashanth Srivatsa. You can read it for free online.

Where can people find you?

www.newedgeswordandsorcery.com has links to all formats of issue #0, our socials, and our Kickstarter!

If people want to find me in particular, there’s www.oliverbrackenbury.com, and I’m on Twitter as @obrackenbury.

Thank you, Oliver, for stopping by and answering my questions.

Check out issue 0 of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine and then head over to back their Kickstarter.

***

Do you run a semiprozine and want it featured? Contact me or leave a comment.

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A Link and Two Kickstarters Worth Your Attention

I know I haven’t blogged a lot in recent weeks, but I’ve been very busy with work and family stuff. However, I have a couple of posts planned, including more Fanzine/Fancast and Non-Fiction Spotlights. And since I’ve had several new arrivals recently, there will be more Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre photo stories, too.

Star Trek Picard started up again as well, but I don’t think I will be doing episode by episode reviews this time around, because I’m all Star-Trekked out. There’s simply too much Star Trek right now and the last batch of Discovery and Picard reviews often felt more like a chore than fun. And I am doing this to have fun, after all.

But for now I want to share a link as well as two Kickstarters worth your attention. First of all, I was at Galactic Journey again, where I talk about some of the largest protests my hometown of Bremen has ever seen, which happened in January of 1968. The cause for the protests was not the war in Vietnam or the proposed West German state of emergency laws, both of which generated massive protests in the second half of the 1960s, but a (by contemporary measures very moderate) increase in tram and bus fares. This wasn’t even that uncommon, Cologne experienced massive protests against public transport fare increases a few months before Bremen. In Bremen, the protesters were mostly high school students – Bremen university did not open until 1970, though the technical college and arts college were already operating – as well as a handful of college students and apprentices who relied on public transport to get around. They were joined – and this is something we frequently saw in 1968, but almost never afterwards – by workers from the AG Weser shipyard and the Klöckner steel mill, then the biggest employers in town. Of course, a lot of workers relied on public transport, too, so this was one case where the interests of students and workers were aligned. BTW, the protesters eventually won and the fare increase was dropped.

And since I had to shove my protest report into a Galactoscope book review column, I also review a 1968 SFF book, namely The Swords of Lankmar, the only novel-length Fafhrd and Gray Mouser story by Fritz Leiber. In the same article, you also get another review (courtesy of Kris Vyas-Myall) of a 1968 sword and sorcery novel, namely Picnic on Paradise, the only novel Joanna Russ (yes, the author of The Female Man and How To Suppress Women’s Writing), ever wrote about her character Alyx the picklock. Alyx and Fafhrd and Gray Mouser actually do cross over, too.

In general, it is notable that the New Wave and the second sword and sorcery boom not only occurred at the exact same time – slowly gaining steam in the early 1960s before exploding in the mid to late 1960s – but that both were often written by the same authors and published in the same magazines, too. Michael Moorcock, Roger Zelazny and Joanna Russ were important contributors to both the New Wave and the 1960s sword and sorcery boom. Fritz Leiber, who actually coined the term “sword and sorcery”, was never really a New Wave author, though he did contribute to the Dangerous Visions anthologies. The many, many interconnections between the New Wave and the second sword and sorcery boom are not something I was really aware of, nor is it discussed very much, but it’s very obvious when following events in real time via Galactic Journey.

And while we’re on the subject of sword and sorcery, I also have two Kickstarters to announce for two new sword and sorcery projects, in which I will have articles, if they fund.

New Edge Sword and Sorcery Magazine banner

The first of these is the Kickstarter for issues 1 and 2 of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine, edited by Oliver Brackenbury. So what is New Edge Sword and Sorcery Magazine? Basically, it’s a sword and sorcery magazine that offers all the excitement, adventure and weirdness traditionally associated with the genre without the regressive attitudes that mar some past work in the genre.

Here’s how Oliver explains it:

WHAT IS SWORD & SORCERY?

A unique fantasy sub-genre known for short, episodic tales with historical inspiration and horror elements, featuring outsider protagonists with personal motivations, often facing dark and dangerous magic!

WHAT IS NEW EDGE SWORD & SORCERY?

A brand new magazine featuring over 45,000 words per issue of exciting stories paired with original art, essays, in-depth interviews, literary profiles, and book reviews. Made with love for the classics, and an inclusive, boundary-pushing approach to storytelling!

In the summer of 2022 we made a prototype “Issue #0”, an unpaid passion project for all involved. We put it out in the world and…people liked it! People want more! So this Kickstarter will fund the print publication of issues #1 & #2, paying contributors as much as possible this time.

Available in gorgeous electronic, softcover, and highly collectible hardcover formats.

MAGAZINE FORMAT, BOOK-LEVEL QUALITY

Our magazine pages are a spacious 8 1/2 x 11 inches, printed like a book, using quality, cream paper that is thicker and more durable than standard, floppy magazine paper. When taken care of, our perfect-bound softcovers–and especially our sewn-stitched hardcovers!–will be beautiful objects you can enjoy for years to come.

Several of our stretch goals will provide enhancements such as doubling our number of interior illustrations and, for our hardcovers, adding a pair of bookmark ribbons – each a different color – or foil-embossing our cover text and logo.

CONTRIBUTORS

In these issues you will find new, original stories by the legendary Michael Moorcock, Margaret Killjoy, Gemma Files, Bryn Hammond, Kirk A. Johnson, Prashanth Srivatsa, Jon Olfert, Sarah Macklin, David C. Smith, T. K. Rex, Dariel Quiogue, JM Clarke, Jacqueline Kawaja, and a translated story by Spanish language author Jesús Montalvo.

There will also be stimulating non-fiction by Hugo award-winner Cora Buhlert, Jon Olfert, Milton Davis, Brian Murphy, Robin Marx, and Oliver Brackenbury.

Cover art will be Caterina Gerbasi on issue #1 and Gilead on issue #2. For interior illustrations, as stories are written artists will be assigned from a pool that includes: Sapro, Daniel Vega, Saprophial, Remco van Straten, Ursa Doom, David White, Simon Underwood, Hardeep Aujla, Morgan King, Gary McClusky, Damiano Di Marco, Aldo Ojeda, Carlos Castilho, Trevor Ngwenya, Shih Shin Chuah and Sara Frazetta.

If the Kickstarter funds, I will contribute an article about an unsung heroine of the second sword and sorcery boom (and coincidentally the New Wave), editor Cele Goldsmith Lalli, to issue No. 1.

The New Edge Sword and Sorcery Kickstarter is currently at 75% funded and still has eleven days to go, so what are you waiting for? Pledge and support a great new magazine and give me the chance to share a TOC with Michael Moorcock.

And if you want an idea of what you’re getting first, issue 0 of New Edge Sword and Sorcery Magazine (with an article by me about C.L. Moore and Jirel of Joiry) is available to download for free and to buy in paperback or hardcover for cheap.

Swords and Heroes Kickstarter banner

The second sword and sorcery related Kickstarter is for the anthology Swords & Heroes, edited by Lyndon Perry.

Again, here’s what the anthology is about in Lyndon’s own words:

New Stories, Fresh Blades

Be the first to experience Swords & Heroes, an S&S anthology featuring 12 epic tales of heroic adventure, monsters and mayhem, beasts and bravery. Antho is ready to ship!

What can you expect? Tales of undead kings facing off against evil necromancers, cursed warriors reluctantly fulfilling their quests, back-stabbing rogues and unlikely duos battling otherworldly abominations, and so much more.

Want a choice of covers? So be it, by Crom!

That’s right! After the campaign, when you fill out your survey, you’ll get to pick what cover you want for your e-book, paperback, and/or hardcover. You like the pulp fiction feel of a battle horse and courageous rider? You got it! Or are you partial to the gritty Viking vibe of our shieldmaiden cover? The choice is yours!

Same stories inside, of course. Here’s the ToC. Names we think you’ll recognize. Established writers and some fresh voices as well. We’re also excited to feature a brand new Crimson Warrior tale by Adrian Cole, the award winning author of the War on Rome saga published by DMR Books.

Swords & Heroes contributors

The anthology will also contain a roundtable discussion about the state of the sword and sorcery genre and where it’s going. I contributed to that roundtable.

Swords & Heroes has already funded, but it still has three days to go, so if you want even more modern sword and sorcery in your life, get over there and pledge.

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First Monday Free Fiction: Outlaw Love

Welcome to the February 2023 edition of First Monday Free Fiction.

To recap, inspired by Kristine Kathryn Rusch who posts a free short story every week on her blog, I’ll post a free story on the first Monday of every month. At the end of the month, I’ll take the story down and post another.

February is the month of love, so here is a romance in the shadow of the gallows in the Old West.

So follow Lola Laverne, singer and dancer extraordinaire, as she faces the gallows and falls into…

Outlaw Love

Lola Laverne paced the tiny cell. Outside the walls of the prison, the workmen were building the gallows, the thudding of their hammers in tune with the frantic beating of Lola’s own heart. In less than ten hours she would die.

Many had flocked to Silver Dollar City to witness Lola’s execution. Seeing a woman hang was a rare occurrence, even in the lawless West. And Lola wasn’t just any woman. She was Lola Laverne, the celebrated dancer and one of the greatest beauties of the age, who had once appeared on the foremost stages in Europe and whose performance had so dazzled the King of Prussia that he would have made her his queen, had he not been married already. But all that was in the past. Now Lola was a convicted murderess, spending her final hours in a filthy cell in a nowhere mining town, waiting to perform her last dance at the end of a rope.

There was the turn of a key and the door to the cellblock opened. Lola’s heart leaped to her throat. Was it time yet? Were they coming for her already? No, it couldn’t be. The carpenters hadn’t finished the gallows yet.

An moment later, the freckled face of Deputy Stubbs peeked into the dim hallway leading to the cells. Lola relaxed a little. She quite liked Deputy Stubbs. At least, he treated her like a lady, regardless of the circumstances. That was more than could be said for most others.

“Miss Laverne,” the deputy said, “Visitors for you.”

Probably newspapermen, hoping to catch a glimpse of the infamous Lola Laverne before she was hanged. Or just ordinary gawkers who had slipped the sheriff a silver dollar or two for the privilege of staring at her.

But the two figures entering the cellblock were not the usual gawkers. For starters, they were women. Two women, both carrying wicker baskets. Everything about them was grey. Their dresses, their bonnets, even their faces. The two women tiptoed along the corridor and stopped in front of the cell, maintaining a respectful distance as if Lola’s predicament was somehow contagious.

“Miss Laverne…” One of the women pulled a small booklet about the size of a Beadle dime novel from her basket and passed it through the bars. “We bring you sustenance for the soul.”

Lola glanced at the plain cover of the booklet and saw that it was a religious tract. “Thank you,” she said politely and put it down on the narrow cot which had been her bed for the past five days. Lola had no intention of reading the tract, but she need not tell the women that. Besides, it might come in handy as toilet paper.

The women pulled something else from their basket. It was a folded piece of black woollen cloth. “We also brought you a dress,” one of them said, “A modest dress, so you need not step before Our Lord attired quite so shamelessly.”

Lola glanced at the plain black garment. It was even more unbecoming than what the women themselves were wearing, if that was possible. Then she looked down at herself, at the elegant gown of emerald taffeta and black Chantilly lace, fashioned after the latest Parisian styles. The choice was clear.

“Thanks, but no thanks,” she said, “This gown was good enough for dancing at the Paris opera house, so it will certainly be good enough for dancing on the gallows.”

The women folded up the plain black dress again, stuffed it back into the basket and walked away, clearly disappointed. Just before they reached the door, one of them turned around. “We nonetheless believe that Our Lord will find it in his heart to forgive you,” she said. Her companion nodded emphatically. “We too suffered the carnal attentions of Mr Morrison more than once.”

In that case the bastard had been even more desperate than Lola would have thought.

She sat down on the narrow cot, carefully arranging her petticoats. It was very doubtful that God would forgive her. For she felt no remorse about killing Lash Morrison. No remorse at all.

***

This story was available for free on this blog for one month only, but you can still read it in Outlaw Love. And if you click on the First Monday Free Fiction tag, you can read this month’s free story.

 

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Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for January 2023

Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month
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 December 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, historical fantasy, gaslamp fantasy, paranormal mystery, fantasy romance, science fiction romance, science fiction thriller, space opera, military science fiction, near future science fiction, YA science fiction, dystopian fiction, solarpunk, hopepunk, steampunk, Greco-Roman mythology, vampires, dwarves, elves, ghosts, space marines, space pirates, space prisons, blood matches, crime-busting witches, vengeful goddesses and much more.

Don’t forget that Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month is also crossposted to the Speculative Fiction Showcase, a group blog run by Jessica Rydill and myself, which features new release spotlights, guest posts, interviews and link round-ups regarding all things speculative fiction several times per week.

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:

Nexus of Chaos by Jonathan P. Brazee and J.N. ChaneyNexus of Chaos by Jonathan P. Brazee and J.N. Chaney:

When humanity joins the cause, the war with the Naxli begins to tilt in the favor of the allied races.

The Naxli have other ideas, though, and they launch a full-out blitz against the upstart humans. If they succeed, humanity’s very existence is at stake.

Gunnery Sergeant Reverent Pelletier and the First Human Expeditionary Brigade not only have to survived the onslaught but figure out a way to end the war, once and for all.

Join Rev, Tomiko, Randigold, and the rest as they fight not only the Naxli, but a growing distrust of the IBHU Marines and other hyperaugments.

Tested by Lindsay BurokerTested by Lindsay Buroker:

Matti would prefer never to see her vindictive dwarven aunt ever again. All she wants is to find her missing parents.

But her aunt is extorting the elven assassin, Sarrlevi. That would be problematic on its own, but he’s become Matti’s biggest ally and the man—the elf—she’s falling in love with.

To save her family, Matti must find a way to help Sarrlevi before he strikes the most devastating blow of all.

 

Horse Lattitudes by Rachel FordHorse Lattitudes by Rachel Ford:

Sometimes, silence is just the quiet before the storm.

When the Black Flag crew is assigned to transport a young Union ambassador on his first diplomatic mission, they’re promised a few weeks of quiet downtime. Easy money.

What they find is a diplomatic quagmire. On one side is an untrusting, desperate, and dying world willing to do anything to anyone in order to secure their own survival. On the other is their thriving neighbor: equally desperate, but for entirely different reasons.

And dead in the water, the Black Flag readies to weather the coming storm – weather it, or be swept away in its fury.

The Ashlands by Chris FoxThe Ashlands by Chris Fox:

A Desert of Living Death

Four centuries ago the Stewards rained ash on the heartland of an empire for a year and a day, murdering the Elentian Empire and orphaning the Hasran Imperium where I was born.

The stories say the ash drains magic and that any who venture into the Ashlands will need to contend with the armies of unliving swimming beneath the ash. Unliving as old as the Mad Imperator Jhordil himself.

My final tomb lays somewhere out in that terrible ocean of soot. Before I can help Li or settle the Hasran civil war I need to find it. I need to understand who and what I am if I am ever to fight my aunt or the demon princes she no doubt controls.

I will sail into those uncharted lands, and I will prevail. I have to. The cycle depends on it.

Tethered by Elayna R. GalleaTethered by Elayna R. Gallea:

What could be worse than an arranged marriage to a vampire prince?

When Luna is sold into marriage to the Prince of Darkness on her twenty-first birthday, she thinks she knows what to expect. Arranged marriages happen all the time, right? Wrong. No one could have prepared her for the reality of being married to the vampire prince.

Ever since the day he was Made, Sebastian has been living according to Queen Marguerite’s rules. After all, he’s only alive because of her. When she orders him to marry and Bind himself to Luna, a human hailing a neighboring kingdom, he has no choice. He agrees to the marriage but never expects to feel anything for her.

When their Binding Ceremony goes awry, and they are magically Tethered, everything is thrown into upheaval. Unable to leave each other’s presence, they must learn to live with each other. Or die.

Oracle of Life by Katherine D. GrahamOracle of Life by Katherine D. Graham:

Six fallen lords. Three vengeful goddesses. And one mortal, damned to prophesy for them all.

An Exiled Oracle

Nariah, the Heiress of Ellonai, is dead. An exiled, desert-dwelling Doomsayer is all that remains within the shell of the powerful princess she once was.

A Heretic

She isn’t sure which of her visions her people hate more: the one where the three benevolent goddesses they serve have decided to destroy the world, or the vision of six lords falling from the skies to save them.

The World’s Only Hope

Stumbling across the very lords she’s been seeing in her visions for years, only Nariah’s accursed gift of Sight can aid the lords in their rebellion against the goddesses, and determine the fate of her world before it’s turned to ash.

But does she even want to save those who’ve wronged her?

Storm of Magic by Kyra HallandStorm of Magic by Kyra Halland:

After losing everything else, they found each other.

Now Leshi and Esavas are ready to begin their new life together in Yevoruta, the city of the mages. But the battles of the past raised more questions than they answered, questions that themselves must be answered if Esavas and Leshi are to lay the ghosts of the past to rest and find peace in their new life.

But beneath the mannered, elegant surface of mage society lies treachery, and the search for those answers could cost Leshi and Esavas everything as they face the difficult – and heart-wrenching – challenge of stopping the evil that threatens to consume the life of their beloved Islands.

Storm of Magic is the epic conclusion of Mage of Storm and Sea.

New Ghosts, Old Tricks by Lily Harper HartNew Ghosts, Old Tricks by Lily Harper Hart:

Harper Harlow-Monroe has everything she’s ever wanted. She has a husband she loves, a best friend who is only irritating fifty percent of the time, and a daughter who refuses to be “normal.” So, basically, she has it all.

Then the unthinkable happens. During an afternoon picnic with her husband and daughter, Harper’s yard is flooded with ghosts … right as five bodies float by on the river. Harper’s daughter Poe is finally in the thick of things because she’s the only one who can communicate with the ghostly newcomers.

Worried, Harper calls in her friends Rowan, Maddie, and Ivy. Together, the foursome is going to figure out what’s haunting Poe … one way or another.
There’s not much to be found regarding the victims. They were adventurers, making a name for themselves finding treasure at the bottoms of oceans and lakes. They were hired by a local billionaire, but nobody can figure out why and the man in question is being cagey.

Harper always knew her daughter would turn out gifted. The reality is different from the fantasy, however. Poe’s magic is already strong, and when she gets a little encouragement from her friends, things begin to spiral.

It’s an all-hands-on-deck situation for this battle, and only the strong will survive.

Hierarchy of Blood by Jennifer HaskinHierarchy of Blood by Jennifer Haskin:

The winner will be crowned Ambassador’s Bride. The losers will meet certain death.

When you’re living inside a dwarf planet in the cold abyss of space, life is only easy if you’re rich. 17-year-old Marishel Vance works as a seamstress – but when she’s selected to compete in a brutal contest for the Ambassador’s hand in marriage, she’s quickly catapulted into a life-threatening struggle.

Marishel hates the idea of fighting for some stuck-up rich guy – no matter how handsome he is. But after her attempts to escape are thwarted, she becomes desperate to find a way to end the Blood Match and save the lives of the girls she’s training with. The key could lie in Ambassador Quin himself … but as she tries to win his friendship, her growing feelings for him only complicate the matter.

As the Blood Match looms closer, Marishel spirals deeper into a world of intrigue, danger, punishment, and secrets. Trusting the wrong people means game over. If Marishel wants to save herself – and the other fifty-nine girls sentenced to death – she’ll have to break every rule in the book to do it…

Half Empty Half Full by John HundleyHalf Empty Half Full by John Hundley:

An interstellar war is brewing. A monster guards the key to power. Can a reluctant hero overcome an ancient evil to forestall a galactic apocalypse?

Clifford Crane hates having been labeled a hero. Centuries of experience has taught the legendary shifter that standing in the limelight only illuminates the target on his back. Desperate to stay safe and under the radar, he is demoralized to find the SS Huey on a mission that puts him in the crosshairs of the powerful corporation whose plans to build an army of cyborgs he just thwarted. THE Corporation wants revenge, and it has the resources and firepower to exact it.

Branded a terrorist, and his ship a pirate vessel, Crane plots a secret route through an armed blockade to the planet Kier, where the discovery of a rare metal could shift the galactic balance of power. With all previous attempts at mining meronium ending in the gruesome deaths of every miner involved, and the locals revealing to him the nature of what guards the mines, Crane confronts the dread realization that he alone must face the monster.

Can Clifford Crane and the SS Huey run the gauntlet of battle cruisers, overcome the ancient evil that guards the mines, and tip the galactic balance of power in their favor? Or will they find themselves caught in the middle of an apocalyptic interstellar war?

A Shadow Melody by Brian KaufmanA Shadow Melody by Brian Kaufman:

In the early 1900s, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and Harry Browning each researched devices to contact the dead through scientific means. Only one of them succeeded.

Harry Browning is a prodigy with an extraordinary understanding of the natural sciences. Orphaned as a child, he becomes a beloved professor, a war hero… and a shell shock victim.

At war’s end, he returns to his college hometown in Ohio and dedicates himself to research. Alone and isolated, he hires Elizabeth Rose, a young housekeeper with secrets. Together, they will seek to answer the one question that all humanity shares—what becomes of us after we pass beyond the veil?

They may not like the answer.

The Last Resort by Michael KaufmanThe Last Resort by Michael Kaufman:

It’s March 2034, six months after D.C. police detective Jen Lu and Chandler, her sentient bio-computer and wannabe tough guy implanted in her brain, cracked the mystery of Eden. The climate crisis is hitting harder than ever: a mega-hurricane has devastated the eco-system and waves of refugees pour into Washington, D.C.

Environmental lawyer and media darling Patty Garcia dies in a bizarre accident on a golf course. Of the seven billion people on the planet, only Jen thinks she was murdered. After all, Garcia just won a court case for massive climate change reparations to be paid out by oil, gas, and coal companies. Jen is warned off, but she and Chandler start digging. Signs point to Garcia’s abusive ex, a former oil giant, but soon Jen turns up more suspects who have an even greater motive for committing murder

Soon Jen is in the crosshairs of those who will ensure the truth never comes to light, no matter the cost. She has to move quickly before she becomes next on the killer’s list.

Frostbite by Casey LeaFrostbite by Casey Lea:

Amber Grace has spent countless lives preparing for battle, but her time has finally run out. She’s mortal now and can only hope that her enemy is close. That when the monster comes to devour them all, she’ll still be alive and able to offer herself instead.

All Amber has to do is keep herself safe, but one thing the Universe never guarantees is safety. Forced from hiding and trapped on the Rim with the criminal scum of every interstellar species, Amber finds herself truly living in a way she hasn’t for millennia. Suddenly her choices are more than equations and the potential of billions killed must be balanced against protecting the people close to her.

When the ice takes your friends and then comes for you, what do you do?

Beach Blanket Wendigo by Amanda M. LeeBeach Blanket Wendigo by Amanda M. Lee:

Moonstone Bay is in an uproar. The DDA is on the run, but they’re not going down without a fight. While all that’s going on, Hadley Hunter is practicing her magic. She managed to join with her elemental friends for a huge wins—and feels that’s important for the DDA fight—but she needs practice.

Nothing is perfect, however.

When a tourist is found dead on the beach one night after hearing a series of eerie howls, Hadley and her boyfriend Galen Blackwood think they have a new mystery to solve. The problem is, all signs point to a wendigo … which shouldn’t be possible on Moonstone Bay.

Things become even more convoluted when the victim’s movements on the night of her death lead them to a local. He denies killing her, but something is clearly amiss.

There’s a wendigo, a rogue DDA faction, and a plane door that just won’t stay closed.

Hadley has a lot on her plate. Nothing is going to stop her from doing what needs to be done, however. She’s ready to fight … even if that fight might kill her.

Hadley’s friends are determined to help, but as usual, she’s at the center of things. Moonstone Bay is caught in a shift of unbelievable proportions, but only one faction can come out on top.

There’s a battle coming, and when the truth comes out, everybody will be rocked.

Buckle up, because this ride is going to be bumpy.

The Bloodstained Shade by Cass MorrisThe Bloodstained Shade by Cass Morris:

In the third book of the Aven Cycle, a trio of sisters and an ambitious senator use charm, wit, and magic to protect their city from ruin.

Latona of the Vitelliae, mage of Spirit and Fire, lies still as death. Her fate rests in the hands of her allies, who must redeem her soul from the churning void where Corinna, leader of a banished Discordian cult, has trapped it.

Protected by a cabal of corrupt priests and politicians, Corinna plans her most daring assault yet: a ritual striking at the ancient heart of Aven, with the power to swallow the city in a maw of chaos and strife. Her success would be Aven’s doom, and the greatest violence would fall upon the most vulnerable.

Before Sempronius Tarren can join Aven’s defense-and his beloved Latona-at home, he must end the war abroad, outwitting the blood-soaked machinations of his Iberian opponents. His own magical talents remain hidden, but dire circumstances tempt him to succumb to ambition and use forbidden tactics to hasten the way to victory.

To defeat Corinna, Aven’s devoted protectors will need to perform extraordinary magic, rally support from unexpected quarters, and face the shadows on their own souls.

Nautilus Rising by Ernesto R. SanchezNautilus Rising by Ernesto R. Sanchez:

Far from Earth, PhD candidate Arixa Nez must solve a disturbing conspiracy while the largest spaceship in history is about to embark on its maiden voyage. The Nautilus, the greatest spaceship ever created in human history, is finally complete. Its mission is to travel through a mysterious wormhole found decades earlier. Before long, Arixa becomes the unlikely person able to prevent the greatest terrorist act in the solar system.

Can Arixa stop the conspiracy before time runs out?

Nautilus Rising is the prequel novella to the Far Side Chronicles.

Far From Home by John WalkerFar From Home by John Walker:

Seth thought he had his life all planned out. After retiring from the Marines, he sought a career in the private sector. Moving up the corporate ladder proved harder than he thought, and when he suddenly loses his job, he wonders if he might be wasting his life.

Until a car accident changes it forever. Finding himself marooned on an alien prison planet, he must team up with a rebel in order to survive. But the environment isn’t the only hazard to overcome with bloodthirsty genetic anomalies and dangerous inmates on the prowl. It seems the only way to survive is to escape the planet, if he can find the necessary allies and equipment to achieve the impossible.

For no one’s escaped Lakon Prison before. But then, they never tried to cage a Marine.

Wolfpack by Rem WigmoreWolfpack by Rem Wigmore

Orfeus the hunter is searching for redemption in the wake of destruction…

Orfeus has always loved grand gestures. And what could be grander than risking her life to gain entry to the fabled Cloud Forest to find one of humanity’s greatest losses and make a gift of it to her beloved? But the cost proves higher than she could have ever imagined and now she is on the run, navigating a whole new world of danger with few allies and even fewer friends. Arcon, the Cloud Forest’s mechanized guardian, is determined to track her down, even if it means destroying everything in their way. Even if it means convincing Jean, a traumatized young trans man escaping a cult, to host them in order to complete their mission. Can Orfeus figure out a way out of the mess that she’s created and work with the Order of the Vengeful Wild and their allies to fix what she’s broken before their world is pushed once more to the brink?

The Tale of the Border Knight by A.R. WithamThe Tale of the Border Knight by A.R. Witham:

They say the Noble Seven came from the Waste.

They say the knights arrived from the desert gleaming in silver mail, shimmering bright as the sun, a refraction of every color under God’s sky. They were honor, righteousness, and courage made flesh. Some claim they came from beyond, angels sent to stand against damons. Some say.

If you want to know the truth, I will tell you.

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Indie Crime Fiction of the Month for January 2023


Welcome to the latest edition of “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of crime fiction by indie authors newly published this month, though some December 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.

Our new releases cover the broad spectrum of crime fiction. We have cozy mysteries, animal mysteries, holiday mysteries, historical mysteries, Jazz Age mysteries, paranormal mysteries, crime thrillers, legal thrillers, spy thrillers, technothrillers, science fiction thrillers, romantic suspense, police officers, FBI agents, lawyers, private investigators, amateur sleuths, bodyguards, spies, cold cases, missing children, murdered twins, crime-busting witches, crime-busting socialites, crime-busting dogs, murder and mayhem in London, Washington DC, Washington state, Florida, North Carolina and much more.

Don’t forget that Indie Crime Fiction of the Month is also crossposted to the Indie Crime Scene, a group blog which features new release spotlights, guest posts, interviews and link round-ups regarding all things crime fiction several times per week.

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:

Murder With Means by Blythe BakerMurder With Means by Blythe Baker:

Sylvia is still struggling with the terrible secret she has learned about Miles, when she is dealt a fresh blow. During a visit to an art museum, she unknowingly becomes the last person to speak with a murder victim alive.

Forced to set aside her misgivings, Sylvia must trust Miles enough to lean on his help once again. Together, can the pair catch an elusive killer before the trail goes cold?

 

Scavenger Hunt by Jack BoudreauxScavenger Hunt by Chad Boudreaux:

Blake Hudson just wants to serve his country well as a lawyer for the United States Justice Department—but when an unknown threat begins plotting his downfall, he must find who is setting him up before it costs him his life.

Scavenger Hunt is a suspense novel chronicling the plight of Blake Hudson, a Justice Department lawyer assigned to a clandestine counterterrorist group created to bypass onerous legal requirements. After the group mysteriously disbands, Hudson becomes the scapegoat and is transformed from hunter to hunted. As he searches for answers and attempts to piece the puzzle together, people are following him, trying to kill him.

Written for fans of fast-paced thrillers, dry humor, political gamesmanship, and Clue-like twists and turns, Scavenger Hunt carves out a distinct niche best described as a hybrid of the Robert Ludlum classics and works by Brad Meltzer. Blake Hudson’s story addresses issues that have shaped recent elections and continue to frustrate interest groups and government leaders, while featuring the inner workings of the U.S. Department of Justice Building—arguably the most important and misunderstood agency in the federal government. Author Chad Boudreaux’s unique voice and page-turning storytelling packs a plot-driven punch that readers won’t be able to put down.

A Tender Little Murder by Beth ByersA Tender Little Murder by Beth Byers:

Vi and Jack are journeying on a second honeymoon. Sand, sea, long, lingering nights along with slow, sleepy mornings seem to be just what life demands.

They set out, driven by whimsy. Soon they join a small boat tour of the islands along with other travelers. At first, they’re surrounded by loving families, but as the journey progresses, they uncover that all is not what it seems. And with that, someone is found down. But why?

 

A Nags Head Murder by Joe C. EllisA Nags Head Murder by Joe C. Ellis:

Private Detective Angie Stallone opens her fledgling agency in the quaint town of Buxton, North Carolina on the Outer Banks. Struggling to establish a credible business, she teams up with local bookstore owner, Mee Mee Roberts, to solve a cold case from the 1960’s. Their investigation leads them to a remote island in the middle of the Currituck Sound. The evidence they dig up opens a door to membership in a strange cult that meets in one of the old beach houses along Nags Head’s Historic Cottage Row. The recent death of a cult member raises new questions. Was it murder? Is the cold case connected to the recent death? If so, who’s next?

New Ghosts, Old Tricks by Lily Harper HartNew Ghosts, Old Tricks by Lily Harper Hart:

Harper Harlow-Monroe has everything she’s ever wanted. She has a husband she loves, a best friend who is only irritating fifty percent of the time, and a daughter who refuses to be “normal.” So, basically, she has it all.

Then the unthinkable happens. During an afternoon picnic with her husband and daughter, Harper’s yard is flooded with ghosts … right as five bodies float by on the river. Harper’s daughter Poe is finally in the thick of things because she’s the only one who can communicate with the ghostly newcomers.

Worried, Harper calls in her friends Rowan, Maddie, and Ivy. Together, the foursome is going to figure out what’s haunting Poe … one way or another.
There’s not much to be found regarding the victims. They were adventurers, making a name for themselves finding treasure at the bottoms of oceans and lakes. They were hired by a local billionaire, but nobody can figure out why and the man in question is being cagey.

Harper always knew her daughter would turn out gifted. The reality is different from the fantasy, however. Poe’s magic is already strong, and when she gets a little encouragement from her friends, things begin to spiral.

It’s an all-hands-on-deck situation for this battle, and only the strong will survive.

Vow of Justice by Robin JamesVow of Justice by Robin James:

A small-town sheriff is found murdered in a Dollar Kart parking lot. A relentless prosecutor vows to bring his killer to justice.

Sheriff Bill Clancy humbly served the citizens of Maumee County for three decades. He wanted nothing more than to finish his term and retire to the woods he called home. When he’s found shot to death behind the wheel of his own car, every cop in the county is out for blood.

The weight of justice falls squarely on Prosecutor Mara Brent’s shoulders when an arrest is quickly made. With an election just a few months away, all eyes are on her. There’s no room for error.

The man accused is a nobody. A drifter without a dime to his name. There’s a mountain of physical evidence tying him to the crime, but no obvious motive. Even without one, the case seems open and shut. But when a high-powered defense attorney with ties to Mara’s past comes forward to defend the killer, she suspects a conspiracy.

Is the accused just a patsy? Was Sheriff Clancy’s assassination part of a larger scheme that could ruin Mara’s career? Or was Clancy hiding an even bigger secret that could shake the foundation of the police department he vowed to serve?

And just when Mara thinks victory is in sight, a courtroom bombshell threatens to spiral the town into chaos.

The Last Resort by Michael KaufmanThe Last Resort by Michael Kaufman:

It’s March 2034, six months after D.C. police detective Jen Lu and Chandler, her sentient bio-computer and wannabe tough guy implanted in her brain, cracked the mystery of Eden. The climate crisis is hitting harder than ever: a mega-hurricane has devastated the eco-system and waves of refugees pour into Washington, D.C.

Environmental lawyer and media darling Patty Garcia dies in a bizarre accident on a golf course. Of the seven billion people on the planet, only Jen thinks she was murdered. After all, Garcia just won a court case for massive climate change reparations to be paid out by oil, gas, and coal companies. Jen is warned off, but she and Chandler start digging. Signs point to Garcia’s abusive ex, a former oil giant, but soon Jen turns up more suspects who have an even greater motive for committing murder

Soon Jen is in the crosshairs of those who will ensure the truth never comes to light, no matter the cost. She has to move quickly before she becomes next on the killer’s list.

Beach Blanket Wendigo by Amanda M. LeeBeach Blanket Wendigo by Amanda M. Lee:

Moonstone Bay is in an uproar. The DDA is on the run, but they’re not going down without a fight. While all that’s going on, Hadley Hunter is practicing her magic. She managed to join with her elemental friends for a huge wins—and feels that’s important for the DDA fight—but she needs practice.

Nothing is perfect, however.

When a tourist is found dead on the beach one night after hearing a series of eerie howls, Hadley and her boyfriend Galen Blackwood think they have a new mystery to solve. The problem is, all signs point to a wendigo … which shouldn’t be possible on Moonstone Bay.

Things become even more convoluted when the victim’s movements on the night of her death lead them to a local. He denies killing her, but something is clearly amiss.

There’s a wendigo, a rogue DDA faction, and a plane door that just won’t stay closed.

Hadley has a lot on her plate. Nothing is going to stop her from doing what needs to be done, however. She’s ready to fight … even if that fight might kill her.

Hadley’s friends are determined to help, but as usual, she’s at the center of things. Moonstone Bay is caught in a shift of unbelievable proportions, but only one faction can come out on top.

There’s a battle coming, and when the truth comes out, everybody will be rocked.

Buckle up, because this ride is going to be bumpy.

Two Shakes of a Hangman's Noose by Rimmy LondonTwo Shakes of a Hangman’s Noose by Rimmy London:

A silly ghost story? Or did someone get away with murder…

Megan Henny takes a day trip to a lighthouse just off the rugged Washington coast. Along with her trusty Great Dane, Fred, she comes across a haunting legend. Thirty years ago, a woman startlingly similar to herself, disappeared from the charming coastal town of Seacrest. With no clues to follow except a noose hanging from the branches of a nearby tree, did someone get away with murder? Or could something darker be haunting the coastline?

Together with Fred, Megan digs into the past. But what she finds are chilling memories that mix truth with ghost stories. Late one night, she discovers a noose in the forest behind her house and fears she could be next. Will Megan and Fred realize just where the danger is coming from, or will it catch them unaware?

The Girl and the Winter Bones by A.J. RiversThe Girl and the Winter Bones by A.J. Rivers:

In the morning Ellie walked to school. All was seemingly predictable.

Until one day, the unexpected occurred and little Ellie was never seen again…

When an unexpected storm hits, forcing a young couple on a road trip to seek shelter within an abandoned school in the woods. They witness strange phenomena and stumble upon corpses. Soon FBI agent Emma Griffin finds herself in the middle of a case that forces her to investigate the past to sort out the mystery behind the twisted occurrences in the present. With a trail of missing girls, strange oddities, and red herrings.
Emma and all involved find much more than they bargained for.

It’s no longer about surviving a night of haunting and evading a storm.
It’s about escaping the things that should have remained forever frozen in time…

You Better Run by Willow RoseYou Better Run by Willow Rose:

When 19-year-old Meg Briggs wakes up after having a crazy party with her friends, she finds a girl in the pool.

Dead.

Who is this girl?

How did she end up in the pool?

Was she even at the party?

Even more strange is when they pull her out of the water, Meg realizes the girl looks very familiar. As a matter of fact, she looks just like her.

Like an identical twin.

But Meg has no twin, at least none that she knows of, and no one at the party knows this girl or can say where she is from.

What is Meg’s mom hiding from her?

FBI profiler Eva Rae Thomas is caught in distress at home with her children and between the two men in her life when she is asked to help out on the case.

Who killed Meg’s identical twin and why? And where did she come from?

As Eva Rae Thomas digs deeper into the story, she can barely believe the revealed secrets, secrets so cruel that someone is ready to go to great lengths to keep them hidden.

Murder at Yuletide by Lee StraussMurder at Yuletide by Lee Strauss:

Have Yourself a Merry Little Murder

Clive Pippins, Lady Ginger Gold’s beloved, elderly butler is apparently Christmas shopping when a body is found. To the shock of everyone in Ginger’s household, the victim is the spinster cousin Pippins worked for during the years surrounding the Great War.

As Ginger investigates things begin to look grim for her dear butler. What had the man been up to during the war years, and had he been complicit in a crime?

What secret was Pips holding onto?

And worse, would he be the next victim before he had a chance to divulge it?

The only gift Ginger wants for the Christmas of 1927 is for the killer to be found before it’s time to ring in the new year!

Once a Killer by Margaret WatsonOnce a Killer by Margaret Watson:

Bree Gordon looks nothing like a bodyguard. But the short, slender woman knows how to keep her principal safe. And one of her most potent weapons is her appearance. People see her and dismiss her. Their mistake.

Jameson Ford is a technical whiz who’s working on a program that’ll be a game changer. The military wants it. So does the CIA, along with some unsavory players. Someone close to him wants it, as well – one of the engineers in his lab.

When he reluctantly hires a bodyguard, he’s shocked when Bree shows up. But it doesn’t take long for him to appreciate her abilities. Will the attraction flaring between them be their salvation? Or will it be their downfall?

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Semiprozine Spotlight: Wyngraf Magazine of Cozy Fantasy

The Semiprozine Spotlight project never quite took off the way the Fanzine/Fancast Spotlights and Non-fiction Spotlights did, probably because semiprozine editors are very busy people. Still, I am continuing the project as interviews come in. For more about the Semiprozine Spotlight project, go here.

Today I am pleased to feature Wyngraf Magazine of Cozy Fantasy, who have published three of my flash stories to date with another one upcoming. So I’m happy to welcome Wyngraf editor Nathaniel Webb to my blog today:

A note for Hugo nominators, Wyngraf is not yet eligible for the Best Semiprozine Hugo, because they’re on their third issue and the Hugo rules require a minimum of four. However, Wyngraf will be Hugo eligible as of 2024.

Wyngraf issue 1Tell us about your magazine.

Wyngraf is a magazine of cozy fantasy short fiction—as far as I know, the first of its kind. Cozy fantasy focuses on low-stakes stories, often with themes of home and community. They can be simple slice-of-life tales or feature some conflict, but they’re never about toppling kingdoms or preventing the world from ending and they’re rarely solved with violence. They’re often set at home, though when they go off wandering we call that “backpack fantasy” and still count it. Our stories always give readers worlds they’d love to live in and endings that leave them feeling warm and, well, cozy!

Who are the people behind your magazine?

Right now it’s pretty much me, editor-in-chief Nathaniel Webb, and the incredible authors and artists whose work I’ve bought for each issue. Recently the amazing Angelica Fiori, who had stories in our first two issues, helped me read the massive slush pile for our third submissions round. I would have drowned without her!

Why did you decide to start your magazine?

Because it didn’t exist!

In early 2021 I was recovering from a major surgery—plus there was that whole global pandemic thing—and I found myself hungry for cozy fantasy reads. (I’ve always said my favorite part of Lord of the Rings is the “Concerning Hobbits” section at the beginning.) There were lots of posts seeking fantasy books with a cozy feel on forums like Reddit, but there was no community hub. You couldn’t even find two people who agreed on a definition of the genre.

So I read what I could find, but I kept thinking it ought to be easier to hunt these books down. I kept expecting someone to start a website or something. I kept expecting a dedicated magazine to pop up. But by the start of 2022, nothing had…

Meanwhile, at the end of 2021, I self-published a mystery novel called A Conventional Murder. I had published with small presses before, but this was my first time trying self-pub, and I discovered I really enjoyed the technical aspects of it: ordering the art, doing the layout and cover design, all that stuff. So there was kind of this perfect storm where I felt like there was a need in the market for cozy fantasy, and I suddenly had the skills to do something about it—and in the bargain, help promote fellow authors and publish stories that might not fit at other fantasy magazines.

What format do you use for your magazine (print zine, PDF zine, e-mail zine, online zine, podcast, etc…) and why did you choose this format?

We publish the magazine in two formats, ebook and print-on-demand paperback. I always knew we’d do a physical version. Paper books are how I like to read, and I find it really satisfying to hold something in my hand that I helped create. Those are sold on Amazon, through their PoD service.

But at the same time, a lot of people prefer ereaders these days, so of course we have that option as well. Our ebooks are on Amazon, of course, but also DriveThruFiction, where you get both the ebook and a PDF for the same price. We’re also continuing to experiment with publications outside the core semiannual magazine. Last year we ran flash fiction every week. This year we’re publishing an ebook special with two cozy fantasy romance stories for Valentine’s Day, and we’ve got a couple other secret projects in the works…

Science fiction, fantasy and horror were born in the pulps and short fiction has long been the beating heart of the genre. However, the focus of attention is increasingly moving towards novels and series. So why do you think SFF short fiction is important and worthy of attention?

Short SFF is essential because it allows for experimentation. Cozy fantasy is still in this nebulous state where it hasn’t quite been pinned down yet; the tropes are still being defined and nothing has totally reified. One of the my favorite things about putting out an issue of Wyngraf is that every story is somebody’s favorite, because everyone’s looking for something a little different from us.

Short fiction is where the genre sausage gets made. Sometimes I almost feel like Farnsworth Wright picking stories for Weird Tales, or Moorcock at New Worlds (on a much, much smaller scale, of course!)—in my tiny way, I get to help define what “cozy fantasy” means going forward. I have an essay about this, “Windows and Walls,” coming out in Wyngraf #3. It’s a thrilling place to be, and you don’t get that so much in the novel space, where every book is a huge investment so they have to be conservative (and doubly so for series). This was even more true when we were running flash fiction on our website. I bought a story, “Billable Hours for the Disputed Rights of the Chosen One” by L Chan, six hundred words long, written in the form of an expense report. You can’t write a novel like that—but readers loved it. It was our most popular flash piece, hands down.

I must admit, though, that in between me announcing Wyngraf and the first issue coming out, Travis Baldree released a cozy fantasy novel called Legends & Lattes that became a monster breakout hit and wound up on the New York Times bestseller list. So that certainly didn’t hurt. Thanks, Travis!

Wnygraf Magazine Issue 2One big problem for SFF magazines is monetarization. Readers are happy to consume short fiction, but they’re often unwilling to pay for it. What are your strategies for financing your magazine and paying your writers and staff?

Wyngraf is the story of what a person can achieve when they have no idea how clueless they are… I financed the first issue out of pocket, hoping it would eventually sell enough copies to break even and having no clue how unlikely that might be. Luckily for my pocket, my optimism about how a cozy fantasy magazine would sell was justified and we’ve not only broken even but turned a small profit.

A few things make this possible. One, I’m doing this as a hobby, not a living, so I don’t pay myself and breakeven is a success. Two, I do everything myself except the cover art and the stories. (Okay, I wrote a story for the first issue—sixty-five-hundred words I didn’t have to pay for!)

The third thing that makes the finances work is that right now, we pay our authors nothing near a professional rate. Increasing author pay is my number one goal for the magazine. We paid one cent per word for our first two issues, and increased it to a cent and a half for issue three. Still a pittance, but we’re moving in the right direction… I also strive for total financial transparency. There are a couple blog posts on our website where I lay out all our financials—literally everything—so you can judge for yourself.

But at its heart, the model is dead simple. I buy stories and some cover art, I put the issue together, I put it online, and I hope really hard that enough people buy copies that I can make another issue! So far so good…

The format of fiction magazines has changed a lot in the past twenty years. Print magazines still exist, but are no longer as dominant. Online and PDF zines are now the dominant form of short fiction delivery and fiction podcasts are becoming ever more popular. So where do you think magazines will go next?

I have no idea! I’m poorly equipped to answer this question because, despite being a software developer halfway through a computer science master’s degree, I’m a luddite at heart. I like paper books and magazines. I want everything to be a mass-market paperback.

I tend to believe there will always be a place for print, especially given the ease of self-publishing and print-on-demand nowadays. I certainly couldn’t have created a print magazine ten years ago. I do think print does offer some legitimate advantages as a technology—I’m skeptical, for instance, that purely website- and PDF-based delivery will ever monopolize the market, because enough people hate reading on phone and computer screens. Just look at Kindle Vella’s failure to launch: it’s called Kindle Vella, but you can’t read it on your Kindle, you have to go to the website or use the phone app.

I do think audio will continue to grow. It’s not my thing simply because I find it hard to pay attention to, but lots of people love it. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone in the SFF space experiments with really high production values, or a serialized narrative modeled after true crime podcasts, or other ways to hook listeners that aren’t just narrators reading stories. The form guiding the content, as it were. Are people already doing this?

Are there any other great magazines, podcasts, editors, stories, etc… you’d like to recommend?

Yes! Not long after we launched, the editors of Augur announced Tales & Feathers, an online magazine of cozy slice-of-life fantasy. They ran a successful Kickstarter and have been putting out a story every month for over half a year now. The best part: they pay a professional rate!

It’s a fantastic magazine, but it’s interesting—and this ties back into the idea that cozy fantasy hasn’t been pinned down yet—Tales & Feathers has a very different voice from Wyngraf, generally much closer to literary SFF than we are. I’ve actually turned down excellent stories for being too, I don’t know, arty or abstract or something. That’s just not what Wyngraf is about. I kind of feel like T&F‘s kid brother even though we technically launched before them. Though I have to say this: they’ve got some big names, like Premee Mohamed, but I was thrilled when they published a wonderful writer named Ziggy Schutz who sold us a flash story for our website. We ran Ziggy first!

You can read Tales & Feathers for free at www.augurmag.com/tales-and-feathers-magazine. It’s really good!

Where can people find you?

Our website is www.wyngraf.com, where you can learn about the magazine and our side projects, read dozens of flash stories for free, and sign up for our mailing list (which gets you even more free stories). Our ebooks are sold on Amazon and DriveThruFiction, and our paperbacks are on Amazon. And we’re on Twitter at @wyngraf, for however long Twitter lasts…

Thanks so much for inviting me over and letting me ramble!

Thank you, Nat, for stopping by and answering my questions.

Cozy up with a warm blanket and a hot beverage of your choice and check out Wyngraf Magazine of Cozy Fantasy, cause it’s a great magazine.

***

Do you run a semiprozine and want it featured? Contact me or leave a comment.

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Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre: “Wun-Dar and His Wonderful Dinosaur”

It’s time for another Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre photo story. The name “Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre” was coined by Kevin Beckett at the Whetstone Discord server. You can check out all the Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre Photo Stories here.

But first a bit of backstory: At the dawn of the Internet, reports about a rare brown-haired variant of the original He-Man action figure began to emerge. The figure was sometimes bare-chested, sometimes dressed in a black version of the Zodac armour and came with different red-brown weapons and was never found on a blister card. The origins of the figure were a mystery, though some people remembered getting him from a Mattel mail-in promotion in the early 1980s. For a while, it was thought that this was a tie-in promotion with the US bread company Wonder Bread, though eventually it turned out that the mysterious brown-haired He-Man figure actually originated with a “Buy three and get one free” promotion Mattel ran in the early 1980s. The promotion was quickly discontinued after a mother complained that the figure was underwhelming, which is why he is so rare. That mother would probably be stunned, if she knew what original brown-haired He-Man figures go for these days. There are several videos about the history of this figure by former Mattel employee Scott Neidlich, who solved the mystery of the brown-haired He-Man, here.

Even though the link to a Wonder Bread promotion turned out to be false, the brown-haired He-Man became known as a “Wonder Bread He-Man”. And when a new version of the mystery figure was made in the Masters of the Universe Classics line, the character was named Wun-Dar after the brand of bread. Wun-Dar was recast as a former champion of Grayskull and wielder of the Sword of Power, took on a life of his own and even showed up in Masters of the Universe: Revelation as one of the heroes hanging out in Preternia, which is Eternia’s version of Valhalla. Earlier this year, Mattel also made a Wun-Dar figure in the Masters of the Universe Origins line. It was sold as an online exclusive and sold out in minutes, but I was lucky enough to snag one.

And no, I could not resist posing him with a loaf of bread, because Wun-Dar is now forever associated with bread, even though he originally had nothing whatsoever to do with bread. Eventually, I will also get out the old Fimo and make him some action figure sized bread as an accessory.

Wun-Dar with bread“This is most excellent bread. Wun-Dar, foremost bread expert on Eternia, approves.”

Wun-Dar is a great figure, but he was missing something, namely a mount. Now in Masters of the Universe: Revelation, Wun-Dar is shown riding a dinosaur. So of course I had to get him a dinosaur.

The big Schleich dinosaurs work really well Masters of the Universe Origins figures and so I decided to get my Wun-Dar a Schleich Giganotosaurus, because the colours fit his colour scheme really well. The dinosaur arrived just before Christmas, so here is Wun-Dar with his new ride:

Wun-Dar is riding his GiganotosaurusSo let’s see what happens when we introduce Wun-Dar and his mount to the rest of the gang.

At since Wun-Dar lived approximately a century before Prince Adam, he and his new dinosaur pal return to the land of the living through the same portal that brought Adam, Teela and friends back from Preternia in Masters of the Universe: Revelation.

In Revelation, the Preternian heroes didn’t quite know what to make of Adam, who chose to hang around in the afterlife in his regular skinny body rather than his bulked up He-Man form, so they nicknamed Adam “Fleaman”, because he’s skinny and slight.

***

In the Eternian wilderness:

Wun-Dar rides his Giganotosaurus“Well, Giga, Eternia has sure changed a lot, since we last dwelled in the land of the living. Still, if I’m not mistaken, Eternos should be that way. And that’s where we’ll find our old pal Fleaman and the current king and of course, the most important things, wine and wenches.”

ROAR!

“And of course a good chunk of meat for you, Giga.”

ROAR!

***

Later, in the throne room of Eternos Palace:

Wun-Dar and Giga arriven in the throne room of Eternos Palace.“Hello, Your Majesty. Wun-Dar is here and ready to serve.”

ROAR!

“What on Eternia? Who are you and what is that… that thing doing in my throne room? Guards, guards! Intruder alert!”

Two Palace Guards block Wun-Dar's way.“Halt, stranger! State your business!”

“Relax. Like I said, I’m Wun-Dar. You know, legendary hero, champion of Grayskull and wielder – well, former wielder of the Sword of Power? And this is Giga, my trusty mount. I came through a portal from Preternia because… well, even paradise gets boring eventually, I guess. And besides, Fleaman – I mean, Adam – said that you guys needed help with someone named Skeleton? Is that right? Stupid name, at any rate.”

“It’s Skeletor, young man. And what exactly do you and this… this thing want here in my throne room?”

“Giga and I want to help fight this Skeletor. Also, I hope to sample some of the local wine and wenches.”

“And what makes you think that I’ll just hire anybody who barges into my throne room, young man? There are proper channels and procedures for this sort of thing.”

“Well, if you don’t need a warrior, I also make really great bread. I used to be a baker boy in Tunderia, before I ventured forth to see Eternia and fight evil in all its forms. And sample wine and wenches, of course.”

He-Man, Teela and She-Ra arrive in the throne room.“Another alarm. What now? Skeletor, the Horde, the Snake People or… Wun-Dar?! What in Eternia are you doing here?”

“Fleaman – ahem, Adam – is that really you? Cause you sure fill out nicely, when you call down the power.”

“Adam, do you know this person?”

“Uhm, we met in Preternia, while I was dead. It’s a long story.”

He-Man talks to Wun-Dar, while King Randor, Teela, She-Ra and two guards look on.“Captain, what should we do?”

“Stand down, Corporal. For now.”

“Wun-Dar, man, what are you doing here? I thought you loved it in Preternia.”

“Well, I did. But you were right. Just going on pretend hunts all the time does get boring after a while. I missed the action, the fighting, the wine and the wenches, if you know what I mean. The only wenches in Preternia were Sharella and Kuduk and neither of them were ever interested.”

“But how did you get here, you and Giga?”

“Same way you did, through that portal in Grayskull Tower. After all, you said we were welcome to follow you at any time.”

He-Man and Wun-Dar shake hands, while King Randor, Teela and She-Ra look on.“Well yes, I guess I did invite you all to come. Anyway, it’s great to see you back in the land of the living, old friend. And Giga, of course.”

“Good to see you again, too, Fleaman… I mean Adam. I’m as surprised as anybody, but I kind of missed you.”

ROAR!

“Adam, would you mind introducing me to your ‘friend’?”

“Actually, I’d love to know who that is, too, brother. Cause he’s rather handsome.”

“Meanwhile, I’d love to know how that guy got past my guards.”

He-Man introduces Wun-Dar to King Randor.“Of course. Father, this is Wun-Dar of Tunderia. He’s a former champion of Grayskull and wielder of the Power Sword. We met in Preternia.”

“So I gather.

“Wun-Dar, this is my father, King Randor of Eternia.”

“Pleased to meet you, Sire. Wait a moment, your father is the king? So that means you’re a prince?”

“Uhm, yes…”

“Why did you never say anything, man?”

“I guess it never really came up. And besides, we were dead. It’s not as if titles and all that really mattered.”

“All this time and I never had any idea that you were royalty. Like Grayskull and He-Ro, come to think of it. Damn, was I the only commoner ever to wield the Power Sword? But first things first. Cause I spy wenches, so why don’t you introduce me to those lovely ladies?”

He-Man introduces Teela to Wun-Dar.“Wun-Dar, you’ll remember Teela from Preternia.”

“Oh yes, that wench you were moaning over all the bloody time.”

Giggle.

“Ahem, actually…”

“Well, I definitely remember you, Wun-Dar. After all, Adam and I knocked you and your beast out of the hunt.”

“As if I could forget. Still, you certainly clean up nicely, Teela. I almost didn’t recognise you with the different hair and outfit. It’s so much more becoming than that mannish cut you wore in Preternia.”

“Ahem, Wun-Dar, did I mention that Teela is the Captain of the Royal Guard as well as my girlfriend.”

“Oh, so you finally got your cherry popped, your wine uncorked, your toast buttered. Congratulations, Fleaman.”

Giggle.

“I’m sorry. There really is no excuse for him.”

“If you’re not going to punch him, Adam, I will. Champion of Grayskull or not.”

“Former champion.”

He-Man introduces Wun-Dar to She-Ra.“But who is this lovely lady? I’m certain I’ve never met you before, because how could I forget such beauty?”

“I’m She-Ra, He-Man’s twin sister and wielder of the Sword of Protection. It’s always a pleasure to meet friends of my brother.”

“Oh, the pleasure is all mine, beautiful.”

“Ahem, Wun-Dar, did you miss the fact that she’s my sister?”

“Oh come on, Fleaman, it’s not fair hogging all the wenches for yourself.”

ROAR!

Wun-Dar introduces Teela and She-Ra to Giga.“That’s a very interesting beast you have there, Wun-Dar.”

“Thank you, my lady. Her name is Giga, short for Giganotosaurus. She has big teeth, but she only uses them on the enemies of Eternia.”

“Well hello, Giga. It’s lovely to meet you, too.”

ROAR!

“Some of these creatures would make pretty good patrol mounts for my guards. You didn’t bring back any more of those critters by any chance, did you?”

“I’m afraid not, my fair Captain. The fields of Preternia are full of roaming dinosaurs, but the trip is one way only.”

ROAR!

She-Ra strokes Giga, who has just pooped on the floor.“You’re a good girl, Giga. Maybe I should introduce to my friend Sorrowful, the dragon, since he’s always very lonely.”

ROAR!

“Enough! That… that thing has just pooped onto the floor of my throne room.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. Come on, Giga, don’t embarrass me. We’re among royalty here.”

“Get that creature out of my throne room NOW! And someone clean up the mess.”

Wun-Dar rides off on Giga, while King Randor, He-Man, She-Ra, Teela and two guards look on.“Uhm, Wun-Dar, maybe you should take Giga to the royal stables. And please, make sure she remembers that the horses are not for eating.”

“Okay, will do, Fleaman. Your Majesty, fair ladies, I’ll be seeing you around.”

ROAR!

“Corporal Daegar, remove that mess from the throne room floor.”

“With all due respect, Captain, I don’t think that cleaning up dinosaur poo was part of my job description.”

“It is now, Corporal. Understood?”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Well, he’s certainly a bit rough around the edges, but I like him.”

“You’re welcome to him, She-Ra. After all, I have nabbed myself the greatest and noblest champion of them all.”

“You certainly have… interesting friends, son.”

“Sorry about that, Dad. When I invited the other heroes of Preternia to follow me, I’d hoped for King Grayskull or maybe He-Ro, not him. Though he is brave and will be a great help in the fight against the Evil Forces of Skeletor and the Horde and the Snake People. And he really does bake great bread.”

“So you’ve truly met King Grayskull, son? What is he like? Just as impressive as the legends say?”

“Grayskull wasn’t at all like I imagine him. I mean, since he’s my ancestor, I always imagined him to look like me – blonde hair, pale skin, blue eyes. But he doesn’t look like me at all. Instead, he has dark skin and dark hair. Oh yes, and he’s huge, even when he’s not powered up. And yes, he is as impressive as the legends say.”

***

The bit about King Grayskull is a reference to the fact that some fans were upset that the character of King Grayskull, heroic ancestor of He-Man and She-Ra, was portrayed as white and blonde in the 2002 cartoon and as a black man with dreadlocks in Masters of the Universe: Revelation. Of course, there are several centuries, perhaps even millennia between Prince Adam and King Grayskull, so Adam having a black ancestor is not at all unbelievable.

King Grayskull also appeared briefly in the Netflix CGI He-Man series, where he is a bald white man with a black beard. He’s also evil due to resorting to dark havoc magic to defeat the Snake People and was about to destroy all of Eternia and the entire universe, before the Sorceress stopped him. Oddly enough, that seems to bother absolutely nobody.

And that’s it for today, folks. I hope you enjoyed this Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre Photo Story, because there will be more.

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, I just bought some toys, took photos of them and wrote little scenes to go with those photos. All characters are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

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