2018 July Newsletter
It’s been a busy and productive month for me, as I hope it’s been for you. It’s also been a fun past thirty days, including both the 4th of July and Pride.
Both celebrate independence, and Pride celebrates an independence both personal and public that I find inspiring and fantastic. Amazing levels of creativity and heart-warming amounts of acceptance were on display in parades around the world – just fabulous in all of the best definitions.
In the past 30 days I also was able to take a side trip over to a store known as Paxton Gate. They specialize in strange exhibits and exotic gardening, to educate our youth on both the natural sciences and the unnatural ones.
Sadly their prize piece, a lovely stuffed unicorn, is no longer on display. Some naysayers claimed it was naught but a horse with a narwhal tusk. As a pure coincidence, it turns out it’s no longer legal to display items with narwhal tusks. I’m sure this has nothing to do with the unicorn’s disappearance. Perhaps instead the unicorn was seen by too many non-virgins and has elected to disappear.
There were still many other fantastical beasts on display, including a lovely example of a jackalope.
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| Perhaps an ancestor to the modern unicorn? A Unisaur? | A magnificent beast, fearsome in herds with dangerous horns, great speed and near lethal amounts of adorability. | The most unbelievable of all these strange creatures – the so-called “moose”. |
In fiction news, I have new stories in the (non-cryptozoological bunny) hopper and many current tales in bundles.
Strange worlds for sale
For the next few months, I have a number of different works available for the low price of cheap or free. If you end up enjoying one, please leave a review on Amazon. Reviewing can be as easy as selecting the right number of stars and entering a single sentence into your magical keyboard machines.
My novel “Two-Fisted Jesus Tales, Book 1” is part of the great Amazing Fantasy giveaway through July 20. Many other fine books from other authors are also available here.
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My short story collection “Hyperspace Radio” is available through the excellent SciFi Book Bonanzafrom July 16th through July 22nd. After that it will be available for $.99 for another week, from July 23 toJuly 29.
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My novella “The Luck Thieves”, the second installment in my “Crime and Magic” series, is available through the Judge a Book by its Cover! Giveaway through July31, and the Paranormal Reads giveaway through August 3rd.
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And my novella “Ghost Magnet”, which kicked off my “Crime and Magic” series, will be available from Sept 1 through Sept 30th in the Discover Your New Favorite Series giveaway.
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Finally, “Wishful Thinking” is available as part of the Summer Reading List until September 2nd. It concerns an innovative solution to the “Genie of the Lamp” dilemma – creating a startup company to sell the magic wish.
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You can expect a third installment in my “Crime and Magic” series some time in the next couple of months. It’s titled “Blood and Hope”, and will open new possibilities for our plucky heroes Aurelian and Lyita.I will also have a new story regarding an Artificial Intelligence takeover of society, with quite unexpected results for the typically most prosperous class – everyone in their middle age. It’s titled “Underclass”.For later this year I’m planning on releasing a sequel to “Two-Fisted Jesus Tales, Book 1: The Book of the Job”. The title will be “Double-Crossed”.Among many other tales, the first book in a heroic fantasy series is also in the works.
I’m also throughly enjoying the world-building for a sequel to my novella “Wishful Thinking”, about a troubleshooter for magical startup companies. It puts a smile on my face just thinking about it.
Upcoming new authors
On a separate note, my good friend Lillian Dish has just joined our publishing company Mind Fu Media. She writes in the “Cozy Mystery” vein, with an interesting twist that’s all her own. More on her releases soon.
Another new author is the enigmatic Connor McCloud. He’s been described as “Tom Clancy on dirt weed.” I’ve seen what he’s got coming, it’s strong and will surprise you.
And music!
I celebrated this recent 4th of July by taking a rare 12 hour block of free time to post years of my accumulated electronica albums to Bandcamp, complete with stylish fractal images what I also made myself. And I was still fully able to enjoy hot dogs and fireworks as our foreparents intended.
It’s interesting to consider how this music fits in with the rest of my artistic output. It seems I enjoy creating music that feels like strange worlds, and then creating instrumental narratives that fit within them.
Check ’em out, and let me know what you think.
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With all of the above works, I was glad to catch up on the podcast with a new audiobook too. Also the podcast is now available on iTunes and Spotify. Do check them out as well.iTunes
Stitcher
Buzzsprout
All that and I found a new pizza place too.
Once again, thanks for checking out my work! As always, I’d love to hear your feedback on any of my work.
Keep on imagining,
~ j : )