Crystal Lilac is Live!

That's right, we have a live one! Only in e-book for the moment; I'm not quite done the paperback version just yet. But still, it's there, ready to be read.

I'm going to let this one simmer for a bit while I get the paperback ready. And then, I'm going to see how Amazon's new hardcover publishing works when I put the two books of Kane together into an omnibus. I'm looking forward to it.

As I said before, I'm really proud of this one; I think it's my best work so far. And if you like action, you will definitely enjoy this book. And it's got some humor in it, too. Because even epic heroes have to laugh once in a while.

Crimson Moon: The First Book of Kane

And it's here!

And, as a bonus, it's available in paperback, as well! Same day, too. I was up until two in the morning last night, but...totally worth it.

I mean...what else is there to say? Oh, and that's two this year (yes, I'm counting Apprentice as a 2023 release). Ten to go to reach my goal.

Apprentice: Live!

And here it is!

Yes, my long-delayed eleventh book (and first since 2020) is now available. Ebook format only for now; the paperback will have to wait until I either find a better piece of art or can commission one. Still, it's an exciting feeling, and it's got me pumped and motivated to get back to writing. So, without further ado, please click on the link, check it out and enjoy!

Here it is!

That was fast! Available right now at an Amazon site near you, it's Bard Conley's Adventures Across the Solar System! It's 366 pages of science fiction action and excitement in a pulp style. Click on the cover image to go directly to the site. Here's an excerpt for you to chew on.

“I’m approaching the target,” said Conley.

“Confirmed,” said Titania in a clipped voice. “Start being careful, Bard.”

“I’m always careful.” Her answering snort was eloquent. Conley stopped before the designated ore. “Time to gets your attention,” he muttered. “Stand by for cryonic deployment.”

“You’re a go, Sarge,” confirmed Liam.

Timing was crucial; he needed to cool the ore enough to draw the creature’s attention, but still keep enough cryonic fluid to stop the creature once it arrived. His suit’s cryo-deployment was minimal, only for the most dire of emergencies.

“Ten-second burst at twenty-five percent capacity,” he reported.

“Timer ready,” replied Titania.

“Activating.” He pointed the metallic hose at the featureless ore, spraying it with a strong dose of the cryonic fluid. The hot metal hissed and sparked as the cryonics played over it, and for a moment there was a patina of frost covering the expanse of wall. The natural heat of Mercury returned, only a moment later, however, and the frost disappeared. Within thirty seconds, the wall’s temperature was back to its normal levels.

“Knock, knock,” muttered Conley. Nothing happened.

“That’s one minute,” reported Titania. “Still no contact.”

“Another ten-second burst, forty percent capacity,” said Conley.

“Be careful,” warned Titania. “You won’t have enough left if you do it three times.”

“Then we’ll have to hope it takes the bait this time. Activating on your mark.”

“Stand by…Mark!”

Conley sprayed the wall again, opening the hose a little wider. The spray coated the wall again, freezing it faster. He heard a beep in his helmet, and shut off the spray to admire his handiwork.

“Temperature rising again,” reported Titania. “Five hundred Kelvin...Eight hundred Kelvin...One thousand Kelvin...HOLY—SIX THOUSAND KELVIN!” she shouted. “Power up your resistors now!”

Conley mashed his thumb and ring fingers together and felt he hum of the suit’s built-in cryonic field. The improved version would last him at least five minutes, based on the readings received from Titania’s encounter with the creature.

But that had been only four thousand degrees Kelvin.

Even as he activated the suit’s heat resistors, he saw the white-hot glow of the heat-creature emerge from the wall he had been spraying. Despite the tremendous bulk of the cryonic tank, Conley dodged to the side as the creature lunged at him. Slowed by the tank, he nevertheless avoided being engulfed by the monster. He stumbled over an iron protrusion in the floor, but kept his feet even as the creature attacked again.

Conley felt the suit’s hum of power as the creature poured its heat into the suit’s cryogenic system. The temperature was already rising dangerously high, and he knew that he wouldn’t have nearly as much time as they had anticipated.

“Get out of there!” shouted Titania, but it was too late; the creature had engulfed him. Despite the suit’s heat resistors, he was already starting to sweat.

He tried to bring the nozzle of the cryo sprayer to bear, but the creature extended an energy appendage and melted the hose, sealing it up and keeping the coolant inside the tank.

Check it out and tell your friends. Science fiction action and adventure await!

In the Beginning: Released!

That's right, I'm actually on track this month, with another release mid-way through the month. This one is a unique piece of writing, as I mentioned in the last post. It is a retelling of the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis, from the Bible.

There's not much else to say about it after what I said the other day, so I'll just add that the cover art is taken from Edward Hicks' Noah's Ark, painted in 1846 (and now in the public domain). I think it's a nice piece, and it gets the point across well enough.

The only other thing to say is that to the best of my knowledge, nothing in this book contradicts Scripture or the teachings of the Church. That's part of the reason why this one took me so long to write; I worked on it for months, and that was before I started writing seriously last summer.

So, I'll leave you with an excerpt from the first chapter, in hopes that it will whet your appetite for more.

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He looked around the formless void as the winds blew across the face of the deep waters, swirling and churning them up.  His newfound awareness of his own existence startled him, but he felt an infinite joy in his own creation.  In that moment, Michael knew all he would ever know; above all else, he knew that God loved him, and had created him along with all the multitude of angels.  They were His, and would always be His.  Michael felt that love all around him as he and his new family gathered around their creator.  A nameless joy sprang up in his heart as he saw the majesty of God.  He listened with rapture to the voice of God, a voice that spoke as if it were three.

“My children,” he announced in the depths of their being.  “On this day I have created the heavens and the earth.  I have created you as well, to serve me.  IN LOVE, YOU HAVE BEEN BORN INTO ETERNITY; IN LOVE, YOU HAVE BEEN BROUGHT FORTH FROM NOTHINGNESS.  I love you all, and thus I offer you the most precious gift: a choice.”

“What choice is that, Holiest of Holies?” asked Lucifer, the Morning Star.

“The choice to freely serve,” replied God.  “You have the freedom to make that choice, because only a choice freely made can be truly your own.  If another makes the choice for you, that is not love, only slavery.  I WOULD NOT ENSLAVE THOSE WHOM I LOVE.”

“Of course we will serve,” answered the angelic host.  “We love you and we praise you,” they continued.

“There is more to this choice, my children, For I have not finished my work.  Observe the formless void; I will shape it and form it into matter, matter that exists separately from the spirit from which you are made.  Observe, AND BEAR WITNESS.”  Michael looked toward the void and heard the great words of power.

“Let there be light!”

The light that came into being was bright, bright enough to sear the souls of the angels.  And God spoke again, saying, “IT IS GOOD.”  Michael agreed; the light was truly beautiful to behold.  He joined in the chorus of praise as God separated the light from the darkness.  “WE SHALL CALL THE LIGHT 'DAY,' AND THE DARKNESS SHALL BE CALLED 'NIGHT.'” The angels erupted with praises to God, singing, “Hosanna in the highest!' and 'Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might!'

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You can check out In the Beginning on Amazon right now.

The Gilded Age: The Awakening... Released!

Yes, it's here, right on schedule. I'm still on track for my goal. And now, back to writing.

Oh, wait...teaser to get you interested in buying it. Almost forgot that part. Here's the book's prologue in its entirety.

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      The four people sat in the circle underneath the trees, their minds focused on the ritual they had been preparing for months. This was the moment they had all been waiting for; the time was right, and everything was set.

      As the sun peeked over the horizon, they began to chant. The words were ancient, the language long-forgotten. The sounds of the river meant nothing to them; the animals and the birds were only in the back of their minds, ignored as they focused their power. There was nothing left but to complete the sacred words and create the spell that would bind the land’s power to each of them.

      “Levkin,” came the undertoned voice. “We have to complete the final stanza together.” Levkin nodded as he continued the chant.

      “Luka.” The voice spoke simultaneously in the other man’s head. “Speak the final stanza with me.”

      “Katayeva,” said the voice again at the same time. “It is time to complete the final stanza, together.”

      The four voices somehow became six as the man in the northern quadrant of the circle spoke three stanzas at once. His colleagues completed their own stanzas, unaware of the differences; only their own voices could be heard.

      The light in the sky suddenly brightened as the blue streak crossed the sky far above, moving at impossible speeds. The four could not see it; their eyes were blinded by the force of the magic they were bringing into being. But one of them knew; he had made these calculations carefully, preparing for this day without the knowledge of his comrades. And now, his secret plans were coming to their true fruition.

      The chanting was unbroken despite the loud thunder, the sound of an artillery barrage. No one in this part of Russia had ever heard these sounds before, but as the noise intensified, the animals began to flee from the region. Only the four remained.

      Then, the sky exploded.

      The blue light became as bright as the noonday sun, and incredible energies spread out across the land as the meteor exploded across the sky. The four stiffened, and three of the screamed in sheer agony as their life forces were ripped away from them. “Grigori!” Katayeva shouted. “What have you done?”

      The fourth man screamed as well, but his screams were screams of triumph as he felt the incredible power coursing through his veins. He absorbed all the power of that explosion, and siphoned the power away from his erstwhile allies as well, draining their own life forces away and using them to increase his own power.

      “This is my moment of triumph!” he shouted even as the desiccated corpses of his friends withered and collapsed.

      He slumped to the ground, his own power throbbing inside him. The sky continued to flash a bright blue, and the thunder continued to pummel the ground. Trees were flattened as far as the eye could see, and the animals that had not escaped were lying spread out in death across the landscape.

      The sorcerer looked up in triumph at the sky. “I have wrought the greatest magic of human history!” he shouted. “The world will forever know the name of Rasputin!”

      Laughing hysterically, he stayed on the ground, slumped in exhaustion even as the power coursed through his veins, strengthening him and his spirit beyond mortal measure.

      Far away, on the other side of the world, the strange lights did not appear, but their effects would soon be felt across the world as everything changed…

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I honestly don't know if this idea's been done before, but as I mentioned in a previous post, it's something different that I wanted to do. So, it's available on Amazon right now, ready for your perusal and enjoyment.

New Release: Cold Star

Cold Star, The newest Cameron Vail mystery is available on Amazon right now!

You would think that it was easy to find a good piece of cover art on the dozens of free image sites on the internet. And you would be wrong. But, here it is, the latest tale of the team of Vail and Potts, back in their college days. Here's the cover blurb to give you an idea of what's going on:

Hollywood: Where dreams are made of...and where they go to die.

Angelique Foster soared to the top of the box office, but her star plummeted when she tragically died of an overdose. Another cautionary tale in the land of show business.

But three years later, a young journalism student sees something no one else did, throwing a new light on the death of one of Hollywood's glamor girls. The police don't believe him, and neither does anyone else...except his roommate.


Now, the two of them chase after a tantalizing mystery, hunting for a killer amid the lights and mystique of Hollywood. Will Cameron Vail and Bill Potts discover the truth about Angelique's death, or are they vainly chasing a fallen star?


The newest Cameron Vail mystery, this tale of deception and intrigue continues the exploits of Cameron and Bill in college.


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So, check it out, and keep on supporting indie publishing, because that's where you'll find the stories you want to read. No messages, no 'relevant' social commentary...just plain ol' fun.

And yes, I'm still planning to release another one this month. That's the advantage of writing as much as I do; there's always more to be published. I'll have more details on that book in the next few days. In the meantime, though, please check out Cold Star, now available in e-book on all Amazon platforms.

The Devil's Playground

Here it is! The Devil's Playground, the next book in the Chronicles of Meterra! I'm very excited, and I hope you are, too. It's my second fantasy publication, and my second short-story anthology, too. Here's the back cover print:

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Under King Eadric, the new Kingdom of Meterra has undergone significant changes since the Arrival of the European crusaders. The wild land is being settled, and the countryside is being reclaimed from the monsters that plagued the land. But peace is always a temporary state in a land of magic and monsters.

From a lonely shepherd to the mightiest of knights, the people of Meterra find themselves under siege from creatures unimaginable that emerge from an underground labyrinth so chaotic, so horrifying, that it can only be named...The Devil's Playground.

This anthology of short stories takes the story of Meterra out of the wilderness and into the realm of pure chaos. In these seven stories, the inhabitants of Meterra will discover how different their new home is, and how even the greatest of warriors are not immune to the horrors that await them within the Devil's Playground.

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This one is a bit weirder than most fantasy that's out there these days. It's certainly not on the level of Lovecraft or C.A. Smith, but they were definitely influential. The original idea came from, of course, gaming; the Devil's Playground is a megadungeon that takes a different tack than the typical 'insane wizard built it centuries ago' background. This one is just pure chaos, where nothing is the same the second time around. I hope you like what you read.

The paperback will be available shortly; right now, it's only in e-book format. It takes Amazon a while longer to release paperbacks, I guess. But still, it's available for you right this minute. What are you waiting for?

Oh, you didn't read the first book yet? Well, by all means, jump on over to Amazon and pick up a copy of The Chronicles of Meterra: Arrival, the first book in the series.