My home for my writing about speculative fiction, related commentaries, and the archive for the years of serial fiction written and published here first.
In case you missed it, here's some things to consider by people that don't hate you.
Israel's brightest light has a new campaign for Vol. 6-10 of "Light Unto Another World" at Kickstarter.
Nick Cole has Book Two of Strange Company, Voodoo Warfare, up at Amazon in paperback and audio.
Steven Pressfield has a new non-fiction self-help book in the manner of The War of Art at Amazon, Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be. Available in audio, Kindle, and paperback.
Declan Finn has Book Ten of his St. Tommy N.Y.P.D. series, Lightbringer, up at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, and Kobo in multiple formats.
Jon Del Arroz's "Overmind" campaign closed at over $30K raised, making it his most successful comic campaign to date. Congratulations!
The legend Chuck Dixon has a new Western in his Levon Code series up at Amazon in Kindle and paperback, Levon's Range: A Vigilante Justice Thriller.
Rick Partlow has a new mil-SF book in his Drop Trooper series up at Amazon in Kindle and paperback, Drop Zone.
Peter Nealan has a new mil-fic book in his Brannigan's Blackhearts series at Amazon in Kindle, Marque and Reprisal.
B.V. Larson has a new Space Opera book in his Star Runner series at Amazon in Kindle, Androids and Aliens.
The Leading Hispanic Voice in Science Fiction, Jon del Arroz, has a new comic-and-novel project up at Kickstarter: Overmind.
OVERMIND is a 66-Page graphic novel in the tradition of the great science fiction European comics, made for a modern era with the best art and storytelling in comics!
It is accompanied by a full-length sequel novel starring Special Agent Ayla Rin by #1 Bestselling Sci-Fi author, Jon Del Arroz.
We have a number of great rewards and add-ons with amazing collectibles and tons of books for your reading pleasure.
THE TEAM
This project is already funded. That makes this a sureshot, so feel free to pile on now as it's all about the Stretch Goals.
$6,000 - All backers will receive a courtesy digital copy of Flying Sparks Volume 1
$10,000 An Ayla Rin Origin Short Prose Story digitally for all backers
$12,500 OVERMIND logo Stickers for all physical backers
$15,000 Ayla Rin trading card for all physical backers
$20,000. Bonus Pages! Process sketches added to the OVERMIND book with a deep look inside Ayla Rin's gadgets and life!
$25,000 Aya Rin bookmark with physical every order
$30,000 We will create an Audiobook version of the Ayla Rin prose novel
You'll find the campaign page here. Rewards start at $17(US), and there's options to get other work that Jon's published such as Deus Vult.
Dragon Award winner Brian Niemeier has launched his funding campaign for the final book in the Combat Frame XSeed series.
Betrayed by their makers…
…their sole hope is vengeance
Humanity reels from the disastrous Battle of Earth. Blamed for the crushing defeat, the Guardian Angels are branded as traitors.
Jehu, Dex, and Kaiser must make a daring escape to save their families from a resurgent terror.
To clear their names, they must lead the rebel ExSols they once fought.
But against the combined might of the UCP and the Ynzu, do even Angels have a prayer of victory?
If you like Halo and Neon Genesis Evangelion, you’ll love Combat Frame Z Strike XSeed!
The image below will take you to the campaign landing page.
If you've seen Brian's previous campaigns, you'll know that he's good on making it easy to catch up if you're behind and he's got plenty of Perks that are proven hits with backers. He launched yesterday and is already 75% to goal. This is going to happen, so you're safe backing this.
The Leading Hispanic Voice in Science Fiction, Jon del Arroz, cut a video exposing another paper tiger of OldPub.
The big tell is how they manipulate their own rules to execute Friend/Enemy distinctions and act accordingly. They confess to Jon that they gladly let in people who don't meet the criteria, and expell those that do, purely on being faithful Death Cultists or enemies. That means that this organization has been converged for a long time, because this was the state of SWFA when it violated its own bi-laws to punt Vox Day- an expulsion that Vox rejects as illegitimate to this day accordingly.
This means that the organization is wholly about the Death Cult, and not at all about Muh Fandom or Muh Sci-Fi, and the performance of its members in the marketplace shows this to be true--I've sold more than them--so what this is really about is using the organization to exercise Narrative Warfare campaigns against enemies of the Cult.
What does this tell you?
That you don't need this organization. Furthermore, that this group is your enemy; if you are not One of Them, you are their enemy and they will be hostile to you- their writers, their agents, their editors, their publishers, their press whores, etc. are all going to roll out and array against you on command.
And if they weren't pathetic, they'd be more powerful than they really are--and far closer to what they want you to believe they are--but as it stands you can (and should) shrug them off and focus instead on a bigger issue: the need to diverse from Amazon (which I need to do too).
The leading Israeli voice in Science Fiction, Yakov Merkin, has an announcement to make:
I figure that since it’s currently Chanukah, and that I just earned my freedom from quarantine, a good way to celebrate would be to publicly reveal my next project, which I plan to work on concurrently with Light Unto Another World.
So, I’m very pleased & excited to introduce to you all my upcoming manga project, Amaranth Angels.
Amaranth Angels (yes is also has a Japanese title because why not), is a sci-fi starfighter adventure inspired by military-esque anime such as Girls Und Panzer (though it’s decidedly not a sports story), and things like The Last Starfighter or even Star Wars‘s Rogue Squadron series (the book series, not the canceled/on hold tv show).
Girls Und Panzer is my favorite anime of all time, so I wanted to do something in a sort of similar vein (cute anime girls doing military-esque things) but in more of an adventure setting. And since my favorite parts of many sci-fi franchises is starfighter combat, the rest fell together pretty quickly. And it quickly became clear that a story like this needed to be told in a more visual format, a manga it became. The art will be done by Philip San Gaspar, who you might recognize as the artist who worked with me on Light Unto Another World. I’m really looking forward to working with him on this, and to continue working with him on Light Unto Another World, which isn’t slowing down at all.
So enough about why I’m making this manga. What’s it actually about?
In the year 2265, Earth is at peace. However, as humanity expands, gradually, out into space, many understand the importance of developing new starfighter technology–just in case there is something nasty out there. As a way to prevent countries from growing suspicious of one another as they develop new technology and fighter models, Performance Squadrons, which hold stunt flying demonstrations, simulated battles, and even competitive squadron-on-squadron combat–without live ammo, of course–became popular as both entertainment and a way to test and demonstrate new starfighter designs.
Despite being a little younger than average for a starfighter pilot, Saya Nishizawa is widely recognized as one of the best pilots in the world, and that skill got her a prime spot on one of the most popular and successful performance squadrons, the Amaranth Angels.
Due to a recent personal tragedy, however, Saya currently wants to be as far from a starfighter cockpit as possible. But a sudden crisis of a different kind is about to force her back inside of one as she and several friends, both old and new, find themselves stranded halfway across the galaxy, with no choice but to help a small alien starfighter squadron defend a key installation against a relentless, seemingly endless foe.
Saya and the others will each have to find a way to make the best of their new situation, and learn how to effectively work together, if they’re to survive and find a way back home.
You like cute anime girls? You like pulse-pounding starfighter combat? Expect a ton of both, along with just general fun, with a relatively large cast of characters.
You can find the rest, including additional concept art of one of the starfighters, at the blog post linked above. This looks like a good time, and I look forward to seeing what Yakov makes of this. Leave any comments on Yakov's blog; they do him no good here.
The Guardian Angels race home to confront a traitor. Instead, disaster forces them into a savage battle with an invincible enemy bent on Earth's annihilation.
Can Jehu Red lead his team to victory over a power even greater than their XSeeds? Or will humanity burn on the funeral pyre of history?
Click on the link to hit the Amazon page and order your copy. Available in digital for Kindle and in Paperback.
Add this to your regular blog rolls, RSS feeds, or trips around the Internet if you're a regular reader of science fiction, fantasy, or horror: Upstream Reviews, brought to you by veteran authors Rob Krose and Declann Finn.
Welcome to Upstream Reviews, where we know that culture is upstream from politics, and we act on it.
In recent years, you may have heard from mainstream thinking that there is no such thing as a “conservative creative.” The idea is that no one makes entertainment unless they’re left-leaning, to the left of chairman Mao.
Usually, this claim is made by those people who refuse to look at fiction, because “fiction is irrelevant.” Then they go out and try to sell their own product.
At Upstream Reviews, we will go out of our way to bring you the best in Conservative entertainment. And only the best.
Because we’ve made our own platform, and we’re not going anywhere.
Our review philosophy is simple: no pandering leftwing garbage.
If we review a book, it’s because we think it’s worth reading. And we prioritize books and authors that go against the culture tide of relativism, cynicism, where Leftists rewrite storytelling to fit their own image. If there’s politics in it, we will discuss them. If there’s no blatant politics, we’ll explain why the book alone fits in with the rest of the right / right-leaning works.
On very rare occasions, we may review a book because it is so vile it needs a stake rammed through its heart like the abomination it truly is.
You can read "Conservative" as "Not pozzed by the Death Cult or run by its SJW shocktroopers" because that's typical of what Upstream features in its posts.
Upstream does two things as regular features: Classic titles being featured (as of this post, the most recent is "The Lathe of Heaven" by Ursula K. LeGuin), and independent or small press titles that aren't getting attention from the SJWs that dominate BookTube/BookTwitter and other mainstream social media or bookstore marketing (as of this post, the most recent is "Fatemarked" by David Estes). There are weekly roundups on Sundays, and the occassional non-fiction work gets attention when it's appropriate, but it's those regular features that you'll be coming back for.
Do I recommend it? As part of your larger set of media feeds to keep you up to date on what's out there and what's the best of what came before, it certainly is, especially if you're budget-concious and prefer to read digitally. Check it out.
The man behind Deus Vult Wastelanders and Maxwell Cain is back with a new science fiction series, and he's crowdfunding what it takes to finish the job on Kickstarter. Behold Diamond Jack and the Neon Knights.
Yes, there's a money quote:
Q: Wait, you write masculine Christian fiction? Is that even allowed?
A: Too many authors are afraid to portray unapologetic Christian belief as true. Deus Vult Wastelanders takes the words of the Bible as absolute fact and goes from there, imagining what might happen if demons invaded Earth and it still wasn't the final apocalypse. Christians living in hard times need to see heroes living in even harder times and still holding up the torch. Deus Vult Wastelanders has this in spades. Some people may not like the masculine portrayal of unapologetic Christianity, but it's time to bring it back into the spotlight so people see we're not a religion of cowards who compromise our principles at the first sign of hardship.
If you think he can't deliver, go to the Amazon links above and read the samples for the Wastelanders books. He delivers, and he makes fans of Berserk, Warhammer, and similar very masculine fiction applaud. No soyboi faggotry or soft-jawed Churchianity here. This is the sort of stuff you could believe an actual Crusader appreciating.
He's got a successful track record, so you're in good hands if you back this. Back Diamond Jack today.
Author and friend of the Study Robert Kroese has a new trilogy to offer you.
Here's the pitch:
One man has a plan to save America from the brink of financial doom. But when the plan goes awry, the sky will fall.
Mammon is a planned trilogy of near-future science fiction novels that revolve around an effort to wrangle a priceless asteroid into Earth orbit--and the devastating aftermath of the plan's failure.
The idea for Mammon came from news stories about the Psyche 16 asteroid, like this one claiming that it contains so much precious metal that it could "make everyone on Earth a billionaire." Such claims are ridiculous hyperbole, of course: first, metal that you can't get to isn't worth anything; and second, if you could get to it, such an abundance of precious metals would cause the price to crash. Still, it makes for an interesting mental experiment: what would happen if the supply of gold, platinum, and other metals was multiplied tenfold or more? Who would benefit? Who would suffer? Just how catastrophic would such a shock to our economic system be?
The good news? It's already funded. This project raised $10,000 in five hours. That means it's happening and you're save to pile on at this point. Getting the first book digitally takes a $6 pledge, and the entire series in digital is a mere $20; if you prefer to read electronically, you know that's a great deal, especially as you're not having to deal with DRM. Physical copies start at $25 for a signed paperback of the first book. Hardcovers are available.
Take a look at the rest of the Perks available. Some of the things that other authors break out into separate offers are things he rolls into package deals, like being in the book somehow. The upsell is not empty; you're getting personal attention, which means time from the author, and Kroese wisely values that highly as he knows what he's doing and he keeps busy putting out product.
I'd say this is as safe as crowdfunds get, so I recommend that you give him a chance to sell you on his trilogy.
The folks at Cirsova have decided to do another recovery project. This time they aim to recovery and republic "The Cosmic Courtship", by Julian Hawthorne.
To quote the project:
While most are at least somewhat familiar with Nathaniel Hawthorne as one of the great American authors, less well known is that his son, Julian Hawthorne, was an incredibly prolific writer in his own right. Julian wrote on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from literary analysis of his father's works to poetry to period romances and adventures. Late in his career, Julian even dabbled in the emerging genre of Science Fiction [Hugo Gernsback had only recently coined the awkward term "Scientifiction" when this story was first published.]
The Cosmic Courtship was serialized in Frank A. Munsey's All-Story Weekly across four issues, beginning with the November 24, 1917 issue and running through the December 15, 1917 issue. While this story has been in the public domain for some time, it has never been collected or published elsewhere until now.
Cirsova Publishing has partnered with Michael Tierney and Robert Allen Lupton to preserve this story for posterity and ensure that it is not lost to future generations.
This is a worthy project, so I have pledged to it. It's already well past its goal; it's going to happen, so you're safe in backing this project and now we're only dealing in Stretch Goals- and if the next one --$8K--gets hit then backers get digital as well as physical copies and a copy gets donated to Project Gutenburg to further ensure that this tale remains available to future generations to enjoy and learn from.
There's more; click on the image to go to the project page, read the additional Stretch Goals and pledge your support. Remember that this is aleady a done deal; you're getting a copy if you put your money down, so this is now about making bigger things happen.
The Dragon Award winner Brian Niemeier is back with the next episode: Combat Frame XSeed: SS!
For those needing the transcript:
Space is a graveyard
They came to destroy us ...
... Now they're humanity's only hope
The Guardian Angels race home to confront a traitor. Instead, disaster forces them into a savage battle with an invincible enemy bent on Earth's annihilation.
Can Jehu Red lead his team to victory over a power even greater than their XSeeds? Or will humanity burn on the funeral pyre of history?
If you like Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Mobile Suit Gundam, you’ll love the gripping continuation of #1 best seller Brian Niemeier’s Combat Frame XSeed saga! Back the project now and read the book before anyone else!
Featured perks include:
A digital copy of Combat Frame XSeed: SS for all backers! Need to catch up? That's OK. All perk tiers also include the new series' 1st book, Combat Frame XSeed: S!
Be in a Book: Become a canonical XSeed character!
Build-a-Mech: Make your mark on combat frame evolution with your own mech design! This fan favorite goes fast, so claim yours while availability lasts!
Brian's nailed the Real Robot subgenre, and successfully blended it with Clancy-style technothrillers and truly alien invaders from beyond. The campaign includes not only Perks to get you up to speed with what's going down in XSeed: SS, but you can get a full series catchup in ebook form very cheap. Take a look at the Perk list and you'll see that Brian's very good at getting new folks up to speed and delivers massive value for your money. This will be the 5th book in the series now, so you'll have plenty to read while you wait for the finished product to arrive in your inboxes, be it electronic or hardcopy.
Yes, I am one of Brian's editing clients, so I am biased in his favor, but one you read his work you'll share my enthusiasm for everything he's written. This is a sure bet. Back it today.
Dragon Award winner Brian Niemeier has a new installment of Combat Frame XSeed coming soon. Here's the teaser.
SPACE IS A GRAVEYARD
They came to destroy us. Now they're humanity's only hope.
The Guardian Angels race home to confront a traitor. Instead, disaster forces them into a savage battle with an invincible enemy bent on Earth's annihilation.
Can Jehu Red lead his team to victory over a power even greater than their XSeeds? Or will humanity burn on the funeral pyre of history?
If you like Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Mobile Suit Gundam, you’ll love this continuation of #1 best seller Brian Niemeier’s Combat Frame XSeed saga!
And if you haven't gotten into this so far, you can find the series to date at Amazon.
I’ve decided that rather than flog the Kickstarter for another week and a day, I would redirect all of my efforts towards ensuring that all versions of the Spring issue are available and up to snuff and getting all of my other projects lined up.
Right now, only the eBook version is available for pre-order, but as soon as all of the files process, we’ll be sure to let everyone know where and how to get your hands on the Spring issue.
It wasn't going to make it, so rather than throw good after bad Cirsova cut the lines and moved on with the process. As quoted, the issue in question is available for pre-order; click on the image below to get to the Amazon sales page.
The leading Hispanic voice in Science Fiction, Jon del Arroz, is back with different take on the AI Rebellion and subsequent war with same. That book is A.I. Wars, and it merges together not only several disturbing trends into a timely tale about what could happen to our posterity, but also pays tribute to past masters who first warned of all of this via literature.
You'll see not only previous Robot War stories such as The Terminator and the Butlerian Jihad of Dune, but also the social dystopias of Brave New World, Soylent Green, Logan's Run, and 1984 as you read this first issue. Literary-savvy readers will not miss the references, but unlike so much of that literary misery porn and cinemantic cancer Jon's telling a hopeful tale.
Jon's got a proven track record of satisfying his readers, and this sizzle summary shows it.
A.I. Overlords enslave humanity...
...but a brave few fight for survival.
Tom Palmer never wanted to be a hero, he just wanted to take his happy medication like everyone else in the A.I.-controlled factory, but when an accident causes him to miss taking his injection, he gets pinned with a terrorist act caused by humanity's resistance.
On the run, Tom Palmer must join the revolutionaries for his own survival. The hopes of future generations of humanity rest on his shoulders!
Fans of Saga, The Fifth Element, and The Expanse will love AI Wars! Read the comic today!
And here's a review from the Wolfman At Large.
If you want a copy, click on the image above; it will go to the Amazon sales page.
The leading voice in Israeli science fiction, Yakov Merkin, is back with a brand new series: Light Unto Another World.
This is the man behind the Galaxy Ascendant series (available at Amazon), so he's got a proven record of delivering results. You can trust that he'll give the good stuff to his backers, so I recommend that you give this a good look and throw him some spare cash if you want original fiction that brings to mind the best that Japanese isekai can deliver (and that's a lot more than what's been out in the last few years).
The fine folks behind Cirsova Magazine have a crowdfunding campaign up at Kickstarter for their 5th anniversary issue.
$5 gets you a digital copy, and $12 gets you a paperback with your choice of cover (see the Perks on the page), so this is a great deal.
If you like this, and you want to give them more money (and collect back issues), you can find them all as well as your purchasing options at Cirsova's site.
Now that there's four--soon to be five--Combat Frame XSeed novels out there, publishing a tie-in product for such a tech-heavy property becomes a viable project.
Dragon Award winner Brian Niemeier has done it, and to my knowledge he is the first independent author to do what otherwise is only done by Big Brand properties like Mouse Wars. This is the illustrated tech guide tie-in, and it will be a great addition to your bookshelf, especially when you go back to re-read the series.
I cannot overstate the importance of publishing this book. Independent science fiction authors are notorious for not fully exploiting the properties that they create, as they are often unaware of the full implications of the very technologies that make their writing careers possible as well as the spread of the core concept--Print On Demand--to things other than books, most relevant being merchandise.
Should you get a copy? Why not? All it does is add to your enjoyment of what you already enjoy. Don't balk at the price; look at the description. This is a coffee table book, 8.5" x 11" in size (i.e. a spiral-bound notebook), which is as good as Amazon's POD capacity allows, and not your standard 5" by 8" or 6" by 9" novel. If you've been looking to use a tabletop RPG or wargame ruleset to play XSeed scenarios then this book is your huckleberry, especially if your ruleset makes it easy to convert real-world measurements into game terms (as Mekton Zeta and Dream Pod 9's full build system for Jovian Chronicles does).
If you want a copy--only available in paperback--click on the image and it will take you to the Amazon store page.
The big goal this year is to put out both "Hounds of Nimrod" and Book Three, currently titled "Siege of Second Salisbury". But there is more to come after that, and I've mentioned that a spin-off will be done. Today I took the first concrete step towards that objective, purchasing some research materials.
That spin-off is centered around New Vienna, and the story is based on the events of the 1683 Siege of Vienna that Sabaton returned to popular awareness with "Winged Hussars". Starting this weekend (according to Amazon), the first two books will arrive; these deal with that siege. A second book on the siege will take another week to arrive.
One of the books ordered is the Osprey book on the subject. Osprey is fantastic for getting started on a research project; in addition to being a good survey on the subject, the Bibliography is a gold-mine of options for following up specific threads. I expect that Amazon will have these in hardcover or paperback, and whatever they lack I can acquire via the county library or by using my Alumus privledges at my Alma Mater (which is tied into the national university system).
The Enemy At The Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans, and the Battle for Europe is one of the books that goes into depth on the events of Vienna. The Siege of Vienna: The Last Great Trial Between Cross & Crescent is the other.
Between these two, and the aforementioned Osprey book, I should be able to map out the sequence of events as well as the players making the moves. The purpose of that task is to discern where the dramatic potential lies for my purposes, and from there come up with a draft plot outline.
Osprey's related books to the siege cover the men that fought it, but I haven't bought them yet because that's for when it becomes necessary to delve into those details. The Hussars get a few volumnes, the Janisarries get a book, and I may pick up one or all of them if I find it necessary.
There is one recent film that also depicts the events, The Day of the Siege, which some Sabaton fans use to make music videos for "Winged Hussars". Sabaton's song is on The Last Stand.
There's also plenty of other books on the 1683 siege and the war giving it context. If you'd like to help, gifting me anything I haven't purchased is welcome; I maintain a History Wish List on Amazon, so have at it.
At this point, I should remind you that I don't intend for this to be a straight Space Opera retelling of history. As is my usual habit, I will be blending other inspirations into this project; I'll address those in detail in later posts. Just remember that Star Knight is, at its core, a blend of Space Opera and Chivalric Romance with giant robots and laser swords.
But you can be damned sure that, once again, the Winged Hussars will save the day.
The Global Union has tracked the Canaanites across the galaxy, hellbent on finishing the job of extermination. But first they need to recover a secret, one that will explain everything.
A distress signal from the East brings Garrett, Ghryxa, and their friends closer to the answers about what happened on Earth. The lost ship survives! But to find it they must cross the Waran Steppes, and an endless swamp filled with ancient, deadly creatures.
Pursued by assassins, Garrett must make the hard choices and be a hero like his late father. Escaping the High Lord was just the beginning.
That sounds like a good time. Click on the image above to go to the Amazon store listing. Only available for Kindle as of this post.
