The Periodic Update Post

Sorry for the delay, my fellow travelers, but trust me...I have lots to tell you about.

First off, I’m roughly five thousand words away from closing out The Shadow Legion Casebook Volume One.  The last story to be completed will be ‘Amongst Monsters,’ which sees Maybelle Tremens, the psychic detective known as Dreamcatcher, comes to the aid of a brand new hero whose encounter with a hideous creature has led them to a veritable house of horrors!  You will learn a lot about Maybelle and what sets her apart from her fellow Shadow Legionnaires mentally, emotionally and physically while also getting more glimpses of the menace that will be looming over the city of Nocturne in the next two novels, which are tenatively titled Machina Ex Deus and Urban Inferno!

I also recently finish the preliminary draft for ‘Sit By The Fire’ (the title may change), the first new Don Cuevo story in years.  An old man is visited by our frontier exorcist and his beautiful assistant during one of the nastiest snowstorms in memory.  The old man serves them some food and is willing to let them warm up....but Cuevo has some suspicions about the man’s hospitality and a mission he must carry out.  I know where I’d like for this story to go, but I don’t want to jinx it by saying much more.

Now onto things still being worked on...

You’ve probably already seen the announcement that I am the one new author to play in the worlds of Monster Earth for it’s second collection.  The story I’m working on is called ‘Giants of Industry,’ and I’ll tell you more as we get closer to completion.

Then there’s ‘The Town That Hated Santa Claus,’ the new Doc Thunder story that’s slated to appear in this year’s Pulpworks Press Christmas Annual.  I’m roughly two thousand words in, and the story might be self-explanatory from the title, as Elias Thunder responds to a curious letter to Saint Nick from a child, teaming up with a mysterious stranger to visit a small town that shuns the holidays.

There’s also a third project that I was just invited to.  I can’t go into details just yet, but I will say it plays into one of my great passions (one that I devote an entire blog to, in fact) and it’s one I’m looking forward to letting loose on!

Since these three projects have roughly the same deadline (October or thereabouts), I’ll be focusing on them before returning to The Shadow Legion Casebook and The Adventures of Tao Jones.  Plus, there’s the other project that needs a little explanation....

Several years ago, I proposed a short story anthology to Pulpworks Press called Amazing Alternity Stories, a collection of tales in alternate universes where famous personages took very different paths.  Amongst the tales pitched to me and turned in were ones where Abraham Lincoln was a crime-busting boxer, Charles Darwin was an intergalactic lawman; Winston Churchill was a spy; Barack Obama was a masked avenger; and a number more (although I will admit I regret that the writer who pitched the story featuring George Carlin as a Vietnam-era fighter pilot never submitted anything).   I asked for a few rewrites....

And then I stalled.  I can’t honestly say why the progress on the anthology stopped so dead for so long.  When I got the opportunity to write New Roads To Hell, the collective brain trust behind Pulpworks Press took the project off their production slate and asked me to concentrate on the novel.

Well, the novel’s been finished for a while.  The second book is just about done.  I had an idea for what will become my second novel I was looking for a home for.  Pulpworks Press wanted to do it, but we both knew there was a big ol’ elephant in the room that needed to be put behind us....

Thus, Alternity Lives!

I am in the process of compiling the stories into the final manuscript.  God willing, you’ll see it this winter!

So yes, it’s true.  I’ve got a lot on my plate.  And hopefully, you’ll all enjoy what I serve up in the coming months!

Coming Soon....

As we get closer and closer to the release of New Roads To Hell, the first Shadow Legion novel from Airship 27, a bunch of my friends and I got together and made an old-school audio promo!  You can download it here!

I want to thank my cast for stepping up.  To wit:

Narrator: William Robinson
Gunsel: Paul Herrman
Black Talon: Kelen Conley
Gloria: Rachel Bailey
Nightbreaker: Michael Bailey
Ferryman: Desmond Reddick
Dreamcatcher: Trelina Gonzalez Anderson
Rose Red: Megan Reddick
Johnny Seven: Andew Leyland

Kelen Conley also provided the musical bed.  Let's all give them a round of applause!

I'll have more goodies for you to enjoy as we get closer to the release date...so stay tuned!

Coming To Crush A Major City Near You!

I've got a fuller update coming later this week, but this makes one of the things I was waiting to announce official!  I am really jazzed to be participating in this anthology series.  Check This Out (and keep an eye out for an episode of Nocturne Travel Agency Podcast where I sit down with James Palmer to discuss Mechanoid and the Monster Earth timeline!)

Monster Earth 2 Is Coming!

 

Atlanta, GA—Mechanoid Press, a small imprint specializing in science fiction, New Pulp and more, returns to the exciting world of their popular giant monster anthology MONSTER EARTH with MONSTER EARTH 2.

 Returning to the helm of this mammoth (pun intended) undertaking are editors James Palmer (Mars McCoy: Space Ranger Vol. 2) and Jim Beard (Captain Action and the Riddle of the Glowing Men).

“This is going to take the monster action to a whole new level,” explains Palmer. “I thing fans of the first book are really going to love this one.”

 

MONSTER EARTH 2 will bring the action closer to the present day, with the nations of the world experimenting with genetic manipulation of the various beasties. Add a secret death cult trying to herald the end of days, and you’ve got a volatile recipe for mayhem and destruction as only some of the hottest writers in New Pulp can bring it.

 

 Returning for this volume are Edward M. Erdelac (Mighty Nanuq), Jeff McGinnis (The Beast’s Home) and Fraser Sherman (Peace with Honor). Joining them will be Thomas Deja (How the West Was Weird). Just as in the previous anthology, Beard and Palmer will also contribute stories.

 “Jim did a great job with the bible on this one,” says Palmer. “Between that and all the readers who have asked about a sequel, I knew we just had to do another book.”

MONSTER EARTH 2 is scheduled for either a late December or early January release, and will appear in both Kindle and trade paper formats.

 

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About James Palmer

 

James has written articles, interviews, columns, reviews and fiction for Strange Horizons, Tangent Online, The Internet Review of Science Fiction, and New Pulp Publishers Airship 27, Pro Se Productions, and White Rocket Books. His books Slow Djinn and Four Terrors: Weird Horror Tales are currently available in PDF and Kindle formats. He also has a story in Mars McCoy: Space Ranger Vol 2. from Airship 27. For more, visit http://www.jamespalmerbooks.com/ or follow James on Twitter: www.twitter.com/palmerwriter and www.facebook.com/jamespalmerwriter

 

About Mechanoid Press

 

Mechanoid Press is a new imprint specializing in science fiction, New Pulp, and steampunk ebooks and anthologies. For more, visit http://www.mechanoidpress.com/ or follow the robot revolution on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mechanoidpress. You can also like Mechanoid Press on Facebook.