Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Buy My Books Direct!

Owing to the cancellation of numerous conventions and other in-person events, I'm taking a page from author Wesley Southard and offering my books direct for sale. Signed by me, of course, and prices include postage. :)

(U.S. only, owing to high cost of mailing internationally. Sending two copies of Little People, Big Guns to Great Britain cost $25.)


Battle for the Wastelands-I describe this book as "Dark Tower meets Game of Thrones," while steampunk/dieselpunk author (Jack Connor) called it "a rip-roaring post-apocalyptic adventure." In a world rebuilding after a long-ago apocalypse, a young man joins a rebellion against a steampunk Norse tyrant who has problems of his own. One reviewer called it a "steampunk Cormac McCarthy," while another reviewer compared it to Fallout New Vegas. I have plenty of copies, so this won't be a problem. $12.00, including postage, but $18.00 if you include the prequel novella below.


"Son of Grendel"-This Battle prequel novella follows Grendel's eldest son Falki Grendelsson on a counterinsurgency mission. Since Falki is by modern standards biracial (his late mother was from a pan-Asian ethnicity and he takes after her in looks), we explore of the racial politics in this world in addition to various battle scenes. $8 by itself, but see above for the combined deal.

And did I mention there's a dinosaur? :)


The Thing in the Woods-This is Lovecraftian horror set in suburbanizing Georgia as opposed to rural New England. James Daly, a teenager from Atlanta, sees something he shouldn't in the small town his family moved to in order to afford a bigger house. Now he's being hunted by a cult that's been worshiping an alien horror since before the Civil War and only a renegade cult member and the local girl he doesn't like liking can help. I Never Meant To Start a Murder Cult author Darrell Grizzle said it's "highly recommended for fans of eldritch horror in a realistic, modern-day setting" and this gentleman who sounds like a military veteran liked it despite not ordinarily being a fan of horror. $12.00, including postage, but you can get it for $20 with the sequel below. I'll carry the extra postage costs.


The Atlanta Incursion-James Daly is now a student at Georgia State University, trying to his best to forget the horrors of his senior year. However, just in time for his girlfriend to visit him one October, he begins seeing things...not just the monster of Edington, but Gray aliens. The Men In Black get involved and soon it's war in downtown Atlanta. Here's a Goodreads review from #booktuber Carla's Book Bits. $12.00, including postage, but if you buy the first book too I'll give you a two-for-$20 deal and eat the postage.


Little People, Big Guns-A quartet of Oklahoma little people (they generally don't like being called "midgets") face off against predatory badgers that killed one of their own, only to find a much greater evil at work. Inspired by a story from the British tabloid The Sunday Sport that actually went viral worldwide. Blurbed by horror writers Brian Keene and Wesley Southard. This reviewer on Amazon said it's hard to deliver on the promise of the blurb, but I did it. $10.00, including postage.


Flashing Steel, Flashing Fire-This is a collection of several of my published short stories and some that were never published individually. The book also includes some behind-the-scenes content, such as how the science fiction short story "Illegal Alien" was inspired by the 2006 "Si Se Puede" immigration protests and "Lord of the Dolorous Tower" was originally the prologue for a full novel. This reviewer on Amazon loved the world-building and attention to detail. $10.00, including postage.


The Best of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Vol. 2-The webzine Heroic Fantasy Quarterly bought my Viking-monster story "Nicor" back in 2013 and later bought the anthology rights for two years. The collection includes 22 stories, only one of which is mine. I've been selling this at conventions alongside Thing and later books for many years and still have a few copies left. $10.00, including postage.

I can be reached via e-mail at mquinn1984@gmail.com to work out mailing arrangements. Payment via PayPal or Facebook.

Sunday, April 26, 2020

THE ATLANTA INCURSION Cover Art Phase #1 and Phase #2

Although my first novel The Thing in the Woods stands on its own, most of my ideas for standalone stories tend to sprout sequels. Thing is no different. I've been working on its sequel, The Atlanta Incursion, for several years now and I intend to independently publish it in the next few weeks. The complicating factors are that I'm independently republishing Thing due to changes at the publisher and waiting for the cover art to be done so I can have a full cover designed. Only after that can the print and e-book be created.

In the meantime, here's the first phase of the cover by Matthew Cowdery:


And here's the second:


I sent him some clarifications about what the Grays' eyes, guns, stargate, and other technologies should look like and he's working on them now. If you want an idea of what the finished cover will look like, here's some previous work he's done for me:



"Son of Grendel" (forthcoming)


Second full novel (tentative title "Serpent Sword")


Monday, April 6, 2020

Fan Novelizations of STAR CONTROL II Online

Back when I was a wee lad, my parents bought a personal computer that ran Windows 3.1 and one of the early games I had was Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters. The game had a more explicitly "fun" starship-combat simulator I remember playing with my cousins and a prolonged story-based game that I never actually finished--I just kind of wandered around in the spaceship harvesting minerals from planets to buy ships and occasionally fighting the bad aliens. Eventually, as what often happens with childhood toys, I lost interest and the original disks, if they're even still around, are buried in my parents' house somewhere.



(I eventually learned how the game ended sometime in college or post-college. I won't bore you with the details, but there is an actual storyline and sequence of events.)

Well over the last couple days I got curious about good old Star Control and did some digging online. There's actually a dedicated Wiki for Star Control and quite a bit on the almighty TVTropes. It turns out that there's actually a novelization of the game's storyline written by uber-fan Tommi Salminen. Two 400-page novels, one covering the beginning of the game where you arrive at Earth and find it under an Ur-Quan slave shield and the other covering the later part of the story, once alliances with different alien races have been made and the truth about the Ur-Quan's motivations is revealed.

Here's the first one, Groombridge Log. The second one is Eternal Doctrine. Although I'd have preferred more description of the technology, characters, etc.--that's a problem with fan-fiction, the writer assumes everybody knows what everything looks like--they're still pretty entertaining.

Enjoy!